2022 RAM 5500 Composite "Super Camper"

[Vance Vanz]

The microwave convection choice was one of the harder things to plan as here in SoCal they are basically impossible to find in a store to put your hands on, and check out mounting options for the RV installs, etc....

We went with this unit, due to lots of rave reviews, and mounting that perfectly fit our needs: https://www.recpro.com/rv-convection-microwave-stainless-steel/

It works great, was easy to mount for clean stout install, and fits our needs, but the interior dimensions are a bit smaller than expected.

We use our microwave A LOT in our camper.

Doing it all over again, i would go with a bigger unit, similar to Craigs.

NOTE: I just realized when i googled this for you, the cost has gone up almost $150! Danggg

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with the micro/convection you have. It is good to know how you feel about the size of the unit. That was one of my worries, going with too small of a unit and regretting it later.

 

[StenchRV]

Happy New Year!

Working away......

The last 2 storage boxes are at the hanger and trial fit. HOPEFULLY off to powder coat in 2 weeks!
Front fuel fill will be installed in the triangle top right as high as possible tucked into the corner.
BOTH fuel fills will be recessed, waiting on 4.5" thin wall tubing now, so they will be out of the way and hopefully not damaged in our travels.


The 30 gallon shower grey tank. YES we designed the storage box around the tank. We had the tank in hand BEFORE we sent off the final measurements. It will be well insulated and have a heat pad, just in case. A boat tank by Ronco, RW B189 worked PERFECT. Tank Depot got it to the house quick There is a little more room around the tank than it looks like in the photo. 3/4" insulation planned all around.


If you look closely you can see the white shower drain pipe inside the tank. I will install a p trap assembly inside the storage box, insulate everything and done. The rear fuel tank fill will be welded into the triangle on the upper left. The rear of this box is removable for plumbing access.


It will look great in black!


The wife hard at work assembling the wardrobe. She also had the fun job of loctite blueing everything AFTER we had it designed and assembled. She did the ENTIRE rig along the way!


Progress! LOTS of details and hardware A few more parts and Blum drawer slides to go.
Both lower drawers are for shoes. Top left hanging, top right shelves, the rest full extension drawers.


Time to move stuff around and open the drawer factory


Tried a new assembly method. Just 2 table saw set ups. EASY. Search You Tube...quarter, quarter, quarter method. I used the quarter, quarter , half design. I went with 1/2" birch drawer bottom also with everything glued and a few 18 ga staples on the edges to keep it tight until the glue dried.


ONWARD!! 5 weeks until the speed week trip in Daytona! YIKES!!

CHEERS!!

Craig & Angie

 

[StenchRV]

HOLY HARDWARE! Spent a little time last night working on the wardrobe. SO GLAD we included this in the design. YES...we copied ER, and Museroamer, a BUNCH but we had to plan LIKE CRAZY to get everything in 24 feet! The drawer slides are no more than an inch from the back wall and the front is about an inch from the screen door frame. You can stand in the entryway and open the 18" deep drawers all the way. I even had to space the left lower drawer to clear the door threshold.




So close ! Bamboo fronts will be installed when I do the rest of the cabinet door and faces.

CHEERS!!

 

[Vance Vanz]

Details, Details, Details, all the little fricking Details.

Looks great and you are plugging right along. I had a smile on my face looking at the interior pics, knowing you are about to get those finished bamboo faces on soon .

Let me know when I can send my order over to the "drawer factory" and borrow your helper for a bit. Tell Angie she is kicking butt and to keep up the good work!

Thanks for taking the time to post everything

 

[Alloy]

Bamboo fronts will be installed when I do the rest of the cabinet door and faces.

CHEERS!!

.......with matching grain

 

[2 bikes 2 brown dogs]

Man-o-man that wardrobe is looking good! I can commiserate with you all on a post install locktite session. Even the ball spring T-nuts thought it was funny when they followed gravity to where even small hands don't fit.
On an interiors note, what wall panel material did you use for your shower enclosure?

