Thanks all, much appreciated. Furry kid has still been doing well. Had a minor suture infection that delayed chemo, but that's healed now and he just started chemo yesterday and is still making lots of people smile, especially at his persistance; he's become quite the quick tripawd.
Pics to come, but I wanted to give a user update at least for now.
I've definitely been enjoying the ease of use of the Aterra. Just returned from 16hr round trip where I used it as a mobile motel room for a slightly urban stay (ok, volunteering at a pro rally school wasn't so bad). With the fixed roof, you can be inside and out of the elements in a minute, in bed in another minute if you want, or fixing a meal, or warming up via the Truma. Enough standing room for numerous adults, even those 6'4" or taller. The camper is just simple to use, and that makes it a pleasure to use, which means I want to use it more often. Still way more storage than I've found a use for. HUGE fridge/freezer, Step22 cubby bags are easy to use, Truma is easy to use, sink/range is easy to use.
It hasn't all been 100% perfect, but good people have/are helping solve those. Read on...
--Tern door insulator (Sadly this isn't standard, but it really helps insulate the cabin considerably and now allows full privacy. So if you happen to be boondocking in a Pilot truck stop and changing into your bday suit at night with the Tern roof hatch LED's on, anyone in the parking lot can see ya. Ask me how I know. PS--half my roof hatch LED's just recently burnt out after about 20x of use. Hopefully will be covered under warranty and be an easy swap for 2 new LED assy's. Also, if anyone ever needs to replace the Tern cabin door, it'll be a royal PITA as it's riveted/bonded/etc to the cabin. You can't just drive out the striker pin like a home door.
I'd like to see Tern think about future serviceability with products this.)
--Overland Gear Guy molle visor (While I have lots of little storage cubbies in my F350 interior, I really wanted quicker access to certain items; small LED flashlight, red penlight, knife, baton, etc. I saw this style of visor in another overland vehicle and searched for one for my F350 but I couldn't find one. Rob at OGG has been supporting the PNW overland scene for 10+yrs so I contacted him and he made me a custom sized visor that works perfect, and what I need is easily at hand).
-Future dual band radio setup (Waiting for an ICOM setup to arrive). TVO will install/setup.
-Skid plates, Maxtrax Mini and Trasharoo brackets (Having these custom made and then they'll go into production. Fab shop are aces and any welds are absolutely gorgeous).
-Lagun table mount mod (Unfortunately this should have been designed better by ATO from the get go IMHO, in that they should have fix-mounted the Lagun table mount to the driver side, vs the passenger side, of the camper's rear wall so that the dinette table was already more oriented to the driver side. Currently it's oriented too far to the pass side and there's not enough swing in the Lagun (Lagun knob runs right into the Tern blind housing) to move the table towards the driver side dinette seat so that you can use the Wrappon without resting your arms on the dinette table. ATO suggests you to remove the table from the Lagun mount and set it on the cabover bed, then have clear space to use the toilet. Quite inconvenient when a bit more thinking could have resulted in a simpler solution that doesn't require the dinette table to be removed to use the porta potti. Wrappon potti is awesome BTW. I honestly haven't used the coagulant yet but will start to try it out. Filled bags slide down into the "poop chute" in the dinette footwell, and are thrown away with my kid's dog poop bags. If I don't have a disposal site at the ready, then I temporarily store them in the rear HPI underbed box. LOVING my HPI flatbed/boxes setup as well, they're the best!).
-Seal Plyboo countertops and dinette table (IMHO these should have come sealed from the get go. Mine already has 2 cup ring stains from people other than myself who were in my camper, so I'll need to lightly sand those areas first. Grrr).
-More power for the furry kid when he can't easily leave the rig with me and needs to stay in the camper (Initially ATO was talking about 3 105Ah batteries, but then they decided on only 2 max. It appears that with a bit more effort the water tank inlet/hoses could be moved to the other corner of the tank, Truma goes on a stand to elevate it off the camper floor, water lines run under it(shielded) vs around it as they're currently in the placeholder for the 3rd battery. Might be able to get a 4th battery in here if we're extra clever. This would allow a portable a/c unit for when the kid needs to stay in the camper for a few hours).
-Also needs a shore plug (Camper doesn't come with one, which is lame for the $ for this unit).
-Better insulation for key components (Battery heat blanket, water tank heat blanket, Shurflo water pump heat blanket. Currently only the Truma is the provision to keep these warm, as I've already seen, there needs to be failsafes in place in case the Truma runs out of propane and shuts off due to initial installer error--thread tape on propane lines which has now been removed and no more propane leaks).
-Ceramic window film for sunnier months (The Mini Maxxair fan isn't powerful enough to extract the heat that builds up if you leave your blinds open in the summer. So, I now keep my blinds, including the roof hatch, closed 100% of the time, even in winter. I've also thought about adding a full Maxxair 10spd fan on the rear upper angle of the cabin, above the dinette, to properly circulate air when needed).
Pics to come soon...
much appreciated update!
