The TARDIS - A Four Wheel Camper Build
- Thread starter Overland Hadley
- Start date
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Hi Nic,
Long time no see, as I have not been around the Tacoma forum for a while now. I keep myself busy reading everything that comes through the Expedition Camper section.
Thanks for the kind words on my camper build.
The interior is still in a state of ''one step forward, two steps back'' but it is starting to come together.
A FWC is a great thing on a Tacoma!
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Continued working on the propane system, but hit a wall. Need to order more parts that are not available locally.
So I switched over to working on the floor!
Ended up finishing the floor, along with a fair amount of the L track and trim. No other pictures at this point, more to come.
So I switched over to working on the floor!
Ended up finishing the floor, along with a fair amount of the L track and trim. No other pictures at this point, more to come.
WASURF63
Adventurer
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Drilled just over 30 holes in the floor. Yikes!
Most were for the L track, and 8 of them were for the two storage totes that will mounted in place on the floor. Everything is still looking like it is lining up the way I had planned with the interior layout. The plastic storage totes will be used to make an extra wide couch area, kind of like a futon couch.
Then I ran out of SS tee nuts. No SS tee nuts within 120 miles, so another internet order and wait for parts to be shipped is in order.
Down to about one month before we leave on the first longer trip with the camper. Just want to have the electrical, plumbing, propane, and floor finished before the trip. Getting close. Having Phenomena for three weeks did not help my timeline. :smilies27
Most were for the L track, and 8 of them were for the two storage totes that will mounted in place on the floor. Everything is still looking like it is lining up the way I had planned with the interior layout. The plastic storage totes will be used to make an extra wide couch area, kind of like a futon couch.
Then I ran out of SS tee nuts. No SS tee nuts within 120 miles, so another internet order and wait for parts to be shipped is in order.
Down to about one month before we leave on the first longer trip with the camper. Just want to have the electrical, plumbing, propane, and floor finished before the trip. Getting close. Having Phenomena for three weeks did not help my timeline. :smilies27
Regarding the install you did on The Tardis of the Wave heater, it looks like you attached the plate to the studs by the door and the corner. I was planning on doing the same but using plywood and through bolting from the outside wall, which after looking at your pics seems like screws would be more appropriate. What size screws did you use? Did you hang the heater off the plate( I'm wondering if it will shake off) or permanently attach it to the mounting plate? I was thinking of bolting it to the plywood, countersinking the bolts in back to be flush.
I orginally had the heater on the floor perpendicular to the door and it didn't heat very well, definitely needs to be pointed towards what you want to heat.
Thanks for your help. Many compliments to the work you are doing on your FWC!
I orginally had the heater on the floor perpendicular to the door and it didn't heat very well, definitely needs to be pointed towards what you want to heat.
Thanks for your help. Many compliments to the work you are doing on your FWC!
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Thanks for the compliments.
Yes, the aluminum mounting plates are screwed into the frame of the camper. With the number of screws I have on the mounting plates it is overbuilt and will not be going anywhere.
The heater is permanently bolted to the mounting plates, I did not feel comfortable just hanging it. That is why I had to take the heater apart, to get it bolted to the plates. With two of the bolts, the bolt face is facing out to the wall, so there is only a minor bump that the wall panel flexed to accommodate. The third (and bottom) bolt had to be nut towards the wall and it landed right on a frame member, so I just drilled a small hole in the frame where the nut protrudes.
I am not sure on the exact size of the screws I am using, I will check and get back to you.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
mhiscox
Expedition Leader
True that. My Sprinter was the worst, since the only place to put the catalytic heater aimed it right across the aisle into the base of the sofa bench. However, if you're carrying a small fan (we had a little Vornado 3-speed we carried for cooling), you can do pretty well by aiming the fan, on lowest speed, at the warm spot the heater is hitting. It'll pick up the warm air next to the area and send it around the room.
Your mileage may vary, but using the fan made our Wave heater a good heat source for the Sprinter in spite of the abysmal placement.
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And keep up the fine work on the Tardis my friend. Looks like you'll be all set for that upcoming long trip. :clapsmile
Overland Hadley
on a journey
They are #8
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Good to know that a small fan helps that much, as getting an ideal placement of the heater is almost impossible in a small camper. Did the area directly across from the heater ever get too hot?
Thanks Mike.
Wish I could feel as confident about the camper being in a good state of readiness for the trip. It is hard to get much done when at this point I only have a couple/few hours a week to work on it. But it is coming along nicely.
mhiscox
Expedition Leader
Well, it got really hot, but not too hot. The heat waves hit the lower aft edge of the microwave and the forward edge of the laminate-surfaced doors across the aisle. They got hot enough that it was a little uncomfortable to hold your hand on these areas. But it wasn't like anything melted or scorched, and it didn't soften the glue on the laminate.
We carried pieces of a black fabric called Supplex--it was Kelvar-reinforced, light, didn't wrinkle and, most importantly, totally opaque--to Velcro over the rear windows which, because interference from the back bed, couldn't be covered by regular curtains or blinds. When we didn't care to bother with a fan, we often used a leftover 15x18 piece of this to protect the surfaces across from the heater; we just put an edge of it under the sofa cushion to hold it in place and let it drape down over the affected area. That served to keep things from getting hot. I suspect that it wasn't necessary, but what the heck, it wasn't any trouble.
It's worth noting that even without a fan, the cat heater would eventually get the whole cabin area warmed up. But you could, in our Sprinter, be looking at 20-30 minutes before everything was uniformly toasty; I'd think that's twice what it would be if we could have optimally positioned the heater to have a straight shot down the length of the vehicle.
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Door Awning
At some point I want to make an awning like this for rear door of my camper.
At some point I want to make an awning like this for rear door of my camper.
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Very cool design, I'm thinking along similar lines for the rear of my setup.
Carlyle
Explorer
At some point I want to make an awning like this for rear door of my camper.
Hurry up and put that together so I can "borrow" the design, that looks handy!
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
That looks like it would be super easy to put together