Wandering Sagebrush
Free Range Human
Site Team
RV LIFE Pro
Been a couple weeks and I figured I should document my work here for others or for my own future reference.
We traded in the Go Fast Camper for a used Fleet base model. This this was more base model than I thought you could get - no ceiling fan (just a fan body with no motor or blades), no battery, no propane, nada.
It did have two extra poorly cut turnbuckle access ports, about 2lbs of poorly slathered on exterior caulking, and a lagun table.
The plan is to add a light build out - including:
First - there was a hole in the siding on the rear corner. I was able to find matching siding from interstatervmetalandsupply.com. That showed up in a couple days, required being cut to size, and installed nicely. To install, I needed to removed the Camper Jack corner mount, the trim around the back of the camper, and the main entry door. Camper jacks and trim were screws, lags, butyl, and sealant - so lots of scraping and cleaning here. The door was pretty hard - had to carefully remove the rain gutter on the top of the door, then it was as simple as drilling out three rivets on the bottom and removing screws and sealant. Same drill about cleaning the opening and the door and rain gutter of old sealant.
I removed all the foam on the back of the door and replaced with a 1 x 1/8" foam sealant tape, and used a Dicor non-leveling product for my sealant around the edges in the end.
Second - the corner jack stands were pretty ugly looking - had some rust coming through on the white paint, as well as having a great deal of excess sealant on them - so I replaced them with new parts. I was able to find the plates only at Panther RV (considered changing from white to black but couldn't find the parts available for that so stuck with white).
These are as easy as slapping new butyl on and reattaching. The bottom hole on the side with 5 lags is into plywood and those were a little worn out, so I wood glued some toothpicks into the holes and redrilled a pilot hole - but the other 8 lags in each corner are into solid aluminum. I used a 2" wide butyl tape here to wrap the corner and get both sets of holes with a single piece rather than using two strips of butyl and leaving the very corner unsealed behind the plates (as it was from the factory it appears).
Nice littler refresh there.
Third - I replace the trim on the back side as the old stuff was covered in sealant and looking pretty rough and got a little bent up on the removal. I think I could have reused but decided to try another path. The L shaped stuff is apparently no longer available, so I went with the same style as used elsewhere on the camper with black vinyl insert - but used white vinyl insert instead. It looks about the same as factory - perhaps a little better because you can't see all the screw holes. These I simply butyl taped and reaffixed with 3/4 x 8 Stainless screws.
Fourth - replaced the dummy vent/fan in the ceiling with an AirPlus Deluxe Roof Vent from DIY Van. I have done a few roof vents and it was nice to see that FWC had left me a power hook up on the ceiling - so it was as simple as removing and replacing. Removing was the hardest part - old sealant needed to be cut and scraped from screw heads, screws removed, and strong sealant/butyl bond broken. I ended up using a painters putty knife and a heat gun once I had all the screws out and a knife through the edge of the sealant. From there, it was cleaning the old crap off, getting the new vent prepped, setting it down and drilling the new holes. I used butyl tape around this and then Dicor leveling sealant on the perimeter and over the stainless steel screw heads. Wiring was a breeze with a pair of Anderson Powerpole connectors inside. Fan is lovely so far, quiet, and moves a lot of air.
Fifth - Solar and roof rack bars. Ordered two pairs of 54" yakima tracks from etrailer. Was able to find the supports on the roof and after measuring and taping and taping and measuring a dozen times, felt confident I had them evenly spaced, parallel (within 1/16" over 10'), and over something solid. When I drilled, I was surprised to find wood backing in the aluminum - so that was a good positive connection using 1" x 8 coarse thread stainless screws. I opted for every hole, and these are in pretty good. I used a strip of dicor tape on the back and it is raining now, so plan to keep an eye on anything leaky so I can address if/as needed. Solar - went with 2x Renogy 120w ShadowFlux panels. These are not yet mounted because it was pretty clear that I would need to address my gas struts to put this additional weight on the roof. I scoured the forum, and reached out to Suspa - and the answers I found and the info they sent both confirmed the part. That said - attached is the official FWC/Suspa PDF about camper part numbers for all things gas struts. Ordered the SAE/Renogy adpater as well and some 8020 to make solar trays - that will need to wait until all parts are here.
Sixth - Interior stuff. Adding a battery, a handful of electronics, some new wiring, some new circuits for old wiring, etc. I am still midway through this, so more to come on all this stuff later. Main goal so far was address the exterior and get it (hopefully) sealed before the rain. If it leaks, that's good to know now so I can seal appropriately while the shell is still empty.
Looking forward to getting this thing ready!
