FWC Purchase and Camper Prep for Tennessee To Argentina Road Trip

[Here Until There]

Deciding we wanted to take a 15 month road trip from Tennessee to Argentina was the easy part. Deciding what we wanted to live in was the hard part. We knew wanted a truck camper from the start, but there are SO many companies and SO many opinions. After looking for months a friend of ours told us he knew a guy that was very knowledgable about truck campers which led us to Overland Hadley http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/search.php?searchid=3983465 on Expedition Portal (which we had never heard of). He was insanely friendly and helpful from the very beginning and easily talked us into a Four Wheel Camper. We had researched them before but they were way out of our price range, so we decided to try to find one used. The main problem was that we live in the Southeast. Truck campers are sparse here, especially FWCs. Weeks of daily searching by us and Overland Hadley turned up 4whtundra http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/86187-30-HOME-FREE-AND-UNEMPLOYED who was selling his on Expedition Portal. The camper was in New York. After several emails we agreed to mail a cashiers check to his dad's address in New York and he agreed to drive the camper to Vermont and drop it off at ours friends land. We knew we could get screwed. We were sending the money to someone we had never met for a camper we had never actually seen in person. After the delivery of the check and a few days of sweaty palms and floor pacing, he showed up in Vermont with our new camper in tow. He even spent a couple hours explaining all the ins and outs of the camper to our friend while she taped it for us. Never have we had such an excellent, honest purchasing experience. It restored our faith in the human race

Thanks Overland Hadley, 4whtundra and Expedition Portal for leading us to our beloved camper. We're introducing ourselves to hopefully gain some knowledge and advice from all the experienced truck camper owners before we depart in October and to possibly contribute in some small way to the community.

4whtundra dropping off camper



Us opening camper for the first time. Man we were excited.



Our home for the next year or so:wings:




http://hereuntilthere.com

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[Scott Brady]

Looks great. What a nice combo- simple and effective

 

[craig333]

I can't wait to follow along. Looks like fun.

 

[bill harr]

Looking forward to your journey.

 

[longhorn1]

Good Luck. Enjoy your travels. You will have the time of your life. John

 

[brian90744]

I see someone else will do the same trip and is looking for travel mates=
Exploration and Adventure
Expedition and Overland Adventure Planning
Central and South America
Seattle to Argentina by 4x4 to start in Oct 2015

You need to add extra locks on the truck/camper, just FYI=brian

 

[Here Until There]

New Floor

Thanks for the replies!

The first project we decided to undertake was putting in a new floor. The old floor was fine. It was the original vinyl floor FWC installs. It had a few scratches here and there but was perfectly functional. Regardless, we decided to replace it. It's really starting to sink in that this will be our only tiny house for over a year and we want to make it as homey as possible.

We considered a hard wood floor at first, but then realized it may warp with the heat and moisture when we spend weeks on the many beaches we hope to camp on (poor us The salesperson at Home Depot talked us into an interlocking floating vinyl floor that would not need glue. It seems durable and is supposed to be waterproof. it was also significantly cheaper than hard wood.

It only took a long afternoon to put the in new floor and toe molding over the old vinyl

The original floor



Installing new floor



Finished floor



We really like it. The continuity of color seems to make the small space seem bigger.


http://hereuntilthere.com

 

[Here Until There]

Norcold 3-Way Fridge Problems

We took the camper out for a long weekend and everything worked perfectly excpet the fridge. We know that these fridges are finnicky. We have had it serviced and cleaned. It works great on AC power when we have it plugged up at home and it worked well(ish) on DC for the first day and then it started to warm up. We really need it to work well on DC because we will rarely be plugged into shore power. It was hot outside but we were parked in the shade so the average temp was around 80-85 degrees. We've do know the camper needs to be level. Does it need to be perfectly level? If so we will invest in some leveling blocks. Can there be another problem that we are missing? Thanks!

 

[brian90744]

You need a 12V/110V compressor refrig, plus solar. The 3 way LP/12V/110V will run the battery down in 3 or 4 hours, OK on LP on the level. Just FYI=brian

 

[Here Until There]

I meant to say the fridge was and will be running on propane, not DC. We will rarely use DC, only while driving. My bad.

 

[Ramblinman]

My Three way has been working like GOLD - even when its not level its a 2010 - there is a great fridge thread (a couple in fact) over on Wander the West. (I hope that I did not jinx myself) I hope that you can get it working cause a new fridge and or solar/extra battery could be be a PITA in that it cost a heck of a lot of $$$$$$ This said those that have compressor fridges - swear by them.

My fridge does not have to be perfectly level. I have been told within 3 degrees - I usually adjust with a my iphone level. If I park on a steep incline for a couple of hours I turn it off. Levelling blocks are nice -Walmart has them.

Good Luck those damn fridges are nice luxury but ruin your day when they do not work.

 

[Ramblinman]

Oh ya nice truck - did you buy gas or diesel and why?

 

[GCecchetto]

You need a 12V/110V compressor refrig, plus solar. The 3 way LP/12V/110V will run the battery down in 3 or 4 hours, OK on LP on the level. Just FYI=brian

+1 Throw out the 3 way and install a good solar system and a Nova Kool.

 

[Durango]

+1 Throw out the 3 way and install a good solar system and a Nova Kool.

X2. My 110 liter 12V compressor fridge in my FWC Hawk has been bomb proof. And that is without solar! (I do have the two battery option.)

Steve

 

[Here Until There]

My Three way has been working like GOLD - even when its not level its a 2010 - there is a great fridge thread (a couple in fact) over on Wander the West. (I hope that I did not jinx myself) I hope that you can get it working cause a new fridge and or solar/extra battery could be be a PITA in that it cost a heck of a lot of $$$$$$ This said those that have compressor fridges - swear by them.

My fridge does not have to be perfectly level. I have been told within 3 degrees - I usually adjust with a my iphone level. If I park on a steep incline for a couple of hours I turn it off. Levelling blocks are nice -Walmart has them.

Good Luck those damn fridges are nice luxury but ruin your day when they do not work.

Looks like we may need a new one. It's currently parked perfectly flat in the backyard and is not working on propane even though there is a flame. Works great on AC, which is weird. Thanks for the heads up about the Wander the West threads. Lots of good info there.