out with the old in with the new

[762X39]

The shoe locker. So nice to have an uncluttered floor area.

It's funny that a spot for shoes and boots isn't on the radar in NA campers/trailers. I cut down the dinette in my 70's vintage camper (from 4 person to 2 person) so that I could have a spot to take off(and leave) my boots and on the opposite side so that I would have a spot to slide my cooler out of the way.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Where did you put your shoe locker?

Doug mentioned them being on the outside of the truck??? Where, and how would that work?

Why a specific shoe locker? Can't you just put them in the closet with everything else?

Thanks for the clarification, and also thanks a lot for the thoughts on Barkerville. Looks pretty neat, perhaps I can visit it someday then.

Regards,
Brian

 

[westyss]

As usual Yves, your workmanship is first class.
I really like the look of that bench top.

Owen, Doug, thanks for the kudos but my workmanship really isnt very good, but something that I am good at is hiding mistakes! Now that I am good at!


Doug, looking at those pics you posted, did the mirror brackets get shortened on your truck? they seem to not stick out as far as mine, or is that an illusion? And are those Led light on the mirrors? I do like the small size of those, I have been pounding through the bush many times and have had the mirrors get pushed into the folded position, and due to the spring action it makes a bit of a racket when it happens. Now that I took another look I would say that they arent Led's due to the use of relays, goint to bright Led's would maybe eliminate the need for the relays. I remember thinking to myself when you were doing your build that the electric side of it was daunting just like that pic of the wiring,,, yikes!!

 

[westyss]

It's funny that a spot for shoes and boots isn't on the radar in NA campers/trailers. I cut down the dinette in my 70's vintage camper (from 4 person to 2 person) so that I could have a spot to take off(and leave) my boots and on the opposite side so that I would have a spot to slide my cooler out of the way.

The shoe locker was never planned, it just evolved, but now that we have it is something that should surely be included in any build, we always have several sets of shoes and they are very awkward to store, keeping in mind that they are usually very dirty too tracking sand and dirt and never being able to fully clean them.

 

[westyss]

Where did you put your shoe locker?

Doug mentioned them being on the outside of the truck??? Where, and how would that work?

Why a specific shoe locker? Can't you just put them in the closet with everything else?

Thanks for the clarification, and also thanks a lot for the thoughts on Barkerville. Looks pretty neat, perhaps I can visit it someday then.

Regards,
Brian

Brian, here are a few images of the locker, it started as a step to get up into the bed or settee and once it was built it was an obvious spot for shoes, it does extend under the cabinet a ways so I had made it long enough for tennis rackets too.


It is handy where it is too for sitting on the step to put shoes on, and now that the camper is semi finished my wife gets upset at me when I dont remove my shoes before entering, its simply amazing how much we track into the camper going in and out.


we have no closet so no option there but that would be one dirty closet.

 

[dhackney]

Owen, Doug, thanks for the kudos but my workmanship really isnt very good, but something that I am good at is hiding mistakes! Now that I am good at!

My grandfather taught me to never show off the scrap pile full of my mistakes.

Doug, looking at those pics you posted, did the mirror brackets get shortened on your truck? they seem to not stick out as far as mine, or is that an illusion?

They are stock 2007 FG 140 mirrors.

And are those Led light on the mirrors? I do like the small size of those,

They are Hella model 81104 halogen. LED's were not widely available or proven when I built the truck in 2006/07. I purchased them from Susquehanna Motor Sports http://www.rallylights.com

I remember thinking to myself when you were doing your build that the electric side of it was daunting just like that pic of the wiring,,, yikes!!

Like all of us, our build was a reflection of what I had access to and knew how to do myself. I had access to a great fabricator who took tremendous pride in his work. My grandfather and father worked for electric utilities and I grew with electrical wiring projects, high and low voltage. The electrical, electronics and things that were related to household and marine systems was stuff I knew how to do, so I did more of that than most people probably would. If I knew how to do woodworking like Paul Jensen, Doug Cuthbert or Steve Robinson, then our rig would be filled with stunning, handcrafted beauty like theirs are.

All you guys that have talents that I don't amaze me. I hope to be all of you when I grow up. In the meantime, I'll have to be happy with getting some lights to blink.

