I second what BillD said. Forget about the 1% of the time, and go slow, and plan on remodeling along the way. I rebuilt a Hawk Shell two years ago. We supplement the camper with a 12' CLAM brand tent that we use as our outdoor shelter. With the side walls and a Little Red Campfire, and when the weather is foul, it provides us a nice outdoor space to do most of our cooking and hanging out area.
Would do again:
- No padding on any benches, and don't miss them either.
- No inside table
- LED lights inside the cabinets
- 130L TruckFridge mounted on top of propane box, door opens with hinge at front of camper. Makes getting stuff out of the fridge without climbing into the camper itself a breeze. (We cook outside)
- Used 3/8" birch plywood. No voids, strong, and lighter than most builds. Inside walls use 1/8" birch. Rubbed oil finish.
- Large opening cabinets, so we have flexibility in what to stuff in there.
- 20g water tank, pump; plumbed so that that the "drain" valve (nice metal ball valve) has pressure for filling bottles and such outside)
- Propex heater
- Home designed/built solar/electrical system. That's a whole 'nother thread -
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/13230-i-need-more-power-scotty/
Would NOT do again:
- faucet inside. Thought we might do dishes inside, but that hasn't happened.
- batteries quiet as large. I could have gone smaller capacity and saved some weight/space
- Stuff quite as many infrastructure pieces into small spaces. This saved a huge amount of space, and yet can make maintenance a bit more work than it should be. I like the overall benefit, but can also see why FWC "wastes" space for ease of future adjustments.
Wish list:
- full queen bed WITHOUT slide out. I hate having to rearrange bedding, and the lack of space with the bed pulled out. I am thinking of a Grandby shell and using the first foot of floor space as additional bedding space with cabinets underneath. The effective inside space would be like a Hawk. OR, a flatbed Hawk/Fleet would have 5' bed as well
- Replace Propex with a TRUMA combined heater/water heater... for an outside shower... maybe...
- more storage space