Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread

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Topic: Our custom true flatbed truck camper build thread

Posted By: bka0721 on 12/27/14 10:45am

Love this thread, oh, yeah, that neat camper and garage pod in it too!

More pics. More detail. Soon, right?

b

Posted By: cewillis on 12/27/14 02:40pm

Yes -- that is seriously professional work.

Cal

Posted By: bill harr on 12/27/14 03:16pm

Just another note to let you know your thread is being followed. Great work.

Posted By: BoonHauler on 12/27/14 05:53pm

BoonHauler wrote:

Jfet wrote:

BoonHauler wrote:

I'm curious to hear how the furnace is working out for you? .......and wondering if you used the 1000 btu a foot method of sizing?

With as efficient of an envelope that you have I'd have to think that rule of thumb just wouldn't be very accurate. That's for tent trailers and alike.

Furnace! It has been 90 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night.

Based on how well this thing is insulated, I think the near 20,000 BTU furnace will be overkill if anything. The tiny 500 watt AC certainly manages to keep the inside 25 degrees below the outside.

This fall we will know more about the furnace as sometimes it dips into the 20s during October.

I'll stay tuned......just wondering why you chose the 18k.

Jfet ..... Just a friendly reminder we're still waiting for your furnace review [emoticon]

I'll be ordering mine pretty soon......

05 RAM 3500 CTD 4x4 Q/C Laramie DRW/NV5600/3.73, B&W Gooseneck, MaxBrake, PacBrake PRXB, Brite Box Fogster, BD steering Box Brace
2014 BoonHauler 3614

Posted By: btggraphix on 12/28/14 01:57am

I still can't believe how cool your project is, and how cool I expect the result to be. I'd be happy to be a fly on the wall in the corner of your shop just to have watched the whole thing take place. Thanks for sharing this thread all this time. It is truly one of the coolest build threads I've read anywhere, and certainly here on RV.net. I hope the result is every thing you hope it to be, and more.

2006 LanceMax 1191 - loaded and well-used
2005 C4500/Kodiak 4x4, GVWR 17,500

Posted By: bigcitypopo on 12/28/14 11:38pm

By chance have you thought of adding a battery rack to that pod. It seems you could had 6-8 6volts there toward the front of the pod thus placing the weight almost over the axle.. It might give Ya a good boon docking edge... Prewire it for solar. And your set... Then should you ever need to off-load... The unit is self sufficent with solar and a batt bank should you need to run an inverter or such.

2014 RAM 2500 BigHorn CrewCab 4x2 ShortBox, 6.7L CTD
2014 Keystone Springdale 294bhssrwe - Hensley Arrow!
The best wife, 2 kids and a bunch of fun

Posted By: Jfet on 12/29/14 07:36am

Thanks everyone for the nice comments...actually starting to see the finish line in the distance (finally). Boon, we haven't really had time to use the camper in the cold weather (I don't even have a propane tank hooked up right now) so furnace results are on hold. I will say that running a electric heater on low setting (drawing about 500 watts) keeps the camper about 60 degrees when the outside temp is hovering around freezing. 500 watts/hr is about 1700 BTU/hr and the furnace is rated at 18,000.

bigcitypopo wrote:

Yes we thought initially about adding a 2nd bank of batteries in the garage pod (the living pod already has a small battery bank) but I am starting to have overall weight concerns even on the rear axle. I think when the garage is loaded on the truck behind the camper and we have our two motorcycles in it, the overall weight will be around 16,500 pounds. The GVWR of the truck is 19,500 so that only leaves 3000 pounds for gear. Considering we have more storage than a small house on this thing, 3000 pounds is not much.

I am looking at the Isuzu FTR,FVR,FRR series (or GMC T7500) which is the slightly heavier duty version of this cabover (26,000 GVWR). It seems they stopped importing them into the USA in about 2008 (probably because of the new diesel emission requirements) so they are harder to find. They would give us about 7,000 to 8,000 pounds for gear.

Or we may just try to keep the gear down to a minimum and get by with the NRR we have.

Posted By: btggraphix on 12/29/14 08:21am

I'd almost certainly say give this chassis a try first and see how it does (similar to what I'll tell someone with a stock dually getting a big TC.) Having said that I always really liked the idea of the GMC T series cabovers as a platform with the admitted drawback of no 4WD, but if you don't mind that it seems like would be your ticket. 3K pounds is gonna get used up quickly [emoticon]

. I knew that around the time of the bailout they stopped production of the TopKick and Kodiak but was never sure if they also killed the T series? I think the last model year of the Kodiak/TopKick was 08 or 09 so they had already gone to post emissions......we looked at buying a new 08(?) with the emissions. it was economics and possibly poor management choices that killed the line. Anyway, maybe they stopped bringing in the large Isuzus at the same time and for related reasons

Posted By: bka0721 on 12/29/14 11:14am

I concur with btggraphix on the wait and see, before adding more. I often use the analogy of a Cafeteria line and picking things to put on your tray. Once you have gone to the end, the cashier then gives you the total. Weighing at the Scale is often the same BIG surprise. Starting out as I did, adding special items take on a whole new world of weight. As an example, my truck/service body weighed in for it’s TARE ticket for registering, came in over 11,000 lbs, heavier than most people’s Truck and Truck Camper combined. Might I suggest you scale your project as soon as you have the opportunity, before you are finished to see what your estimations and true weights really are? It keeps you from being surprised when arriving at the Cashier.

Also, running a heating element device works well when doing it on paper, but reality is this element will impact your SOC (State of Charge) of the battery/s. Thusly, the ultimate health and longevity of your battery bank. Even though a micro wave and other power heavy devices are for brief times, a Space Heater, does not. There are so many variables in maintaining batteries and solar harvesting I would not suggest this as an alternative for heating when off the grid. My battery banks are, 1,460 AmpH (combined) and 1,860 watts of solar (combined) and I would never subject my batteries for more than a few minutes of this steep draw of amps. Theory and reality always have a huge collision, when they meet.

b

08 F550-4X4-CC-6.4L Dsl-206"WB GVWR17,950#
09 Lance 1191
1,560wSolar~10-6vGC2-1,160AmpH~Tri-Star-Two(2)60/MPPT~Xantrex 2000W
300wSolar~2-6vAGM-300AmpH~Tri-Star45/MPPT~Xantrex 1500W
16 BMW R1200GSW Adventure
16 KTM 500 EXC
06 Honda CRF450X
09 Haulmark Trlr

Posted By: Jfet on 12/30/14 11:26am

I did not mean we are using a 500 watt heater on battery power. The camper is parked in our driveway and I am running a 500 watt heater from our house electricity. My point was the 1700 BTU output of the electric heater on low easily keeps the camper 30 degrees above freezing. This makes me believe an order of magnitude increase in BTU from the furnace (18,000 BTU) would be plenty.

Definitely will try the camper and garage pod on the Isuzu NRR and see how things sit. The time and effort that have gone into the camper and garage make the truck itself a small part of the build if we did have to switch. It would take less than a day to do a complete switch including the under truck boxes and backup camera system if we were to find a 20 foot flatbed GMC T-7500 (they do exist but always seem to be on the other side of the country).

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