Q. for Stan @ FWC...

[Tomas Tierra]

Hi Stan,
My '01 Ranger has no rain gutter above the door, bummer.I became quite used to this feature on my old Fleet.

Can I get a length of the alluminum gutter you guys use?? or do you think it is readily available at say, Home depot??

I noticed EROD's '96(?) Hawk has one the full length of the roofline. Is there a practical reason the Ranger doesn't have one??

Thanx Stan...

Tom

 

[pvstoy]

Hi Tom,

My old Fleet also had the rain gutter as yours did, they all did. I don't know what year they stopped puting them on any of the units. I think ERODS Hawk was not done at the factory. I have not done it to my Ranger yet, but you could go to HomeDepot or Lowe's and look at thier angle sheetmetal or to a sheetmetal place such as a air condition / heater company to have a custom peice bent up. After that just zip screw and seal. Place high side on the side the door swings out.

Good luck.

 

[benburnett]

rain gutters

We quit putting on the rain gutters over the door in about 96 or 97. I don't know if FWC has started to put them back on or not. I am sure Stan will be in later and be able to help you out on that one.

 

[Sam]

What was the reason you stopped using the gutters?

 

[benburnett]

rain gutters

When I first took over FWC in 94, I didn't really get to use a camper on a regular basis for about a year. In 96 or 97 I started training to become a scuba dive instructor and was using a camper almost every weekend. After being out in a few rain storms, I didn't see where the rain gutter really helped that much.

So between the use of the camper and then some issue that we had with the supplier of the metal back then, I decided to quit putting them on the camper. I don't remember what the problem was that we had with the supplier at the time or even who it was.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Thanx Ben for the explanation..I find that even when washing down, the gutter is good for keeping water off of the door...

this year in Oxnard was quite dry (1.89" for the YEAR!), and most of my camping is in Baja, so my need is not great. That said, I will still be researching a rain gutter..

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

sorry -- no extra info from me here on my end

we are not using it anymore

I have asked to see if we can get it again, but it is low on the priority list

I think it will happen down the road, but not anytime soon

We have a few other special projects in the works right now to improve on the our new models (more to come on this soon)

I would like to see the rain gutters come back
really easy to add to the camper
not much cost involved
nice to have when it is raining

Just shop around like Ben said, you should be able to find something that works well.

 

[John D]

This discussion about rain gutters opens the door to another discussion or debate; how far to extend the camper over the truck cab.

In my previous camper where the extension was 48 inches, my taller son (6'5") nearly cold cocked himself getting out of the truck on a couple of occasions. The dripping water gave us a good soaking down the back of the neck when it was raining.

I would like to see the camper builders square off on this topic. Some time ago, we owned an Alaskan. The steel reinforcing of the cabover part of that camper must have weighed nearly a ton! (exaggeration to make a point) Obviously, there are trade offs with the different dementions and how far to hang the camper over the truck cab. In addition to dripping rain, konking out tall people, and need for extra reinforcing, wind drag/fuel economy rears its ugly head with 4 dollar a gallon gas. How do you decide?

 

[jimjxsn]

The EZE Gutter System may do the trick. It is a flexible stick on plastic raingutter for RVs.

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/products/index.cfm?prodID=1782&src=SRQB

 

[benburnett]

bed extension

John,

Well usually it only takes about two konks on the head to get past the learning curve. Same as the back door.

Yes you do get rain running off when you are out in storms.

The trade off is the comfort and space when you are using the camper.

You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

I believe someone famous once stated that.

In the RV business, no truer words could ever be stated.

 

[erod]

the rain gutter is pretty cool, really didn't even notice it that much at first...it does help with the driping when in rain or washing the camper down. i am not a big fan however of how it looks, in fact i kind of thought it was a home made modification (no offense to anyone, very well maybe). i very much prefer the clean look of the camper without the gutter but it is functional non the less. what i always wondered is does alskan have a patent on the curved roof? i always thought that was a great idea for keeping stagnent moisture off the top of the camper? interesting link on the ezgutter, thanks jim.

 

[John D]

Ordinary engineers evolve solutions in which trade-offs and compromises provide solutions. Creative engineers accept no compromise.

Setting the bar very high, The Great Engineer provides birds with hollow bones shaped perfectly for the stress encountered and through which air flows to help with breathing. A NASA rocket scientist is thus intimidated by a little bird.

RVs are neither rocket nor bird, not engineered by NASA or God.

 

[erod]

pretty sure god would get a FWC/ATC depending on his needs and preferences , and NASA would love one on the moon!