My new FWC Grandby

[buzzman]

Hey folks, I got my new Grandby installed onto my Chevy truck today by Sean and Diana Dempsey in Eagle WI. I feel like a little kid with a new toy! Attached is a photo of it sitting on my truck in front of Sean's shop. Linda and I will try it out this week probably somewhere in WI or MN. The guys at FWC did a great job putting it together.

My thanks Sean and Stan and to you all on this forum who helped me decide on what options to order. Options include: extended bed, 3 ft frig, side awning, screen door, rear floods, flouresent interior lites, rear window delete, roof rack (and Chicale even added extra tubing to raise it alittle so a future solar panel would clear the roof vents...what a guy! Thanks!), roof wired for solar panel, extra powered roof vent over bed, heater, roof access steps. I didn't need an aux battery because my truck already has one and I didn't get a water heater.

Now I need to update my signature on this forum to show that I'm the proud owner of a FWC!

Buzz

 

[Star152]

Very Nice...............

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Congrats Buzz!!

 

[Len]

What a beaut!!

Thats such a nice looking combo. Makes me itch to go camping... and it's heading into a long cold Canadian Winter!

I love to see a truck so well looked after.

 

[pvstoy]

Buzz looks great and ready to go..............Your options turned out good.

Get out there and report back, with pictures

 

[b team]

looks great and yeah time for a trip!

 

[jimjxsn]

Buzz, Real nice looking rig and congratulations!

 

[benburnett]

new owner

Buzz,

That is a great looking set up you have there. Now we expect to see some pic's of you out using it.

 

[craig333]

Congrats and yes, pics please.

 

[DLN]

Buzz,

Truck and camper look great, congrats.

 

[BenG]

nice looking set up, love the older trucks

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Hello Buzzman


Congratz' on the new camper.

Looks great on your truck !


Just let us know if we can help answer any questions as you start to use the camper and get a better feel for how everything works.


Happy Camping !


.

 

[buzzman]

Thanks guys for the nice comments. Linda and I drove to Winona MN on Tuesday, Oct 30, to visit my Mother and some friends there. We camped in a friends back yard Tuesday night. The camper worked great! We didn't have time to fill the propane tank or put water in it, but as it turned out, were warm enough without heat. We are in Sheboygan WI now and plan to try it out again this weekend. I will have a little more time to set it up with propane, water, food, etc. this time. It is starting to get cold here in WI. I'll be sure to send some pictures.

The old truck drives nice with the camper it, but I could tell it was there. The truck sat level with the camper on, but I think if I didn't have the Supersprings on it, the back end may have been a little low. The camper shipping weight was 840 lbs. When I get home, I'm going to weight it at the same Cat truck stop scale I used before to see just how much everything weighs. I'm sure it's below the GVWR of 6200 lbs, but I am curious just how many extra lbs I have left. The truck, without the camper, weighed 5000 lbs, which included me and a passenger and full fuel tanks and a truck mounted aux battery. I want to be able to pull a small trailer with my 1959 Austin Healey Sprite loaded on it. I surely would not have been able to use any other camper but a FWC or ATC on this truck.

The saga continues...

Buzz

 

[buzzman]

New Grandby pictures

Here's some pictures of a trip this week in the new Grandby. We took a short "break-in" trip in WI along the Lake Michigan shore to the Point Beach State forest located just north of Two Rivers WI. The scenery was great, and the camp ground was almost vacant. Temps were 50s daytime, 30s to low 40s at night. We tested all the equipment. The heater, the water system, the cook stove, the awning, and the frig in all three modes, powered roof vent, etc. Everything worked as advertised. The more time we spend with this camper, the more I see the well thought out design features. I know it sounds like I'm working for FWC, but it is really, really a nice camper. When camping or traveling we found we could leave the bed made up and it was not in the way or interfered with cooking etc. We also put a 2" thick piece of queen size memory foam on top of the FWC mattress. That makes it almost like home! The old truck drives real nice with it. While checking into the park, we met a couple who live near Manitowoc WI who own a FWC Eagle that they bought through Sean Dempsey a couple years ago. It was nice talking to them. They didn't have their camper on at the time but they were checking out my new Grandby and giving us a few ideas about using the camper.

Buzz

 

[kcowyo]

That's a great looking combo with the old school Chevy and the new FWC.

Got anymore info on the memory foam? I know there's a plce in Denver that sells it but they sell 4" thick pieces. I'd be interested to hear where else you can order memory foam from.

 

[jarnis]

I'll ditto everybody's congrats on the great looking rig, Buzz! Love those 70's era trucks.

And, kcowyo, one place you might check for the memory foam 2" mattress is a Sam's Club or Costco. We got ours at Sam's, but I think I've seen them at Costco, too. Ours has transformed an old hard mattress in the guest room at home. It gets rave reviews from overnight visitors.

JP

 

[buzzman]

Memory foam

We took this memory foam off the bed in the house just to try it and see if we liked it in the camper. It came from a department store called Elder-Beirman (sp!) in WI. I think I have seen it in a Target store also. I have to buy a new piece of it for the camper because this one is going back on the bed. We took it off a queen bed, and it is about 6-8" narrower than the Grandby bed, so I may have to get a piece custom cut to fit the Grandby better. I also have some "egg crate" regular foam off a bed to try. I think the regular foam is cheaper than memory foam. Anyone ever try that stuff in the campers?

Buzz

 

[chnlisle]

We used the Costco memory foam from our bed and loved it. Unfortunately it was a casualty of the ceiling light fire. We may get another piece but we're just a little gun shy about packing stuff tight up there.

 

[buzzman]

Photos without camper jacks

Here's a couple pictures of my old truck and new Grandby without the mechanical camper jacks on it. I think it looks a lot better with the jacks off. Also knocks off about 100 lbs. These were taken in my back yard in TN after returning from my trip in WI.

 

[DLN]

buzz,

I also like my truck better without the jacks, I only carry them when we are camping or about to.