FWC Purchase and Camper Prep for Tennessee To Argentina Road Trip

[Doc Foster]

Neat, thanks for the updates.

On your jack-cover it & grease it when you can, or it will be zero use when you need it.

Can you jack your truck with the camper on using it? Try it, make sure your bumpers are built for it. Most stockers are not.

If you can jack it up, bring a "landing pad" for it-wood metal plastic whatever.

X2 on covering and greasing the jack as well as some sort of Landing pad.
Watch some videos on how to use the jack as a winch and how to use it safely. Hi-Lift jacks can be great and a life saver, but can be dangerous if used improperly.

 

[Here Until There]

Neat, thanks for the updates.

On your jack-cover it & grease it when you can, or it will be zero use when you need it.

Can you jack your truck with the camper on using it? Try it, make sure your bumpers are built for it. Most stockers are not.

If you can jack it up, bring a "landing pad" for it-wood metal plastic whatever.

We have practiced jacking up the truck and it works fine. Thanks for the advice about the grease!

 

[Here Until There]

This^^ One helpful hi-lift accessory is the lift mate which lifts your rig by the wheel, then you place the jack stand under and lower it onto the stand. Since you'll have a jack stand this will do the trick. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hi-Lift-Jac...:g:ib0AAOSwd0BVzC6t&item=331391155664&vxp=mtr

We had tried the bumper lift, but the chain was to short and there wasn't a good place to hook it to. This looks perfect though. Think we'll pick one up on the way to California before we cross the border. Thank you!

 

[Here Until There]

X2 on covering and greasing the jack as well as some sort of Landing pad.
Watch some videos on how to use the jack as a winch and how to use it safely. Hi-Lift jacks can be great and a life saver, but can be dangerous if used improperly.

We watched some videos and did a few practice runs. Still scary though:/

 

[Here Until There]

Solar Panels

Our camper is wired into the alternator of our truck, so whenever we're driving we're charging the camper battery. But if we're parked on a beach for a week (which we hope to do often) we need a way to replenish our energy stores. We had planned on getting some flat solar panels and mounting them to the roof our camper. Four Wheel pre-wires their campers for people to do this (because they're awesome and think of everything). But when we were at Overland Expo last year we came across the guy from Overland Solar http://overlandsolar.com who hand builds folding portable solar panels. He made a good argument against mounting panels to the roof saying that you typically want to park in the shade to avoid the heat but want your panels in the sunlight (obviously). It made sense to us and his panels were almost half the price of most others on the market. We bought the 90 watt panels and I mounted a connector, wired to the battery, on the side of the camper so we can place the panels up to about ten feet away and reposition them throughout the day to get the most sunlight possible as it moves through the sky.

 

[Here Until There]

Choosing a Battery

Our camper came with a 60 amp-hour Decca battery which we decided just wasn't enough juice (and we had no idea how old the thing was). We knew next to nothing about batteries when we started our search and quickly found ourselves swirling down a mind boggling rabbit hole of information. From the peukert effect, to the merits of 6 volt vs. 12 volt or AGM vs. flooded, there's just so much information and so many opinions out there that it took us months to finally decide what to get. We went with two 6 volt AGM golf cart batteries wired in series (to achieve 12 volts). The main deciding factors for us were amp-hours per size/weight/cost. We had read that you could get a good deal on these at Sam's Club so we checked it out and they were relatively inexpensive. I think they sell whatever brand they happen to be able to get a bulk discount on, so they ended up being Duracells. They have 200 amp-hours, so we more than tripled the capacity that we had before, while just doubling the footprint.

 

[Here Until There]

We're Finally On Our Way!

That pretty much wraps up everything we did to prepare our truck and camper for the trip. Thanks for all the advice and info. After years of planning, preparing and saving we are finally on our trip.

