Ordered an ATC Bobcat for my 2001 Tundra

[gary515]

Hi to all fellow popup folks. I ordered a ATC Bobcat for my 01 first gen 4x4 Tundra on Monday. I had researched all your great info from this site and hope I included the options that will work best for me. Frank, a contributor to this site and a Bobcat-02 Tundra owner, has been very helpful via phone. I have noted below my option list. I would value your opinion on my choices. Also to add any not on the list.

I will not be doing any extended boondocking. Trips will mostly be day or two at campgrounds, RV parks with power hookups and an Alaska trip is on to do list.

3 way - Dometic 1.9 cu ft fridge
Forced air furnace 16,000 BTU
Rear window
Elect sink pump
Mech jacks
Aux Battery
Rear wall steps
Roof lift exterior gas struts (I'm 71 years old)
110 volt system
Wired for solar. Having them place plug on drivers side. Future use of solar would be a portable panel.
Full length Yakima tracks. Don't know what I will place on roof. Possibly a torpedo luggage container
110 to 12 volt invertor
Solar controller mounted in battery compartment
LED Bulbs. Should I get standard bulbs and buy the LED's myself?

ATC is mounting the shore plug on the drivers side.
ATC is making the side couch shorter to allow room by door for porta potty.
The only roof vent is the standard one which they will place over stove. I am considering having them place this vent over bed and ordering the fantastic fan over the stove.
Like I told Frank I am a first time RVer of any kind and am not too knowledgeable re the electrical. I just want the ability to connect to power when I can and charge the battery, run a 110 appliance, and charge cell phone, laptop, etc.

That's about it. Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for any reply.

Gary

 

[K6ON]

Hi to all fellow popup folks. I ordered a ATC Bobcat for my 01 first gen 4x4 Tundra on Monday. I had researched all your great info from this site and hope I included the options that will work best for me. Frank, a contributor to this site and a Bobcat-02 Tundra owner, has been very helpful via phone. I have noted below my option list. I would value your opinion on my choices. Also to add any not on the list.

I will not be doing any extended boondocking. Trips will mostly be day or two at campgrounds, RV parks with power hookups and an Alaska trip is on to do list.

3 way - Dometic 1.9 cu ft fridge
Forced air furnace 16,000 BTU
Rear window
Elect sink pump
Mech jacks
Aux Battery
Rear wall steps
Roof lift exterior gas struts (I'm 71 years old)
110 volt system
Wired for solar. Having them place plug on drivers side. Future use of solar would be a portable panel.
Full length Yakima tracks. Don't know what I will place on roof. Possibly a torpedo luggage container
110 to 12 volt invertor
Solar controller mounted in battery compartment
LED Bulbs. Should I get standard bulbs and buy the LED's myself?

ATC is mounting the shore plug on the drivers side.
ATC is making the side couch shorter to allow room by door for porta potty.
The only roof vent is the standard one which they will place over stove. I am considering having them place this vent over bed and ordering the fantastic fan over the stove.
Like I told Frank I am a first time RVer of any kind and am not too knowledgeable re the electrical. I just want the ability to connect to power when I can and charge the battery, run a 110 appliance, and charge cell phone, laptop, etc.

That's about it. Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for any reply.

Gary


Congrats on the new Bobcat, you'll love it. Order the Fantastic Fan, you won't regret it. I have two of them in my camper and love them. ATC is only a few miles from my home and I visit almost weekly. It will be fun watching your camper come together. Marty, Jeff and the gang are all super guys and ATC's customer service is second to none. Congratulations !

 

[ski3pin]

Congrats on your new camper. We also knew nothing about rv's or campers when we started down this road. Hope the camper opens a world of fun to you. Happy travels!

 

[Alley-Kat]

The only roof vent is the standard one which they will place over stove. I am considering having them place this vent over bed and ordering the fantastic fan over the stove.

Gary



Congrats on the new Bobcat, you'll love it. Order the Fantastic Fan, you won't regret it.



I have the 12 speed FantasticFan in the rear, and the old fashioned, metal cover, no fan, vent up front. This metal vent does NOT let in any light, which is good for my wife when she needs to sleep in the daytime due to a migraine. I park in the shade so the camper is cool and the front vent doesn't need to be opened for ventilation. I made a velcro held curtain across the bed area to keep that area nice and dark for her and the soft side windows are kept closed. I go for a walk and come back in an hour or so. She's all better by then.

When it's hot at night, I can run the 12 speed FantasticFan on setting #3, blowing out, no noise is made, and with the metal roof vent over the bed open, it draws in the outside air. Just right. BTW, setting #4 is just faintly hear-able from the bed, by my ears.

Marty, Jeff and the gang are all super guys and ATC's customer service is second to none. Congratulations !



Ditto!

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

When it's hot at night, I can run the 12 speed FantasticFan on setting #3, blowing out, no noise is made, and with the metal roof vent over the bed open, it draws in the outside air. Just right. BTW, setting #4 is just faintly hear-able from the bed, by my ears.



I do the same but have the cheaper FanFan.

 

[takesiteasy]

I would say the extra vent is worth it. We have two fantastic fans which is probably overkill, but occasionally we use both on a low setting- keeps the air moving on a still night and not noisy. One neat aspect of the variable speed fantastic fan is that it has a rain sensor which closes the vent automatically if it starts to rain. Good feature if you are away from the camper, or sound asleep.

I ended up deleting the rear steps from my order and haven't missed them. We use a small 3-step stool to get in and out of the camper and it is tall enough to reach the top with the roof down when we need to, which hasn't been often. We use it to open and close the window flaps on the outside too. We got the LED lights from the factory- saved the hassle of finding the bulbs on our own, but many have done that without a problem. Just another step that I didn't want to do (lazy, haha).

Congrats on the camper. I'm sure you will enjoy it like we are enjoying ours.

 

[rotti]

Looked over your list and here are my thoughts:

Screen door? A must for me and very difficult to add later.
Two vents and 14 speed FF. Yes
2 way electric only frig. YES!

 

[ski3pin]

I believe a screen door is standard from ATC. We use this in our receiver for a step.
ottostep Learned about it here on WTW. We also have this stashed away in a cubby hole - easy fold.

If we ever need anything more we go camping with Ted. He always has his short aluminum ladder along.