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Squatch

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Those that have followed the Moon truck thread know that truck is also known as Black Beans. The companion to my '88 Isuzu Trooper Red Beans. So for now I'll call my 2012 Eagle camper RICE! Once mounted up I'll be driving Black Beans and Rice! What the heck Ya gotta have fun.

So a little over A year ago we bought a slightly used Eagle shell from a dealer in FL. Story and pics here.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/10183-its-been-a-long-time-coming/

We have used the camper a few times for a couple of extended trips as a tag-a-long on the boat trailer as the truck project continues. Overall it works well as it is but things can always be improved.

I figured I would start a thread to show and discuss mods and additions to the camper as we go along. I'll be installing it in the truck and also documenting wiring hook ups ect as we go along.



I've picked up a couple of items from the long term wants list. One of these came in today.

I got my Road shower. This will work on Red Beans or the Camper. Now I will have a hot shower when I camp in remote spots. Solar heated. I want to eventually make up an Insulated cover for it. Something to wrap it with at night.

Seems to be well made and I like the design. For the price It's not hardly worth trying to make one up yourself once you've seen it.

Sitting on some packing foam.


Brass valve, shraeder valve to add some pressure if you want, and a place to lock a cable to.


Fill cap with 20 lb release valve. Adjustable hose sprayer.


The bottom. 4 SS carriage bolts slide in this track. 1 on either side of a rack bar. Then 2 curved pieces of metal go under the rack bar on the bolts and add lock washers and SS locnuts.


I sat it on the roof rack on Red Beans just for a look see. I would probably move a bike rack inboard some and place it there if using it.




Gives a nice idea of the size compared to a bike rack.


Once cleaned with a little bleach these are safe for potable water. Hot water for dish washing ect. And you can drink out of it if not too warm. It holds 5 gallons.

I think I'm going to like it. Now I can leave my little Solar Shower bag at home! :D
 
I think that is a much better idea than an outdoor shower on a camper. Not tied into main system so no winterizing and doesn't have to use main water supply. I am curious if it will actually get hot in cooler weather but good for dishes and dogs and dirty feet anytime :) I like it!
 
The Camp-o-tel in the 1960's had a cylindrical water carrier that was very similar to the container above,.which mounted to the roof top rack that supported the Camp-o-tel rooftop tent. It also had a chuckbox/cooking/table station that mounted to the rooftop rack.

My family had one and so did both of my Uncle's families. I recall them working pretty well. We used it a lot.

See: http://dougsvintagetrailers.com/campotel
 
Hopefully I'll get to try it soon!

In the meantime.

The Fridge came in today. So far I like it. Same foot print as my old steel belted Coleman cooler but a little taller. Pretty much the same interior volume. But no ice taking up room.

Eventually the idea is to add solar to the camper to run it self contained indefinitely at the beach ect. No more ice runs!


After I installed the handles.










Now I need to get back to work. I'm forgoing camping and fishing ect for a while to get the truck ready to go!
 
I was in Costa Rica recently an every Toyota Land Cruiser had a homemade water setup like that on a roof rack


Sent from my iPhone using Wander The West
 
Thanks folks.

I prefer this shower concept to dealing with an onboard water system. I don't want that hassle.

I'll probably turn it on this evening. It's supposed to sit for 24 hours after shipping before being turned on. Gotta let the coolant settle I guess. I'll use it on 120vac 1st and get it cold loaded with water bottles and such. Then I'll hook it up to a pair of Optima blue tops and see how long it runs on them before dropping to 12.2 volts without charging.

I did a test fit of the fridge in Black Beans. I think I'll be carrying it there. This keeps weight forward and saves space in the camper. We usually cook outdoors anyway. I should be able to reach through the pass through back window from the camper and access it from the truck cab as well.

I would have to put it in empty. Kind of a squeeze past the seat back. No back doors on these early trucks. But it fits well and there is room on either side for a reasonable sized day pack ect.

The plan is to install it in the truck but wire it to the camper battery. I will call Truckfridge and get an extra 12 volt cable. That way I can cut the end off and use something like an Anderson power pole connector. But still have a spare 12v cable with the lighter plug for other uses.





Not a bad match with the interior.




 
Looks like it was made for Black Beans :) I just ordered some powerpoles and a crimper, thinking the same as you. Let me know if you need to borrow that :)

I was wondering if that 12V plug was available online. I don't know the designation of it. Let me know what you find out :)
 
Tonight I plugged it in to the AC in the HOT garage. I added some cold sodas and such to somewhat fill it up. It dropped from high 70's inside to 36 in a about 3 hours per the built in thermometer.

I didn't notice parts on line. But read awhile back that they talked someone through tested a failure on the phone and sent the customer the replacement part free of charge. The fridge was out of warranty.
 
Great work on the truck and camper. Keep the updates coming!


Sent from my iPad using Wander The West
 
Truckfridge does have a good reputation from what I've read. That would be why I went with them over Engel or ARB which are at the top of most lists. Too much money for my blood. Getting the discount helped me pull the trigger.

