Alaskan Camper Build Up

[Carlyle]

In the last camper I actually had two boots. One was a compressed foam ring and the other was a small tube with two rings. Each came from a different pop up camper manufacturer. The new camper will only utilize a boot when the top is up as the top when down will block the rear window of the truck.

 

[dzzz]

I think the MPT81's are a great choice. That's what I was going to use before switching to a unimog. I never solved the spare tire problem. I think your choice of front bumper mount is probably the easiest to live with.
One thing I would check with Bryan is that your upper cabinets will balance your roof. I should have put upper cabinets across the foot of the bed.
I see you have more drawers than I have in my unit. That's good. I still haven't adequately organized my large storage areas.
The best unusual choice I made on my camper was the ability to use a standard home mattress.

 

[Carlyle]

Hi Don,

Thanks for the reply.

Glad to here another vote of confidence on the mpt 81's. I thought long and hard about the spare tire problem and just did not want to be moving the spare every time I needed in the back of the camper. I talked to Bryan and he is going to run cabinets all the way across the bed section per your advice. When I saw our camper being built, I liked the real mattress idea and have incorporated that as well and will be in fact picking it up this am after work.

Any more ideas would be great! Any thoughts on how you will organize the under bed storage?

We have decided against putting the same solar fans in as the last camper. Nice idea, but just did not move enough air for my taste. Another change is go with Lifeline batteries instead of the Energy One's. Just more bang for the buck.

 

[mangymarmot]

Hey Carlyle,

Sorry to hear about your rig. It definitely was one of my favorite builds. I've been wanting to drive down south to check out your set up to get some ideas. Looks like I'll have to wait for your new build. I'm sure it will surpass our expectations. Keep us posted.

 

[Carlyle]

Thanks for the condolences Mangymarmot.

Update:

We heard from the dealer that the truck is built and now waiting in Detroit to be shipped to Colorado. Hopefully it will be here soon. Wheels and tires are supposed to be here any day. Bumper is being built after Aluminess contacted Detroit and got the front end size specs from the direct source.

Revtek leveling kit for front end of the truck is here. Ute flat bed is here and being modified to so that it will be rigidly mounted in the back and have travel in the front. Slowly replacing all our cooking gear clothes etc from the inside.

Camper has been started with extra parts we want installed shipped to Chehalis for Alaskan to mount. This includes Pioneer DVD player, speakers, Yakima roof tracks, PIAA back up lights etc. Picked up a back lit LED TV at Costco and have ordered the parts to raise and lower the TV as before on a linear actuator. Simmons full size mattress is here and waiting to be installed. Per Don's advice we are extending the upper cabinets, but only on the passenger side as I don't want to nail my head in the middle of the night. We are have a thin shelf installed on the driver's side overhead for books etc.

New Engel MT43 is ordered and on the way. The old one is here and will be sold after as is after I clean it up a bit. Eventually the Engel will be on a slide so that it can pull fully out of the front compartment for easy access. Anyone seen any good aftermarket Engel slides out there?

Old truck arrived back from the salvage yard. The insurance company kept the camper for further investigation they told me. The salvage yard forgot to send the old flat bed, Viair compressors/tanks, and the propane tank. Not sure how they could overlook these items, bit after a discussion they agreed that they were part of the truck and not the camper. Since I have the salvage title on the truck, they are lawfully my items. The Ford starts up and runs and will be going up for sale as is shortly to someone who likes smoky smells and soot...


More to come as I find out more.


Carl

 

[adi]

Just wanted to add in my findings on these. They take 20-30 minutes to heat up enough to cook, they displace a lot of heat into the cabin (great if you're in cold weather, disaster if your outside temp is over 80), and apparently since they are designed for marine environments, and have issues with higher elevations.

In my research for single fuel camping, the closest is everything but cooking on diesel. You can get diesel hiking stoves, but they aren't designed for countertop/indoor use. Cooking inside you are stuck with electric/induction or propane it seems.

