What did you do to your hard-sided truck camper recently?

[orangeTJ]

I am in the process of shopping for new batteries.

The wet cell batteries in my Arctic Fox 811 are toast. They could have lasted longer. They've lost water and had exposed plates several time, and have died prematurely. (er, I should say they were killed by lack of maintenance).

Checking water in them requires totally disconnecting them and pulling them off the slide out tray. This project is very difficult when the camper is on the truck because the battery box is at eye level, and carrying a battery down a ladder is a recipe for disaster, so I don't do it. The camper spends all summer on the truck, sometimes longer than the summer, so they don't get maintenance as often as they should since it's nearly impossible to do when the camper is on the truck.

My plan is to go with a pair of AGM batteries. I am DONE with wet cell batteries. I went through two sets of golf cart batteries (wet cell) in my previous RV, a Desert Fox Toy hauler, during the 7 seasons I used it. I'm, finished with using wet cell batteries in deep cycle applications.

 

[orangeTJ]

I installed the AGM batteries - I got two group 29 Deka AGM batteries.

 

[workerdrone]

Do you have a simple single stage converter in your Arctic Fox? They can cook batteries pretty quickly if you generally leave it plugged into shore power since they don't idle down into a gentle maintenance or float charge.

I'm thinking about different options for sprucing up the faded white gelcoat and tattered decals on my 2005 Bigfoot - Has anyone tried plasti-dip on top of gel coat? Considering that or vinyl wrap material to maybe make something better matching the truck and more custom looking, without a lot of tedious paint or gelcoat work

 

[pappawheely]

Do you have a simple single stage converter in your Arctic Fox? They can cook batteries pretty quickly if you generally leave it plugged into shore power since they don't idle down into a gentle maintenance or float charge.

I'm thinking about different options for sprucing up the faded white gelcoat and tattered decals on my 2005 Bigfoot - Has anyone tried plasti-dip on top of gel coat? Considering that or vinyl wrap material to maybe make something better matching the truck and more custom looking, without a lot of tedious paint or gelcoat work

The military vehicle crowd is using house paint. You can go with a flat or satin finish and touch-ups are easy.

 

[workerdrone]

Haha that's interesting but I'd need to spray for sure to keep it looking presentable enough for the missus. And if we hate the result or get tired of it, no simple peel away like plasti dip or vinyl wrap. Although my airless sprayer will do a gallon in 3 minutes so theoretically I could paint the sucker in a few minutes

White camper on black truck, been thinking ever since I got it that it would be pretty nice to color match them - our poor people's version of an Earthroamer - F550 4wd with a truck camper.

 

[workerdrone]

Well, yesterday and today got 300w of solar mounted and wired down through the refrigerator vent, which I had to remove, clean, and recaulk....nice and clean, now just have to decide what controller and inverter are going in and whether to ditch the old factory converter entirely or not.

And disassembled the step that leads up to the bed, since it was a little wiggley and that's where all the wiring access is - wood frame was held together with cheesy staples several of which had failed, hence the wiggle.

Will reassemble and brace further tomorrow

Last week two GC-2 6v golf cart batteries replaced the stock shot group 27 "deep cycles", had to remove the battery tray to fit them but I left an incandescent light on all night by accident last night and this AM they were still very strong.

 

[orangeTJ]

Do you have a simple single stage converter in your Arctic Fox?

I do, but I disabled it years ago. I installed a Xantrex Prosine 2.0 inverter/3 stage charger and use that for charging duties.

 

[poriggity]

I'm in the midst of cleaning up my 88 Lance LC980 for it's inaugural camping trip in August. Spent today cleaning up more stuff, and trying to track down a water leak. Found the water leak, and got it nice and clean on the inside. Now to clean up the outside.

 

[Jensen]

Albeit far more expensive, has anyone thought about adding a Tesla Powerwall to their TC?

 

[poriggity]

Albeit far more expensive, has anyone thought about adding a Tesla Powerwall to their TC?

The powerwall looks awesome, but msrp is way out of reach for my camper, since I got it for free, I can't see sinking thousands into it by purchasing a powerwall... it might work for some though.

 

[Darwin]

I didn't put in a powerwall, but managed to message two 6 volt golf cart batteries into the battery compartment of my northstar adventure. I also installed a Trimetric battery monitor and a progressive dynamics 'boondocker' smart converter. Next up a 'maggies rack' roof rack and solar!

 

[orangeTJ]

My camper needs to come off the truck soon so I can take the truck back to the dealer who did body damage to it last week when they were replacing wire harnesses. Although, I'm not sure I want their staff touching the truck again.

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Lot's of upgrades as of late. The complete converter system on my 1998/Lance 165-s went south this year. I'm replacing the board with a big upgrade and adding 100W of solar to boot. Also an extra battery installed along the frame rail of the truck will give me 4 batteries to drain. The truck is getting more stuff too. A front, Dana 60, 35 spline axle Eaton/Detroit True Trac, all-gear driven, Limited Slip has arrived and will be put in next week.
The other one is for the front of my XJ:

Last year I put in a Free Spin bearing kit; new steering parts; tie rod; drag link, Gen4 pan hard rod, new rubber grommets for all the anti sway bars; new tie rod ends; wider spaced, replaceable front spindle bearings; free wheeling hubs with Dana 70, 35 spline outers.
jefe

 

[workerdrone]

Not the hard side, but the mule, 6.0 liter F550 4wd, got dropped off last night for a full bulletproofing treatment

One step closer to the full time road!

 

[Dusty-NZ]

I found an old brass fire guard and cut it down and fitted it as a shield behind the gas cooker.