The TARDIS - A Four Wheel Camper Build

[Northern Explorer]

You can add a simple switch & resistor to it as well to make it a 6speed (a reduced speed from each main speed), I did that in my current FWC because the low isn't really that low.

I agree that the low speed isn't low enough. Can you provide a link so I can see how this is done?

Nathanael: I don't think you will find the thermostat issue much of a problem. Not to often are you going to want sub 40 degree air blowing down on your head or vise versa have all of your heated air be sucked out of the camper on a sub 40 degree day. When cooking in that kind of weather you will find that opening one of your bottom turnbuckle hatches and the roof vent (fan off) and maybe a crack in a window is usually all it takes to create enough of a fresh air draft unless you are running both burners on high.

 

[pods8]

I agree that the low speed isn't low enough. Can you provide a link so I can see how this is done?

flinchlock did a good writeup on WTW: http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1329/

 

[Northern Explorer]

flinchlock did a good writeup on WTW: http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1329/

Perfect!!!

 

[Overland Hadley]

Nathanael: I don't think you will find the thermostat issue much of a problem. Not to often are you going to want sub 40 degree air blowing down on your head or vise versa have all of your heated air be sucked out of the camper on a sub 40 degree day. When cooking in that kind of weather you will find that opening one of your bottom turnbuckle hatches and the roof vent (fan off) and maybe a crack in a window is usually all it takes to create enough of a fresh air draft unless you are running both burners on high.

Good point.

I would still like the option of ''cleaning'' the air from the camper. I might never use it but I would like to be able to bypass the thermostat.

 

[brianjwilson]

I think convection will clean out the air in a hurry when it's that cold, but it is nice to be able to run the fan for a couple seconds anyhow.

 

[chvy39z]

Your ideas have been of great use. So far I have a two burner SMEV, an Olympian Wave 3 heater, the 600r fantastic fan,a dreamtime mattress, the motion detection light,and the light weight aluminum bars for Yakima rack ordered. Thanks for putting this all together Overland Hadley.

 

[Dave Bennett]

:lurk:

 

[Overland Hadley]

Your ideas have been of great use. So far I have a two burner SMEV, an Olympian Wave 3 heater, the 600r fantastic fan,a dreamtime mattress, the motion detection light,and the light weight aluminum bars for Yakima rack ordered. Thanks for putting this all together Overland Hadley.

That is a nice list. :ylsmoke: Glad my research can be of help. (In reality I feel honored that you have found my info so useful. Thank you. )

Where did you order the aluminum bars from? I need to order my Thule bar replacements.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Door Handrail

As I have been climbing in and out of my camper while working on it I have found that a longer and larger door handrail would be useful. Not sure if it is because I am a tall person, but I find the little handrail that FWC is using pathetic and far from ideal. Or maybe it is because I was frustrated with the handrail when I saw a picture of a FWC that had a second handrail mounted above the factory one. Either way I am excited to change it out to make an improvement.



Found a nice marine handrail from Dive-n-Dog. Did a little searching and found Here to be the best price, at about half of msrp.


Note: When looking at a replacement FWC handrail you will want to find a thru bolted one, as most marine handrails are male or female bolted.

 

[Overland Hadley]

120v Power (Gen2 Tacoma)

I was a little disappointed to find that the camper blocked access to the 120v outlet located in the bed of the Gen2 Tacomas. Although I have never used the 120v outlet in the bed, it is not something that I want to block access to especially with the ''luxury'' items of the camper.

First I looked at installing a hatch in the camper to gain access to the outlet, but finding and installing a hatch that was sealed on both sides was looking to be a fair amount of work. So I decided to take a look at the outlet to see if I could move it to the other side of the storage opening in the bed of the truck. The seal on the outlet looks to be just fine if it is turned around, I kind of like how it works better than the factory installed way. So that was the route I was going to go. Turned out to be simple: unscrewed the outlet and cut off a clip releasing about 8'' of wire, unscrewed the storage box on the bed, drilled one hole and cut off a locating pin, and reinstalled the storage box upside down. Voila, my 12ov outlet is now accessible from the inside of the camper, via the turnbuckle access hatch.

A couple things that do not work like before is: the center screws do not line up but it is still securely mounted, the storage door would not work as good as it would now be upside down but it is 100% blocked by the camper and I do not use it when the bed is empty, the outlet is upside down but I feel the seal is still 100% and as I noted above I think it works better upside down.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Tung Oil

Ordered the Tung Oil I will be using on the interior. It will be protecting the birch and aluminum interior.
(Thanks to Paul Jensens build for reminding me what a great product Tung Oil is.)

www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.

 

[takesiteasy]

...the storage door would not work as good as it would now be upside down but it is 100% blocked by the camper and I do not use it when the bed is empty, the outlet is upside down but I feel the seal is still 100% and as I noted above I think it works better upside down.

I looked at this on my truck after I saw your post. I too want to use the outlet when my camper is installed (hopefully near the end of May). It looks to me like the storage box cover will still work- the latch will just be at the bottom rather than the top. Did you check to see if you can just rotate the outlet in its opening to restore the original orientation or won't it fit upside down? Since you don't mind the new orientation maybe you didn't check.

As an alternative, I had thought I could just run an extension cord from the bed outlet to an outlet box installed in the camper. I would plug it in before the camper was dropped into the truck. I suppose if went this route I might want to make some kind of waterproof cover to protect the outlet from water getting in under the camper but that doesn't seem like a big problem. Do you think this is workable or isn't there room?

 

[Overland Hadley]

I looked at this on my truck after I saw your post. I too want to use the outlet when my camper is installed (hopefully near the end of May). It looks to me like the storage box cover will still work- the latch will just be at the bottom rather than the top. Did you check to see if you can just rotate the outlet in its opening to restore the original orientation or won't it fit upside down? Since you don't mind the new orientation maybe you didn't check.

I am not sure if the plug can be rotated, I liked the way it worked with the cover swinging down and went with that.

As an alternative, I had thought I could just run an extension cord from the bed outlet to an outlet box installed in the camper. I would plug it in before the camper was dropped into the truck. I suppose if went this route I might want to make some kind of waterproof cover to protect the outlet from water getting in under the camper but that doesn't seem like a big problem. Do you think this is workable or isn't there room?

In dusty conditions that area will get dirty, not sure if a lot of water would get down there but I am sure some would work its way down. Personally I just did not like the idea of having the outlet uncovered all the time. If you decide to go that way I think you would need a flat style plug to have a chance of it fitting, it is a really tight fit along there.

 

[takesiteasy]

Yeah, dust will get in there for sure. I guess I will have to wait until I have the camper to decide which way to go. Thanks for posting your idea, and all the other information you have collected. As others have said, it is a great resource.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Fantastic Fan

Finished up with the Fantastic Fan.

Installed a single pole switch tapped into the wires coming in and going out from the thermostat. Now with a flip of the switch I can bypass the thermostat and use the fan whenever I want.

Fantastic Fan, Done.