 

[westyss]

Here's a little trip report from last weekends run that I posted on another site.






Here's a few images from last weekends trip, I took an extra day off work and the plan was to head up around the Lillooet area and spend a few days hanging around some lakes.

We left kinda late Friday night and when we got close to Lytten I did a search on the GPS for a forest rec site close by and it came up with two, one up the sort of closed Botanie FSR so we headed to the next closest, Fountain lake.


This is where we woke up, its always a surprise to see where you end up when arriving in the dark.

We moved to a nicer camp site and set up.

Did some fishing, hiking and some plain hanging around.

Met some of the locals.

Stayed a couple of nights at Fountain lake then checked out Marble Canyon for a bit and then took an FSR to Kelly Lake Provincial park.

Kelly lake..... while descending down the switchbacks towards Kelly lake I remembered driving this route in 1985 in my 1977 Westy. From this view it looked promising but on arrival at the lake the winds were howling and the campsites are just weird there, just like at Marble canyon so off we went.

Arriving here just before dark.

I was sitting outside watching it get dark while my wife was rustling up some chow when I saw these big birds circling to land, took me a while to figure out what they were... pelicans!

Surprised that this pic turned out as by now it was getting pretty dark, I am always a bit surprised when I see pelicans in BC or Canada for that matter but it is very common.

Next mornings view from bed. We stayed for a while and fished but we have never caught a fish in this lake! Had four in the freezer from Fountain Lake though.

Packed up and leaving, the trail out from the site was all chewed up from spinning tires and steep so I locked the hubs,,

while unlocking them I spotted this monster vicious snake!

Stopped at Gold Pan PP for a break and saw many of these.

Last thing,,,, Alexandra Bridge to see the swollen Fraser river and home.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Still one of my favorite rigs. It just makes sense.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Looks like a nice weekend. Where is that bridge exactly, it looks familiar?

 

[westyss]

Still one of my favorite rigs. It just makes sense.

Thankyou, its one of my favorite rigs too!

 

[westyss]

Looks like a nice weekend. Where is that bridge exactly, it looks familiar?

Alexandra Bridge is the old bridge used to cross the Fraser river on the Trans Canada Highway, near where all the tunnels are on the highway, while crossing the new bridge you can see it. Some good history there too, but mostly its a fairly constricted flow area of the fraser river and when the river is as high as it is now it's a worthwhile visit, the imagination can be used here to get a feel of what it must of been like to travel along the Fraser River in the mid nineties, very rugged country.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Thankyou, its one of my favorite rigs too!

 

[adam88]

I am just reading through this entire thread. I can't begin to tell you how freaky this is, because I have been planning a build almost idential to this for years. How the ******** I have missed this thread, I have no idea. Today magically it popped up in google. Dude, I live in Surrey and you are in Abbotsford. Just freaky. I may have to stop by and drool over this thing for a long time. As for liability issues, if I pay you in beer for advice when building my camper, then there's no money being exchanged. I can just drop a pallet of coors off every so often. Seriously, best thread I've ever seen on here. I've also taken note of several of the retailers, e.g., having windows made, nova kool. I had looked at nova kool before and noticed they were in BC as well. I actually found your thread in google in searching "rhinokore" on expeditionportal, as I knew they were in BC, but they appear extremely difficult to get in touch with. Finding our photos as like spotting a bald eagle in the wild - seriously. The way you've designed your camper, by using the panels for strength and glueing aluminum on the outside is brilliant. My plan was to create the outer aluminum shell first, and glue the panels in from the inside.

I have a bazillion questions for you, but the first one is about the rhinokore stuff. 1) How difficult was it getting the panels and how difficult do you think it would be now? You mentioned a wait time/delay earlier. 2) Do they make them in 1" thick?. 3) Do you think 1" panels would be structurally sound, versus the 1.5" panels you used, for a smaller build? 4) If you don't mind me asking, price per panel roughly? Appreciate this thread tons. I'd like to buy you a beer just for posting all these pics the next time I'm in Abbotsford (and maybe just happen to check out the camper).

