'81 Grandby on '91 Jeep YJ - New build

[Boonie]

As I review the posts on WTW, I am struck with the question:

If you had $100,000 would you spend $80,000 on a camper and $20,000 on travel, or $20,000 on a camper and $80,000 on travel?

 

[mitch h]

I really enjoy traveling

 

[Boonie]

Today I built the temporary "collar" which connects the camper to the Jeep which when installed allowed me to safely move the camper side to side. This "collar" will eventually be replaced with a 1" aluminum tubing extension of the campers aluminum frame. The intent was to have the camper fit inside the track of the rear wheels. Or in other words, if the wheels could squeeze through the camper would too. The result was a 4 3/4" overlap on each side, 9 1/2" wider than the Jeep body of 59 1/2" or total camper width of 69". This just happens to be the width of the discontinued FWC Eagle model. As mentioned earlier my floor length is 78 1/2 compared to the Eagle of 78". So I now have gone from a Grandby to an Eagle.

 

[Boonie]

From here I will be fitting a mock up of the dinette, counters and cabinets to fit on either side of the camper. Remember that this camper will be designed for two people and not a family of four, so there will not be a fold out sofa. That will be replaced with storage cabinets.

You can also see how the P-P fits into the overhang

You can also see that the back of the camper will be slanted from the end of the P-P slot to the "collar" thus keeping the departure at about 45*.

 

[mitch h]

Nice start. You were talking about the pass through, maybe something like the articpack material and put snaps on the rollbar. Off when driving, on at night if its cold. Just a thought.

 

[PokyBro]

Boonie,

This going to be way cool! Glad to see you start your thread, and I'm really looking forward to watching it progress. Great start, and excellent progression on the photos. Wishing you the best luck as you march forward!

Poky


Sent from my iPad using Wander The West

 

[Boonie]

Mitch, a great idea that makes perfect sense when making the "Artic Pack" to make the removable divider out of the same material.

Hey, Poky!
You have been quiet on your thread, so I am glad you found me. So everyone will know, it was through PokyBro's build that I discovered the aluminum frame of the Four Wheel Campers and through him I was sent down the path of developing my insane build to put a camper on a Jeep. His thread is a guide book on rebuilding a FWC camper. Thanks Poky! As you can see I have decided to build much of my camper in mock up before I go to the welder. Sort of a take off on the "measure twice, cut once". I will be watching how you proceed with your interior finish as I go forward. As dissimilar as our campers may end up they still have so much in common.

Stay in touch,

Boonie

 

[Living The Dream]

Hey Boonie, just chiming in too to say this looks rad! Thanks for the PM the other day. We should have a meet up sometime to see the progress! Keep on keeping on. - Tim

 

[Boonie]

Hey back at ya Dreamer,

Another Colorado inspiration whose thread I have been following.

I forgot to mention in the last post because I think most people realize that my original Grandby is 80" wide, so to get it to 69", I had to narrow it by 11". This was done by cutting 11" out of the rear doorway and 11" at the front overhang. You may notice I removed the left member of the original doorway and will reposition it to create a new 24" doorway.

Since the space behind the fold down couch is really wasted, by eliminating it and replacing it with storage cabinets/bin shelves, I do not lose any floor area. With cabinets on the passenger side, I have also eliminated the large window and will replace it with a smaller window placed higher and to the rear above the dinette seats in the rear overhang area similar to the ActionCamper. (P-P under the dinette seat.) The driver side will have a matching window.

 

[Boonie]

So the mock up begins.

With the old Grandby, all the appliances and tanks were located on the left side behind the axle. In a 4WD situation the weight should be balanced left to right and on top or ahead of the axles. As you have seen I have reversed the dinette from the front to the rear so that only the weight of the P-P and the cushions extend behind the axle primarily in the overhang.

I will be keeping the refrigerator and the propane tank on the left side,

but moving the water tank, sink, and stove to the right side.

I will be adding the convenience of a water pump and invertor located on the right. Also on the right side I will have an exterior accessible storage compartment for a Weber gas grill. The weights so far are heavier on the right (with water tank full) which will help counterbalance my weight on the left compared to my wife on the right.

I could go into more detail and explanation, but I wanted to avoid the "Blah-Blah-Blah", so if you are curious about what in the hell I was or am thinking: ASK.

