dustent
Member
Howdy friends -
I'm starting this thread to document my plans and progress - please ask questions and chime in!
I purchased a used 2012 ATC Panther from a gentlemen who listed it for sale on WTW (http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/16012-all-terrain-camper-sold-the-woodlands-tx/
). We picked it up last weekend and immediately started going to work on it.
Here is a video walk through I did when it was completely stock: https://youtu.be/bQZcxEhc24U
A little background - we are a family of 3 who has spent the last 5 years traveling half-time. My wife and I both work remotely, so we've been able to take our jobs on the road. We had been traveling in a highly customized Airstream (25F
until earlier this year. We are expecting baby #2 this summer, so we've decided to upgrade to a larger Airstream (30R and add the pop-up camper as well. The pop-up camper will be acting as a remote office, as well as extra storage. The 30' Airstream has all the important stuff for a family to live in full-time on and off the grid (or it will when I'm done with it). We're planning on hitting the road full-time starting in early 2019!
We have a 2015 Silverado 2500HD w/Duramax as a tow vehicle. While the 2500HD has great payload, we needed to try to stay as light as possible given the ~850lb tongue weight of the Airstream. (We've got a Pro ProPride 3P weight distribution hitch that helps with the tongue weight as well.) The ATC Panther is a perfect match for what we are doing. I had originally considered doing a FWC Hawk shell, but really like that the ATC Panther has the sink/burner and fresh water tank. When I'm working it'll be nice to make coffee in "the office".
Solar: This week I installed 2x100watt Renogy Monocrystalline panels on the roof. I used the Scotch Extreme double sided tape and Dicor caulk to hold them down - the same method I've used in the past on other RVs without issue. I'm waiting on one last piece of wire to arrive before completing the install. I'm using a Victron MPPT 75/15 solar controller with the Smart features. I really like the Victron app and being able to see everything from my phone. The Panther came with a single Exide deep cycle battery (31 series), I'm going to try to find another one like it locally, but may end up having to replace the current one in favor of two matching. I'm aware that ideally the batteries should match.
Roof Rack: The Panther came with the factory aluminum roof rack - which is nice but won't work to hold our Yakima roof box. I added an additional aluminum cross member to the factory rack, and added a new aluminum cross member just in front of the vent - using the existing roof screw holes and liberal amounts of Dicor to seal it up. The Yakima box is now mounted and looks solid. I'll post some pics when it's daylight, I finished up right as the sun was going down today.
While I was on the roof I also installed 60lb struts to help open the top, thanks to the mega-thread on the topic I was able to quickly and easily get those installed.
Layout: The factory couch setup isn't the best option for an office, so I've pulled out the couch seating and will be setup an L-shaped seating area with a pop-up table. Since I'm the only one that'll need to sit at the table, it make it a bit easier to make it work. We still want room for everyone to be able to sit and for it to fold into an L-shaped bed. I'll post pics as that takes shape! For now I'm enjoying the extra room inside.
Interior: The interior in the Panther is great if you're into that wood grain look. I personally need something a little more modern. So...I found some peel and stick wallcovering that we're experimenting with. So far it's pretty great, we really like the look. At the same time, we're putting in some peel and stick vinyl flooring over the factory linoleum flooring.
Not complete, but you get the idea. I'll do a walk through video and post when I'm done.
Anyways, that's enough for my first update. I'll post more as I make progress!
For those of you on Instagram you can find us at: https://www.instagram.com/tin.can.fam/
I'm starting this thread to document my plans and progress - please ask questions and chime in!
I purchased a used 2012 ATC Panther from a gentlemen who listed it for sale on WTW (http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/16012-all-terrain-camper-sold-the-woodlands-tx/
). We picked it up last weekend and immediately started going to work on it.
Here is a video walk through I did when it was completely stock: https://youtu.be/bQZcxEhc24U
A little background - we are a family of 3 who has spent the last 5 years traveling half-time. My wife and I both work remotely, so we've been able to take our jobs on the road. We had been traveling in a highly customized Airstream (25F
until earlier this year. We are expecting baby #2 this summer, so we've decided to upgrade to a larger Airstream (30R and add the pop-up camper as well. The pop-up camper will be acting as a remote office, as well as extra storage. The 30' Airstream has all the important stuff for a family to live in full-time on and off the grid (or it will when I'm done with it). We're planning on hitting the road full-time starting in early 2019!We have a 2015 Silverado 2500HD w/Duramax as a tow vehicle. While the 2500HD has great payload, we needed to try to stay as light as possible given the ~850lb tongue weight of the Airstream. (We've got a Pro ProPride 3P weight distribution hitch that helps with the tongue weight as well.) The ATC Panther is a perfect match for what we are doing. I had originally considered doing a FWC Hawk shell, but really like that the ATC Panther has the sink/burner and fresh water tank. When I'm working it'll be nice to make coffee in "the office".
Solar: This week I installed 2x100watt Renogy Monocrystalline panels on the roof. I used the Scotch Extreme double sided tape and Dicor caulk to hold them down - the same method I've used in the past on other RVs without issue. I'm waiting on one last piece of wire to arrive before completing the install. I'm using a Victron MPPT 75/15 solar controller with the Smart features. I really like the Victron app and being able to see everything from my phone. The Panther came with a single Exide deep cycle battery (31 series), I'm going to try to find another one like it locally, but may end up having to replace the current one in favor of two matching. I'm aware that ideally the batteries should match.
Roof Rack: The Panther came with the factory aluminum roof rack - which is nice but won't work to hold our Yakima roof box. I added an additional aluminum cross member to the factory rack, and added a new aluminum cross member just in front of the vent - using the existing roof screw holes and liberal amounts of Dicor to seal it up. The Yakima box is now mounted and looks solid. I'll post some pics when it's daylight, I finished up right as the sun was going down today.
While I was on the roof I also installed 60lb struts to help open the top, thanks to the mega-thread on the topic I was able to quickly and easily get those installed.
Layout: The factory couch setup isn't the best option for an office, so I've pulled out the couch seating and will be setup an L-shaped seating area with a pop-up table. Since I'm the only one that'll need to sit at the table, it make it a bit easier to make it work. We still want room for everyone to be able to sit and for it to fold into an L-shaped bed. I'll post pics as that takes shape! For now I'm enjoying the extra room inside.
Interior: The interior in the Panther is great if you're into that wood grain look. I personally need something a little more modern. So...I found some peel and stick wallcovering that we're experimenting with. So far it's pretty great, we really like the look. At the same time, we're putting in some peel and stick vinyl flooring over the factory linoleum flooring.
Not complete, but you get the idea. I'll do a walk through video and post when I'm done.
Anyways, that's enough for my first update. I'll post more as I make progress!
For those of you on Instagram you can find us at: https://www.instagram.com/tin.can.fam/