We've started a new trip thread.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/150894-A-Long-Road-Trip-From-Tennessee-to-Argentina

We will be updating on our blog

http://hereuntilthere.com

and most often on Instagram. It's the easiest to update on the road.

https://instagram.com/hereuntilthere

 

[calicamper]

I added my own portable set up same Idea but on a ultra mini scale. We have a popup tent on a trailer. I built at 50caliber ammo box with a 18amp hour deap cycle battery for a couple of LED lights and 12volt charging station for Gopro/ipad/phone etc. Our daily power burn worst case was about 6ah. I have two tiny 10watt Renogy Panels I set out in an extra guest folding chair. My only fear is having them walk off. The set up was great even in Point Reyes Ca with foggy mornings and afternoons. My other solar project starting in December is 29 285watt LG panels on our house! 8.2kwh system!!!! Cant wait to see it generating free power.

 

[brian90744]

I use safety cones around my ground panels, so people don't trip or ride over them. see
Collapsible Aervoe Safety Cone 1191 Collapsible Safety Cone LED Beacon batteries Aervoe Safety Cone.
just FYI=brian

 

[Here Until There]

I added my own portable set up same Idea but on a ultra mini scale. We have a popup tent on a trailer. I built at 50caliber ammo box with a 18amp hour deap cycle battery for a couple of LED lights and 12volt charging station for Gopro/ipad/phone etc. Our daily power burn worst case was about 6ah. I have two tiny 10watt Renogy Panels I set out in an extra guest folding chair. My only fear is having them walk off. The set up was great even in Point Reyes Ca with foggy mornings and afternoons. My other solar project starting in December is 29 285watt LG panels on our house! 8.2kwh system!!!! Cant wait to see it generating free power.

Excellent idea for a small potable set up. Ours getting stolen is also a worry. We have chain we're going to put around them when we leave them unattended for short periods. Hopefully that with thwart any want to be thieves.

 

[Here Until There]

I use safety cones around my ground panels, so people don't trip or ride over them. see
Collapsible Aervoe Safety Cone 1191 Collapsible Safety Cone LED Beacon batteries Aervoe Safety Cone.
just FYI=brian

Good idea. We actually have some safety triangles that were told we must have in several South American countries. I suppose they might actually have a use now!

 

[Motafinga]

Our camper is wired into the alternator of our truck, so whenever we're driving we're charging the camper battery. But if we're parked on a beach for a week (which we hope to do often) we need a way to replenish our energy stores. We had planned on getting some flat solar panels and mounting them to the roof our camper. Four Wheel pre-wires their campers for people to do this (because they're awesome and think of everything). But when we were at Overland Expo last year we came across the guy from Overland Solar http://overlandsolar.com who hand builds folding portable solar panels. He made a good argument against mounting panels to the roof saying that you typically want to park in the shade to avoid the heat but want your panels in the sunlight (obviously). It made sense to us and his panels were almost half the price of most others on the market. We bought the 90 watt panels and I mounted a connector, wired to the battery, on the side of the camper so we can place the panels up to about ten feet away and reposition them throughout the day to get the most sunlight possible as it moves through the sky.

I do that as well and when I have my rig parked at home I leave the panel in the windshield to keep it topped off.

 

[Here Until There]

I do that as well and when I have my rig parked at home I leave the panel in the windshield to keep it topped off.

Ahhhhh! Never thought of leaving it in the windshield!

 

[carlo muro]

We bought gas. It was rough just finding a three quarter ton truck with an extra cab in our price range so we just rolled with what we found.

I think you made the right choice. I'm a big fan of diesel but the newest you could have gotten in a truck like that that will run on less than perfectly refined fuel is a 7.3. I'd hate to drive through central and south America fretting about the complexity and general bitchiness of a 6.0 or newer.


Sent from my Z936L using Tapatalk

 

[1stDeuce]

Great thread, and awesome to see you figuring things out and getting closer to gone! Just thought I'd toss out a couple things...

Camper power: I'm not sure it'll fit your camper, but I have one Group 31 in mine, with a 85W panel. It's been more than sufficient, even when camping in the middle of winter. I don't even charge it off the truck anymore, unless it's been cloudy during the day and cold at night for a few nights in a row. (The heater is by FAR the biggest draw I have.)

