Living The Dream
New member
Holy bologna! Nice work! 10 out of 10!
FWC Keystone remodel and short bed conversion
- Thread starter AZ_Nick
- Start date
Thanks guys! It was a bit of a personal challenge. I've built many cars but never a camper and many times I was thinking I should have just started with a FWC shell! Here's a couple more shots of the interior build. I didn't take any pictures of the table but it uses a Lagun Leg kit and I bent up some scrap stainless into a table top. The bottom of the table is reinforced with a channel I bent up from 0.063" aluminum and bonded with VHB tape. The bottom of the Lagun then mounts to that. I really liked the height adjustment with the Lagun so now the table can rise up to counter height when cooking. Picture also shows my shop built rollover bed with some recycled pad from the original camper cushions.
And the bed folded out...
And the bed folded out...
The original camper had a cabinet over the couch with sliding 1/2" plywood doors, it was bulky but seemed to work well so I scaled that idea down for the cabinet doors. I was unable to locate the side by side aluminum channel in 1/4" so I just welded 2 C channel extrusions together to form the tracks. The doors are 3/16" birch plywood and they warp just enough to keep from sliding open on the trail.
outsidecurtisp
Observer
This thing is coming along great, your fab work is amazing. It looks like you have a nice shop too. Keep the pictures coming. Curious though, what attracted you to this camper? Was it this model, did you already own it, or did you get a good price on it? I am asking because I have been looking something similar as well.
outsidercurtisp - I was attracted to this camper because it was cheap, made of aluminum, and had a new canvas installed. I figured having the roof and canvas done saved me time and money and knew I could build the rest of the camper as I wanted it. I struggled with the length for some time, I had a 1/2 ton 5.5' bed truck when I bought it and then decided I wanted a bit longer and bought a 3/4 ton 6.5' bed truck. A long bed would have definitely been more comfortable inside the camper but ultimately I decided against the longer wheelbase that came with a 8' bed. As a side project, I'm building an aluminum flatbed that will have upper and lower tool boxes for more storage.
outsidecurtisp
Observer
OK. Sounds like you have a good plan in place. Looks great so far. Keep us updated.
Up top I added 2 roof rack cross members to accommodate 2 100W Solar Panels. They feed a EPEVER 20A MPPT Solar Charge Controller and 2 Optima Yellow Top house batteries. This is enough to keep the Dometic CFX-40W refrigerator, water pump, and lights going. I have not run the 2 Fantastic Fans all night yet but they are pretty thirsty for power and not really that impressive for circulation. Once the Solar was on hoisting the roof became a real chore so I broke down and added gas struts. After some experimentation, I settled on 40# in the rear and 30# up front. What a difference these make!
Last edited:
Next step will be a flatbed with utility boxes for this camper. I would like to have more storage so the camper is basically ready to use when we get somewhere. Here's a lightweight flatbed I built specifically for a Hawk before any boxes were added. I'll use this same design for mine with a few tweaks.
shadow_rider84
New member
Hey AZ Nick - I am considering doing a less aggressive conversion (Keystone to 8ft, still do King and Halo, and none of the exterior/interior fab work, just a frame cut/floorpack). Do you have any updates or further comments on how this build worked out for you? (I know - thread is a bit dated).
It would be hard to do the halo conversion without at least re-siding the camper because you are adding 3" to the bottom of the bed and front of the camper. On mine, I now overhang the front of the truck bed to close up the gap between the camper and cab. I did this in case I wanted to do a boot and pass through some day. I also put threaded inserts in the halo that could be used for down riggers to the edge of the cab if it ended up sagging but have not needed those. The extra floor space of the Keystone is definitely missed when camping with 3-4 people. We have spent almost a month in the camper this summer and there were a few times it would have been nice to have the toilet accessible with the lower bed made. With a 7' + floorplan you would have the flexibility of a front dinette setup too. Let me know if there's anything else that would help you.
shadow_rider84
New member
Thanks AZ - since I posted my question, I've re-studied your photos and your discussion posts. I agree, some additional work would need to be done either way. As I have 4 very young kids, not sure this is a project I can take on at the moment. Too bad I didn't buy a long bed truck!
bikerbill2021
Member
Very cool build, AZ native here too, I was right in guessing it was your ad on craigslist I saw recently, if you dont mind me asking, why are you selling?