PDF Link is attached
We traded in the Go Fast Camper for a used Fleet base model. This this was more base model than I thought you could get - no ceiling fan (just a fan body with no motor or blades), no battery, no propane, nada.
It did have two extra poorly cut turnbuckle access ports, about 2lbs of poorly slathered on exterior caulking, and a lagun table.
The plan is to add a light build out - including:
- Battery
- Solar
- DC DC charger
- Roof Fan
- Roof rack rails
- Insulation
- Curtains
- Quick Release jack stands
- Diesel heater
- Front Dinette (using the lagun table)
First - there was a hole in the siding on the rear corner. I was able to find matching siding from interstatervmetalandsupply.com. That showed up in a couple days, required being cut to size, and installed nicely. To install, I needed to removed the Camper Jack corner mount, the trim around the back of the camper, and the main entry door. Camper jacks and trim were screws, lags, butyl, and sealant - so lots of scraping and cleaning here. The door was pretty hard - had to carefully remove the rain gutter on the top of the door, then it was as simple as drilling out three rivets on the bottom and removing screws and sealant. Same drill about cleaning the opening and the door and rain gutter of old sealant.
I removed all the foam on the back of the door and replaced with a 1 x 1/8" foam sealant tape, and used a Dicor non-leveling product for my sealant around the edges in the end.
Second - the corner jack stands were pretty ugly looking - had some rust coming through on the white paint, as well as having a great deal of excess sealant on them - so I replaced them with new parts. I was able to find the plates only at Panther RV (considered changing from white to black but couldn't find the parts available for that so stuck with white).
| Cart Items | SKU | Qty |
| Rieco Titan 553701 Camper Jack Mounting Bracket - Narrow Angle - White | 553701 | 4 |
| Rieco Titan 553711 Camper Jack Mounting Bracket - Narrow Flat - White | 553711 | 4 |
Nice littler refresh there.
Third - I replace the trim on the back side as the old stuff was covered in sealant and looking pretty rough and got a little bent up on the removal. I think I could have reused but decided to try another path. The L shaped stuff is apparently no longer available, so I went with the same style as used elsewhere on the camper with black vinyl insert - but used white vinyl insert instead. It looks about the same as factory - perhaps a little better because you can't see all the screw holes. These I simply butyl taped and reaffixed with 3/4 x 8 Stainless screws.
Fourth - replaced the dummy vent/fan in the ceiling with an AirPlus Deluxe Roof Vent from DIY Van. I have done a few roof vents and it was nice to see that FWC had left me a power hook up on the ceiling - so it was as simple as removing and replacing. Removing was the hardest part - old sealant needed to be cut and scraped from screw heads, screws removed, and strong sealant/butyl bond broken. I ended up using a painters putty knife and a heat gun once I had all the screws out and a knife through the edge of the sealant. From there, it was cleaning the old crap off, getting the new vent prepped, setting it down and drilling the new holes. I used butyl tape around this and then Dicor leveling sealant on the perimeter and over the stainless steel screw heads. Wiring was a breeze with a pair of Anderson Powerpole connectors inside. Fan is lovely so far, quiet, and moves a lot of air.
Fifth - Solar and roof rack bars. Ordered two pairs of 54" yakima tracks from etrailer. Was able to find the supports on the roof and after measuring and taping and taping and measuring a dozen times, felt confident I had them evenly spaced, parallel (within 1/16" over 10'), and over something solid. When I drilled, I was surprised to find wood backing in the aluminum - so that was a good positive connection using 1" x 8 coarse thread stainless screws. I opted for every hole, and these are in pretty good. I used a strip of dicor tape on the back and it is raining now, so plan to keep an eye on anything leaky so I can address if/as needed. Solar - went with 2x Renogy 120w ShadowFlux panels. These are not yet mounted because it was pretty clear that I would need to address my gas struts to put this additional weight on the roof. I scoured the forum, and reached out to Suspa - and the answers I found and the info they sent both confirmed the part. That said - attached is the official FWC/Suspa PDF about camper part numbers for all things gas struts. Ordered the SAE/Renogy adpater as well and some 8020 to make solar trays - that will need to wait until all parts are here.
Sixth - Interior stuff. Adding a battery, a handful of electronics, some new wiring, some new circuits for old wiring, etc. I am still midway through this, so more to come on all this stuff later. Main goal so far was address the exterior and get it (hopefully) sealed before the rain. If it leaks, that's good to know now so I can seal appropriately while the shell is still empty.
Looking forward to getting this thing ready!
Attachments
- Four Wheel Camper pop up top gas struts.pdf
536.7 KB · Views: 29
PDF Link is attached
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