You are amazing at all this upgrades! Camper's going to be a lot of fun.
You are amazing at all this upgrades! Camper's going to be a lot of fun.
And, the running lights are done.
I'll try to remember to shoot a couple of pictures after dark. The truck is going to look like a Christmas tree.
You're doing beautiful work!
Do you have one of those combo RV Carbon Monoxide / Propane detectors in there?
In reply to Woody:
Not yet, but its on the list.
Looks kind of like a semi.
South Carolina says if they are on there they have to work. I hope the alternator can keep up. 
>LED's don't draw anything... it'll be fine I'm sure. Nice build!
Very impressive.
Well, I just checked the gas mileage on the beast. 11.5 mpg with the camper in the back, driving it hard. 
Not the best in the world, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. After I throw a tuneup at it and get my foot out of the tank, I can probably bump it into the 12-13 range. I can live with that. I've been figuring all my expenses for the upcoming trip at 10 MPG.
It's an F350 with DRW and a 460? Personally, I'd consider any MPG in double-digits to be "good"...
In reply to Ian F,
If I can get it into the 12s I'll be ecstatic.
my F250 is extremely sensitive to headwind and vehicle speed. Pulling it back a bit from plaid is about 1% per mile per hour, ie, 10 mph less than 75 gets 10% better economy.
Beagle wrote: my F250 is extremely sensitive to headwind and vehicle speed. Pulling it back a bit from plaid is about 1% per mile per hour, ie, 10 mph less than 75 gets 10% better economy.
You got that one right. Being in a hurry gets expensive. My record worst is 6.2 mpg. That was at 75 mph pulling a 35' camper. I can't afford to go that fast for long. 
As long as I'm here, how about a little update.
The interior lights use a really weird bulb. It's a 12V intermediate (E17) base. I found some incandescents, but I really wanted a set of LEDs. Everything in LEDs is 120V only. The camper/marine world has moved on to a medium (E24) base.
Out of desperation, I tried my hand at building some.
What I have. These bulbs draw several amps each. Too much in this day and age.
Here is what I did.
Step one, break glass.
Step two, with a little bending and soldering, attach LED bulb.
Step 3, install and enjoy the warm glow of accomplishment. 
The old bulbs were 24.5 watts or 2.04 amps. The new bulbs are 1.2 watts or .09 amps. 
Well that light bulb modification is just way too clever.
In reply to Beagle:
My old '78 F150 4x4 with a 351M/4 spd would get 10 mpg at 60 mph and with a 20 gal tank had about a 200 mile range. Much above 60 mph and I could practically watch the gas gauge move.
When I thought about your leak/water damage issues, I thought of Flex-Seal spray. I'd get a case of white and a few clears and spray everything I could reach. I'd spray it right over the caulked joints too.
ebonyandivory wrote: When I thought about your leak/water damage issues, I thought of Flex-Seal spray. I'd get a case of white and a few clears and spray everything I could reach. I'd spray it right over the caulked joints too.
That's some interesting stuff. I'll have to order a can or to and do some testing.
Yesterday was truck day. Radiator, thermostat, hoses, belts, tensioner, and master cylinder are changed. The only thing left to do to the truck is change the oil and detail it.
Today, the mercury was way hotter than I like so I didn't do much. I lit off the A/C in the shop and modified a step stool to be used as steps into the camper. It was too tall to clear the door so I whacked the hoop off the top and reattached it at a 90 degree angle. It has the wife's approval so it's good.
OD green was the only color of paint I had left on the shelf and it was too hot to drive to Slowes.
Awesome build thread. I don't know how it works on those Fords, but can you get to the spare with the camper mounted?
Mike wrote: Awesome build thread. I don't know how it works on those Fords, but can you get to the spare with the camper mounted?
I remember seeing a lot of Fords with slide in campers back in the 70s with spares mounted in front of the grill. I can't imagine how they avoided overheating in the mountains.
It's a dually. It carries the spare on the ground.
The propane tanks showed up today. There wasn't enough room for a 20# tank, it was too big in diameter, so I went with two 10# tanks.
The original plan was to mount them in the bed between the side of the truck and the camper wall. That would make filling them a bit of a problem. So I'm going to mount them here instead.
There are a couple of 3/4" X 9" diameter, stainless, t-bolt clamps, on the way to hold them in place.
Too hot to do much this afternoon. The thermometer on my porch topped out at 103. I did managed to get a couple of small projects done without drowning in my own sweat.
A/C ducting is done.
With the A/C running, both ports are open.
For storage or travel, both ports have covers to keep the critters out.
And, the fire/CO/propane detector is in, so we won't die in our sleep somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Propane powered ac???
Is this a thing for the shop too, or just a camper?
Im pretty sure that I have lost 10lbs today from sweating my nuts off. And we topped out at 98.
Hows the humidity your way?
In reply to Dusterbd13:
The fridge and stove in the camper are propane fired. The A/C is 120V.
My shop has 2 tons of A/C in it, unfortunately the camper won't fit in it. I also left it off today. I'm already headed for a $300+ electric bill for the month.
The humidity is actually only in the 70s at the moment. The temps have been brutal though.
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