2003 Mitsubushi FG Overland Camper Renovation

[GR8ADV]

(above) ....behind the fridge, at the top...

The house is very quiet, and has proven to be cool and warm at the appropriate times. My understanding is that the entire box has this insulation all around. Good to see the ceiling cut out to get a peak.

 

[PaulJensen]

05

(above) The more I looked at this, the less it made sense to keep it...At least the shower pan...Cracked, patched, painted, grungy...

(above) Silicone was the foundation of it staying in place...

(above) The cut out at the back was not the best idea...

(above) The wallet lighter by a Franklin, the new pan was the right thing to do... The difference between original equipment, circa '03 vs. here and now is noticeable...Old was very thin molded polyester skin over styrofoam... The new is a one piece molded one piece fiberglass composite...Rigid and of decent weight...

(above) The new thought is to keep the pan intact and lift the can up a bit...Is a 20" seat high, too high...???...

(above) Even with the can lifted, there is full access to the dump can...

(above) Back at the kitchen...The perimeter is built of cheap 1x2 fir, glued and screwed...Minimum five screws per board on the perimeter... The floor has galvanized metal patches where needed...The back wall was grungy old mahogany ply...I had some poly-coated birch ply in the scrap pile than needed a home...The back wall of the kitchen cabinet is your place from hereafter...

(above) Deeper into the relics pile was a piece of p-lam that wasn't horribly offensive for the new kitchen cabinet floor...
Also in place are the new propane water heater, existing water pump with copper /brass cold water manifold on the wall...The forced air heater was rotated for better ducting as well... Hole saws, sawzall, mini circular saw, handsaw, was the afternoon reality...

(above) The new stove came it too...Under the plywood an opening is framed for it...

(above) Shower wall framing was started and the new valve is placed about 40" from the floor...Out of view is the showerhead with a spout height of over 6'4"...

(above) Friday, before the lights go out... Next week, bed design and seating...

The bed will have a pair of 12" panels, piano hinged, to fold up to maximize floorspace...

The seating will be "dinette" style...Looking for a wall mounted juke box...???...

Still open to suggestions before Monday morning...

 

[k9lestat]

Looking good

Sent from my QMV7A using Tapatalk

 

[kerry]

Good idea to raise the crapper.

 

[mhiscox]

The new thought is to keep the pan intact and lift the can up a bit...Is a 20" seat high, too high...???...

Regular home toilets are as low as 15", but these days they sell lots of "comfort height" toilets with seats 17 to 19 inches off the ground. This has also been the mandatory ADA specification, but the wider use is probably driven by baby boomers with bad knees. But short people or children won't do well with something this tall (and there are some who say that the taller, dining-room-chair stance doesn't work as well for, umm, "natural functioning" . . . and that's as much as I care to say about that.)

Maybe have Ken and family come over to run a test. If the effective height needs reduced and if the shower ceiling is plenty high, you maybe could buy or build a slatted teak "footrest/shower pan liner" that'll sit a couple of inches above the fiberglass pan . . . something like this:



Either way, though, 20" will be higher than the "upper limit," though the advantages may be enough of a reason to live with it.

 

[GR8ADV]

Regular home toilets are as low as 15", but these days they sell lots of "comfort height" toilets with seats 17 to 19 inches off the ground. This has also been the mandatory ADA specification, but the wider use is probably driven by baby boomers with bad knees. But short people or children won't do well with something this tall (and there are some who say that the taller, dining-room-chair stance doesn't work as well for, umm, "natural functioning" . . . and that's as much as I care to say about that.)

Maybe have Ken and family come over to run a test. If the effective height needs reduced and if the shower ceiling is plenty high, you maybe could buy or build a slatted teak "footrest/shower pan liner" that'll sit a couple of inches above the fiberglass pan . . . something like this:


Either way, though, 20" will be higher than the "upper limit," though the advantages may be enough of a reason to live with it.