If I was setting it up again, I'd skip the house battery. In a single night, I've NEVER seen mine below 75%, and that only happens when we camp and it's single digits F or colder. (The heater is by FAR my biggest draw since converting to LED's...) I have dual batteries in the truck, so I'd wire a heavy gauge cable to the camper, and just run it off the truck batts. (Change them to marine/starting units.) If you're moving every day, you'll never have a problem starting. If you plan to stop for days, then add a 100-120W panel and charge controller to the roof of the camper and let if charge the truck batteries. A simple voltage monitor will give you a pretty good idea where the batteries are. If you notice they're getting a little low, and you've been sitting, then start the truck and let it run for a half hour or hour. That won't fully charge the batteries, but it'll give the solar enough of a head start to finish the job, even if it's cloudy.

Given that your truck is a gasser, I'm betting it doesn't have dual batts, but it would probably be really easy to add the 2nd one. Hmm. If it doesn't have duals, perhaps keeping the house battery is a better plan for you. It's still only two batts, and if you keep them somewhat interchangeable, you can use the camper battery in the truck if you have to.

As for batteries, you can spend a LOT of money if you want. I don't. I recommend the Superstart (Deka) batteries from Oreillys. They are made in the USA by a very reputable company, priced very competitively, and I've not had any problems with mine, nor have I heard of anyone having problems with them. I have two flooded units and one AGM. I'll not spend money on an AGM again at this point, as the flooded units are working fine.

Hi-Lift: Good that you've practiced. Basically, always use two hands on the handle, and make sure the truck isn't going to tip and you'll be fine. I am a long time fan of the Hi-Lift. It's all I had when I was in college! My Hi-Lift, which is the one I still have and use, got me out of a LOT of jams. That said, a Hi-Lift is NOT what you want to be using to change a flat... I would HIGHLY recommend you go to a junkyard and find a stock jack and the crank that goes with it. They work, they're light, and they're fairly stable. (Still needs a base in the soft.)

I also recommend carrying at least two 30' 2" or 3" straps that are NOT the stretchy kind, and one 20' 5/16" chain. With that and a few shackles, you can turn your Hi-Lift into a VERY effective (but slow) winch. It WILL get you out. It will also pull trees out of the road.

If you do insist on only having the hi-lift, then you can use the chain to chain the axle to the frame on the side with the flat. This keeps the suspension from drooping, and lets you change the tire without having to jack the truck up a LONG ways to get the fresh tire on. When you crank it way in the air, you're un-weighting the tire on the other side significantly, and you run the risk of the whole thing falling over. (Been there, done that. Sucks.)

I think you've already found that OE bumpers suck for use with a Hi-Lift. They're just too light to use it out near the side that you're trying to lift, making the lift even more precarious. Chaining up the axle becomes a MUST if you have to jack near the frame.

3-way fridge: I love mine. I know, the 12v compressor units are cool. But mine works great on propane (Add a cooling fan to the coils if it doesn't already have one) and also works on 120v (Handy for packing, but that's about all I use it for) and on 12v. Note that the 12v wiring for your trailer connector is NOT sufficient to get the fridge to work properly on 12v. I had to run a 10ga wire right from the front of the truck to keep the voltage up. The draw is about 10a, which doesn't sound like much, but the voltage drop over the 50' of 14 or 16ga wire is significant, and the fridge will slowly warm up unless you get it a full 14v. I put that wire on a 30A relay under the hood, so when I shut the truck off, the fridge gets cut off too. That way I can't forget and run the truck dead.

Well, that was more of a book than I meant it to be... Back to your regular updates!!

Best wishes on your prep and travels! Wife and I are heading to Baja in a few months, and I'm pretty excited about it! I'd be beyond excited if I was heading for South America!! (I'd also be learning Spanish, since my wife and I both took French in HS. What a poor decision that was...)
Chris