Cabover Camper Chat - II

jraske

Boy I go on vacation for a couple of weeks and everybody starts posting like crazy, I don't think this site has seen this much use since it's start. I think it's great and hope it keeps up.
I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer, does anybody here have solar panels? how well do you like them? how well do they work?
Also what is the best size panel to have?
Thanx John

oltroll1

Thanks for the filter information. My airbags came yesterday. After reading the directions and looking at them I discovered they had sent the wrong ones. Called Camping World and they are sending the right ones out today. They seem fairly easy to install but I'll let you know when I finish.

markbuck

Yup, figured you might end up only fitting the Onan 2.5 kw. I think your a/c is 11k BTU, not KV. Check the amp draw at startup, multiply by 120V and that will give you required gen output at startup. I suspect you will be slightly above 2.5kw. And generator companies usually derate their generators for continuous use by 10 to 20%.

I live in Flagstaff, elevation 7,000' where you have to derate you engine outpu by at least 20%. Keep this in mind if you use the A/C at high elevations. It is worth carrying a cheapie DVM on trips to verify your compressor is not seeing less than 110V....

vince4

This is a topic we've never discussed, probably because no one (?) has solar. I think it's a neat idea but not really needed very much. With two batteries I can go quite a while without a charge and tend to run the truck some anyway during a stay. You can't really support a/c or a microwave off batteries even with solar. One use it would be perfect for is to run a swamp cooler instead of a/c. I've thought about putting one of those in my camper since I don't have a generator. To justify the high cost of solar you need to use the camper for long periods off the truck or without driving the truck.

mledtje

And solar is very expensive to buy. Running the truck for a few minutes a day is quite cheap and easy by comparison. The only thing solar might do for us would be to charge the battery during the day - not enough power to run much more than a light, which you don't need during the day.

And the darn thing couldn't even charge our batteries if we left the camper in camp and went exploring for the day - we take our aux batteries with the truck!

The best use might be a camper with the aux battery in the camper and left in storage. Then the solar panels could keep the battery up while the camper sit and waits.

Mike L

volkej

Used a small solar panel on my sailboat for a trickle charger. The boat was often left for long periods with no use and the solar panel worked very well for keeping the batteries charged.
Once we were on the boat we used either the generator or the engines to keep the batteries up. The cost of solar panels is still too high for the benefits IMHO.

dougster6

Mike,
First, my apologies for getting you and Vince mixed up. I live about 60 miles NE of San Diego. I checked the dimensions for my battery compartment - I think it will fit, however I have some refitting to do in my F350 before I'll be ready for a 2nd battery, so don't let me hold you up if you have other interested parties. What I'm looking to accomplish is to set my truck up for a larger deep cycle battery and keep a smaller deep cycle mounted in the camper where the compartment is more constrained. But first I need to relocate a few things under the hood and actually install the necessary brackets/wiring - maybe a labor day project.

dougster6

I just drove through Flagstaff with my truck & camper about 3 weeks ago - on my way to Oklahoma & Texas. I've been through Flagstaff on the same trip at least 10 times over the past 10-12 years. Flagstaff is about 1/2 way, so I often stay over there. My wife loves the mountains in the area. This trip was 3300 miles with three kids, the wife and the dog. Having just got my truck & camper less than 2 months prior, it was a mad rush getting ready - but the trip was smooth. The biggest casualty - I lost one of those cheesy clip on mirror exensions going through Arizona. All & all a fun trip though.

vince4

Mike that air valve installation is very clean. I wonder what people think when they see you adding air to your license plate!

dougster, we have different trucks but if you want to see how I did my underhood aux battery, see

http://members.home.net/vofm/battery.html

GM offers an aux battery option so there is a spot reserved. Maybe Ford does the same? You should check because the factory parts make the job easier and come out better.

Glad you didn't have any problems on your trip with a new camper. My sister borrowed mine once and had a trip like the National Lampoon Vacation movies. Her worst moment: removing the cover on the sewage dump port with the black water valve already open. Gush. Yuck.

dougster6

Thanks for posting your aux battery link. Yes, Ford's parts are a little different parts, but its the same process in general. I'm sure many have benefited from your well-documented process for the newer GM trucks.

I can't quite top your sister's worst moment - but came close last weekend on a trip to Fallon, Nevada. I was dumping at a dumpstation at a roadside rest stop on I-395 south of Bishop when the underground tank I was dumping into filled up. Luckily I had my foot on my hose & was dumping only grey water at the time. I told a guy in a Park Service truck about the problem as I pulled on in to have lunch. On the way out I drove past a Winnebego at the same dumpstation - and a great big mess.

jo99z71

I have a 99 Silverado Ext.Cab SB (w/overload
air bags) in which I use to haul my camper. I was wanting to install at least a rear
anti-sway bar to help stability.

