Hawk Shell-Interior layout-What would you do different

[sameguy]

I just put down a deposit on a 2016 Hawk Shell with 2 burner stove and heater, roof vents, etc.. Will be picking it up in 2 weeks or so. I plan on building a dinette and likely additional counter and storage below. Curious what people have, like, dislike or would do differently as far as front dinette, side dinette, folding tables, counters, storage goes.

It will be just the two of us sleeping in the camper 99% of the time, (traveling for 2 weeks) although having space in an emergency for another person or two would be nice. We thought it would be great to be able to seat 4 people inside but I know we will be limited for space.

If you had a blank slate, how would you build it out?

 

[longhorn1]

I just put down a deposit on a 2016 Hawk Shell with 2 burner stove and heater, roof vents, etc.. Will be picking it up in 2 weeks or so. I plan on building a dinette and likely additional counter and storage below. Curious what people have, like, dislike or would do differently as far as front dinette, side dinette, folding tables, counters, storage goes.

It will be just the two of us sleeping in the camper 99% of the time, (traveling for 2 weeks) although having space in an emergency for another person or two would be nice. We thought it would be great to be able to seat 4 people inside but I know we will be limited for space.

If you had a blank slate, how would you build it out?

We bought our Grandby loaded, front dinette. The Grandby dinette seating is larger than the Hawk. Just 2 of us. I would suggest a good top loading fridge, 2 batteries, and a minimum of 160W solar. We have lots of storage under the dinette seats and plenty of storage in the cabinets. jd

 

[Bill D]

I would forget about the other 2 people, being you will be sleeping/eating 2 people 99% of the time.
I would consider carrying a small tent and plan on eating outside if you have guests.

I would also recommend taking your time on the build. Use it and discover what works and what does not work, then adapt accordingly. Make due with what you already have and then customize along the way. You'll probably change things a couple times along the way.

As long as you have your warm heater and a place for food and water, you'll survive.

 

[Vic Harder]

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

 

[fireball]

We had a side dinette hawk and bought a shell so I could build it for our use, which is my wife and two young sons. So my needs are greatly different than yours!

One thing I really like is not having the water system and worrying about it freezing and winterizing. A 5 gal Jerry can with spigot is simple and easy.

Our build is not yet complete as we have only done 6 or so nights in it and still trying to finalize plan so I will follow along to listen to others recommendations.

 

[sameguy]

Lots of good advice here, thank you all very much. The camper has a dual battery setup in it which I didn't mention before, with my second truck battery and Blue Sea ACR I think I will be in good shape as far as having enough power, in fact I think it will likely be a bit overkill.

I'm of two minds as far as solar goes. I love the idea of providing much of my power from solar, however we generally park in the shade when it's hot and often don't feel like stringing out cable for the panels to get them in the sun. Our power requirements are pretty low and through weeding out things we don't need and being very conservative with use, I'm not sure we will have need of much of a solar setup. I have a 120 watt foldable panel with a nice MPPT controller. It kept the house battery in the truck topped up on a 7 day trip through the Maze District last summer so that might get integrated into the build. I think a rigid panel may be pre practical.


I am planning on adding a heat exchanger in my cooling loop on the truck for pressurized hot water. We have used garden sprayers, which work surprisingly well, and a couple tankless systems, which, when they worked were nice too. I'm planning on keeping the camper dry for now. The only use for a sink in my mind is washing dishes and we have gotten by this long without one, don't see the need to waste the space now.

I hadn't thought of not having a table inside but that would save some space. I like the idea of having a place to sit, especially on the cold mornings while drinking coffee but a table isn't really necessary for that.

Good advice on going slow and using it as is for a while before committing to a more permanent buildout. Going from the teardrop or camping out of the back of the truck is going to feel like luxury to us. Getting out of bed and standing up to put our clothes on is going to be amazing, lol.

I'd love to see some interior pictures of your campers if you have any handy.

 

[fireball]

Where do you live and what types of trips will you be taking? That might help us to offer better advise.

I got the larger cushions from the grandby front dinette and have that setup in our Hawk right now. This gives a space for all four of us to sit, and folds down into a second large bed, giving us two nice sleeping areas. I'll try to grab some photos if that setup is of any interest.

