ramblinChet
Gone Traveling
I enjoyed the read also and love how you tape off the studs and "measure twice, cut once."
Eagle Shell buildout
- Thread starter Thevulture
- Start date
Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
Excellent work! Those 1st gen Tundras are workhorses!
RC Pilot Jim
Senior Member
Nice Job Vulture.
I love Eagles too. And you have cabinet building skills that I lacked. I'm sure you are loving the Eagle and the Engel. Did you buy the external temperature unit? If not buy it as it great to be able to monitor the inside temp remotely from the cab or cabinet inside.
Engel
We discovered it would hold ice cubes for up to a week in the desert as the bottom was close to freezing while the lettuce was always crisp on the top.
The one thing we missed back country camping was the heater that could be run at night while sleeping. Wife never went on these off grid trips. When she did come we used a110 volt space heater which easily took care of cold with hookups in the winter.
The speaker lift "very active" recommends is a good idea. Bob M has a video on it, click here. When t installed a 25 pound solar panel I mounted it in front of the inside lifting board so the only method I could use was the "speaker lift". Use closet end pieces on your lifting boards as the poie slips because the roof comes up at an angle.
Solar panels
I didnt read all of the replies in this thread so Solar may have been covered. Balance the weight of the panel about in the middle of the roof. (Repeating: When t installed a 25 pound solar panel I mounted it in front of the inside lifting board so the only method I could use was the "speaker lift".)
Make sure whatever size you choose that the output runs everything plus 3 extra amps to charge the battery in winter when the sun is low in the sky. Reminder Roof mounted panels cannot (easily) be moved to aim the cells at the sun.
Our 160 watt panel drained 30% generated 9.1 amps on June 23rd and 5.5 amps December 23rd. We average 3 amps per hour (Engle primary load 24 hours per day) with just enough amps to keep the battery charged. In 5 years of use battery percentage never dropped below 88% overnight with 14 hours of darkness. Death Valley Hot Springs. (Solo Winter desert camping is what I bought it for).
Electrical connection
The panel connector "slip connects" to connector on roof. All the off-road bouncing around caused it to lose connection. I replaced it with this.
More details and test results on page page 12. Replies # 111,115,119
I love Eagles too. And you have cabinet building skills that I lacked. I'm sure you are loving the Eagle and the Engel. Did you buy the external temperature unit? If not buy it as it great to be able to monitor the inside temp remotely from the cab or cabinet inside.
Engel
We discovered it would hold ice cubes for up to a week in the desert as the bottom was close to freezing while the lettuce was always crisp on the top.
The one thing we missed back country camping was the heater that could be run at night while sleeping. Wife never went on these off grid trips. When she did come we used a110 volt space heater which easily took care of cold with hookups in the winter.
The speaker lift "very active" recommends is a good idea. Bob M has a video on it, click here. When t installed a 25 pound solar panel I mounted it in front of the inside lifting board so the only method I could use was the "speaker lift". Use closet end pieces on your lifting boards as the poie slips because the roof comes up at an angle.
Solar panels
I didnt read all of the replies in this thread so Solar may have been covered. Balance the weight of the panel about in the middle of the roof. (Repeating: When t installed a 25 pound solar panel I mounted it in front of the inside lifting board so the only method I could use was the "speaker lift".)
Make sure whatever size you choose that the output runs everything plus 3 extra amps to charge the battery in winter when the sun is low in the sky. Reminder Roof mounted panels cannot (easily) be moved to aim the cells at the sun.
Our 160 watt panel drained 30% generated 9.1 amps on June 23rd and 5.5 amps December 23rd. We average 3 amps per hour (Engle primary load 24 hours per day) with just enough amps to keep the battery charged. In 5 years of use battery percentage never dropped below 88% overnight with 14 hours of darkness. Death Valley Hot Springs. (Solo Winter desert camping is what I bought it for).
Electrical connection
The panel connector "slip connects" to connector on roof. All the off-road bouncing around caused it to lose connection. I replaced it with this.
More details and test results on page page 12. Replies # 111,115,119
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