Is it recommended to only add a rear anti-sway bar
or should I also replace the front stock anti-sway
bar for balancing with the rear??? Also, what
brand and model is recommended for my truck?? I
have been looking into the Hellwig/s.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Joe

mledtje

I (and Vince4) used a Hellwig bar for the rear. Mine went on a 1500 and Vince's on a 2500. Same installation, same comments.

The Hellwig is an inexpensive bar, it had some installation difficulties. The frame mount was not stable enough, but they upgraded the frame mounting hardware and sent us the new parts. I had made a crossmember to fix the problems and prefer my solution to theirs.

The rear bar worked well with the factory front bar when a camper was on the truck. Without the camper you will have too much rear roll stiffness and need to slow down on corners because of it.

No experience with other rear bars.

We live in the South San Francisco Bay area. If you are local I could make you a good deal on the bar I removed from my truck when I removed the camper. Otherwise, you can order from many sources. I got mine from JC Whitney.

Mike L

jo99z71

I live in Phoenix Arizona (a few miles away from San Fransico :-)), but thanks for the offer.

We have a local dealer here in Phoenix I might try out. I hope the new and improved frame mounts come with a new order from Hellwig..

Thanks again,
Joe

erikf2

Joe, take a look at my post #437. Apparently, Hellwig now has different bars for the '99 and '00 model years, but uses the same part number for both. Make sure you get the correct bar for the model year of your truck.

vince4

For pictures and my Hellwig story see

http://members.home.net/vofm/bar.html

I think the front bar is good as is. Making it stiffer would probably make the ride worse. A better idea is to put on Bilstein shocks.

mcollins2

Nice pictures Vince. Just received my "new style" 7634 bar for my 2000 3/4 Sil 4X4. Looks similar to Vince's except the ends mount to a round crossmember (not the square frame) with U-Bolts. You can see the crossmember in Vince's third picture (at top of shock). Waiting for the U-Bolts (missing from shipment). I will let you know how it fits.
Mike2

jo99z71

I am in the process of ordering the 'new style' bar.

oltroll1

I finally got the right air bags and installed them today. Overall the project went really well. It took me about 6 hrs to complete the installation. If you deduct the BS time and the time it took to get the tools out,clean up and put the tools away it probably took about 4 hrs. Used a floor jack and stands to raise the truck. Removing the wheels and finder liners took some time but made the job a lot easier. I also used an airwrench on the lock-nuts which saved time. The directions wrer really good and easy to understand. I haven't put the camper on to see how well they work but I think they are going to work fine. I mounted the fill valves in the license plate holes.

vince4

The 99 and 2000 trucks are the same. Mike had exactly the same fit problems on his 99 as I had on my 2000. I suspect they redesigned the bar in part due to our complaints. I communicated quite a bit with them and they seemed very receptive to the feedback.

vince4

I don't remember how much your camper weighs but expect to need 55-85 psi to raise it. Isn't it interesting how the "5000 lb" bags have a rating of 400 lbs per 10 psi and a maximum rating of 100 psi? Did your manual say that? Both brands do it.

oltroll1

You are right; the add says 5000lbs. and the manual says 4000lbs. My camper weighs a little over 1400lbs. fully loaded. That should be between 35 and 45 psi according to the numbers in the manual.(25 to 35 psi--1000lbs; 45 to 55psi--2000lbs). My tire gauge will only go down to 10 psi and 5 psi is the least they say to run in them. At 10 psi I am about 3/4 of an inch above normal ride height with my normal load. I hope to put the camper back on this weekend and see how it does. At least they didn't leak any overnight. It sure doesn't take much air (in or out) to make a big difference.

vince4

Those bags won't have any trouble with that slim 1400lbs. I get everyone mixed up, what rig do you have? Is it a Dakota with a popup?

vince4

Does anyone know what a 97 Sun-Lite Eagle WT is worth? It's 8.5' with a real fridge, real toilet, and furnace as options. No oven, and I beleive no hot water and no outside shower. The owner is asking $5500 OBO. Does anyone know what a new one goes for?

mledtje

Check out this website:

http://www.happycampers.net/index.cgi

Do a search for Sunlite and get about 50 messages. Maybe some will give you the information you are looking for.

