ATC Bobcat Shell - Owner Interior Build

[chnlisle]

Wow!

 

[billharr]

Wow is right , may be the most personalized camper I have seen. Several ideals that I might use.

Nice build

Bill

 

[takesiteasy]

I agree. Very nice craftsmanship and some very clever ideas. Thanks for sharing your work.

 

[ski3pin]

What an interesting rabbit hole! Our styles of camping and camper use is different but it is great to see so much thought put into a design to match your needs. I wish I could zoom down to your neck of the woods and see this in person. You have provided the next best thing, thank you! I have woke up most nights with a new redesign of our new camper interior. I will be going over this topic many more times.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Very nice ideas and excellent woodworking.I know what you went through for the "rolling" doors ,I made one for an "Hoosier"cabinet many years ago.That was long before "U"tube to look at.
Thanks for sharing your build.
I look at my Bobcat and think of all kinds of storage ideas in some of the wasted space,but for just the two of us I have created enough space without rearranging the interior.
Thanks for the detailed view down the rabbit hole.
Frank

 

[Bseek]

This is amazing! Lots of great ideas to contemplate and "steal". Thank you for sharing.

 

[craig333]

I had to check and make sure my microwave was still in place I like some of your storage ideas. Something I keep meaning to work on as soon I insert the woodworking brain chip.

 

[cwdtmmrs]

Interesting and unique build. Very well done with nice craftsmanship and attention to detail, down to the matched grain on the cabinets and doors. I have made a lot of tambour and can attest to the degree of difficulty without CNC equipment. Probably one of the most purpose designed and built interiors I have seen. You did not mention the water source for the shower. I have been using almost the same shower arrangement for 20+ years, first in my wall tent and now in my FWC. Great job.

CWD

 

[Alley-Kat]

You did not mention the water source for the shower. I have been using almost the same shower arrangement for 20+ years, first in my wall tent and now in my FWC.

CWD

I wasn't very specific in message #11 was I?

If I'm camping in remote areas, by myself or with a group, I use the Katadyn Base Camp gravity flow water filtration system to refill any empty water containers... and to produce water for the shower.

My wife likes campgrounds, they usually have water.

 

[Alley-Kat]

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

And, use any ideas you find, steal away...

 

[ckent323]

Alley-Kat,

I was impressed when you showed me your camper back in April when I picked up the unused tripod from you. I really like the push button latches on the cabinets, the tambor door over the microwave and the way you laid out your power management cabinet.

Thanks again for the tripod. I am going to buy a pole for it so I can mount my second (movable) solar panel to it - the main panel will be fixed on top of the camper we picked up in May in Montana.

Regards,
Craig

 

[Happyjax]

Nice thread. So many ideas to borrow.....

 

[Happyjax]

Hi Alley-Kat,
Have you ever run your electric gear off of your batteries instead of your generator. I like the idea of a microwave and maybe even the induction cooktop but have no desire to carry a generator. When I get my setup...... I am thinking of 2 100a AGM's with 2 100 watt solar panels. Wondering in the real world how this might do with what you have
Thanks again for the great thread!

 

[Alley-Kat]

Hi Happyjax,

I never did any exploration on the topic of running AC appliances off a DC to AC inverter/converter or exploring how many amps in battery capacity would be needed for such a use. I also never wanted any electrical connection from the truck's electrical system to the camper in any way (that is the way it still exists today). My camper was an isolated stand alone capacity, except for the generator.

Your question could be an important one, so you might start a new thread on that topic.

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I've rebuilt the interior (3rd time), easy to do when building using thin wall boxes, and have removed all of the 110 VAC appliances. I've still got the 12 VDC stuff, solar panel-controller-battery-fusepanel, fridge (different version, single unit, I'll be selling my two top loading marine versions soon), Fan and LED lights. Now I've got a more traditional cooking & heating environment with a Propane tank, propane stove top and a propane furnace. I'll get some photos on the latest interior conversion up soon, still testing it out for the last year or so.

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Regarding the generator, I've used a Honda EU200i for other purposes and have always liked how quiet is was. I did size the generator to be big enough to "lope" along slightly above idle (way below max RPMs), which is what a big generator will do if it is asked to only produce less than half of its rated wattage output.

When I was camping with my wife, she like campgrounds, we would always try to select a camp spot that was not close to others, If we did have to camp near others, I would always tell the nearby campers that I did have a generator that we used only for cooking, twice a day, breakfast and dinned, and then it was only ON for about 15-20 minutes. We did not use the generator for any other purpose while camping. We tried to be excellent camping neighbors and I can say that when we were packing up and getting ready to leave (or my neighbors were leaving before me) I would ask my camp neighbors if my generator was disturbing to them and while this was an unscientific survey, I can say that no one ever knew when I ran the Honda EU2000i. So, everyone was a happy camper.

I just tried to point the generator's air intake (where most of the mechanical noise emanates) and the exhaust (the other noise) away from my neighbors. This worked well. I've seen generator boxes built to help reduce the noise and vibrations, however, I never thought I had to go that far.

 

[Alley-Kat]

About a year ago I removed almost all of the interior that I built previously (shown above), as the functional use of my ATC Bobcat has changed.

I no longer use it as a chuck wagon and bunk house for large gatherings of camping friends.

It is now used as a more traditional truck camper for just myself, or sometimes with my wife unit, or sometimes with two of my friends.

I've taken a lot of ideas from the other fantastic camper builds (thanks to everyone), and used them, plus a few details of my own, and made a more traditional interior. This will be the last time I make any major changes to this specific camper.

