2022 F350 with a Bison Slide in Camper Build

[VerMonsterRV]

Quick update as I gotta get out and continue building. First I want to share this little glamor shot. While traveling across the northern US to Vermont we stopped by Lake Erie for the night at a town pier/fishing access. Not many wild camping options along this route but this one was nice.


Now back to the build once we got to Vermont. Been going full ahead on the build. I fantasize about getting all the "framing" done before we head back to Argentina. Making some good progress, although I am a it slow. The bathroom/shower walls are composite panels and is the opening to the left. We'll use a retractable shower door in the opening and will be open unless we're using the bathroom. The compositing toilet will be on a 500lb drawer slide and when not in use will slide into the base cabinet right in front of the bathroom (you can see it peeking out in that 45 degree corner, which I have in place now. That base cabinet is baltic birch but I peeled the fiberglass skins off spare cutout panels and bonded it on using polyester resin. Any exposed plywood will be either covered in these salvaged fiberglass skins or gray laminate (to give it some color). On top of the toilet cabinet will be the refrigerator (I don't have it yet so that framing will have to wait). To the right of the picture will be the kitchen counter with full length overhead cabinets. You can see the end of the kitchen/start of the seating area, its the lone plywood panel there. It will be laminated with fiberglass skins once the framing finishes. All hidden wood inside of cabinets will be painted white with Sherwin Williams cabinet paint (best we have found). The plywood floor was built to have the gray tank beneath and some extra storage. It will be covered with some Acacia engineered flooring we have left from our previous camper build. Well, better get out there, it won't build itself .

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Here's a quick update on our @Bison Overland Campers build. Fortunately/unfortunately our time in the USA is coming to an end and we will be returning the Argentina to continue overlanding with our 1120AF (our home). I'm pretty pleased though with my progress in this build though and am feeling like this will be a really nice camper for our visits back to the US (and honestly anything else we would like to do with it). The weather cooled a little and I seemed to find another gear and the days were more productive. So most of the seating area is built out. The only bit left is a little 45 degree filler that I wanted the kitchen face in place to make sure it all lined up. You can see the kitchen face in the lower left. We also have a swing out table and you see the mount there. That bulkhead is 1" thick baltic birch, bonded and screwed in place. Should be plenty strong. Also behind that bulkhead is the 50 gallon fresh water tank, with space above for the bulk of our clothes storage. Within the base of the seating area will be the house batteries (LifePo4 prismatic 3.2v cells), inverter/charger, MPPT charger for solar and the B2B charger. Will also cut in a AC outlet, inverter control and probably the main AC shutoff breaker panel. Underneath the raised floor area in will be all dry goods/cans storage, with the idea to keep the weight low.


This is looking aft and is the cabinet that hides the slide in composting toilet that slides into the bathroom that you see on the right. That opening will have a retracting roller shower door. Light weight and we've been happy with one in our other camper. There will also be a cabinet built on this lower cabinet to house the front opening refrigerator. It will go to the ceiling and likely have a silverware drawer and upper "pantry". There will also be a small cabinet above the window.


And your view when you enter. To the left will be the kitchen (this is just rough framed at this point), with 3 burner propane oven and sink. It will be faced with a gray laminate. There will also be a long upper cabinet above the windows, faced with the white fiberglass underneath and gray laminate on the face. Puck lights will be all the way along the underside.


And this is the bathroom. It will have a water resistant lift up door for the composting toilet. They'll also be a cabinet on the back wall that will hold linens, paper products, compost media and in the very base 2 10lb propane tank that'll be accesable from a small cargo hatch I still need to cut in. I am still deciding on how to finish the raw foam edge but I might fiberglass/fair it and paint it using Rustoleum gray. Most of the edge will be taken up with the retractable shower door so this might be a simple/light way to finish the edge. The MaxxFan has the deluxe roller shade with LED light, which will be our only light in the bathroom.


But for now this build is on hold and the truck is in storage until we return. Mixed feelings about that as I was on a bit of a roll getting this build, but happy to get back to having a bit of fun (well, besides mechanical work on our 1120AF).

 

[lucilius]

The Ford 6.2s last forever, always start and easy maintenance.

 

[ReluctantTraveler]

Late to the party here, but did y'all build the basement/subfloor system yourself, or was that done by Bison? And why did you choose the Euro Door over the Wildlands?

Really nice looking rig, and I'm weighing some of these same decisions now, which is why I ask.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

We built the subfloor ourselves. Not too difficult compared to the rest of the cabinetry. The Euro door is the best I know that's available in the USA. They're far better ones in Europe, but shipping is pretty high. To me the Wildlands would be ok for warm weather camping and light use. For colder, more use go with the Euro. For serious heavy/cold use either get one out of Europe or build one yourself (I did for our other composite camper).

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Oh, we'll be back building this coming May when we return to the USA.