 

[sameguy]

We live in Northeastern Wyoming. Most of our short trips are in the Big Horn mountains, about an hour or two from home for 2-4 days. On these outings we generally stay on one place most of the time, far off the beaten trails and far from campgrounds. We generally fish, hike, kayak and ride mountain bikes, dirtbikes/ATV. Our truck is set up for rough offroad travel, 7 inch lift, lockers, winch, airbags, etc. We do wander further for 1-2 week trips a few times a year and are planning Ouray and the White Rim trail this summer, British Columbia if we can fit it in.

 

[jjcpms]

Hi- new to the forum....I also just purchased a Hawk shell. I've had all kinds of "build thoughts" in my mind since. I do agree with Bill D. Time will tell what you don't and do need. That is exactly the reason I purchased a shell. That said I would love to see photos and comments of what others have done with their shells!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Here’s a build you might find interesting.

https://bill-veronica.blogspot.com/p/buil.html

 

[billharr]

Here’s a build you might find interesting.

https://bill-veronica.blogspot.com/p/buil.html

Just a note a couple of things I would have done differently. Added USB plugs, I am using small USB's plugged into the cig lighter outlets works just not a clean. I also would have put a door above the fridge to access the storage area over the fridge. Can only get in there when the top is up. I will add later but working on a kitchen remodel.

 

[larryqp]

We have a 2014 FWC Eagle shell purchased used in 2015. It came to us completely void except, FWC built in storage cabinets in the over the wheel benches and four small cabinets that hang on the side walls. We are proceeding very slow. First thing we did was go to the container store and buy 6 rectangular cloth storage boxes. They fit on the side benches and I use quick release buckles and straps to hold them in place. Everything but food goes in the boxes. When we want to cook, we take out our 2 "Kitchen boxes" and we have everything we need. When we want to pack our clothes to leave for a trip we bring the boxes in the house, pack them and then put them in the Eagle. Food goes into a large plastic tub with a tight lid which also gets strap onto the benches, while driving. And again when its time to cook we either grab what we need or take the whole tub outside. We have a swing away device mounted in the 2 inch receiver, that has a drop down table. 5 gal water job with spigot and a 10lb propane tank. We also carry a small folding aluminum RV tablet and two folding chairs which work inside and outside. Our coleman stove/grill combination stores in the truck cab behind the seats. ( We have a Ford ranger superb with the rear jump seats removed.)

We added a 65 L Dometic compressor refrigerator / freezer which sits in the Eagle on the floor up front (cab window) serves as a seat, plus places the weight well in front of the rear wheels. Installed a 12 v deep cycle AGM battery. Added the Yakima rails and canoe rack, and the rails also became my mounting for fixed 100 watts of solar. That's all we did the first year. We always had "cold meals" with us in case in rained.

Year 2 we added a Propex heater, which required me to build a small cabinet, so I decided to incorporate a one burner portable propane stove. It can be used inside or outside. Now we always have a few "one pot meals" in case it rains. We also bought king size pillow case which we leave on the cushions. The bottom sheet is kept on the large fixed mattress and then we just pull out the bed slide and stuff in the cushions and the bed is made. top sheet and sleeping back stay in place. My wife found a small portable plastic sink setup, that has a battery pump, 3 tubs and a dish drying rack. The while thing nests inside itself and is approximately 12x12x6".

Year 3 added a fixed counter top over the cloth boxes. We decided that that on cold or raining mornings all we really needed was counter space to make coffee and have a place to put "stuff", make sandwiches etc. So now we can boil water, press our coffee, be warm and hang out.

As you can see, we have moved very slowly and tried only to add things that we really needed and also keep the weight down. When the weather is good, we just sleep in the Eagle and do everything outside. But as we took longer and longer trips the number of days we didn't want to be outside increased. So we adjusted.

This year I'm in the process of designing a small cabinet to serve as storage but also a back rest when sitting on one of the benches and if I can afford it, we would like to add a 270 degree awning.

My advice:, use the camper, keep a notebook and jot down ideas when you are camping and traveling. What one person things is absolutely required might be totally unnecessary for you. We like things to be useful inside or outside whenever possible or have multiple uses.

Good luck, enjoy and Travel Safe
Larry QP

 

[DavidGraves]

Howdy

There is not much we would do differently with our '12 Hawk Shell....we VERY much enjoy the room it affords to sit opposite each other for rainy days and meals......and to sleep one up one down.

We take longer trips, often many weeks or more, so living space inside is important versus making the tiny camper seem like a home kitchen.

I would second or third the comments to use your camper for a while and enjoy making improvements that your sort of travel really needs.

We even make notes during travel for the next winters minor mods to the Hawk.

David Graves

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

I have a 2018 Hawk loaded Front Dinette.

