Used FWC camper alert

[goodtimes]

I'll get the the upholstery soon - but first, the rest of the cabinet work.

The counter tops (3 pieces) were made from 3/4" plywood covered with a laminate sheet from Wilsonart (sold @ Home Depot & Lowes).

The process was pretty simple since there really aren't many things going on here. Pick a spot for the stove, pick a spot for the sink, cut the holes, cover & install. Simple - right? Actually, it was that simple. The hardest part was laying out the hole for the stovetop. There is only about a 1/4" overhang on the SMEV unit, and there is no template included - just a drawing with a few dimensions. It took a little tweaking to get everything to line up how I wanted it, but once I had that down, it really was as simple as cutting the holes, glueing the laminate down, trimming the edges, and installing it.

Half way through the cutting - sink is done, stovetop is next:





Test fit with both the sink & stovetop:



And the *almost* final install. The upper portion of the counter (above the fridge) is hinged to allow the fridge door to be fully opened. A few other odds and ends shown here are the original lift panels which were simply sanded and painted, the wood moulding used around the top of the frame, and of course the drawer fronts (made from the same 3/4" birch that I used almost everywhere else) and the slam-latches (McMaster-Carr, $17/ea) that I used on all the drawers and doors.

 

[natjwest]

I woulda thunk a slidey-drawer for your fridge was a no-brainer rather than a flippy lid counter. And why not increase counter height to the same as the fridge counter for increased under counter storage? I'm planning to do that and want to make sure I'm not missing anything. With your smev flush mount, the only concern is the sink faucet but I've seen flip-up faucets.

 

[Moody]

Looks great!

 

[Alley-Kat]

And why not increase counter height to the same as the fridge counter for increased under counter storage?


Um, I would think that would kind of depend on what you're planning to do "on the counter top".

How tall are your kitchen counter tops?

Are they comfortable to work on... cut food, cook stuff, wash stuff?

Those are the kind of things I had to ask myself when I built my interior.

 

[pods8]

Looking good. For the upper trim did you just buy some angle molding available at the store (I think they only carry hemlock by me) or cut some of your own?

With your smev flush mount, the only concern is the sink faucet but I've seen flip-up faucets.


Check out the surflo electric facet, it bends/twists.

 

[goodtimes]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

natjwest - The main countertop is somewhere around 39" tall. It's a comfortable height for both my girlfriend and I to work at (I'm short, she isn't). Anything beyond that and it starts to feel tall - hence the stepped counter.

The decision on the hinged countertop to access the fridge instead of a slide was one that we pondered for a while. Ultimately, we decided to go with the flip-up counter for two reasons. First, it would keep the fridge as low as possible. We will have limited access to it with the top down, and we didn't want to restrict that any further by raising it a couple inches for a slide. In the existing layout we can open the fridge far enough to reach in and pull cold drinks out without having to pop the top - which makes it easy to grab a cold drink on the go. Second, adding a slide later requires little more than installing the slide itself - adding a flip-up counter later would require a lot more work (cutting the countertop, trimming out all the edges, etc). We are still not 100% sure that the flip-up counter is the right answer - but that's where we started.

pods8 - The trim I used was off the shelf, stain-grade corner molding from Home Depot. It cost about $1 per linear foot (I used 20').

 

[goodtimes]

Upholstery.

What a pain this turned out to be. What we wanted was pretty simple. Two bottom cushions to form an L shaped bench, one backrest to run the length of the camper from the front wall all the way to the side of the pantry, and a pair of 15 x 24" cushions which we could use as back rests against the front wall, or as seats on a rocky beach, or what ever.

We decided on a shop based on the experience that some good friends of ours had, and a few internet-reviews which echoed much of what our friends had experienced.

To make a long story short, we found some fabric with a great pattern & color, agreed on dimensions, thicknesses, foam densities, zipper placements, etc. We were told 2 - 3 days. I think that is their favorite saying there - because I heard it 5 more times over the next 15 days. And then, after those 15 days, they had to go back and do it right after they tried to deliver cushions with no plywood backing. When we finally picked them up, we noticed that there was considerable color difference from what we ordered (it was the right fabric/pattern, but it was noticeably lighter in color).

