Hi Everyone,
I have been around here for about a year or so as I originally was planning a Mitsu FG build but after all considerations I decided to shortcut (at least for the time being) via the truck camper route. Before I get started I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the great bits and pieces of advice that I have plucked from various builds and discussions, truly a wonderful asset.
Our main mission is an all season extreme cold capable winter ski-mobile for the wife and I. There were a lot of details so I will try and keep this short and get to my modifications which have now all been tested for a couple of weeks in the low single digits Fahrenheit while skiing in Utah, Wyoming, BC and Oregon or about 3k miles. We wanted to be able to stay warm and be able to boondock in the winter for a reasonable amount of time while keeping everything relatively light. Much searching on this forum led us to the Bigfoot brand camper which we purchased used, but hardly so.
Base truck is a 08 F350 XL 4x4 Crew-cab long-bed 6.4 diesel single rears
Truck mods include:
12k Warn winch
Goodyear 275/70/17 DuraTrac tires which I am very pleased with, they grip and handle well and are relatively quiet.
Air-lift rear suspension with onboard compressor normal driving @ 55-60 psi
Rancho 9000 rear shocks set to 9 with the camper
80 amp TC charging circuit with relay
High idle-charging mod to the Ford ECM
Torq-lift hold downs
After 3000 miles and some very high winds in NV (395 was closed to trucks and RVs because of them) I am very pleased with all of the handling mods. I am not planning anything additional but each one made an incrementally noticeable difference. We normally cruise @ 65mph and are getting 11.5-12.5 mpg.
The camper: 07 Bigfoot 25¬_9.6c
This is my first camper so I did not know what to expect, it is in virtually new condition and has seen very little use. After we got her home I spent a couple of days just opening things up to take a look at details, build quality etc. and what could be done to improve the overall thermal efficiency. My impressions of the build quality were quite good but I was somewhat disappointed when it came to the engineering details. I had read in this forum about some other Bigfoot owners mentioning leaving all the cupboard doors open so the pipes wouldn’t freeze, why was this? And so the journey began.
The biggest standout was the propane and battery lockers in the rear passenger side corner, they seem to be made from vacuum formed polyethylene and impinge from the exterior into the under sink area of the galley. They were completely un-insulated, approx. 12sq ft. of un-insulated wall. To rectify this situation it required removing the sink and all the liner panels to be able to add 2inch PU foam to the sides and top of the propane locker, this also necessitated re-plumbing the under-sink drain pipes for additional clearance. The same treatment for the battery locker was not possible due to other clearances so I elected to swap the batteries (2) for group 31 AGMs ( no outgassing) for a total of 230 amp hours and by making a foam plug for the outside of the battery box, this mod in practice brought them inside of the heated space which also improved their charge capacity at cold temps. 2” foam plugs were made for all the other openings where possible and I removed the exterior shower and made a plug for that recess also. This camper has a basement which houses the tanks and has a nice long storage space where I can fit 5 pairs of skis. I next removed all the screws holding the camper bottom panels on in order to expose the tanks. When I removed the panels there was only a very thin piece of Styrofoam loosely placed in the cavity lending it no insulating value whatsoever. Since all three tanks are suspended from the subfloor above it allowed me to tightly fit 2.5” PU foam under the tanks and also shorten the heating ducts that were bottomed out on the lower panels.
In addition to the above described insulation work I had noticed when we picked the camper up from the previous owner and loaded it onto the F350 a substantial amount of room between the bed and the camper. I chose to add between 1.5-2” of additional foam to the outside basement area and held it in place with 3” Gorilla tape up to the height of the bed wall and the underside of the wings/shelf (this is meant for temporary winter use only and I will remove it in the spring). When loading the camper I cut purple extruded styrene foam 1” thick on the truck bed and set the camper on top for insulation and anti slip properties in lieu of either plywood or rubber pad. The compression strength seems to be about 10psi which equates to 48x96=4608x10lbs=46080lbs. After 3k miles there are a few slightly compressed areas and impressions from screw heads etc.
I also swapped all the bulbs for LED, added a dedicated charging circuit with a dash board switch to turn it off if the starting batteries where low. A dual zone digital thermometer with an attached probe that was routed into the basement area, a digital battery voltage meter, LED TV, bracket for a Dish Network Tailgater antenna, etc. rounded out the camper mods.
Performance: With the 2 fully charged AGM batteries (voltage about 13.08v) we were able to stay parked and run the heater 24hrs/day set at around 50 degrees while we were out or sleeping and 72-75 degrees when we were lounging, eating etc. for just about 72hrs. (3 days) which I am very pleased with.
Propane usage for heat, hot water and fridge is between ¾ and 2/3 gal. per day so with the two 5 gal. tanks we can make it for just about 10 days with a little reserve. When inside the cabin stays a relatively constant 55 and the basement 10-15 degrees cooler. I never noticed any temps in the basement below 41-42.
The charging system works really well and if needed I can start the truck and put it in Battery Charge Mode and the ECM monitors charging and adjusts rpm accordingly but for this trip normal driving has been sufficient for all of our needs.
All in all we are very pleased the way the rig is performing in the low single digits and on the road. The one item that seams to be failing is the Gorilla tape it doesn't seems to like the cold too much....if anyone know of something better. Not a complete failure but the edges are peeling an 1/8 to 1/4" of so.
None of these mods were engineered so please do not take these as recommendations this is just a users report, please do your own research.
mijab
08 F350
67 CJ5
08 Opel 1.3cdti....75hp of turbo diesel POWER! (Mongol Rally 2012)
08 Defender 110
