no longer considering a fwc grandby, went and purchased one. the fun begins!

[bftank]

thanks derek! i really appreciate your post. when i pulled off the panel covering the heater and water tank i saw how much space got used up by the tank. and how much space just wasn't accessible the way the panel is currently designed. i would like to make it more modular and efficient. thanks for the link to the vinyl repair. looks much cheaper.

regarding resealing the top. any thoughts on doing a spray or roll-on bed liner, like linex or al's liner over everything?

craig333 - is 303 a vinyl cleaner protectant? nevermind i googled it.

 

[derekparr]

I'm a bit of a newb myself.. but at the time I was looking at something similar that they make for rv's that cover the whole roof. But I got this thing on a wee little tacoma so the lighter options are preferred by me.

I'm also not a fan of how the counter and storage is set up. One of my larger planned "upgrades" is to totally tear all that out and rebuild it with just a nice hardwood butcherblock or similar countertop and everything below compartmentalized with sections sized to fit my cooler, water jug and such. And I'm currently thinking it might be cool to just build small shelves to hold things like these canvas drawers (link below) to compartmentalize the rest.

But it remains to be seen if that happens this year or not. There are still a few other structural things that need fixing. I've found some rotten wood in some small not load bearing areas that need pulling out and replacing. And my porch light hasn't worked since September. And with the exception of what I've done in installing the battery and the solar apparatus .. the wiring is a mess. One set of wires that leads to a 12v socket is using yellow wires for both the + and -. Go figure. And I'm presently finally building an insulated platform to go between the camper and the truck bed. It has to sit up a couple inches to sit over the truck bed rails. When I bought it I just threw a few planks of wood underneath... and they've moved a fair amount since.

I guess it is obvious what my mind is on. ;] A shame it is raining all weekend and I don't have a garage.

 

[bftank]

first camping trip with camper complete

took the camper and the 20 foot trailer to cut firewood with a friend of mine. learned some things, but overall had a great time. the wife is pumped about the camper as well and has requested some mods.

didn't have the propane hooked up for the stove or furnace. would still like to get those cleaned out and try them.

took out the bench/bed frame, and set my cot in there with a mattress pad for me to sleep on. the wife and kid slept in the bed over the roof. nobody slept great, but it was manageable. definitely need new mattress on the cabover bed. i ended up jerking awake thinking i had heard my son start crying and smacked my head on the cabover bed pretty good. turned out i was just dreaming, doh!

the canvas is definitely shot. and the springboards are barely functional.

overall there was a lot more room to move around in there than i figured there would be. the cot was a bad idea. to big and clumsy. would have been better to sleep on the floor. the baby needs his own place to sleep. apparently at night he thinks he is a "futbol" player. i like having the bench removed. i think i am going to make the cabover part big enough for a queen size mattress pad that we have.

and here are a few pics.



and the liftgate works pretty well with the camper, i would like to fab a reciever hitch step for it when not towing the trailer. i have got some better pictures of the lift gate and camper i will put on later. need to get them off the camera.

 

[MakersTeleMark]

Let me know if you have any questions. I've got almost the same model and I'm not too far from you (Eagle Co.).

 

[Rot Box]

Dang. If I was smart I'd be out cutting wood instead of buying it this year--DOH

Its good to see your mattresses are as uncomfortable as mine hehe. I throw my bed roll down on top and it helps a lot. I think you have the twin to my camper--although my spring boards are history. My daughter thinks its hilarious watching me put the roof up and she even picks up some new four letter words LOL

Keep the updates coming!

 

[bftank]

thanks makerstelemark, i will keep that in mind. what year is your grandby? any pics?

rot box,
yeah i think phone books could potentially offer more support than my springboards, haha!

on the front springboard the handle kept coming out of its pivot on the drivers side when i was trying to pop it up. i ended up taking it out of the pivot hole and wedging it against the angle brass or whatever it is to keep it open. the handle itself seems pretty bent out of shape. not sure why the handle mechanism is built the way it is. seems kinda flimsy.

 

[MakersTeleMark]

It's a '78 Grandby on an '87 M1028. I've added a 3-way fridge, solar, running water, lifters, digital thermostat, new heater, LED lights, 800w sound system, Xantrex pure sine wave inverter, and have it connected to the truck with the Blue Sea Add-a-battery kit (ACR). Some other little things too, bike rack, Rigid outdoor light, master switch panel, spice rack, etc.

 

[bftank]

nice! i would love to get together with you sometime and take a closer look at your mods. i am hoping next year things will settle out financially and i can get some of those things done to mine.

 

[bftank]

time for some updates to this thread. mods have been made camping has been done and future concepts have been dreamed up for this little camper.

pictures of the shot spring boards


rear spring board with slide pin for latch, i want to do something like this for the front


there was some drunk construction going on from the previous owner on the upper bunk. one side of the piano hinge is mounted to the cabover section. the other side was mounted to the bottom of the wood that hung out into the camper. causing a 1" elevation change in the middle of the sleeping area. should be much more comfortable next time.


i removed the spring board completely in favor of a simple piece of ply wood hinged on the camper base side and wedged underneath the roof. this piece is actually a bit too skinny and will eventually be redone with a door slide lock to set it in place. hard to see in the pic. will get a better one when i redo it. no more mental anguish setting up this side of the roof!


i replaced the upper bunk with a sheet of 5/8" plywood i had laying around and ditched the hinge up there. about killed myself trying to get it up there and had to do some clearancing with a sawzall. wasnt using the stove anyways at this point. you can see it finished in the pic above with 2x4 supports. it is 48" wide


i reused the piano hinge and the upper piece of wood to make the lower bunk so it can hinge up to access cooler and the dry box.

 

[bftank]

next mods for the camper will be taking out the disgusting sink and water tank. pretty sure the king size will be going in the lower area with some hinges. lil paint. better tighter front hold downs. some sort of hold down in the back. this last camping trip stuff got a little jumpy climbing out of some of these trails. freaked out the dog.

camping trip was a tour of the grand mesa and uncompahgre national forest here on the western slope really wish i had remembered a few things like a fishing pole, oh and cook ware. we had planned a nice dutch oven meal for saturday night, and forgot the dutch oven in the rush to get out thursday night. for cookware we had aluminum foil (not the heavy duty kind) and a stainless steel dog bowl. we got creative, food wasnt as good as it could of been but we werent hungry.

this was thursday night and friday morning at bonham resevoir all by our lonesome.


antone springs in the uncompahgre nf very quiet lots of room for the dog to run couldnt here any cars. second pics is an apple crisp in a tin foil container being broiled under the grille with coals heeped on top and the grill cover reflecting heat down. worked awesome. gooey and crispy! third pic is on the way out at an overlook with beautiful rock cliffs. the wifes camera has all the good pics on it. will post some of those later. these are all phone pics.