Sorry Mike I am not test running my natural functions in front of anyone. Did put some old magazines to good use however to come to the conclusion that 20 inches is just fine. Helps that Anne and I combine to a few inches under 12 feet in height

 

[Alastair D(Aus)]

We are building up an Isuzu NPS300 and in my planning for the internal layout I soon realised how precious the internal floor space was. I knew that we had to have an internal toilet and shower for resale and marital harmony reasons, but I resented the space taken by the something that only gets used for a few minutes per day. In the end I have now designed the entrance to also be the shower and have the toilet on a slide out base which uses the same space when deployed. The side benefit is that I will also raise the base so the toilet is at optimal height. This requires additional problem solving as my wife is 7" shorter than me. Guess who will win!

 

[southpier]

i've seen the "shower in the entry" set-up a few times.

Q: is there a second means of egress so another can come in/out when the facilities are being used?

 

[mhiscox]

Q: is there a second means of egress so another can come in/out when the facilities are being used?

I had this setup in our first Sprinter with the toilet pulling out in front of the curbside slider, and as with most van conversion there were always the two doors in front accessible. And my current Sprinter, though without permanent shower, also slides the potti into the slider entry. And John Speed, who, through Travel Vans, was perhaps the strongest proponent of this also had a van (an 814 Vario 4x4). I have, however, seen the setup in several Unimog campers, though most admittedly had passthroughs.

In point of fact, however, I don't think it'd be much of a problem either way. We always found it easy enough to coordinate leaving the truck with the other using the toilet or shower. Certainly, for husband/wife occupants, it shouldn't be an issue.

That said, while I'm personally a very strong proponent of putting the bath in the entryway, Ken's camper already has enough floor area that keeping a dedicated wet room isn't an intolerable use of space like it might be with a smaller cabin, and he also has the plumbing and Thetford hatch already in place.

 

[GR8ADV]

Both the full time bath and full time bed issues are worthy of discussion for everyone involved in a build. These vehicles are all subject to compromise across the board.
,
Without going over the standard pluses and minuses we use the wet bath as a mud room so to speak. We hang wet clothes/jackets and towels to dry. It also is our storage for wet and muddy shoes and boots and provides easy to access storage for larger cold weather jackets and footware.

 

[PaulJensen]

06

(above) Back to the basics... Diorama of as it is...

]
(above) Over the new water tank is a sleeping plank, custom stuff...

(above) To sleep queen size, the plank is up-lifted... It's all lightweight, like the Hiscox Sprinter...

(above) The table will pull out from the under-bed storage space...

(above) From this side it looks like this...

The shower plan is so simple to make it non-disgusting... The new fixed, sandblasted, tempered glass panel for the shower is on the shower valve side... The new sight lines are not into the crapper... The shower head will be in the wall / glass panel corner pointing to the toilet, so when you shower, your back will be to the ****tter...Out of sight, out of mind... I am leaning to hammered aluminum for the fixed wall shower enclosure...

More tomorrow...

 

[Curtis in Texas]

Years ago I had a Jayco 1207 pop up camper with a Thetford combo s&s and loved it.
It had a long shower curtain suspended from the ceiling that went 360 around the inside of the unit. I am not a small guy, but I never felt cramped in it doing either duty inside the curtain.
It had the slide out hassock container, like this one, and it was one of the best features of my camper. My girlfriends hated having to go to bed without a shower and not having to hike in the dark for the community outhouse at 3 AM was plus..
I was a popular guy to go camping with.

All that to say this.
When I build my Exp Truck Camper, I plan to have a shower curtain rather than hard wall shower combo. That should keep the inside camper room more open when not using the facilities. And still give me the privacy I need to clean off the sweat and dump the mornings breakfast. I am a shower before bed guy myself and hate having to walk a half mile after I am clean through the dirt and bugs to get back to my camper bed..

In fact my layout will closely resemble the Jayco's floorplan I had before. It was just laid out so well for my needs.

BUT you guys may be different...
Definitely enjoying following this rebuild.

 

[dlh62c]

So the occupants will be dining side by side and not facing each other?

 

[Alastair D(Aus)]

i've seen the "shower in the entry" set-up a few times.

Q: is there a second means of egress so another can come in/out when the facilities are being used?

NO the main door would normally be locked by the user unless they are feeling adventurous. In my case exposure could be considered a health hazard to the viewer. Aging and overweight = not pretty !

 

[southpier]

got it; thanks