Jon R
Senior Member
The combustion products are exhausted outside with both heater types, so how is diesel heat more “dry?”
ST85 said:My wife and I did the build our own version many times and came up with the side dinette, furnace only, King bed and thermal pack and a few other small items (exterior lights, interior fabric, etc.) My regrets are the thermal pack and the furnace.
Has anyone else had the furnace issue here?
jsduty said:Well, I'm going to bump this again. I have spent 5 years researching and planning the purchase of a new GRANDBY. Ordered last April, and now it is ready for the install. Ordered with a role over couch for function not cost. and it showed up with the front dinette.
Please tell me everything is going to be ok. Spent a lot of time with the vision of a role over couch. The thing that is messing with me the most is the location of the outside shower.
I think you are going to love the front dinette. I had the rollover in an Eagle for a number of years and now have a Fleet with a side dinette and would have been just as happy with the front version. Not having a table is a pain and I bet after awhile you will really appreciate the setup
well said..UmkaAndHawk said:Everyone has different preferences, so it's no surprise that, despite the wide range of equipment, people are both happy or regretful about any of it.
For perspective, we're former (and still occasional) backpackers, so a hawk shell was a huge upgrade for us.
Our Hawk now has: a seat where the front dinette is in some layouts, with a cooler and fresh water tank underneath it. We use cushions from the bed on this bench seat. We've added a counter with sink and foot pump, gray water under the sink, food and kitchen supplies under the counter. We have a stove in the cabinet above the furnace. The furnace has a garage thermostat. We have a plain vent over the queen size bed and a maxxair over the galley. We've added an extra battery, an AC-DC charger ("shore power"?) We ran some warm white LED USB fairy lights around the inside roof perimeter with some velcro because the standard lights are just so...gray.
It's so perfect for us, we spend time on nearly every trip congratulating ourselves. Here's what we like:
* our design has so much more room than the built-out FWCs. We've even had other folks look inside and be amazed and jealous of the space.
* I know folks need a fridge, but we have been just amazed at how long things stay cold (enough for us) in the rotomolded cooler from Costco
* hot water would make things easier to clean, including ourselves, but there's so much infrastructure and maintenance involved in getting it
* the garage thermostat is a brilliant upgrade...keeps things from freezing (silicone plumbing for our water freezes pretty easily) while not disturbing us.
* we thought we'd need to extend the bed so we could sleep north-south. Meh, climbing over each other is just fine--have I mentioned we camp in a tent...?
* the furnace is a must-have...I mean, otherwise, couldn't we keep camping in the tent?
* the basic two burner Eureka stove means we can take it outside to cook (using the extra 10pound propane) or cook inside with a 1 pounder during bad weather. (I had thought of making a t-junction for propane...just hasn't been worth it...!) Having a stove built-inside seems really inconvenient to us!
* sliding out the cooler is about the only annoying thing of this the fridge setup, but it also makes a nice ottoman and iPad-netflix stand.
* we don't have an awning--because often where we park, there's a more beautiful spot just a few feet away from the truck and if there's too much sun, we set up a cover there.
* we don't have steps, lights, or much of anything on the outside. We're either in the camper or a bit away at some even prettier spot. Hanging out next to our vehicle isn't really all that appealing (although, we do sometimes, of course...space and weather dependent.)
* we did make a tarp cover for our door during inclement outdoor cooking and keeping things near the door dryer. Should have seen all the engineering that went into this, until we realized that a simple tarp stretched over the top with some line to the jack brackets was all we needed...
* added a compressor to the truck to air-down...used it once so far.
* foldable escape tracks, which we fortunately haven't used, but they make great leveling blocks.
* solar suitcase, but even that we have found was over kill with an extra battery...but all we charge is phones, an iPad, and the furnace is the big draw. So far two nights, pretty easy.
* didn't lift the truck (but did add bigger, e-rated, all terrains) and, given that it has sway bars, which are absolutely great for the extra weight on road--the camper is barely noticeable on a 2019 Tundra 4x4--I suspect they suck when we go on rough roads. If it weren't so damn expensive we might well get around to make it more off-road capable/comfortable (we've also dented the practically foil skid plate) but if we're honest, we're already going on as rough a road as we're likely to ever go on, so even that's not necessary.
Well, for those on the backpacker -> camper end of the spectrum, I hope this is helpful! Thanks to all!