out with the old in with the new

[dhackney]

Kudos on a fantastic build.

Agreed on how we perpetually underestimate the time and effort required. You'd think we'd learn one of these days...

I would also have an independent switch so that the light bar could be switched on by itself.

Auxiliary reverse lighting on a separate switch worked very well for us.

I mounted one on the back and one on each cab door mirror bracket (facing aft). The ones on the sides turned out to be more useful than I thought they'd be.

I put the backup alarm on the same switch. There are times when you want to use reverse without bright lights or an audible alarm going off.

 

[westyss]

Given that I have a Fuso too, I guess I could comment on the rear lights...
The OEM reversing lights are to let someone else know you are going backwards; they are not really designed for illuminating the area behind you so you can see where you are going in the dark.
In my opinion, install something like a LED light bar and hook it up to the reversing circuit. I would also have an independent switch so that the light bar could be switched on by itself. Many people do this as a light source for setting up camp at night.
You might also want to consider simply using LED tail lights.

Hey Owen nice web site!

I have been looking at a thinner tail light in Led just because the Oem ones are pretty big, they take up a bit of real estate back there and that is where I will have the grey water tank on the drivers side and another storage site on the passenger side. But Pods8, they do work well and if the mirrors are clean shed enough light to be useful when backing up at night, even though I mostly use the Braille method.

 

[westyss]

Kudos on a fantastic build.

Agreed on how we perpetually underestimate the time and effort required. You'd think we'd learn one of these days...



Auxiliary reverse lighting on a separate switch worked very well for us.

I mounted one on the back and one on each cab door mirror bracket (facing aft). The ones on the sides turned out to be more useful than I thought they'd be.

I put the backup alarm on the same switch. There are times when you want to use reverse without bright lights or an audible alarm going off.

Doug thanks very much, and any time I look at your build thread I am always amazed at what you did getting all that work in such a short time, but getting it accomplished in a short time you avoid the changes that start to creep in all over the place making things sometimes drag on, I keep having to tell myself "its only a camper, Is there an easier way?"

Definitely reverse lights on a switch, and the backup alarm, my truck came with two?? I was mucking around on the lights a while back and thought that I had disconnected the back up alarm so that we could do some stealth campsite entries at night without waking people up but while backing into a spot the other alarm under the cab somewhere blared away, haven't looked for it yet.

Did the side lights get damaged at all and what did you find useful about them? Would having the side lights lower down still make them useful?

 

[westyss]

Generally what I suspected on the reverse lights part, figured I'd end up doing secondary switched reverse lights if I wanted good illumination. Is it accurate that the light units are sealed up or no? Generally speaking for use under a flatbed those fuso lights are decent looking in my opinion (amber/red/reverse all separate and visually okay looking) and getting a pair new take offs for $60 seems reasonable. Any further input on your end since you've got first hand experience?

LEDS: lots out there, generally though you're either looking a buying a $120 pair to cover stop/turn/tail/reverse in one smaller housing or 2-3 separate lights ($15-20 a pop) on each side to handle that and making/buying brackets group them up, etc. Since these are running off the normal truck I'm not worried about the power savings of LED specifically (and normal tail lights done usually chew through bulbs either). The idea of the fuso lights already definitely meeting DOT regs and just mounting two known housings had some appeal at the moment verse piecing something together.

They are sealed units and have a tin plate protecting the back of the unit making it fairly sturdy.

 

[westyss]

The original plan was to get most of the interior installed for the May long weekend, but due to conspiring issues it didn't happen, at some point I switched over from "progress" work to "get it ready" work!


I did a combination of permanent installations to using some older temporary items.


Here is the inverter in its permanent location with some temp wiring.



Glare!! The remote switch for the inverter, the inverter is located under the bed accessible through the drivers side storage door. Above the remote is the battery monitor in situ but just sitting there not wired up.



The top, fridge and lights electrics were connected too.

My original idea was to have a corian counter top but did this instead, the stove was installed and will have a lid and front cover. The old electric panel sitting in the corner doing its final tour of duty.



Sink cover and tap.



Sink. The Led light are not in their permanent spots but they will be around there somewhere.



The drawer under the sink was notched for the low profile sink drain.


The foam cushions were measured and ordered, I wanted to try it out before having them covered, we pinned some sheets onto the foam to protect the pieces and set them in place.
Along with things I didn't get time to take pics of or have forgotten about and off we went, we had some family business in Quesnel BC to get to then we had a few days to go camping.
While driving up to Quesnel we stopped for lunch and a lady came over to see the camper, she asked where we were going and we told her to Quesnel but had no plans after, she recommended we go to Barkerville, so that is what we did.
After our visit we headed out towards Barkerville and found a spot along Lightning Creek for the night.

