Making the Most Out of a Raven Shell - 1

[eyemgh]

This is the truck we bought used with the FWC. The Silverado is a 2008 1500 LTZ and the Raven is an '18 shell. It came with a heater, thermopack and nothing else. No solar. No shore power. Alternator charging only. This thread is a little recap of what we did to make it pretty well suited for us.

 

[eyemgh]

For the exterior we added a Mule bracket that let us add both a ARB awning and a AT jerry can holder. It usually stays on the truck, full.

 

[eyemgh]

After looking at the Scout campers, we knew we wanted a sink that drained, but were fine without running water.

There was already a marine board counter from the previous owner. I added a sink with a drain and a camco exterior drain.

 

[eyemgh]

We didn't like the way the sink looked. We weren't using the back curtain, so we repurposed it to cover the lower cabinet and prettied up the edge of the marine board with step molding.

We carry a Iwatani grill in the lift top storage area above the heater.

 

[eyemgh]

The previous owner added the flip down seat with a home made cushion. I had a custom cushion matching one made for when it's down.

We have a bamboo mattress that covers that whole width where my wife sleeps.

Still plenty of room to access a port-a-potty at night!

 

[eyemgh]

We added some cheap, but very functional internal skeleton soft cabinets. I attached the lower by screwing through two paint stirrers before putting the cabinet "floor" back on. I first tried just stapling it, but the sticks keep it from being floppy. The upper is attached with industrial Velcro. It's a great, very light solution for storage.

We removed the head bonking wall storage thingy and added 4XLand4xSea pouches on both sides.

 

[eyemgh]

Finally I installed nylon grommets with spearfishing line to hold small carabiners to hang things.

 

[eyemgh]

I added a IOTA charger. The 15a NOCO interface has 2 female ends, so we can go 110 direct with the unused one if we figure out anything that we need to plug in.

We also added a Victron clone shunt monitor. That's the little bird's nest of wires to the right. I didn't want to shorten a bunch of tiny wires.

Now I see I also forgot to cut a zip tie. Dooh!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Again, sorry for the bazillion posts. Maybe someone can clue me into adding more than one pic. It just kept saying my upload was too big, no matter what angle I tried.

All in all it's a very functional setup that allows cooking with the lower seat/bed flipped up and sleeping accommodations for 3 with the upper extended.

It's been a work in progress. We've been using it without all of that, but just added the final touches today.

Here is a thread on resizing photos that might help you out. There are a number of programs that will resize. Another way to post multiples is to use another hosting site (e,g, Flickr), then link the address of that photo to WTW by using the picture icon. Let me know if I can help, but I may be away for a week or so.

 

[eyemgh]

Here is a thread on resizing photos that might help you out. There are a number of programs that will resize. Another way to post multiples is to use another hosting site (e,g, Flickr), then link the address of that photo to WTW by using the picture icon. Let me know if I can help, but I may be away for a week or so.

I think I figured it out. I thought the limit was 500K per image, which I resized to. I'm guessing though that it's 500K TOTAL for all images in a post.

Went back and edited. Thanks!

All in all it's pretty functional for such a small rig.

 

[astropuppy]

Very nice. What make/model are your soft cabinets? Love your battery box, clean and neat. Mine looks like a birds nest.

 

[eyemgh]

I used these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J6R47HW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details


In the second to the last picture. You’ll see the “floor.” I took two paint sticks because they’re so thin, drilled them so they didn’t split and dropped three screws into each right through the cloth. Then I put the cloth covered heavy card stock “floor” over that so it looks clean. Between the way I attached it, and the internal frame, it’s plenty rigid. The fronts stay open with magnets and the color integrates with the Silver Spur nicely.


Organized the insides with these to color match:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M0PYHM5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

And got these for under the sink and to organize coffee stuff in the extra space in the battery box:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q1BXWRR?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

I’m shocked at how well it works. I got a bid for a custom set of drawers, but it would have been speedy, and he estimated that it would be close to 100 pounds!

 

[goinoregon]

nice work. i like the simple straightforward approach. and keeps weight down