 

[2 bikes 2 brown dogs]

Well I just re-discovered your description from a September post that the shower walls were honeycomb FRP. My apologies for that redundant question. That said, could you share where you sourced them and if there was a particular 'model' or spec you used?
I'm loving the distribution panels you suggested so I might as well be just as excited about our shower box

 

[StenchRV]

Well I just re-discovered your description from a September post that the shower walls were honeycomb FRP. My apologies for that redundant question. That said, could you share where you sourced them and if there was a particular 'model' or spec you used?
I'm loving the distribution panels you suggested so I might as well be just as excited about our shower box

No worries

We really like the panels and working with them was relatively easy. Not cheap but I would buy them again. We used the 13MM (.51 in) That is why you see the double bamboo edge near the bathroom door, I used it as an edge finish for the honeycomb panels.

Composite Laminated Panels - Carbon-Core Corporation

Carbon-Core lightweight panels are wet laminated, molded products and suitable for structural use in marine construction, trailer and camper sidewalls, moisture and chemical resistant areas.

www.carbon-core.com

We plan on an overhead, ceiling mounted, shower curtain track and will tuck the small curtain away in the rear corner near the wardrobe wall. Everything else is waterproof except the door. We explored SO MANY different ways to take care of the shower/bathroom door issue.

CHEERS!!

Craig

 

[StenchRV]

Change gears...wood to metal



You need a place to put diesel in the beast. We did give thought to mounting the fuel fill on our subframe but our outer rail was not wide, tall, enough to do so. I like the thinner outer rail look and OAT did not think we needed the extra steel. They did step down the outer U channel mounts so the habitat sits flat, step down clears the extrusions, and we can mount the boxes to the subframe itself.
That is the way I designed it and with their input it came out really well.

Refresher photo At OAT before our super single change.


As high as I can get it for the "fall" from the fill point to the tank.

Step one. 4" .065 welded pipe. Long enough to cut at an angle later for "fall".


Step 4...LOL. Step 2 and 3 were welding and sanding. Will look good in black texture powder coat.


Second one...also done! Well not in this photo....LOL!


Original plan was a pipe all the way through the box with the fuel and vent hose inside of it. Due to the tank fill vent tube on the fill neck the pipe would have been 6" to fit inside the tube and still not centered. FAIL! Plan B was mount the fuel fill this way and use a grommet and some sealant inner and outer, on the rear of the storage box, to prevent water and rain intrusion and still allow for everything to come apart if we ever need it. Thank you RAM for the stainless steel 90's and extra fuel hose included with the truck.

Line up the rear tire with the pump and fill both tanks

CHEERS!!

 

[StenchRV]

Every now and then it is nice to clean up little, step back, and actually see the progress!

Couch storage, 2 right doors. Systems access far left door.




Off to powder coating in the morning! FINALLY! I decided to add an external air hook up to the passenger side storage box, large single door box, because I thought the 2 fuel fills came out ok so what was one more!



ONWARD!!

CHEERS!!

 

[StenchRV]

You will notice one thing that is missing in the pictures so far is a table. Having read some mixed reviews on the Laguna, not looking to start a flame show...LOL, we sought out some other options. Fixed telescoping pedestal, fold away, removable pole type.

My wonderful wife came across this.

Home - Cass Hudson Co. EZ-Reach System

Ergonomically designed, the EZ-Reach system is perfect for small areas where you need just a little bit more countertop space.

ez-reach.com

It now resides in our hanger for installation later this month. I can always add a few slides to the top if we feel we need them. We are working on the perfect placement of the mount bracket now.
The thing is a beast! I like the build quality, now to see if it works a advertised. Paid full price.

CHEERS!!

 

[StenchRV]

Two long weeks.

A major storm tried to wipe out parts of our little town of Griffin, 4 Tornadoes, EF3's, LOTS of damage but thank God no deaths in Griffin. It could have been SO MUCH worse. We took a break from the build for a few days to help out. The storm front also crushed parts of AL.

