Our Mods

[Chandalen]

I'm at work, and if you are typing, you are busy so.....

I am about to retire and travel America. It has been my dream since I joined the Army, and its about to be a reality. Bonus the wife is on board and totally motivated.

However, she is a pro photographer and has an insane amount of equipment. We will also have our 5 boys along with us for the Summer part of the adventure.

Needless to say, space is an issue. So I went on a Space Quest.

I found space everywhere.


Under our sink, there is only one drawer to access the area, which made the furthest area very difficult to use as storage. Solution, I made another drawer.

BEFORE


AFTER


The Entertainment area has an LCD TV, but the MFR didnt change the empty space behind it. ALSO, the top cabinet was inaccessible while the slides were in, thus blocking the adult beverages therein.

BEFORE, I made a pilot hole where i thought the back panel for the TV was approx. I was within 1/2 an inch accurate.


All this space, and it allows access to the top cabinet.


The door has a mirror so the ladies can see how cute they are on the way out the door.


Under the stairs I found this space, and i added velcro to the step so it can be opened and closed. The top step could also be opened, but the space was small enough there it was not worth the time.


The last of the construction type mods.. Our camper has a heated storage bay. This vent connects the storage bay to the main camper for air flow. I actually had the vent in the bay closed off as we have not winter camped (yet). However this space was huge and hard to get to from the bay.

BEFORE


AFTER


Future mods....
*12v regulator for LED lighting. The lighting in the camper gets battery voltage, and if they are charging can be ~15v. EXPENSIVE camper LED bulbs are usually OK with this. However, I have cheaper LED Bulbs that do not like 13+ volts. SO a $10 voltage regulator accepts any incoming voltage, and locks it at whichever voltage you need. I will lock it at 12v, to stop faster burn out of the LEDs.

I also use one for the computer fan I have set up to suck battery vent gas out of the sealed battery box. Computer fans also do not like voltages above 12v.

*I will be pulling out the fridge and adding tubing fans, and an auto dispersal HALON fire ext. Just in case.

*I will be adding 2 more 100w Solar panels to cap the array at 45 amps/hour charging power.

[Bob_Vaughn]

On thing I have found is drawers in rv's do not go all the way to the back of the cabinet....In our kitchen there is a pan drawer and when looking I found there was almost 12 inches of space behind the end of the drawer. Just to save some wood cost....

[Chandalen]

I'm not too worried about overloading. We dont travel with a full tank of water, and thats about 700lb if we did. We were weighed for a military travel, and were well below the gross max.

To combat added weight, I did do some truck upgrades. I got the 'enhanced' rotors, calipers, and pads. I can't say as to if they help with braking, but since I did have 2 calipers that were sticking, and now they dont, braking is much easier.

[RollandB]

Congrats at being on being on the doorstep of your dream! The comment about not overloading yor trailer is a good one. That being said I have a spot near the door of ours that is a big cavity mainly to access the water pump. On my radar is to build a couple of shelves above the pump that are removable of keep two pair of shoes.

[DutchmenSport]

You know, .... they hide extra "spaces" so you won't overload the camper!.... remember "The Long, Long Trailer" movie? Lucy stowed away all those rocks in every storage space available? If you can't access them ... you can't stow anything in them. .... sounds logical to me anyway! :h

Still, in my camper I have areas that could be better utilized too, if I had a real need for more storage: There's space above and below the refrigerator, behind the microwave, the space where the trailer power cord comes through the outside wall, under the shower pan (really, there an access panel on the front of the shower pan, and that cavity under the shower pan is huge!). Space behind the oven (although it might be hard to get to).

Not to mention all that empty space outside, especially that space between the two main trailer frames that could be used for a LOT of stuff.

But, then ... if all that space was used ... I might find myself wondering why my poor truck is screaming and blowing smoke like a burning tire factory!

[Artum_Snowbird]

I too have done a space search, so I am looking forward to your mods.