Off-grid, full time truck camper (re) build journal - Driven to Adventure

[tmacc]

Sarah,
Great thread! Love everything you and Greg are doing to the TC. I love the hydronic heat system you're installing. That's going on the wish list. Compressor fridge, too. I agree, these things are a bear to work on after the fact. My wife and I are planning on full timing in our '13 Adventurer 910 FBS starting around June of this year. Need to finish house remodel to list by May. :fingers crossed: Most of our mods have been storage oriented. The factory storage in the cabover on these things is pathetic! Having a cabinetmaking and GC background, it was easy to get a little carried away. My wife reigned me back in before it got too bad.

We've added 200w of solar, but I'm going to add another 200w and AGM batteries. We haven't spent much time in ours, but I'm sure after our break down trip to AK, BC, NWT, etc. we'll figure out what else(lots) we need to change out. Just out of morbid curiosity, what does your camper weight? Our Adventurer has mostly aluminum framing, but a little wood on the curved framing members. Also some of the framing has wood inserts where things need to be anchored. Like the top rail on the passenger side where one would mount an awning, etc. True dry weight of around 3700 lb. Probably 42-4500 lb wet.
Tom

 

[cruiser812]

Just found your build and love it. I have a TC10 non slide that i am just in the process of adding solar too. I would love to get more details on your install especially the routing of your wiring. My camper only has a single battery by the back door and no battery monitor so i really have a bit of work to do.

 

[DrivenToAdventure]

Just found your build and love it. I have a TC10 non slide that i am just in the process of adding solar too. I would love to get more details on your install especially the routing of your wiring. My camper only has a single battery by the back door and no battery monitor so i really have a bit of work to do.

Hey! I’m behind on updating this thread (obviously) but we’d be happy to help any way we can. It has been an eye opening experience adding all these systems to the existing unit, that’s for sure. Feel free to msg us with any specific questions and hopefully we can help


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[DrivenToAdventure]

Sarah,
Great thread! Love everything you and Greg are doing to the TC. I love the hydronic heat system you're installing. That's going on the wish list. Compressor fridge, too. I agree, these things are a bear to work on after the fact. My wife and I are planning on full timing in our '13 Adventurer 910 FBS starting around June of this year. Need to finish house remodel to list by May. :fingers crossed: Most of our mods have been storage oriented. The factory storage in the cabover on these things is pathetic! Having a cabinetmaking and GC background, it was easy to get a little carried away. My wife reigned me back in before it got too bad.

We've added 200w of solar, but I'm going to add another 200w and AGM batteries. We haven't spent much time in ours, but I'm sure after our break down trip to AK, BC, NWT, etc. we'll figure out what else(lots) we need to change out. Just out of morbid curiosity, what does your camper weight? Our Adventurer has mostly aluminum framing, but a little wood on the curved framing members. Also some of the framing has wood inserts where things need to be anchored. Like the top rail on the passenger side where one would mount an awning, etc. True dry weight of around 3700 lb. Probably 42-4500 lb wet.
Tom

Hey Tom! Thanks for the comments! The dry weight of the camper before any of our modifications was 2980. We are hitting the road next week and I’m certain we are going to be overweight! I’ll let you know after we hit the scales


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[Alloy]

Very nice. Good work fitting everything together.

For frost protection and to reduce moisture (mold) build up I used these vents top and bottom in cabinets but they make different types

Sea-Dog : Quality Marine, Industrial and Rigging Hardware

Sea-Dog

www.sea-dog.com

An external check valve will protect the one in the pump that is not the best quality.

Spring-Loaded Check Valves for Copper, CTS, CPVC & PEX from SharkBite

Prevents the reverse flow of water.

www.sharkbite.com

Radiator treatment in the Espar system will prevent corrosion

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Wonderful work here. You certainly are ambitious and talented. Then again, if you are full-timing in the box, everything needs to be as right as you can make it. You will face the result every single day.
jefe

 

[tmacc]

Sarah. Props to you guys for the cable routing and controller layout. Very nice! Did you just 'glue' down the cable clips on the roof? I've revamped our solar plan. We're just adding one more 100 W panel. We're going with (3) 100 Ah Li batteries and a new Progressive Dynamics 60a Li controller/invertor since our camper is a little too old to have a Li capable one. Went with Lion batteries. They're short enough to stand them on end and get (3) in our existing battery box. Also went from a Renogy 20a MPPT solar controller to a Victron 100/50 controller. House remodel is taking a little longer than planned. Looks like late July before we take off. Heading back to AK.

 

[c.traveler2]

We when with a Dometic CR1110 12Vdc refrigerator in 2013 and haven't regretted one bit and I'm sure your unit will be as reliable as our has been. Your TC project has been a interesting read.

 

[redthies]

It has been an eye opening experience adding all these systems to the existing unit, that’s for sure.

And I’m guessing from this that you have now come to understand why the words “custom” and “affordable” do not often get used in the same sentence.

I build custom Airstream trailers for a living, and budget is ALWAYS the biggest issue on a build.

Congrats on getting on the road!

 

[DrivenToAdventure]

Hi Everyone!

This update is long overdue! We did hit the road full-time April 26th. We were able to complete the kitchen, pantry and bed area storage projects before we left.

HOWEVER, about 30 mins into our journey, we stopped at the CAT scale and discovered we were significantly overweight ?

The cause is likely several factors - 600lb of AGM batteries and an entire backseat full of tools that Greg just couldn't part with didn't help. We really wanted to remove the bed and install a flatbed with storage boxes but being overweight already, it just didn't make sense.

I should note, we were over the manufacturers weight rating, not the actual axel weight rating but if we were to get in an accident, the manufacturers weight rating is all they care about and we learned that insurance could deny a claim if they discovered we were overweight. This eliminated the idea of beefing up the suspension to account for the extra weight.

So..... after just over a month on the road, we bought a new truck. It's a Ford F550, 7.3 with manual transmission. We're currently in Salt Lake City modifying the flatbed and making custom storage boxes so we can get back on the road.

I've made a new thread about this process if you'd like to follow along: https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...ing-truck-camper-driven-to-adventures.207673/