I no longer carry my Honda 2000i generator, and thus have removed all of the 110VAC appliances; the microwave, the toaster oven, the induction cook top, and the wall heater. I have retained the 110VAC exterior to interior connection in case I need that capability where shore power is available.

I have added a propane tank and locker, an SMEV two burner stove top, and an Atwood 8012-II furnace with digital thermostat.

I switched out the two, 12VDC only, marine grade, stainless steel, top loading fridge/freezer units for a single 12VDC, front loading, TruckFridge with a tiny freezer unit as the cooling plate.

I've changed the seating from a completely portable, center of the camper (as in the center walkway) location with the removable/stow-able table top, to a more traditional side dinette, yet incorporated a slight deviation and a twist to how we sit in the side dinette. The side dinette makes into a third bunk, yet it is a "trade off" between having a nice large table and not using the table to make up the bunk (which is the way many RV's and truck campers use the table to make the bunk). It's not the most efficient use of materials, however, I'm glad the way it worked out, I don't mind carrying the extra stuff to make the interior just the way I want it.

Here's some photos.

Cooking side.

Continued...

 

[Alley-Kat]

110VAC Electrical still present.

Small wash tub, toilet bag storage & sink (removed the old stainless sink, didn't really even use it), still present.

New large general storage cabinet where the microwave was located, new cabinet with adjustable shelves.

Adjustable shelf detail.

Continued...

 

[Alley-Kat]

Atwood 8012-II furnace location, with extra perforated aluminium panel above to vent out excess heat from sides of furnace. The digital thermostat is mounted on the inside wall of the propane tank locker, along with the FantasticFan remote control unit.

My Zodi Extreme is stored below the furnace in the black bag. I kept the indoor shower set-up, using the bottom half of a plastic utility tub for a shower pan (see previous interior for the details on this).

On either side of the Zodi Extreme black bag are two small cabinets from the previous build that I store heavy items low in the camper.

On the left of the furnace is another general purpose storage cabinet with adjustable shelves.

The SMEV stove top counter is removable for any needed repairs. Notice the extra air space around the exterior of the furnace. When I did the initial start up and burn off of the furnace before installation I noticed that there was some heat generated on the exterior of the furnace body, so I created the perforated top and bottom vents for the air space around the furnace.

Continued...

 

[Alley-Kat]

I had been spoiled with my two, 12VDC only, marine grade, stainless steel, top loading fridge/freezer units using only 0.8 amps/hour each. The new 12VDC, front loading, TruckFridge with a tiny freezer unit as the cooling plate was sucking down 2.4 amps/hour, more than the previous two fridge/freezer units combined. Thanks to all the members that mentioned installing a computer fan to help the air circulation around the cooling fins of these front loading fridges, I decided to do the same.

I got the best compromise I could find between high air volume and low amps/hour usage at Fry's Electronics. I had to disable the funky little blue led lights that were on the edges of the fan housing. I also made sure that the air moved thru the fan, instead of around the fan. Here's the initial "test" fixture to prove the concept.

I also saw that a couple of guys did some air control duct type work to help the air get over the cooling fins of the compressor unit, so, I did the same as well. The materials I choose were foam core board, and hot glue to hold it together, plus some fitting under the cooling fins to hold it all in place. I initially had the foam core go all the way across the top of the cooling fins, however, the thin cooling fins were vibrating with high speed air flowing over them, so I cut back the top of the ducting foam core material. The foam core material slides right under the cooling fins and is held in place without any adhesive.

The electrical connection to the new fan is just pig tailed into the fan that is standard with the compressor fridge cooling fins. When the fridge controller tells the standard fan to come ON, the new fan also comes ON. With the increased efficiency of moving air over the compressor cooling fins, the electrical usage went down to 1.3 amps/hour, almost half of the stock usage, which includes the amps/hour of the new fan. Much better.

So, that finishes up the driver's side or the cooking side.

Continued...

 

[Alley-Kat]

Now, over to the side dinette side.

You can see that I like a nice large table. We can actually sit two people facing each other and with a stool, the cook can sit down last in the aisle, with plenty of space on the table for three dinner sized plates, eating hardware, and beverages, plus some room for a few other things. We discovered that we didn't need seat backs, so, I stopped trying to figure out how to make those.

One thing that is a little hard to see is that the seat fronts are not "square" with each other. The ATC Bobcat is so small, that with the under seat space I wanted as storage for the battery (front) and water jugs (rear) there just wasn't enough room for the two people facing each to have both feet on the floor. One person would have their feet on top of the other person's feet.

So, I built the seat fronts with a little twist towards the center of the camper. A couple of inches on each side and our feet fit.

Here's the idea.

And, here's perhaps a better view with the table removed.

The Lagun table bracket is a bit of overkill, I probably could have used something simplier.

Continued...

 

[Alley-Kat]

For those that have never seen the base of a Lagun table... It's very sturdy.

Here's the extra, trapezoidal, shape that makes the foot well of the side dinette into a bunk. Remember I said there was a "trade off" in not being able to use my large table for this purpose, so, I'm willing to carry an extra component. The trapezoidal piece is just a hollow core door cut to size and then the edges are filled in with some pine, still very light and easy to store just about anywhere when not in use. I had my local upholstery shop cut the foam to size and then I sewed the cover material.

The cushions stay in place with a little birch edge tab, part of the center cushion is installed all the way down and the part near to the camera is yet to be pushed down.

Continued...