 

[Boonie]

Here goes some "Blah-Blah-Blah".

Yesterday, I ordered the storage door for the outside storage compartment accessing the Weber grill. The door will be mounted with the hinge down and with cables so that when the door is opened to the 90* position it will form a shelf for a portable propane stove to allow outdoor cooking.

While searching Pinterest, I found this picture that will give you (and me) an idea of how the rear overhang will be constructed.

Today, I mocked-up the forward edge of the camper so that it follows the line on the Jeep window. This is similar to what FWC did with the Blazer and Bronco campers.

Finally, I purchased the 1X1 and 1X2 aluminum I will need to turn the mock-up into reality. Next I will be cutting and placing the necessary pieces into position in preparation for taking the frame to the welder.

 

[wuck]

Excellent! Pretty exciting build, really thoughtful component placement and mockup. Grandby on a jeep, woo hoo!

You might think about covering the jeep build in the truck forum, check out the "Moon Truck" build.

 

[Boonie]

Thanks wuck, comments like yours are encouraging not only to continue with the build, but to continue to post.

I started a new thread to try to figure out "Ideas for lightweight cab over bed board". Since my overhang is 11" longer than original I am concerned about any unsupported extra weight. I'll post here what I figure out on that thread.

 

[wuck]

I've been thinking about your bedboard thread, but the "telescoping" is the hard part. Maybe I'll have an "ah ha!" experience yet, but haven't come up with it. There's probably a few more of us chewing on it!

 

[Boonie]

Wuck,

As I stated on the bed board thread, I have as yet figured that part out without adding a support either to the cab or by adding struts to the cowl. The struts could be done by incorporating a light bar above the windshield directly in front of the overhead.

The storage compartment door arrived today, so I can get the final dimensions and cut the frame work to mount it. With the recent cold weather in Colorado not much else happening.

 

[Boonie]

So I have figured out that I will be using a light bar to support the cab over bed board.

The light bar section will attach to the camper similar to the roof rack portion of the pictured Gobi model. This design will also provide low level branch protection to the leading edge of the camper.

 

[Boonie]

Weather in Colorado has prevented me from doing much, but I did complete the mock-up of the back end. As you may recall I want to keep the departure angle at around 45* so I will be clipping the back of the camper. For those of you that love pictures...

Form another thread I have decided to keep the absorption refrigerator rather than changing to a compressor refrigerator.

And also from another thread I have determined that my 100w Renogy portable/suitcase solar unit (tilted and tracking the sun) will recharge my batteries (single house battery, single starting) as well as a 160w fixed roof mounted solar panel although I may add a 100w Go-Power flexible panel for convenience.

 

[hebegebe]

Your rig is gonna be trick! Are you using alum sheet for mock-up areas?


Sent from my iPhone using Wander The West

 

[Boonie]

Plan currently is for sheet aluminum for the camper siding and diamond plate for the angled overhang "mock-up" area.

 

[Boonie]

So what have I been up to for the last couple of weeks? I guess you can say fishing craigslist. Look what I caught for FREE.

Front latches came loose at 50mph and peeled back the top. Owner did not have the time or interest to replace the top and "wanted his truck back", so he was gaving it away. I saw the ad within 20 minutes of the posting and sealed the deal. Lucky me!

My '81 Grandby was 12v only with no provision for 120v, so the absorption frig was a 2-way,12v/LPG. To make an absorption frig more efficient (see my other thread) it should be cooled down before leaving home, of course 120v is more practical. The salvage camper is a '96 Palomino with 12v/120v and the frig is a 3-way, so I will be switching out the refrigerators. It has a 120v/12v power center with a 750w inverter as well as a "square" water tank, small water pump (1/2gpm?) and a faucet with a push button to operate the pump. Again I antictpate using these and replacing the hand pump faucet.

I then sold the camper (less the above) for $375. The camper also came with jacks (buyer did not want) which I hope to sell for $125. I can now start shopping for a 160w flexible solar panel for the roof of my build or maybe a TriMetric 2030, or 7620 Ml-ACR
If I'm lucky I may get them all for $500....Oh, wait a minute I got this camper for FREE. So how about the Trimetric, the ACR and 160w solar panel for FREE!

Talk about being in the right place at the right time!