I also found this website that lists 'all' RV manufacturers, and they show no website for SunLite.

http://www.rvamerica.com/data/genindex.htm

Later,

Mike L

Brutus

By the way, Bigfoot finally got a website at www.bigfootrv.com. I've got the 1999 10'11" Bigfoot 3000 with most of the options.

vince4

The Sun-Lite website is

http://sunliteinc.com/

but they don't have prices.


Thanks for the NADA link. They list it as

low retail $3,875
average retail $4,850
high retail $5,280

I had already offered $4k but don't expect him to take it. Looks like I hit it about right.

oltroll1

I have the Sun-Lite Eagle SB on a 2000-Ram 1500 ext.cab 4x4. Put it back on today with the air bags. It took 43 psi. in the drivers side and 31 psi in the passengers side to bring it back to normal ride height. Drivers side has the truck gas tank, frige.,lp tank and stove on it. Seems to ride better. Doesn't have the side to side roll that it did before. I think your right about no hot water in the WT. The Eagle WS-(with shower) has a hot water heater. Im not sure but a new Eagle WT is probably about $9000 (list). My SB list with AC was $7000.

vince4

I see that the hot water heater is optional, as is an outside shower. The water heater apparently takes the space where the oven goes since you can't have both. This one doesn't have an oven so maybe a water heater can be added.

oltroll1

I added an outside shower to mine for about $20 (cold water only). I went under the sink and cut in a T so that it works on either the on-board water or city water. I mounted a valve outside and then hook a hand held shower head to that. I don't have a heater in mine so I could probably put a water heater in that space but the cold shower has not been a problem yet.

vince4

Cold showers? I'd do it if I had to but I hope I never have to. I guess I'm spoiled. Many people around the world never get a hot shower. Makes me glad I live here.

markbuck

my outside shower. Thought I'd use it all the time but.....

mledtje

Mine is for emergencies only. I've used it once, only once.

We don't even turn on the hot water heater anymore. I wouldn't let the lack of hot water or a shower detract from the camper at all.

Mike L

markbuck

Hot shower after dirt bike race very good before driving 12 hours home....

mledtje

Does that mean you have an inside shower?

You said you never use your outside shower, but you like to use your hotwater to shower after dirt bike races. So, do you have an inside shower that you use?

If you do have inside shower, maybe that is why you never use your outside shower. And if you don't have an inside shower, where do you shower after the races?

Mike L

markbuck

Nice aspect of a 26' travel trailer.....

The negative is of course, 4 extra tires plus two spares, repacking 4 wheel bearings,......

But the good part is the expensive toys are in the bed of the pickup....


If any of yawl do end up buying a travel trailer, buy a Nash. Great rugged construction, lots of ground clearance. http://www.nashtraveltrailers.com/about.html

Do occasionally miss my freebie '71 Winnebago slide-in as it was a beater. The Nash we have to keep clean, as it is joint owned with my racer buddy and his wife makes us keep the trailer spotless.....

markbuck

we own a 24A with the bunkhouse option....

vince4

My Lance has inside and outside showers and I've used both many times. The outside shower is great because you don't have to worry about filling a holding tank. But it's no good in very cold weather or some public places. I normally use it in public with shorts on, although I have wrapped a tarp around a tree and made a private shower right in camp. That time 3 of us used it in our birthday suits (separately that is) and one was a middle aged woman who'd hardly been camping before. It rather blew her mind.

Oh that warm water feels good!

The other use for the outside shower is to wash the dog or just cool her off in really hot weather.

vince4

Mike, do you have plans for the Labor Day weekend? I'm taking the camper out somewhere.

mledtje

You ask the hardest questions. I don't know what we will do - I'm ready to take the camper out, even if we just go back to San Luis or something similar.

On the 6th we will have our house tented and fumigated. So, it is possible that Dorothy will want to spend the weekend preparing to move out for 2 days. It ought to take about 3 days to prepare for a 2 day moveout. That's feminine logic. My logic says you take about 20 minutes to grab what you absolutely need to take out and forget the rest.

Ask again in a couple days and I'll have a better idea what we will do.

Mike L

vince4

Thanks Mike but that's a bit $$ for my needs. I guess I'll have to stick with the truck bed until I get some more storage space. I looked at some houses in the Los Gatos mountains, if I buy one then I can't afford the camper. Hmm...

mledtje

And this one isn't frozen yet!

Mike L

meredith

For purposes of efficiency....

this topic has been "frozen." Please continue these discussions in Topic 2228 Cabover Camper Chat - III. Thanks.

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