 

[westyss]

Here are some pics of Barkerville, a semi deserted gold mining ghost town that is preserved well with period items in many of the houses, over a hundred houses! The town site is a bit of a climb and still had snow and was cold!









Barkerville is definitely a good place to go for those on there way to Alaska and northern provinces.






On the way out we met this bear just chowing down on clover, it wasn't concerned about us at all but then got freaked out when another car stopped and he took off.


We descended to warmer climates and spent another night on Lightning creek. On our drive south from Quesnel I spotted a rig going north and grabbed my camera and took a quick pic, I am pretty sure it was JRHETTS on this forum with his Fuso FM on his way to Alaska.

 

[Ford Prefect]

GGGRREEAATT!!

Thanks, that was awesome to read. Cool to see another Fuso rig out there, ironic really.

Love the counter tops, very very nice looking. Did you do them all yourself, or buy the piece?

Is barkerville a regular city, or is it a tourist thing? I mean do people actually live in the town? It certainly seems like a place I could stand to live!

Regards,
Brian

 

[westyss]

Here are a few more pics in a few different spots, we haven't been lucky with the weather yet.






















The things that we are real happy about: The stove is awesome, the burners are so adjustable and the whole thing works so well that its a two thumbs up.

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


Our first trip out we tried out the cushion and table set up which worked really well so we sent the foam out for upholstery, on our next trip we had to put the old queen size mattress back in so we were without the option of using the table and we ended up missing it as we spent a bad weather weekend out mostly reading, watching movies and doing some sporadic fishing in between rain storms, it would of been nice to of had so that whole bed/table thing seems like it will be in the "happy about" category.


We both like the counter top so its staying, we will see how it holds up.

So far so good.

 

[westyss]

GGGRREEAATT!!

Thanks, that was awesome to read. Cool to see another Fuso rig out there, ironic really.

Love the counter tops, very very nice looking. Did you do them all yourself, or buy the piece?

Is barkerville a regular city, or is it a tourist thing? I mean do people actually live in the town? It certainly seems like a place I could stand to live!

Regards,
Brian

It was neat to see that other fuso for sure, made me wish I was going the same direction he was, the wood for the counter top was already laminated, I just cut and covered it.

Barkerville is a tourist place, and is well done! If you work there being a quasi period actor you could live there but otherwise no living there. We had recently watched the Deadwood series so the way of life was easy to imagine, we did notice that it was all small, the houses are not very spacious but are cramped with low ceilings and doorways but from afar look like big houses. I took many more pics while there and we are not too into the tourist trap places but really enjoyed Barkerville, its a bit of an out of the way place though.

 

[dhackney]

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

When individuals or manufacturers ask us what they should include in their camper designs, this is usually one of the first things on the list.

It is telling that almost every German or Swiss overlanding vehicle we've ever seen all include a shoe locker (usually outside at the entrance or at the doorway on the interior). They've been doing this overlanding thing for a very long time and sorted out this bit a long time ago.

This is a simple little thing, but a critical feature for full-time overlanding. It makes a big difference in day-to-day life.

We don't have one, so that's probably why it remains a thorn in our side and at the top of our list.

So far so good.

Just wait. It's going to get a whole lot better!

 

[dhackney]

I keep having to tell myself "its only a camper, Is there an easier way?"

I infamously told our fabricator "We're putting a truck camper on a truck. How hard can it be? Three months, tops." Nine months later, we turned the key...

the other alarm under the cab somewhere blared away, haven't looked for it yet.

You are probably hearing the interior cab alarm. That's separate from the one outside. I left the interior one connected, so it always beeps.

Did the side lights get damaged at all

No

and what did you find useful about them?

They illuminated the sides of the truck and everything in their dispersion field for at least 20 meters. Very handy in a variety of settings, including urban.

I thought they would blind me due to their co-location with the mirrors, but that did not turn out to be the case.

Having them on a separate switch allowed me to use them anytime, in any gear...

Would having the side lights lower down still make them useful?

They would probably still be useful down to about frame height, but they'd be more susceptible to damage. That could be mitigated if you flared them into the camper box. I don't know if that would be worth the complexity.

 

[SkiFreak]

Damn you Doug...
I really like the idea of the lights you have on your mirrors. Now I have yet another thing to add to my list of things to do.

 

[SkiFreak]

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

 

[dhackney]

As usual Yves, your workmanship is first class.

huge +1

 

[dhackney]

Damn you Doug...
I really like the idea of the lights you have on your mirrors. Now I have yet another thing to add to my list of things to do.

Yeah, well, just remember that it's all fun and games until somebody has to wire the switches and relays...