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The vital factor if you're going to install a second battery is to make sure the system regularly gets a full charge, either from your alternator, a PV array, or a combination. Nothing kills a battery as quickly as consistent undercharging.

Well done! Thank you for the report.

Darren, Wow - you went even more overboard than we did on PV input. We get by with a piddling 200 watts. We live completely off the grid at home and use ten six-volt batteries there as our storage. But our camper has two Exide AGMs. They're really much more suitable for a mobile application.

Thanks Peter, I lifted the roof with the kayaks still mounted just once, to prove I could do it. They weighed around 60 pounds each. Normally we removed them first. The racks stayed in place.

Santi, Here is our 1992 Toyota pickup, with 22RE and five-speed, and our first Four Wheel Camper, in Punta Chueca on the Sea of Cortez. We put about 75,000 miles on this combination. Yes, freeway hills were a challenge, but we always got up them. We then moved up to a 2000 Tacoma with the V6...

Very clean as well, Craig. Did you drill through the aluminum frame pieces to mount the brackets?

We'll soon be installing a winch bumper on the JATAC, and it will have slots so we can use a Hi-Lift jack on it as well. I also have a Lift-Mate for our jack, which allows us to raise a wheel from the outside, in order to insert a sand mat or other traction aid underneath. After pondering for...

I strongly second the cautions regarding stainless steel bolts. The advantage of stainless bolts is just that. They exhibit no other superior qualities, and as Thom's post demonstrated are not as strong as many non-stainless fasteners. Cadmium-plated grade 8 bolts are very resistant to...

A friend of mine with an older FWC and a three-way fridge did the "fan mod," and swore it raised the temperature at which the fridge could still work effectively from around 80 degrees to about, oh, 82 degrees. So don't expect miracles . . . BSS seems to have had better luck, but my friend...

I agree with Nathanael about US and Norco. KYB isn't bad either. I use a superb German-made bottle jack, but got it for an equipment review (i.e. free). It's bloody expensive. Actually, a very fine jack that you can frequently pick up used on eBay is the Land Rover double-extension bottle jack...

No worries about a hijack. I'm intrigued by the idea of an aftermarket camera as well.

Not to hijack this thread but did you do anything with the rear view camera in the JATAC? I find myself using it more than I thought I would but can't figure out a place to relocate it so it is usable with the tailgate removed. Thanks Not yet, but I'm planning to. I'm going to see if I can...

Edgewood - I lifted the back of our Tacoma and Fleet camper with the stock jack just as an experiment. It took some effort, but it did do the job. However, I think you'd be much happier with a good-quality bottle jack.

Thanks for the comments Andy. But . . . not OJ! No longer associated with them. Roseann and I run the Overland Expo and Overland Tech and Travel.

Those of you who opted for the extremely bright Grote LED rear floodlamps on your newer FWC might find this of value. I turned ours into extremely effective remote-controlled reversing lights with a $25 product.

This is our first Four Wheel Camper in 1994 (IIRC), in Punta Chueca, Sonora, a Seri Indian village on the coast of the Sea of Cortez. I had a business leading sea kayak trips at the time, and I ran many of them out of Punta Chueca, which led to several firm friendships among the tribe. We'd...

Are you still happy with the Global Solar panels on the JATAC? Steelhead, yes - the GS panels are performing perfectly. In Mexico on a very cloudy day we found we still had enough input to stay ahead of basic loads from the fridge and LED lights. And I can't stress enough the advantages of the...

Steelhead, good decision on the fridge. You won't regret it. Depending on your other loads (e.g., furnace fan), 85 to 100 watts of theoretical solar input should keep your batteries ahead of the drain. Our 200-watt system is pretty much overkill, but we needed to ensure we had power for our...

Steelhead, Reece Tasker at Canadian Suspension Importers, here, distributes the Boss air bags. He's very helpful. I went with the Boss bags because their mounting position leaves more options for aftermarket shocks, and because their bags, which normally operate in a range from 15 to 120 psi...

Steelhead, congratulations! Regarding springs versus air bags, I honestly don't think either is a mistake. We'll leave our camper on full time, yet I went with Boss air bags, and we had air bags on our last Tacoma and FWC as well. I like the ease of installation, the price, the versatility...

I don't think there are any easy solutions that would come close to biting the bullet and doing it the right way - which would increase the value for selling considerably. Replacing the panels with correct-thickness high-quality birch plywood is tedious but not that hard - Brian DeArmon, who is...

5444, I don't know of a way to directly reduce the file size in the camera. However what you can do is simply email the photo to yourself. The camera will ask you if you want to reduce the file size - pick a suitable size and send. When it comes in to your email, just save it to your photo...

Congratulations! And welcome to the FWC club. We'll look forward to seeing you at the Overland Expo.

I personally have the ARB, but have seen better reviews of the ExtremeOutback. At twice the cost it should be better. It's better mostly because it's more comprehensive. The ARB kit is very high quality. Regarding those charging stations: I'm sure many people in 1905 would have scoffed if...

Dan, I've used both those kits. The Extreme Outback kit should last you the rest of your life, and will handle just about any tire repair short of total destruction. But the ARB kit is excellent as well.