I will run a bigger DC cable as the one they give us is 16Ga. Not a problem for that short a run but I would prefer bigger wire coming off my battery instead of that out of the plug.
 
The fridge has been running on AC for a few days and seems to be doing fine. Today I picked up a 12 volt power outlet. Cigarette lighter socket to us old folks. My next experiment is going to be cabling 2 of my 55 ah Optima blue tops in parallel and plugging the fridge into this. I'll set the voltage cut off on the highest setting and see how long the fridge will run before it turns off for voltage drop.
 
So I got to thinking and said, "Why make a 12 v test hookup? Just put the batteries in the camper. Then plug the fridge into one of the lighter sockets and test it that way." So I did. 2 older (Made in USA) Optima blue top marine deep cycle batteries. Both charged to 12.75 v. Once hooked together in parallel and allowed to sit a while the meter read 12.62. Normal full for these batteries.


I took the 1/2 full fridge and placed it on the ledge in the camper. Even 1/2 full of sodas and water bottles this thing is much lighter than my ice filled old Coleman steel belted cooler. I set the cut off switch on high. Which means anything over 12.4 should fire it up and it shouldn't kick off till down in the 11's per the manual. I Plugged it in and soon got an E1 error. Not enough voltage! So I unplugged the cord from the fridge and checked the fridge end with a meter. 12.61 volts. HUH! So I changed the switch to the med cutoff position. It's been running fine in the ECO mode ever since.

I think this is just a calibration issue. The thermometer seems to be at least a few degrees optimistic. Set to around 32* nothing is freezing but the stuff is cold. I'll check it in the morning and see what the battery voltage is then. I'll keep an eye on it. I want to see if it will last the weekend without charging on these batteries. They are pretty tolerant of deep discharge. These are the trolling motor batteries from my boat. They are old and get beat up a lot. But just keep coming back for more.
img_145214_3_4d48c31949b20c0fa8b19d1d1e7d3dc9.jpg


 
The temps today are around 90* and humid. The camper has been closed up and in the sun most of the day. It's warm inside. The fridge is running fine and has not kicked off due to voltage drop. I checked the batteries and my meter said 12.04 volts. The fridge has now been running on the batteries for pretty much the equivalent of a typical weekend trip without issues. And without charging of any sort. I'm satisfied. That was exactly what I wanted to know.

I have now hooked up my 10 amp deep cycle charger to the batteries and left the fridge hooked up. The charger shows a little less than 1/2 a charge on the gauge. I'll keep track and see how long it takes to get back to full charge.

In reality on many of my 4wheeling/camping trips we move daily so the truck will have a chance to charge the batteries every day. For extended beach trips where we park for several days I'll probably use a solar suitcase of some kind of at least 100 watts. Here in the east we are often parked in shade in the woods so solar can be of limited use. So I think a portable array will be of more use than roof mounted panels.

Can't wait to actually put this to use in the field!
 
I keep aquiring stuff for the camper. i ordered some solar panels. 1) 160 watt panel in this thread http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/12572-160-watt-12v-monocrystalline-solar-panel-115/ for the camper roof rack. I also ordered 2) 60 watt poly panels to make a portable unit. They are supposed to arrive next week.

I also ordered from Alt E. They showed it all in stock and their prices seemed decent.
https://www.altestore.com/store/charge-controllers/solar-charge-controllers/pwm-solar-charge-controllers/bogart-charge-controllers-pwm/bogart-engineering-sc-2030-pwm-charge-controller-p11262/

A Bogart SC2030 charge controller.
TrimetricRV monitor.
Battery temp sensor.
A 500 amp shunt

I figured the Bogart stuff is all proven with a good rep. Why do it twice. I also have a background in electronic circuits. I like having data when trying things out.

I will still need cable to wire the truck to the camper. l'lI use #6 marine cable. And probably #8 for the remote portable solar panel. And of course breakers, switches, Cable connectors and other misc stuff.

I found this place for cable. The prices seem good and the marine cable is made in USA.
http://www.bestboatwire.com/

Slowily getting stuff together. Still debating what I will do for batteries long term. For the time being I'll probably just use the Optima Blue tops from my boat.

Still working on the truck and will have an update on that soon. Then I'm sure there will be a bums rush on outfitting all this junk on the Camper.
 
Time for an update. Last night we made an important decision. Our annual beach trip is coming soon and the Moon truck project is lagging some as usual. Several other things have come up as they always do. So to avoid the bums rush we have decided to put the camper back on the boat trailer and once again go Jed Clamplett. It actually works quite well that way. Especially when it will be parked for a couple of weeks.


This will allow me to concentrate on getting the solar electric set up for the camper.

Some nice things came in today. Like 3 solar panels.
2) of these 60 watt panels which will likely be made into a portable charge unit.


1) 160 watt mono panel


Add to that the entire Bogart Trimetric and SC2030 package with 500 amp shunt and battery temp sensor.
 
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