Rather than have to deal with the whole mess again, we told him that we'd take them home and see how it looked with the other colors around it. If it didn't work, he'd have to do it again. All the way home I kept thinking I should have just left them and saved myself the trip back. Once we got them installed, we couldn't say that it was any worse (or any better) than what we had originally picked out, so we kept them - I think it turned out fine, despite the trouble.

 

[Barko1]

Upholstery.

What a pain this turned out to be. What we wanted was pretty simple. Two bottom cushions to form an L shaped bench, one backrest to run the length of the camper from the front wall all the way to the side of the pantry, and a pair of 15 x 24" cushions which we could use as back rests against the front wall, or as seats on a rocky beach, or what ever.




What was the rough cost, fabric and labor? What type of fabric did you go with? Thx

 

[goodtimes]

What was the rough cost, fabric and labor? What type of fabric did you go with? Thx


We were out the door for under 7, without re-using anything from the old cushions. There are no folded and stapled corners - each cushion cover has a zipper along the hidden (long) edge, through which the plywood, foam, & batting is stuffed, then it is zipped closed. No staples, nails, or glue.

I'm not sure what the name of the fabric is. It came from a sample-book of automotive & RV upholstery.

 

[goodtimes]

Getting towards the end here . . .

Tie downs.

At the suggestion of a friend and fellow FWC owner, I added an extra set of tie downs in the front. Cheap insurance maybe? I dunno - but I have never been a huge fan of relying on a single tie down to prevent something from moving in two directions. Does it work? Sure - people have been doing it for decades. Is it the best? I guess that's up to the owner to decide.

Up front, I used two on each corner. One is pulling almost strait down, the other at a considerable angle. Both have backing plates on the inside, but not the outside. Since I am using straps tie the camper down, I'm not worried about pushing the eye-bolt through the floor from the bottom - so I used a fender washer instead of the larger backing plate. BTW - that nice black paint is an oil-based enamel from Rustoleum.




On the back, I only used one tie down on each corner, and brought the tie-down out from a vertical wall rather than down from a horizontal floor. I sandwiched the wall with a pair of 6" square steel plates (bolted at the corners with 3/8" bolts), and used a 1/2" wire eye-bolt which I welded shut to eliminate the possibility of it pulling out far enough that the hook slips through.






** On edit - the reason I was able to bring the rear tie downs in from the side is that this is a Granby which is mounted on a short bed truck - so it sticks out a couple feet.

 

[goodtimes]

Jacks.

You've all seen them before. The only thing I did slightly different was to use some hand-nuts from McMaster Carr so I could pull them off easily once I load the camper. This also lets me use the jack brackets as a base for other items when we are in camp (solar shower etc). All I do is build one end of the widget-holder to fit the jack brackets, then I can use the hand-nuts to attach the widget to the camper in place of the jack.





Interior floor.

We used a product called "Allure", by trafficmaster. On first inspection, it seems durable, is fairly light, not horribly expensive, comes in a variety of patterns, looks good, and is readily available. Installation is easy - plenty of video's out there that will do a better job showing the process than I would.





Roof.

As I mentioned earlier, we decided to leave the roof since it didn't show any signs of leaking. It was showing its age though, and we don't really want to replace it in the next year or two (5 or 10 maybe . . .). So we simply cleaned it and gave it a couple coats of Solar-Tek roof coating.

Before: After:

 

[goodtimes]

I went back and forth on the electrical system. My first thought was to incorporate both 12vdc and 120vac, various interior and exterior outlets & lights, motion sensors, shut down timers (for reading lamps in the bunk), and a bunch of other stuff that tinkerers like me find entertaining to design and build. But eventually reality took hold, and I decided to keep it simple. We aren't planning on spending a whole lot of time in the camper anyway (we prefer to spend time around the fire telling lies) - so why go overboard? Ultimately, I only installed 3 lighting circuits and 3 aux power circuits. I did leave some room for expansion in the future - but for now, our needs are covered.