 

[westyss]

I am just reading through this entire thread. I can't begin to tell you how freaky this is, because I have been planning a build almost idential to this for years. How the ******** I have missed this thread, I have no idea. Today magically it popped up in google. Dude, I live in Surrey and you are in Abbotsford. Just freaky. I may have to stop by and drool over this thing for a long time. As for liability issues, if I pay you in beer for advice when building my camper, then there's no money being exchanged. I can just drop a pallet of coors off every so often. Seriously, best thread I've ever seen on here. I've also taken note of several of the retailers, e.g., having windows made, nova kool. I had looked at nova kool before and noticed they were in BC as well. I actually found your thread in google in searching "rhinokore" on expeditionportal, as I knew they were in BC, but they appear extremely difficult to get in touch with. Finding our photos as like spotting a bald eagle in the wild - seriously. The way you've designed your camper, by using the panels for strength and glueing aluminum on the outside is brilliant. My plan was to create the outer aluminum shell first, and glue the panels in from the inside.

I have a bazillion questions for you, but the first one is about the rhinokore stuff. 1) How difficult was it getting the panels and how difficult do you think it would be now? You mentioned a wait time/delay earlier. 2) Do they make them in 1" thick?. 3) Do you think 1" panels would be structurally sound, versus the 1.5" panels you used, for a smaller build? 4) If you don't mind me asking, price per panel roughly? Appreciate this thread tons. I'd like to buy you a beer just for posting all these pics the next time I'm in Abbotsford (and maybe just happen to check out the camper).

Hi adam88,

thanks for the kudos, I really dont know what is going on at Rhinocore, I believe that they have resumed building campers for the new owners of Bigfoot and as a result have let the Rhinocore business fade away, I tried to get on thier web site too but that is gone so my guess is that they are no longer making any of the Rhinocore product. For the most part it seems that these companies are not that interested in small one off jobs and the company I was talking with first was a just plain not interested at all.
Maybe trying to get a hold of the factory where the Bigfoot operation is located would be a way to get in contact with them as the employees that worked at Bigfoot were the ones that started Rhinocore. I am very impressed with the product that was built for me and with what I know now would change a few things but what they made for me was what I asked for and they delivered, it is VERY strong stuff that gives me allot of confidence in where I take my rig and not worry about a branch or something poking a hole in it so I do recommend it if you can get it!

Any time you want to wander out the Abbotsford way send me a pmail and Ill give you my address and ask away, answers are free but everything else will cost

 

[adam88]

Hi adam88,

thanks for the kudos, I really dont know what is going on at Rhinocore, I believe that they have resumed building campers for the new owners of Bigfoot and as a result have let the Rhinocore business fade away, I tried to get on thier web site too but that is gone so my guess is that they are no longer making any of the Rhinocore product. For the most part it seems that these companies are not that interested in small one off jobs and the company I was talking with first was a just plain not interested at all.
Maybe trying to get a hold of the factory where the Bigfoot operation is located would be a way to get in contact with them as the employees that worked at Bigfoot were the ones that started Rhinocore. I am very impressed with the product that was built for me and with what I know now would change a few things but what they made for me was what I asked for and they delivered, it is VERY strong stuff that gives me allot of confidence in where I take my rig and not worry about a branch or something poking a hole in it so I do recommend it if you can get it!

Any time you want to wander out the Abbotsford way send me a pmail and Ill give you my address and ask away, answers are free but everything else will cost

Thanks for the invitation. I will definitely take you up on it sometime. I am in the process of finalizing plans and the first thing I need is to have the aluminum flatbed done. I'd like to get it done before winter and then accumulate parts and build the camper throughout winter in my garage.

- I was was wondering who did your aluminum flatbed or if you have any recommendations?

- Also what software did you use to design it, or did you just built it from wood and then use the wood prototype? Impressive detail building the flatbed out of wood first. I may consider doing that. My flatbed will be a lot less intricate than yours.

- Also wondering about your mounting system and if you would change anything? I am planning on a 3 point pivot (front pivot).

- What was the cost for your aluminum bed/frame? Materials/labour? If you don't mind me asking. Or a ballpark estimate. Did you consider going with steel and having it painted? (I'm not considering this, pretty set on aluminum, just wondering).

- How's the Nova Kool fridge working out? I spoke with Marc at XP Campers and he didn't have overly kind words for the fridges, but I've heard good things about them.

Cheers,
Adam