Hey All - Like many of the junior members here, I too was a lurker…until now. So I’ll give a little background then some pics of our setup and mods. Before that, I need to thank everybody here for posting their mod and trip info; and Chicali at FWC for all his help.
Very similar to a post by slooowr6 (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3615), we had a 1987 Westfalia Camper and we too suffered from the “westy syndrome”…meaning “how far will we get before we break down?’, and ‘how long will it take us to get home?” After putting a lot of money into our westy and having had enough of the ‘syndrome’, we decided to look into a pop-up cabover. Former tent campers before the Westy, we grew accustomed the creature comforts of the Westy and could not go back to tent camping.
Our first chance to view a pop-up cabover came when someone was selling a FWC in our neighborhood. Turned out to be a shell model Hawk, that would neither fit our current ‘95 Tacoma or the much anticipated (still anticipating) ‘05 or newer Tacoma. However, it was good to actually see the inside and all the workings of a FWC. About one month later we saw a 2004 Eagle listed on Craigslist and located about 30 minutes away. Knowing these things usually went fast, we immediately set up an appointment to view…but we had to wait a week! The day after we set up the appointment, I was running some errands and saw a FWC on a newer Nissan Frontier. I chatted with the owner of the FWC/Frontier about his rig and needless to say he loved it, but he and his wife were ready for something a little bigger. I thought this could be it! However, he informed me that in order to move onto something bigger, they needed to sell their house which in this market didn’t look like it would happen very soon and they weren’t in any hurry. So, the day before we were going to go look at the Eagle, I received a call from the FWC/Frontier guy…he said his wife’s MG needed an engine rebuild and that he would sell the camper to us for the cost of the engine…an even swap for him. One day later we were the proud owners of a 1990 FWC Ranger II.
The camper came equipped with a 3-way fridge, sink, water storage and stove. With the Westy, we never used the sink or stove, so those were the first things to go. And with the propane now gone, no need for the 3-way fridge. Additionally, when we hung out in the camper for the first time, it seemed like the counter was right in your face and very little standing room. So the first task was to remove the entire interior leaving the fridge cabinet for storage.
After removing all the cabinetry except the fridge part, we rebuilt a new 30” by 14” counter using the old cabinet wood and a piece of scrap corian from a local counter factory. Found some plastic slider track online and made slider doors from some fiberboard lying around the garage.
Installed an optima blue top and wired it to a Surepower 1315 then to an Iota distribution panel. The distribution panel powers the lights (interior: cool white LEDs from superbrightleds.com; exterior: one red LED), a radio, and a couple of 12V outlets.
Conveniently, our ’95 Tacoma had a hole at the bottom back of the truck cab that could be accessed via the storage compartment under the drivers side rear seat and was the exact right diameter to fit the Marinco receptacle…so we ran 10 awg wire from there, along the side of the drivers seat under the step, through the firewall where the other wires were run, then to the battery (thanks FWC for the wiring diagram).
Because we shortened the counter, there is now a 24” by 14” space in front of the counter that we are currently using to store a foam pad for the bed.
Oh, by the way, Sadie and Leo like it too!
After our maiden voyage, we came up with a few more ideas. The most important was to lift the couch to the window ledge level so we could maximize the floor space while maintaining a level surface for the dogs to ride/sleep.
Very similar to a post by slooowr6 (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3615), we had a 1987 Westfalia Camper and we too suffered from the “westy syndrome”…meaning “how far will we get before we break down?’, and ‘how long will it take us to get home?” After putting a lot of money into our westy and having had enough of the ‘syndrome’, we decided to look into a pop-up cabover. Former tent campers before the Westy, we grew accustomed the creature comforts of the Westy and could not go back to tent camping.
Our first chance to view a pop-up cabover came when someone was selling a FWC in our neighborhood. Turned out to be a shell model Hawk, that would neither fit our current ‘95 Tacoma or the much anticipated (still anticipating) ‘05 or newer Tacoma. However, it was good to actually see the inside and all the workings of a FWC. About one month later we saw a 2004 Eagle listed on Craigslist and located about 30 minutes away. Knowing these things usually went fast, we immediately set up an appointment to view…but we had to wait a week! The day after we set up the appointment, I was running some errands and saw a FWC on a newer Nissan Frontier. I chatted with the owner of the FWC/Frontier about his rig and needless to say he loved it, but he and his wife were ready for something a little bigger. I thought this could be it! However, he informed me that in order to move onto something bigger, they needed to sell their house which in this market didn’t look like it would happen very soon and they weren’t in any hurry. So, the day before we were going to go look at the Eagle, I received a call from the FWC/Frontier guy…he said his wife’s MG needed an engine rebuild and that he would sell the camper to us for the cost of the engine…an even swap for him. One day later we were the proud owners of a 1990 FWC Ranger II.
The camper came equipped with a 3-way fridge, sink, water storage and stove. With the Westy, we never used the sink or stove, so those were the first things to go. And with the propane now gone, no need for the 3-way fridge. Additionally, when we hung out in the camper for the first time, it seemed like the counter was right in your face and very little standing room. So the first task was to remove the entire interior leaving the fridge cabinet for storage.
After removing all the cabinetry except the fridge part, we rebuilt a new 30” by 14” counter using the old cabinet wood and a piece of scrap corian from a local counter factory. Found some plastic slider track online and made slider doors from some fiberboard lying around the garage.
Installed an optima blue top and wired it to a Surepower 1315 then to an Iota distribution panel. The distribution panel powers the lights (interior: cool white LEDs from superbrightleds.com; exterior: one red LED), a radio, and a couple of 12V outlets.
Conveniently, our ’95 Tacoma had a hole at the bottom back of the truck cab that could be accessed via the storage compartment under the drivers side rear seat and was the exact right diameter to fit the Marinco receptacle…so we ran 10 awg wire from there, along the side of the drivers seat under the step, through the firewall where the other wires were run, then to the battery (thanks FWC for the wiring diagram).
Because we shortened the counter, there is now a 24” by 14” space in front of the counter that we are currently using to store a foam pad for the bed.
Oh, by the way, Sadie and Leo like it too!
After our maiden voyage, we came up with a few more ideas. The most important was to lift the couch to the window ledge level so we could maximize the floor space while maintaining a level surface for the dogs to ride/sleep.
Congrats.
