The TARDIS - A Four Wheel Camper Build

[Overland Hadley]

Getting closer to finishing my lifting struts.

I just wanted to add that the lifting struts make such a big difference in opening up the camper. (And I am a tall and supposedly strong individual.) I would say that it is one option that should be standard on these campers. Luckily it is something that is easy to add to your pop up camper.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Have you ever started a project, and then wondered why on earth you were doing that project at that time?



Well that is what happened today, as I worked on wiring the LED bulbs into the interior dome lights.


Why was it the wrong time to be working on wiring in new bulbs? Well, yesterday I stapled two of my fingers together. One staple into the pad of two fingers, and clean out through the nail on the other side. Yeah it hurt, a lot.

So with two sore fingers I set to working with the wiring....

 

[Captain K-man]

Ouch!

 

[Overland Hadley]

Interior LED's

As per my original intensions I installed LEDs from V-LEDS in the dome lights. I went with dual white LED sets and a single red LED set in each dome.

I tried to get adapters to fit the bulb sockets, but because I went with fancy boat dome lights I could not find the correct adapter. So I striped the ends of the wires and wired it directly to wires in the dome light. Everything works the same, just had to do a bit more wiring than I thought I would. And as I noted before the wiring was a bit painful today.


The bulbs.

White on.

Red on.

With the fancy ''fresnel'' lens on.

Took a while to search out a pair of interior dome lights that I wanted to install. I already have the LEDs that I will use for the interior so I did not want to spend a lot for fixtures that already had LEDs installed. Looking to marine products I narrowed it down to dome lights from Perko and Hella. Finally decided on a surface mount dome light with dual bulbs from Perko. The fixtures will have a red set if LEDs in addition to the bright white LEDs. Bought the light fixtures from Hodges Marine

I will be changing all the interior (and exterior) lighting to LED. Each light will be split between a white light and a red light. I have used the white/red light system on boats, and it is good when working at night. It might not be as useful in a camper, but it is where I would like to start and if I need to I can change some lights back to all white.

I have ordered and installed white and red LEDs from v-leds.com in the cab of the truck to test them out before ordering the full set for the camper. I am very happy with them. 100 lumens is a lot of light. And 5000K is a good working spectrum of light.

Link

The campers interior LED lights will have to be used sparingly, as they will be running off the single truck battery. This will work for me, as the weight savings of not having a second battery is impressive.

I have been mulling over options for my main light source. I thought about a LED lantern like the Black Diamond Apollo. (Link) But in the end I hate dragging around small batteries as much as I hate the heavy big ones.

Then I remembered the three candle lanterns I bought for a trip in the pacific north west. There was something warm and comforting about sitting around a couple of candles, especially in the never ending rain. Sure, they can be a bit of a pain, but it's something I do not mind dealing with.

I have the standard UCO Candle Lantern, (Link) customized with some of my stickers.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

The attention to detail is nothing short of neurotic, and I'm loving it!!

 

[Redline]

I just wanted to add that the lifting struts make such a big difference in opening up the camper. (And I am a tall and supposedly strong individual.) ...snip...

I resemble that description, and was a bit surprised at how much oomph it takes to lift the front half of these campers. Just not sure I would want the struts protruding on the inside of my camper.

Love your ideas and work, though I'm not as motivated as you to build a camper interior.

 

[Overland Hadley]

The attention to detail is nothing short of neurotic, and I'm loving it!!

Ummm. Errrr. Thanks? :elkgrin:

(This makes my top ten favorite comments on this thread, thanks Pat!)

 

[Overland Hadley]

I resemble that description, and was a bit surprised at how much oomph it takes to lift the front half of these campers. Just not sure I would want the struts protruding on the inside of my camper.

Love your ideas and work, though I'm not as motivated as you to build a camper interior.

Yes, a bit of oomph is a good description. And the layout of my camper did not help things. I am so happy with how the struts are working, they are a huge help. Not much effort needed now.

Only one of the struts will be in my way, and only if I want to get at stuff in the cabover. With the quick release shackles it will not be a problem to take it off.

Thanks for the kind words about my work.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I think this quote describes what these little campers do best.

We wanted to treat the truck like our canoe and use it to go places most people don’t. - The camper is a place to carry our gear, hang out in comfort when the weather is bad and to get a good night’s sleep.

From the blog Travels with Rocky the Dog.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I was able to get another aluminum bar for the roof rack. (I hate Amazon and the games they play with pricing.) So, two down and one more to go.

A before and after shot of the burnishing.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Finished the heater mount. With twelve screws holding it in place, it's not going anywhere.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Took apart and reassembled the dome lights. Just wanted to adjust the switches so red was on the same throw on both sides of the camper, and I adjusted one light so the switch was on the other side. It is the small touches that make things nice.

The dome lights should be finished now.

(I really like these lights.)

 

[Overland Hadley]

The main function of my mounting system is that the struts are mounted using quick-realease hardware, so I can remove them quickly and easily.

Here is a better description of the bottom bracket of my lifting strut system.

It is a bimini top fitting. The struts then have aluminum eyelet fitting that are milled down to fit in the mounting bracket. The struts and fittings are from McMaster-Carr



Here is how the bottom bracket works.

Push in-

Slide out-

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Those brackets are nice!! Loving this build

 

[Overland Hadley]

Does anybody have any recommendations on an aluminum roof top cargo basket?

I am looking for something lightweight and low profile, as it will only be used for lightweight items in a couple of drybags.

Thanks.