Progress on build has been moving along, slower than I like, but I have other things going on also. My wife had scheduled some vacation for last week and camping at the coast was on the agenda. Knowing that I was in no way going to be complete with the build. I decided it was a good time to check out my layout and some other features that has already been installed. I made a couple of quick cabinets to check heights and egress.
The main features that I am working around is the installation of a shower/bathroom. This was a must have feature that my wife wanted in a new camper, so it must be. I chose a THETFORD C403L RV CASSETTE TOILET and a shower pan to match 27”x24” shower pan that fits the cassette toilet. The key measurement here meant the shower was going to be at a minimum 27” wide. Putting a cabinet on the opposite side of the van (holding the refrigerator) would make a very tight isle way,
One of the other features of the van I wanted, was to have the refrigerator mounted forward next to the door. Since most of our cooking is outside, it makes it easier to access the contents of the refrigerator. The other item in this cabinet will be the stove/oven. I got a deal on a couple of slabs of butcher block and used that for the top. My wife is a professional chef and like the countertop to be high, so I chose to make these the two cabinets different heights to get a real feel of the working height. The other cabinet was on the other side just back from the shower/toilet install it will house the sink and water heater/heater (Trauma Combi). Both cabinets go back to where the bed comes out. For that I purchased a Scopema 129 cm Altair 3p seat. It makes a 51” x 73” bed platform. This was another decision point, as I could have gone with 120 cm seat and had a few extra inches to work with in the back. When sleeping the extra inches were worth it (probably because of the 70 lb. dog that decided she should be on the bed also) The seat is stout, and I like the flexibility of lifting the back and lowering the front. We tested lounge mode watching a movie one night, very comfortable. I didn’t account for access to the seat adjusting handles very well. I will need to come up for some room to help that, but it will work.
All in all, it was a successful trip, I learned a bit, and got to test some of the equipment in camping mode.
Maxxfan 7500K deluxe roof fan
I probably have used the two maxxfans at home more, trying to keep the temp down while working on it. The only thing I can complain about when camping, is the auto LED. The thing is so bright and kind of lights up the interior at night. Not a big problem, you can turn off auto mode for the night.
Turn Overland Windows
The windows are working great, I Like the built-in black out reflective blinds. The double pain windows are very quiet. My general perception is a thumbs up on the windows.
Lithionics GTX12V555A-F25A-DIN40-MODULE
The battery worked as expected, I was camped in state parks that included hook ups, for the most part I didn’t plug in. It was great to not have to worry about how much power I was using, I made multiple cups of coffee with the Keurig via the inverter. I had three different sites I stayed at, and only one had reasonable solar in the actual site.
Xantrex Freedom XC Pro 3000 inverter/charge
I have always been a fan of Magnum Inverters, I probably still am. The Freedom XC Pro 3000 did everything I asked of it. It has some great feature and some that our lacking. The first draw back is the noise, being that this is a high frequency design inverter, it is temperature sensitive, and the fan comes on quickly. This is true for both the inverter and charger. When I was testing the air conditioner running from the inverter, the fan was as loud as the air conditioner. I kind of expected that so that isn’t really a big deal.
The feature I don’t like is no way to turn off the charger. If you plug in, the charger comes on and the inverter is in bypass mode. If you don’t want the charger on, your only option that I can see is unplug. This wouldn’t be such a pain in the ass, except even after 100% SOC the charger decided to go through some cycle every 30 mins where the blower came on for a couple of mins. This happened all night long.
Simarine Pico Battery Monitor
The Pico is a very nice instrument, it isn’t quite as accurate as the SOC meter that came with Lithionics battery, but adequate. I have an extensive layout to collect data and all my consumers, probably over blown, but I like to collect data. So far set up and use has been great. I can get instantaneous data on the power usage of my rig. I haven’t hooked up the tank monitoring yet but expect that will be great.
My big issue with the system, is to date I haven’t found any way to record historical data. I used to like to be able to reset my counters and record data for a weekend trip.
Truckfridge TF130DC
No surprises here, the TF130DC works great. I have added two upgrades to the fridge, Merlin II smart speed controller and Coastal MK3 Digital Thermostat. This thermostat takes away flipping between a nighttime setting, and a daytime setting. The big thing I was testing out was the installation position. I have the fridge facing forward, at the door. This allows quick access to the items inside the van while camped from outside. It worked well, and I will probably keep this in my layout.
Thetford C402C RV Cassette Toilet
I had purchased the cassette toilet and an accompanying shower pan. I must not have been paying as close to the specs as I should have. I found this package required the shower/toilet enclosure to be a minimal 27 “wide. While I enjoyed the extra width, it makes the isle moving from front to back quite tight. While in my testing it didn’t prove to be a big issue, yet I am looking at moving to a shower pan that is 24” wide and moving to a standard porta-potti to give a little more room.
While not extensively used, the cassette toilet worked great, it was easy to empty. It is hardwired to 12 volts, so no batteries needed. The C402 has a tank for fresh flush water, while the C403 is to be plumbed to the freshwater tank.
Scopema 129 cm Altair 3p
This unit performed well, the bed is comfortable, although we did deploy our Klymit insulated doble V air mattress. I have a very small rechargeable inflator, that makes filling this up a simple process. It also deflates very easily. Probably the only complaint is that the seat is so high. Not an issue with headroom in my van, but my feet don’t hit the ground when seated. It is also a little difficult to deploy or put away, but I am confident that will get better as we perfect our procedure. I can see where a power version would be nice. As stated previously the lounge mode was very nice. Nobody was sitting in the back while driving so no updates on comfort.
Door Stop
Seeing as my refrigerator takes some of the doorway, I was looking for a way to not open the door all the way. To be honest if level, the door will pretty much stay put. On a slant (my driveway) it will move. The door stop gives you a nice midway stopping point, and still allows you to go to full open if needed. I have seen a few places offering this, I purchased mine through Vancillary. Installation is easy, mark the location on the roller track that it needs to be placed. Pre the surface of the track and stop, apply JB weld and attach. The hardest part was waiting out the curing period.
Lagun table mount
I mounted the Lagun table mount to front of the shower/bath enclosure and attached a piece of plywood for a tabletop. The size of the enclosure gives me a small amount of room to seat with Transit seats turned at what I will call my desk. It nicely fits my laptop and is out of the way. More importantly since I am a early morning riser, I can move to front of the van and leave wife I peace at the back. There is also enough room for the table to swing around and become a small dinette table between the two from seats.
Amp Power Steps
The power steps have been working great and I probably wouldn’t have included in this assessment had it not been for an issue I ran into. I installed a quick shoe hanger on the side door, it works great for holding a couple of pair of shoes overnight. One morning I got a little carried away testing door stop and went beyond the stop. The shoe hanger got caught on the door ajar switch and broke it. I found this out when the sidestep closed (while I was standing on it) when my wide closed the passenger door. A quick check revealed that side door would no long open the passenger sidestep. A little bit of troubleshooting I discovered I broke off the door ajar sensor. Unfortunately, the van see’s the door as always closed. The amp controller is feeding off this, so it unfortunately won’t operate with the side door.
Luckily, I have an optional switch that can be used to override all steps opened or closed, I just haven’t installed it yet. The new door ajar switch was relatively cheap and easy to install.
The hardest thing was packing up the van. I was so used pretty much throwing some food in the van, clothes and such and hitting the road. I had to search around and find all the gear that I had removed from my old rig. I also missed know where everything was after years of camping out of the same rig. Now it’s time to get back working on the van, the wife said she missed having running water.
-greg
2008 GMC 3500 SMB
Vandit
PhoTo
Linear Mode