I LOVEEEE the camper!

But..... If I was to do it all over again, I would have delete the Isotherm fridge entirely and either had the spot used for cabinets, or a black void to install an ARB fridge.

I have an ARB fridge inside the TRUCK and it is considerably more efficient than the Isotherm.

Other than that, no changes.

My .02

 

[ntsqd]

SHOES! Think about where all of them are going to go so that you're not tripping over them. This was one of our biggest headaches with our old camper.

Echo the thoughts about not having to shuffle stuff around to cook, eat, and then again to sleep, so where/how to store clothes, toiletries, etc., etc., etc.

Never had to live with the pull-out bed design, but it looks like a PITA to me. I'd build to avoid it. We considered extending the bed surface in our old camper so that we could turn the bed N-S and in the process create shoe & other storage cubby holes, but there just isn't enough space in a short-bed camper to pull that off.

Toilet: you want one that you don't have to go outside to use. Well, my wife does anyway. Now that we have that I'm not complaining.... The new to us camper has a black water tank, but we don't plan to use it. We plan to continue using the PETT type bags for their far greater convenience.

Ironic, I'm putting an Isotherm fridge in this camper, taking the old 3-way out. Not even going to try getting it to work better than it poorly does.

 

[larryqp]

We put our shoes in the wheel wells using the turnbuckle access doors. Our Eagle is bolted on thru the floor so there are no turnbuckles taking up space

After owning our Eagle shell for almost three years, this winter my project is to add 2 cabinets, the first which I just finished, sits on the passenger side of the rear window below the bed rail. It is similar to one I've seen built by the factory, but I built it with 3 shelves rather than 2. We plan to use it as a pantry, plus we can lean against it when lounging on the bench.

The 2nd cabinet will be a simple box with one door, with a Elfa modular basket drawer system inside, we purchased the Elfa system at the Container store. They are currently having a 30% off sale. The Elfa system is approximately 15 x 17 x19, we selected 2 small baskets and one large basket. This cabinet will go to the driver's side of the entry door. I'm using 1/4" birch plywood to reduce the weigh. The Elfa unit is pretty lightweight.

The pantry weighs in at 7lbs, I'm estimating the larger cabinet will weigh in at around 15 lbs with the Elfa unit. I liked the Elfa system because we had the option of 4 small basket drawers, 2 large basket drawers or the 2 small and 1 large drawers. So in the future if our storage needs change we can swap them out.

The Elfa system comes in 3 widths. I think the metal mesh basket are lighter that similar sized wooded drawers. There are heavier than plastic drawers, but I wanted something that would hold up to rough roads and last.

Once the cabinets are done, I'll order the same slam latches FWC uses to hold the doors close and match the current interior.

I think using the Eagle on many trips before building any cabinets really gave us a sense of what we needed, plus gave me time to look at lots of options.

 

[kramme]

This is a great thread, you all put a lot of thought into how to outfit your FWC.

Larryqp, I would love to find out what you did for a table on your swing away. Perhaps when you get a chance, could you post a picture of that, I would love to see it. We do not have a camper yet but it is coming in a few weeks and a swingaway is on my list to get. A table would be a bonus!.

Also liked your advice:" My advice:, use the camper, keep a notebook and jot down ideas when you are camping and traveling....." I will remember that.


So Cal Adventurer - As I have a ARB already (the hawk we order has a fridge (the large one) , I am going to also put my ARB in the truck. For now thinking of using it for a beverage holder (got to have a place for the beer).

 

[larryqp]

This is the table on my swing away gate. The unit was made by Tomken in Buena Vista, CO. In addition to the table it holds a 5 gal water can (shown) and a 10lb LPG tank (not Shown) The unit mounts in the 2" receiver, but also has a bracket bolted to the frame to keep it from bouncing on rough roads.

 

[kramme]

Thanks for sharing - very nice idea and well done!

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

Since its been awhile since i first replied to this post, and i've spent about a dozen nights in my Hawk since.

Here is some things i'd change.

I'm with Vic on the bedding frustration.

With the bed pulled out, the front dinette is basically useless in a hawk.

Im a photographer and often wanting to get on my laptop to download my data and clear my memory cards.

Having to slide the bed in and adjust the cushions for this has become a pain in my arse when doing it often.

I almost always travel solo, so when i think i am going to do is remove the additional cushions and keep the bed permanently slid in and buy a topper and sheets for it like that. So i can keep the dinette ready to go.

My .02