Jack's 2007 Chevy with a 2008 Hawk

L

locrwln

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
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113
Location
Reno, NV
Sorry this has been delayed, but been busy and am just getting around to posting everything up.

I found and purchased a 2008 FWC Hawk shell, it was owned by an older couple that bought it new and used it about 8-9 times and it looks new inside and out. It spent most of it's life in a barn or under a carport, so it didn't see much if any weather or especially sun. Got a good deal on it and my wife and I are already planning the mods to the camper. :wings:

2008 Hawk Shell model that was like brand new inside and out. Saw very little actual use, yeah for me.





The jacks are from my other camper, so they won't be staying on.

Jack
 
I was attempting to wire up the FWC, so I needed a "parking light" wire and a 12v hot wire for the interior lights and for a 12v supply for my Waeco refrigerator. I ordered a 3 port 12v to put inside and a seperate fuse block. Working out of town sometimes sucks, because I had no idea what GM had done for me...

Sunday morning my wife and I head out to the garage and begin wiring everything up. I had to re-do the wire on the camper side. No idea what the PO was thinking, but they had a 7 pin male plug with wire nuts to splice everything together and it was really hokey. I cleaned everything up and planned on using a different plug, but after working my way through everything, the 7 pin made the most sense.

I mounted the fuse block and began running wires. I crawled under the truck to route the wires and look for a place to tap into the parking lights. Well little did I know, but GM was way ahead of me. I noticed a wire loom zip tied up to the front bed mount on the driver's side. I pulled it down and realized that it was a "trailer" wiring harness, I looked in the owner's manual and found out that it was specifically for wiring up a cabover/5th wheel plug in the bed. So a 7 pin coupler made even more sense, GM even placed a hole in the corner to route the wires up through, gotta love it when the factory does the hard work for you.

Then the problem...I couldn't figure out why the 12v hot wire wouldn't show as being hot. The owner's manual was no help, so to the internet we went. Come to find out, I needed to install a 30amp fuse in the "stud #1" position under the hood. Monday morning I ran down to Napa and picked up the fuse and now we have power. Needless to say, I removed the auxillary fuse block (not needed right now, will add it back later).

Jack
 
My wife and I decided it would be nice to give the new camper an overnight try to figure out what worked and what we needed to improve. We have been up the road from Frenchman's Lake to Doyle (Northern California), but never explored the area or driven north towards Milford.

Sunday afternoon, we loaded up and headed out. We got past Frenchman's Lake and as we were headed north, we came across a road labeled Dixie Point Lookout and decided to give it a try. As you can imagine it was one of the many Firewatch Lookouts that scatter the Sierras. The road had been bladed otherwise the snow would still have been too deep.



On the way up, we found some Holly and Snow plants in bloom.



The watch tower



The views...








Jack
 
We headed back down the mountain and turned north and as it was getting later in the after noon, we decided to look for a place to camp and turned off one of the roads in the area and found a great one.



Had to cross the creek to get there.



Woke up Monday morning and as I was looking around camp, I spotted a buck with his antlers still growing and velveted. I couldn't get a picture because he kept moving in and out of the trees and the camera wouldn't pick it up.

We packed it up (which took all of about 10 minutes) and took another way out. We made it up and out to the main road. As we were making our way north, my wife spotted a bear. I skidded to a stop and got the camera out and was just able to get a picture of a beautiful cinnamon boar. He moved up the hill and we decided to leave him to his foraging.



Found a little fixer-up-er



The view out the front door.



We turned before making it to Milford and turned left and headed for Beckwourth on Hwy 70 and back home.

Planning on a couple of day trip this coming weekend into Northern Nevada.

Jack
 
I forgot to add some minor mods that I have done to the camper.

First of all, those "storage boxes" that are mounted inside the camper, after I hit my head on them for the second time and my wife and I could find no use for them, nothing we owned would fit inside them, off they came. Not sure what other people do/use them for, but for us, they were just in the way. No more hitting my head, well except for the occasional door entry/exit...

On my Lance, when I purchased it, the dealer installed these "centering" mounts that are mounted in the four corners of the bed and center the camper in the bed. They also prevent the cabover from shifting side to side or twisting inside the bed. I knew that I didn't want to mount something like that, but during our drive home with our new to use FWC, we were driving through the serious wind and when I would stop to check everything out, I could see that the camper has shifted in the bed.

I decided that before I did the "permanent" mount and knowing the terrrain/abuse the camper would see, I needed a solution. So I got out the measuring tape, measured between the wheelwells of the truck bed and measured the width of the camper base and realized that there was almost a 2" difference. So a few cuts with some plywood, some paint and screws, I made some plywood "bumpers" that I screwed to the side of the camper between the tie down access doors. As I lowered the camper back into place, the bumpers centered and located the camper perfectly. Now after two trips, there has been no shifting or twisting of the camper within the bed. Sorry no pics of those two mods, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Our only regret so far, is that we didn't get one sooner...:wings:

Jack
 
Never heard of anyone call a fire lookout a watch tower before. I've been all over that area and never seen a bear. Maybe they just don't like Jeeps.
 
Never heard of anyone call a fire lookout a watch tower before. I've been all over that area and never seen a bear. Maybe they just don't like Jeeps.


Yeah, I have been all over the sierras and have seen a few females and juvenile males, but never have seen one that big. He was impressive. Don't worry, that is the first one my wife has really seen too, she missed the last one I saw (in my Jeep) and wasn't with me on the other occasions.

Jack
 
Nice set up, that thing looks brand new. Enjoyed the reports and pics.


It literally was, which is why I couldn't pass it up. It has a litte wear now...

Jack
 
Hey Jack, still have the Hawk?
Just wondering if the 5th wheel wiring harness held up as power?
 
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