New to me grandby

[97grandby]

Well I've made some good progress on my camper mods and more to go. I'll try and update more this weekend. New foam and fabric arrived in the past few days. This new foam should really be huge improvements over the 20 year old sagging foam that is in there. The old foam was 4 inches and this is 6. So I'll need to adjust the brackets a few inches but well worth the pay out. Also it will rise the seating level 2 inches and as I am just over 6 foot it will be nice not to have to go so low to the ground to get up and down.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

I upgraded with a lot of help from DrJ, all my electrical, added solar and my battery bank. I'll try to get some pictures this week when I'm working on the cushions.


2- 6 volt 225 amp hour each batteries VMAXTANKS AGM (Total of 225 amp hours at 12v's)

2-120 watt flex panels on the roof. Mounted using exisiting screw holes in roof(240 watts total)

8-gauge wiring from panels to charge controller.

40 amp Tracer Solar Battery Charge Controller with remote Meter (A bit overkill but I will never out grow it)

2030 Trimetric Battery moniter system- Pretty much a battery gauge for how much power I'm using and how much is left.

Blue Sea Systems ML-ACR with Remote and Manual Control to have the truck charge the camper when driving and it charges and maintains the truck battery with the solar when I am parked at my house.

8gauge wire from truck battery and alternator to my acr controller

Progressive Dynamics Charge Controller 60 amp with manual remote


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

So spent the morning getting my new foam and fabric upholstered. It is amazing the difference it made in the camper and how much more comfortable the couch/down bed is now. This is as comfortable as my lazyboy and my bed in my house. This is a close 2nd to my favorite mod next to my solar.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

Took a few pictures of the battery upgrades along with the trimetic set up. Still need to clean up the wiring with some zip ties but so far its works great


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

Few more pictures in the camper. My trucks interior is red so this now matches the truck as well.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

Here is one of the old and new in a post to see the difference. Also, i have the old foam and pads I'd happily give to another member if they can use them. I did remove the hardware and the plywood inside but both are pretty easy to replace.



1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

Here is my camp chuck box. Easy to take in and out when I'm cooking indoors or out. Lots of useable storage.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[DrJ]

I really like the new cushions. What a great upgrade.
How much was it to do it?
Was it hard to get the right size figured out?

 

[97grandby]

I just took a tape measure to my old cushions and to get the basic length and width. I knew I wanted a deeper, higher quality foam. I tired to go to the company I used when I had a custom made bed for my toy hauler but they were out of the foam I wanted. So I found a company someone else on the boards used and they had it to me with in a week for 1/2 what the first company tried to charge. I went with 6 inch foam with an idl of 34 and had it Dacron wrapped. That too, was at my house with in a week. Took a bit to get the brackets and get the back rest to sit correctly. the factory locations would no longer work as the new was 50% more foam then stock but it was well worth it. Entire thing took less then 3 hours from pulling the old cushions out to having a nap on my new bed/couch.


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[68 Siesta]

Nice work. When can I bring my camper by for the same upgrade in cushions?


Sent from my iPad using Wander The West

 

[97grandby]

Nice work. When can I bring my camper by for the same upgrade in cushions?


Sent from my iPad using Wander The West

soon as you get the goods and bring them to Vegas


1990 Ford F-250
1997 fwc grandby

 

[97grandby]

Well just spent 3 days camping by great basin national park and other then my sons broken leg on a four wheeler accident, it was a very fun and the mods have proven to be very sucessfull. With 240 watts of solar my batts were back up to 90% around noon and fridge seemed to have all the power it wanted. The weather was 30's at night and the furnace worked great. But adding the new foam and fabric on the cushions made a world of difference. I have a few more wiring jobs to get to, but I am getting pretty close to finishing up the last things on my current upgrades.

 

[DrJ]

Great solar report. Glad the upgrades are working so well.
90% by noon in October is great,especially if you are using your heater a lot at night.
Hope your son's leg heals quickly.

 

[Vic Harder]

yes, that's impressive recharging. The last 10% can take a long time though. What were the readings by the end of day?

 

[97grandby]

yes, that's impressive recharging. The last 10% can take a long time though. What were the readings by the end of day?

93-95ish. Never got back to 100 on the trip


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