Something this guy NEVER likes to see on his storm app! About 45 min before we got hit. See the little hook just west of us, the blue circle....BAD!


OK....now on to the good news Table mounted, heater installed and almost fully hooked up, I had the wrong size heat sleeve. Kitchen drawers done and the cabinet is finished, minus a shelf and the bamboo fronts and doors.


Table mount. There are 1.25" X 3" X .125 joiner plates on each upright top and bottom behind the 8020 mount you see to tie everything together. My wife says always overbuilt, but my stuff almost never breaks


This thing is a beast! I put it together and shook the heck out of it and it is a stable table



It is winter...so we might need a heater soon.

The Expedition Upfitters flange was money well spent! A little sealant and done!

A few builders on EP gave a pro tip.....assemble it BEFORE you install on the floor. Pro tip taken!


More drawers! The kitchen cabinet in DIY form. So easy now! They come out square and strong.

My wife will epoxy the counter top in the next week or two. A few plumbing things to change, to make some more room under the sink, and switches to final wire and we have a kitchen!
Bamboo time.....SOON!


ONWARD!!

CHEERS!!

 

[StenchRV]

On a completely different note.

I wanted the powder coat on our storage boxes to match the powder coat on the front Buckstop bumper, and the rear bumper. I called Buckstop when we had the rear bumper powder coated to get the information and realized I never posted the information to the build thread. Just in case someone along the way wants to do the same. I had my powder coat guy call Cardinal directly.

THANK YOU Buckstop, https://www.buckstopinc.com, for sharing the information!

This is the box from the rear bumper. It took about 3.5 LBS to do a 5 MIL coat on the bumper.
It will take about 20 to 25 LBS to do the same 5 MIL coat on all 4 storage boxes. Price is around $5.50 a pound. It was cheaper to order a 50 LB box. My powder coat guy wanted 25 LBS anyway. WINNER!



CHEERS!!

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Two long weeks.

A major storm tried to wipe out parts of our little town of Griffin, 4 Tornadoes, EF3's, LOTS of damage but thank God no deaths in Griffin. It could have been SO MUCH worse. We took a break from the build for a few days to help out. The storm front also crushed parts of AL.

Something this guy NEVER likes to see on his storm app! About 45 min before we got hit. See the little hook just west of us, the blue circle....BAD!
View attachment 762630

OK....now on to the good news Table mounted, heater installed and almost fully hooked up, I had the wrong size heat sleeve. Kitchen drawers done and the cabinet is finished, minus a shelf and the bamboo fronts and doors.

View attachment 762632
Table mount. There are 1.25" X 3" X .125 joiner plates on each upright top and bottom behind the 8020 mount you see to tie everything together. My wife says always overbuilt, but my stuff almost never breaks

View attachment 762631
This thing is a beast! I put it together and shook the heck out of it and it is a stable table

View attachment 762633

It is winter...so we might need a heater soon.
View attachment 762634
The Expedition Upfitters flange was money well spent! A little sealant and done!
View attachment 762635
A few builders on EP gave a pro tip.....assemble it BEFORE you install on the floor. Pro tip taken!

View attachment 762636
More drawers! The kitchen cabinet in DIY form. So easy now! They come out square and strong.
View attachment 762637
My wife will epoxy the counter top in the next week or two. A few plumbing things to change, to make some more room under the sink, and switches to final wire and we have a kitchen!
Bamboo time.....SOON!
View attachment 762638

ONWARD!!

CHEERS!!

Those inset fuel fillers are such an awesome little subtlety. Love it!

Awesome work as usual sir

What table mount is that’?

 

[StenchRV]

Those inset fuel fillers are such an awesome little subtlety. Love it!

Awesome work as usual sir

What table mount is that’?

Thank you Sir.

The fuel fills were fun to do. Fingers crossed the install goes as planned.

Home - Cass Hudson Co. EZ-Reach System

Ergonomically designed, the EZ-Reach system is perfect for small areas where you need just a little bit more countertop space.

ez-reach.com