'06 F350 w/ '93 Fleetwood Caribou Camper Build

[ElderRig]

Hello all,

I've been a member on here for almost a year now and have followed on some pretty cool builds. This community is mighty talented. I thought I would begin a build thread on my wife and I's rig. Heads up, this is going to be a slow build, as well as a fairly modest build. Heres some quick details, the pickup is a 2006 Ford F350 CCLB. The camper is a 1993 Fleetwood Caribou 8'. My wife and I are weekend warriors that use our setup to create a basecamp while exploring the beautiful areas of SouthWest Montana. We aren't overlanders that need to be off-grid for weeks at a time, but we also don't go camp at the nearby KOAs, so off-grid dependability is desired, but not in large capacity. Our biggest goal is to create a setup so when we punch the timecard on Friday we can hop in and be off without having to pack anything, besides the dogs and groceries, to have a good weekend. A couple things we'll want to add is toy hauling( bikes, dirtbikes, kayaks) and self rescue due to an experience last summer (this story will be a post in itself).

Cheers!

 

[ElderRig]

Lets start with the pickup.

A year ago I was able to get a great deal on a 2006 Ford F350 Lariat CCLB with the infamous 6.0 Powerstroke engine, and a spare 6.0 that was ‘bulletproofed’, well partially. The pickup had 210k+ on it, had the camper/towing package and was fully stock except for the EGR delete, running ELC coolant, and 35" tires on the stock 18" wheels. It had 4 bad injectors and a leaky intercooler pipe which was robbing quite a bit of power and mileage. After replacing the injectors with the spare engines ones, and some new CAC pipes we were up and running. I did a couple other modifications to it over the past year (Blue Spring, 4" exhaust, high idle) to hopefully prevent some issues. Slowly we will make some more changes as we have the funds and time, but would rather focus on using it to get out than fixing something that isn't broke. Some changes that we are considering, that we would like to hear peoples opinions on:

• SCT x4 programmer, for better fuel economy
• 37" tires for additional clearance on Montanas roads
• minimal to 3" lift to fit the 37" tires
• Upgraded rear leaf springs to remove large blocks from lift kit
• Front prerunner style bumper to help with oversized tires and add lights/winch
• Flatbed to hold custom storage and to fit oversized tires.
• Solar system for off-grid energy dependability

 

[ElderRig]

Now for the Camper:

My mother still had the truck camper that I grew up with, and they had gotten a new camper, so she gifted the 1993 Fleetwood Caribou to us, along with its issues. The major issue was the 25+ yr old roof that was showing signs of wear, big time. There were leaks on the interior that were causing delaminating of the plywood roof structure. Besides the roof leaking, it needed a thorough cleaning, but the appliances all worked, fridge, stove, sink, bathroom. Before making the trek to Oregon to pick it up we installed the HappiJac front tie down system, and I fabricated some rear tie downs that insert into the rear hitch. Connecting the rear tiedowns to the stock bumper just didnt seem like a god idea to me. Once we got it home we purchased a new roof kit and replaced the roof ourselves. What a great project for a newlywed couple! My wife was a great sport, as I was recovering from a torn achilles surgery and we got the new roof on in a weekend. Since we had to pull all the rooftop items off, we decided to replace the central vent fan with a Maxxfan Deluxe. After that, the build progress stopped as summer was upon us and it was time to recreate! One of the big things we'll be needing to fix this spring is all the weatherstripping on the windows. Over time the rubber has shrunk and is starting to expose fasteners, or pop off at the corners. Anybody have any experience and tips for this?

 

[twokitties67]

What a fun looking project. You get work on it then go enjoy your work and figure out what is next to fix.

 

[ElderRig]

Yes, it definitely is going to be a project of finding whats next to fix. We just went and picked it up from its winter storage spot last night. Now to get some things changed while we are stuck at home!

 

[ElderRig]

Wow, almost 3 years, how time flies. In this time my wife and I have started a family and gone on multiple adventures. I'll do another post about those next. Today's topic is current updates. In the past we've had issues with storing skis/snowboards and with our battery dying on long trips which ends up triggering the CO2 alarm in the middle of the night. To fix these I've fixed up some ski racks, and am currently installing a solar system. Oh, and replaced the crummy porch lights with some LEDs.

The ski racks I had laying around from my old college car. I decided to use the ladder to mount these to, and they feel real stout, especially with a board or pair of skis in them. Hopefully the top rack isn't too high off the ground when the camper is in the pickup, but I don't want them mounted any lower, so this will have to do.

For the solar, I went with a 400w 200ah system. I have 4 100w HQST panels, a New Powa MPPT charge controller, 2 Renogy 100ah Gel batteries and a Krieger 1100w inverter that will be hard wired to the camper with an auto switch so the converter/charger from the 120v side doesn't heat things up. I still need a DC- DC charger to take advantage of charging while driving. I'll upload a image of my wiring diagram in the next update but I've been researching that for the past 2 weeks. I used one of our storage cabinets for the power center. It's very central to the camper to limit wiring runs and to keep it all concealed. Next weekend I'll be wiring it up. Cheers!

 

[ElderRig]

Got the solar installed! The process was pretty simple, and seems to be working correctly. I still have to hard wire the inverter into the main panel, and install the auto switch to turn off the charge/converter when the inverter runs. I ended up running a 40a Renogy DC to DC charger, but have it limited to 20a because I wired it through the camper umbilical and that only had 8 gauge wire. Can't wait to try it out here in a couple weeks!

 

[ElderRig]

Wow, how a year has flown by! And what fun we had last year. Little did we know it would be our last year with the camper! We unfortunately were rear-ended during our first trip of the year. Since we had just put the solar on and had a couple trips planned we decided to limp it along for the summer, and we sold it in August.

Trips we took last year:

• 3rd Annual Biltwell 100 trip (Snow Canyon and Zion Utah, Laughlin/Bullhead City Nevada/Arizona, Ridgecrest, California)
• Moab, UT
• Seeley Lake, MT

The solar setup was amazing! At one point in Zion my wife and I were both working from our laptops that were charging from the solar. On our Moab trip we even had the Starlink powered up while my wife was taking zoom calls all powered by the solar. The size we had worked great for our needs and I cant wait to plan out and install my next solar system. The freedom and assurance it provides on trips is so relaxing and comforting.

We still have the truck, so we'll see what the next phase of our adventure rig is!