New Hawk owner

Vic Harder

Vic Harder

Doctor Electric
Site Team
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
5,258
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Hey folks,

Been lurking and reading for a while here. Heading down to Torrey, Utah to pick up our 2005 Hawk shell on Sept 26. Pretty excited about this!

Sold my 2000 Tundra a few weeks ago and picked up a 2002 GMC 2500HD with the 8.1L/Allison combo.

This is a whole lotta truck compared to the 3/4 sized Tundra. The truck is a real find, 203K km, never seen snow or much rain even. I have all the service records, and even so I have been slaving away getting the truck ready, and after 80+ items that I've repaired/changed/updated, she is ready to go.

Truck pics are in my Gallery - http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/album/996-vicharder/

Camper pics to follow next week!

Vic
 
The truck looks to be in great shape. By the time you get your used shell on there, you will have quite a nice unit at a great price... all in. Good for you. I look forward to seeing the camper on the truck soon.

Did GMC have the dual zone climate control in 2002. Where you could adjust the temp on the passenger side independent of the drivers side? I always thought that was a great idea, but then it disappeared.
 
thanks guys!

smlobx, I laughed when I pulled out the stock shocks... nothing left in them! I've always liked Koni's, and these vastly improved the ride. I replaced the steering damper with a Koni too, even though two mechanics who inspected the truck said the old one was fine. HAH, nothing left in that one either.

BillD, yes, the combined price will be quite reasonable; even so, the upgrades and features are coming at considerable $$$$. Already planning for water, heat, fridge, solar..... Hope to get much of that done over the winter and be ready for camping season in the Rockies next spring. My M3 is already complaining about getting shoved out of the garage in favor of the truck while I work on it... wait until it sees that my new love doesn't even have its own wheels! :p

Oh, and no dual climate controls.
 
Bill D said:
The truck looks to be in great shape. By the time you get your used shell on there, you will have quite a nice unit at a great price... all in. Good for you. I look forward to seeing the camper on the truck soon.

Did GMC have the dual zone climate control in 2002. Where you could adjust the temp on the passenger side independent of the drivers side? I always thought that was a great idea, but then it disappeared.
Click to expand...
I have dual zone on my 2015 GMC - works great.
 
No heat (yet). Thinking of a Propex. Only disappointment so far has been that it isn't an extended cab-over model Hawk :( Otherwise, it is a great base for building up as we want. Right now the only things we really want to address are better sleeping pads that are wider than our 20" NeoAir Thermarests and a fridge - plus the power to run it!
 
Question for those with older FWC that use the horizontally mounted propane tanks.... where do they mount? I am building up a layout for the camper insides, mostly for the batteries and associated electrical parts, water tank & pump, the propane system, and the fridge.

My initial thoughts are:
Water tank - up front under the window
Batteries - next to the water tank, on the pax side
Propane - their MIGHT be room on the driver's rear, but it would be very tight. Not sure what else would work here.
Fridge - up front?

The basic idea is to keep the weight low and forward, and to have maximum usable floor/cupboard space when the bed it pulled out.
 
Camper looks nice, a clean slate to build on :)

In 2004, Hawks and Grandbys were built with the fridge up front. they haven't repeated that since, I don't know why because in mine it works really well - We leave the bed extension pulled out all the time, but the stove, sink and fridge are all accessible regardless.

Galley pics post #2 in my build thread. The horizontal propane locker is mid-ship between the heater and fridge. Here's the outside view.

Water tank and battery are on front wall, visible in this post. Current production water tanks are slightly different form factor, but in the same area. My battery is is a bit different also (large data-center UPS battery).
 
from the mpg thread
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/12966-comparing-34-ton-trucks-fuel-economy/page-4


Hi Vic
Yes the inside looks very clean. Happy for you, standing up when camping sounds nice! Will you be able to reuse any of the cabinets?
Thanks for the photo fix this Tues. evening!
Russ

Russ, not sure if we can reuse the cabinets. My wife and I are coming from a nano-sized tenting and backpacking mindset, with a strong awareness of bears. So, we are deciding to keep all food and cooking gear in the cab of the truck, and are evaluating what can/must go in the camper. Shelves and such will be optimized for quick removal of bins to take outside, which is where we prefer to be.

Lots to learn and experiment with!
 
wuck said:
Camper looks nice, a clean slate to build on :)

In 2004, Hawks and Grandbys were built with the fridge up front. they haven't repeated that since, I don't know why because in mine it works really well - We leave the bed extension pulled out all the time, but the stove, sink and fridge are all accessible regardless.

Galley pics post #2 in my build thread. The horizontal propane locker is mid-ship between the heater and fridge. Here's the outside view.

Water tank and battery are on front wall, visible in this post. Current production water tanks are slightly different form factor, but in the same area. My battery is is a bit different also (large data-center UPS battery).
Click to expand...
Just re-read your whole build thread, Wuck. Nice work. I am jealous of your extended cab over.

I measured my parts and the camper, and the propane box will fit on the rear driver's side, and the Truckfridge 130 will stack on top of that with enough room for the small high mounted cabinet to stay if I want it there.

Similarly, the water tank and batteries will fit on the floor at the front under the window. I see you used a battery box. Flooded cell battery?

Now I have to figure out where a water heater and furnace will fit. Don't need a sink, as we will use a basin outside for washing up, or a stove, as we are still using the ultralight single burner https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5031-976/Vega-Stove I may want to put a metal surface on the counter top so we can boil water inside if it is really miserable out.

Question for the smart folks here, on this water tank I just bought from FWC, what are all the various fittings for? And which way is "up"?

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/image/16660-water-tank-fittings/
 
Ahh, my build thread, about 6 months behind the times. Lots done since then . . .

My battery is surplus from a large server/data center, it is an AGM sealed type. No battery box, it just looks that way.

One thing to think about as you ponder furnace/water heater locations is the framing involved. FWC has offered in the past a "Full Build Out" option for shell orders (or something sounding similar) where the walls are framed as though the camper is to be fully loaded w/options. A call to FWC with your serial number would verify whether or not that is the case for yours. It may save you some time/headaches to stay close to standard, unless of course you like to weld aluminum :)

Rather than try to type a crummy description of your tank, I labeled it for you with my best educated guess. Fill/vent point up :)

FWC_WaterTank.jpg
 
Thanks Wuck. Any ideas on why FWC included hoses and T on the drain? And with the vent and fill pointing up as you suggest, I'd imagine the box for the water heater needs to be tall enough to allow for some bend in the hoses. How much room is there above the water tank in your setup?

My shell is just that, no additional framing. I was wondering about what I might find in the walls. I have access to friends that can weld aluminum, but I can't do it myself.
 
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