This is the inverter cabinet, tucked under the 130L Truckfridge. The aluminum bar supports the fridge. The AIMS 3000w pure sine wave inverter is huge. 3-4 x the size of my previous 1000w Renogy unit. It has two GFCI outlets on the back, that are wired using outdoor rated 3/10 gauge cable to one plug inside by the countertop, and one outside by the water inlet so I can cook outside too. Half of the inverter (it is 24" long) is tucked under the propane cabinet. I made the wires for all these electrical bits long enough so that I can pull them out without disconnecting them if I need to do maintenance.
At the same level as the inverter is this long space under the counter/kitchen cabinets. You can see the water line that comes from the 30gal tank (fed by a Shurlfo pump with the addition on of a
Shurflo accumulator. I really like the way this accumulator improves the water flow. I found that without it, when the faucet is opened just a crack, the pump would oscillate slowly and the water would "judder" out of the faucet, splashing everywhere. With the accumulator, you can get a nice steady trickle, and the pump cycles on/off way less often.
You can also see that the water line T's off ... up to the flush mount sink, and back towards the back of the camper. There I have a nice brass ball valve that is now pressurized! Meaning water is easy to get when we are outside, which is where we prefer to cook. Note that this replaces the stock drain system. The nice things is that with the pump turned off, the "drain" valve doesn't flow any water because it is now going through the pump. Instant water security.
And what the H*ll is with the wires in the next cabinet? Sorry about that... they are NOW zip tied and secured ... much nicer looking!
OK, so these are the fuses. This
just tucks in front of the sink. I used the standard FWC kill switch (far right) and currently have 9 of the 12 circuits in this Blue Sea panel populated. ALL circuits have properly run grounds, except for the lights/fan that were wired from the factory. Both FWC and ATC are in the habit of using the aluminum frame as the ground return. This can cause issues with corrosion, so I really don't like that method of wiring. Home runs for +ve and -ve for this panel are 8 AWG. Excuse the one white wire dangling across. That is tucked away now. That's for the in cabinet lighting I just added.
The space between the fuse block and the switch is for a fuse/circuit list - still to come.
This drawer (19" deep, full suspension sliders) houses our new 1800W Induction cooktop. You can just see the outlet to the left. We place it on the counter top for cooking. The white thingy on top is a non-slip silicon surface to keep stuff from moving around on the super slick surface of the cooktop.
The counter top is 1/2" Maple with arborite laminated to it. My first time doing this. Same for the backsplash. Edges are finished with 1/2" wide 1/8" thick satin finish aluminum bar. The screws for the backsplash are in odd places because of where there is aluminum framing behind the maple paneling. Again, screws are used (no glue) so everything comes apart if needed.
Oh, and a rare earth magnet stuck to one of the screws by the fridge... for leaving love notes!
Under the open drawer you can see the white Propane detector (has its own fuse, but is also disabled by the master kill switch. Is that best practice, or should it be impossible to disable the detector?)
Also visible under the open drawer is the 6-gang switch panel:
1) Amber LED porch lights
2) Rear LED flood lights
3) In cabinet LED and floor lighting
4) Blank
5) Cell Booster
6) Water Pump
This is what the kitchen/counter area looks like when everything is tucked away. I'm still pondering some 90* elbows for the Propex heater... at least one, so that the heat output blows right at our feet when we are seated at the dinette. On the other hand, at present the heat blows along the length of the water line that goes outside... that could be useful to prevent freeze up when winter camping.
Moving to the other side, is the dinette. In this pic, the long top opening cabinet is open showing the Victron MPPT at the far end. It has 12g wire feeding it from the 330W Canadian Solar panel on the roof. It is a huge panel, but has been working great for us. From the inverter, there is 8g wire going back to the batteries.
Also visible are the new style hold/down anchors. This era of ATC/FWC used the very small anchors. We never had an issue with them, but I saw pictures of others that had torn out. Ours didn't do that, even when we hit enough "turbulence" to empty everything into the camper, but I feel better with these installed.
And finally, you can see the 1/4" threaded rods that go through this cabinet and anchor into the outside wall with... whatchamacallits? This is how the seat hinges are mounted and become strong enough to hold my 200 pounds without flexing.
Oops, I forgot to mention the little black do-hicky by the MPPT controller. That is the inside antenna for my
WeBoost Drive Reach. The camper functions as my remote office (I am an executive/leadership coach by trade) and the cell booster enables communications in the most wonderful camping sites!
Speaking of seats, in this picture, one is deployed, and the front one stored. The lagun table leg is a wonderful addition. I finished the table top surface with the same arborite as the counter top. Haven't finished the edges yet. Open to ideas on how to do that. We might change the size of the table top in the future, so no hurry on that.
Dinette tucked away. LOTS of room to move around.
You may also note that we have room for more cabinets. That big space at the passenger rear, as well as over the window. That may still happen.
The black thingy (top left) is within easy reach of the bed... the new Propex Digital Thermostat! We are stoked about being able to set the exact temperature we want vs the old thermostat which had a fixed number of pre-set temps.
This is the cabinet at the passenger rear corner. We are thinking shoes and such.
This is directly under the cabinet pictured above. That 3 gal pail is my porta-potti! Lots of room in there yet for TP, hand trowel, etc. It may get a divider yet to prevent movement. As is, it is sized so the pail can NOT tip. The pail also has a
gamma seal lid. No spills, no leaks, no smell!
Same cabinet, but empty. The caulking is still visible here as white. It will cure transparent.
Another view inside from the door, but angled up so you can see the lights (and the horrible condition of my roof liner!) The strip lights are hand wave activated.
I left one stock light by the head end of the bed. We will have amber LED lights in there for nighttime excursions to the porta potti.
Another peak in. Lower left, you can see the light for the in cabinet lighting is on. And also that the water tank sight gauge is lit up. Excuse the bright lighting on the cabinets... darn spring sunshine!
The two kitchen drawers and fuse panel open.
Looking into the cabinet under the sink. You can just see some of the wiring on the fuse panel. The LED lit gauge is the Victron BMV 712, and the vertically mounted black thingy is a Blue Sea DC panel with power switch, "cigarette lighter" and two x 2 USB ports. One of the USB ports has been upgraded to the
4.8A amp version for fast charging on the devices that can handle that.
These are the other two under the counter top cabinets. All three cabinets are the same size.
Here is a view from the bed. We chose to build out a PUMA/Grandby shell because even with the bed fully stretched out to queen size, we had the same usable floor space as a Hawk with its bed fully retracted.
Also, the dinette
Bonvivo II chairs have been placed in this picture. These are super comfy, fold flat for storage and have 5 different positions for seating. Practically speaking, they have two positions we are likely to use most often, 90* and 100*.
Another view of the camper with the dinette fully deployed. Yes, I can get at the beer in the fridge from my seat!
Two pics of what used to be the propane cabinet I built for version 1 of this camper. You can see the nice ball valve at the bottom left, and the in cabinet lighting. I went with amber here, so we can open this at night and not lose our night vision. This will like house our Little Red Propane fire pit and our mini camp side tables in the bottom section, and our water fill/filter/drain hoses on top.
The wood divider on the top right of the cabinet protects the wiring for the switch panel and propane detector.
The new propane cabinet at the front of the camper. Two 10# tanks.
The black vent to the upper right is the 4" fridge vent, placed right where the fan is on the 130L Truckfridge. There are two more fans servicing the fridge. One inside to keep the air moving, and one placed on the other side of the compressor and blowing air into the camper. Nice strong air flow over the condensor coils.