Carlyle
I found a diesel cooktop that will also space heat. It is made by Wallas and is sold in Seattle Wa. by Scan Marine Equipment. The unit is called Safeflame 85DU with the 270 blower lid, it is not cheap either, around 3K for the kit. I was thinking about having Bryan installing it in a new camper, just to expensive for me at this time.
Francis

 

[Carlyle]

Confirmation again on the difficulty of cooking with diesel in an RV when it's hot out. I wonder how the Earthroamer people do it, or are they so rich they just eat out every night?

Here is the roof layout of the camper. The roof is two feet shorter than the camper and everything is a little crammed in. Looks like the top cargo basket will have to go, but not such big deal as I'll have a fairly large on top of the truck cab. New solar panels are a little larger as they are now 125 watts each, rather than 85 watts each. In addition they are Carmanah Technologies from Canada and work better when the sun is at an angle.

Truck is built and waiting on a train in Detroit at this time. Wheels and tires ship next week. Bumper is being built and about four weeks out.

 

[Carlyle]

Latest driver's side cabinet layout with Platinum Catalytic heater shown. We decided to go with this as a compromise between furnace and catalytic heater. We don't know what caused the fire on the last one, but wanted to avoid both the Atwood furnace or the Olympic heater in case they may have been the cause. The Platinum Catalytic heater is a compromise between the two that I found and Alaskan has installed previously.

Here is a picture of the plat cat:

Draws 0.5 amps of power... with an output of 5200 btu
http://ventedcatheater.com/2.html

 

[Nimbl Vehicles]

Just wanted to add in my findings on these. They take 20-30 minutes to heat up enough to cook, they displace a lot of heat into the cabin (great if you're in cold weather, disaster if your outside temp is over 80), and apparently since they are designed for marine environments, and have issues with higher elevations.
.

That is simply NOT true!

Those stoves work at higher elevation, don't take 20 -30 minutes to warm up and are pretty awesome to cook on. They also cool down pretty fast. My typical experience is about 7-10 minutes before I can lower my camper.


Those are my findings, who used that type of cook top in a pop up camper the last 3 years.

I find it irritating to read such statements from people who never used one!
Marc

 

[locrwln]

Latest driver's side cabinet layout with Platinum Catalytic heater shown. We decided to go with this as a compromise between furnace and catalytic heater. We don't know what caused the fire on the last one, but wanted to avoid both the Atwood furnace or the Olympic heater in case they may have been the cause. The Platinum Catalytic heater is a compromise between the two that I found and Alaskan has installed previously.

Here is a picture of the plat cat:

Draws 0.5 amps of power... with an output of 5200 btu
http://ventedcatheater.com/2.html

Very cool heater. I like that a lot.

Jack

 

[jayshapiro]

V. Sorry

Carlyle,
A little late to be chiming in here, but wanted to share my sentiments of how sorry we are to hear about your camper. I'm sure it's been said before, but: thank goodness nobody was in it.

I'm sure you will re-build it even better this time. As Doug Hackney calls it, we all suffer from "first pancake syndrome" - at least you'll get the chance most of us are lacking by building an even better 2.0

Good luck, and all the best with the next chapter.

Jay.

 

[jayshapiro]

New solar panels are a little larger as they are now 125 watts each, rather than 85 watts each. In addition they are Carmanah Technologies from Canada and work better when the sun is at an angle.

Not sure if it is too late for you, but we have been VERY happy with the Sanyo HIP 195W solar panels on the roof of the EcoRoamer - specs here.

They've been extremely rugged despite several tree bashings - and the extra power per square inch (they're 195W) really helps.

Hope that helps...
Jay.

 

[Carlyle]

Hi Jay and thanks for the condolences. I think the Sanyo's are the one's we have on our garage.

 

[Francis]

Batteries

Has anyone heard of or tried Deka brand batteries? I was told they were very high quality and a lot better price wise than the Lifeline brand.

Francis

 

[Carlyle]

Seen any write ups or real life comparisons?