The base of the system is a National Luna Portable Power Pack. Consider it a battery box with a built in intelligent charge controller, fused power outlets, and a battery monitor. As a bonus, the PPP can be moved between vehicles - so we can throw it in my girlfriends Jeep (along with the fridge) and take off for the day if we don't want to take the camper.

There are 3 lighting circuits: One for the exterior courtesy light (LED - mounted to the left of the door), one for the existing interior overhead lights (we preferred the color rendering of the original lights to the LEDs I bought - so we kept them), and one for the LED floor lights (mounted under the counter - they work great as 'night lights').

There are also 3 power circuits. One dedicated circuit for the fridge, one circuit supplying 2 power outlets next to the switches, and one circuit supplying a pair of Hella style receptacles outside.

The PPP feeds a Blue Sea fuse block, which provides protection for the rest of the system. This was mounted under the sink to provide easy access if we need to troubleshoot anything. A custom switch panel holds all the switches & 2 power outlets (12vdc). There is also a 120vac receptacle in case I ever add an inverter.


Front side of the panel:




Back of the panel:



Exterior outlets:



I also decided to reinstall the 120vac shore power receptacle. Not that I have anything that needs 120vac - but so I can add a battery tender to the system if I ever feel the need. I'm not sure if I ever will - but having everything in place will make it easier if I do.

 

[DLN]

"Being that I've never worked with wood"

For someone who's never worked in wood you did a very good job on this project. Looks great and the layout is outstanding. Excellent report also.

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

My electrical system is a hodgepodge; I >>hate<< it. Other that adding more outlets (both DC & AC) this is what I want to eventually do.

One reason for 115 V is when you're camping in the dead of winter somewhere where you can plug in an electric space heater. Saves about 1/4 tank of propane a night for us'ns...

Keep on it!

 

[goodtimes]

One reason for 115 V is when you're camping in the dead of winter somewhere where you can plug in an electric space heater. Saves about 1/4 tank of propane a night for us'ns...




We stick to the low desert & beaches of Mexico during the winter. It's not often that we see sub-freezing temps, so we get by with minimal heat. I've never had a heater or furnace while camping before - only a campfire and a warm sleeping bag. Maybe with the camper we'll start venturing up to colder weather in the winter . . . but probably not. We're wimps when it gets cold.

 

[Bisleybud]

Goodtimes,

I just found your build posting.You sure did a great job.We do need to get together since we are both in the Old Pueblo.I live around San Joaquin and Bopp.Send me a PM if possible.

Bisley

 

[goodtimes]

Goodtimes,

I just found your build posting.You sure did a great job.We do need to get together since we are both in the Old Pueblo.I live around San Joaquin and Bopp.Send me a PM if possible.

Bisley


I'm just down the road from you - just off western way, between Kinney & Bopp.

 

[Bisleybud]

Goodtimes,

Come on by .I am in the TJ Bednar subdivison just before San Joaquin turn Left on Spiney Lizard then right on Velvet Ant. Second house on right w/Airstream and Ham radio tower ..See you soon.

 

[goodtimes]

I'm wrapped up installing a lift kit on my girlfriends Jeep . . . probably going to be a while (been stuck in the garage all weekend catching up on non-camper related projects).

I think I've been by your house though - I was out that way a while back and remember the airstream.

 

[goodtimes]

I finally finished the last part of the first round.

The water system. Sorry, no pictures as I'm in SoCal, the camper is in AZ, and we're heading to Mexico a couple hours after I get home.

It's a pretty simple set up. 30 gallon plastic tank mounted under the front bench seat. A gravity drain runs to the left rear corner of the camper (good for outside washing duties, and draining the rest of the tank on the way home). The faucet is the original hand pump, but I'm feeding it with a Sure-flow pump. I believe it is the smallest of the 'big' pumps they make. It's actually a bit oversized, and moves so much water that it makes a mess (water splashes everywhere). I added a simple 3/8" ball valve to the system to choke it down a bit, and closed it just far enough that pump won't shut down for high pressure.

We still get plenty of flow, but it doesn't make a mess now.

Again, the pictures will have to wait - but this brings me up to a point where I can begin to talk about the most important part of this thread: What doesn't work.