old camper upgrades

[omaha_rick]

howdy all, i am new to the forum and looking for some insight. i recently picked up a 60's 10ft non-cabover Alaskan camper, that is going to need a little fixing up.

first off, the expected use will mostly be primitive state campgrounds for long weekends. maybe a one week, or longer trip per year as funds allow. hunting, fishing and sightseeing trips where i probably wont be too far from a hyway or small towns at any give time.

i was thinking i need to upgrade the frigde from the LP/120volt original unit, but maybe i dontneed to, are these units any good? also i really want to add a water heater. any ideas for that?

peace
-rick

 

[herm]

what is your haul rig?

you may want to think about adding another battery to the truck and wire the camper off of that battery so that you will not affect your starting battery. also, solar charging is very popular here.

 

[omaha_rick]

truck is an '89 GMC K2500 with a 6.2 diesel. i was definitely going to add a battery for the camper itself, and switch all the interior lights to 12v LED. i love the idea of solar, but get overwhelmed when i google it. any ideas of where to look? the camper also has a pearless furnace, im wondering if i should look to upgrade that? i dont want to haul massive amounts of LPG because of the storage space it takes.

 

[fisher205]

Rick,
If that peerless furnace is the catyltic heater that vents outside it is a good heater that doesn't require electricity. Just get a carbon monoxide detector because they can back vent (you should have one any way). -Brad

 

[Jim K in PA]

Rick - I have done a bit of boondocking, and although propane is bulky, for the time periods you are talking about a single 20# cylinder should give you all the fuel needed for the fridge and heater, as well as a cooktop if you have one.

We spent 10 days camping at Indian Springs camp ground in Yellowstone last June. We had our popup, and 6 people in it. We ran the propane furnace every night (got into the low 30s) and the fridge on propane the whole time. We did some cooking indoors on the LP range, but most outdoors. We drained the first tank just before we left the campground. I have dual tanks on the popup, so it just switched over. However, that first tank was NOT full. I am sure if it were we would have made the entire stay on it.

If the fridge still works on LP, keep it.

If the Peerless still works, keep it. Get the CO monitor as mentioned above.

For hot water, consider putting in a coolant heater for your diesel, and using a flat plate heat exchanger to make your hot water with. Look at Webasto or Espar. More expensive than a 6 gallon RV water heater, but more useful too.

For solar, it does not have to be confusing. For our trip to Yellowstone last year I bought a 100W solar panel for a little over $200 on eBay, as well as a little $30 charge controller. I made my own stand to angle the panel on the roof of the popup. That panel gave us all the power we needed and much more for 10 days. I have just a single 12V battery on the camper and it was fully charged before 10AM every day, even with the blower on the furnace running at night, as well as the water pump and lights. WELL worth the investment.

Post some pics of the Alaskan. I love those older non-CO units

 

[omaha_rick]

thanx for the input. sounds like my best option is to try it out first and see if and/or what upgrades i need. pictures soon, as i am almost done putting a fresh engine into the truck.

thanx again
-rick

 

[fisher205]

Another inexpensive water heater is to fill a pan on the stove and warm it. Webasto and Espar heaters will cost more than your camper. If you aren't going to stay anyplace more than a couple of days the charging from the truck will work fine.I think seeing what the minimum you need at this time is the way to go.

It's easy to start reading in this forum and building expensive rigs in your mind. You've got a good rig to start with, but remember how much it will probably just sit in your yard not being used. I would just go use it and figure out what you really need.

 

[Blair W]

I have a '73 10' noncabover Alaskan on a 1988 F350 4x4 with a service body. When I got the camper it was a mess. Mostly water damage, due to a broken overhead hatch leaking water into the interior for years.

I previously installed a real RV furnace in my unimog 404. It was nice to be able to set the thermostat on the wall, like at home, and have the furnace keep the temp steady. But the blower's DC amp draw chewed through coach batteries pretty fast. So, with the Alaskan, I use the ancient catalytic heater. I like that it requires no electricity. I bought a new, low-O2 capable catalytic but that unit is still in a box in my garage since the original worked so well and I've never had a carbon monoxide warning (I have a detector).

I trashed the three-way Norcold fridge during my repair of the water damaged cabinets. I didn't like how it stuck up into the window area. In retrospect, this was rash. I should have confirmed whether it worked before discarding. But I now use a Edgestar 63qt fridge and it works fine, no fussing.

Water heater: I have a tankless LP heater. Works well, but you are outside so its not private unless you rig up one of those shower tents. And, the heater is in one of the service body cabinets--I don't know where I'd install the water heater if I had to put it in the camper. On the other hand, you don't have to install the tankless unit. It comes with a handle to hang it up. All you really need is a propane source. EDIT: well, and a water source of course. But your Alaskan should have a water tank in it. I plumbed the output from the water tank to a hose bib on the back wall of the camper. The water system utilizes a shur-flo pump (originally it was a hand pump system) so if you turn on the pump, close the sink faucet, and open the outside hose bib, you have water. I connect a garden hose from that to the water heater and that's my hot water system (for showering, etc).

Any other questions, ask away. And welcome to the forum!

Blair