Orion_42 wrote:
Finally received and installed new sofa-bed and cab captains chair (driver side not in yet). Totally updated the interior to as-new condition on this 2001 model. TV replaced with LCD and relocated to where you can actually watch it from the dinette (has swing-out bracket). Feeble factory cab seats replace with slightly larger, more plush captains chairs (6-way power driver seat) and adjustable lumbar support. New carpets throughout. Indirect 12V LED rope lighting behind new oak valences under side overhead cabinets.
Very Nice!!!. I really like your Rig.
Gene in NE wrote:cheeze1 wrote:You are slightly luckier than I with an access door. I don't even have that. I have to crawl under and then almost sit up next to my single 12V battery. One of our members, Gary Swanson, put in a second battery on his rig. He turned them sideways and put something under them to raise them above the retaining lip of the support. Bad things happend for him, the support bracket weld let loose and he almost lost his batteries. I had thought about adding a second 12 Volt battery or even thought about 2-6 Volt golf cart batteries. Then decided that the single really has not been a problem for us. It is a pain to check the acid level. They do sell a solution for that at Camping World Remote Battery Fill.
Ok gang, I'm going to whine about a question that has been discussed in the past. I have that ridiculous 'access door' to my house battery...Anyway, I have seem numerous discussions about having 2 house batteries and some have also mentioned having 2 6v in series instead of a single 12. My major whine is that checking the battery is a royal PITA and I would love to do some work and switch to a slide out tray. It would mean cutting that area of the coach and then fitting some kind of support system for the slide out. Anyone have ideas?? I just thought this would kick off some excitement during the upcoming winter doldrums.(read: I CAN'T WORK ON MY RIG!).
๐
The salvation for us, is that we do not spend much time merely sitting in one spot. We tend to camp overnight and then move on in the morning. The engine alternator keeps the single battery fully charged. Rarely do we use shore power long enough for the converter to overcharge the battery and boil out the acid.
For those camping in one place for extended time without shore power, the single battery would soon be depleted.
Replacement of one 12V every 7 years is not that big of a deal and a little less expensive than replacing 2. ๐
Ford diesel vans have there batteries mounted on the passenger side frame rails. My Rig came with 2 batteries, I purchased another Ford OEM frame rail battery box off E-bay and switched to maintenance free AGM batteries.
Cheeze, I got the seats and sofa-bed from http://www.discountvantruck.com. They took a lot longer to get than I expected (3 months!)since they are suddenly very busy.
The TV bracket I used was pretty heavy duty from Best-Buy, but if I had to do it again, I would probably start with the one available from Campers-World as it's more likely designed for road use. I did add an additional custom-made padded bracket below the TV where the TV parks during travel, so there's no vibration or movement.
The lighting is wired into the 12V coach lights below the overhead cabinets. If you remove the light assembly, you easily access the wire-nutted wiring for those lights. I just connected to that connection on each side and added a rocker switch to separately turn the rope lights on. The lights ordered were "LED- 12v 6'6" Warm White Rope Light package" from CBConcept.com.
They provide a nice warm indirect lighting that is way better than the glaring stock lights (which are still there, if needed). Below is a poor picture, but gives some idea how the lighting looks.
below is a pic of the back of the oak valence I added with the rope lights attached prior to mounting the valence on the bottom of the cabinet.
The TV bracket I used was pretty heavy duty from Best-Buy, but if I had to do it again, I would probably start with the one available from Campers-World as it's more likely designed for road use. I did add an additional custom-made padded bracket below the TV where the TV parks during travel, so there's no vibration or movement.
The lighting is wired into the 12V coach lights below the overhead cabinets. If you remove the light assembly, you easily access the wire-nutted wiring for those lights. I just connected to that connection on each side and added a rocker switch to separately turn the rope lights on. The lights ordered were "LED- 12v 6'6" Warm White Rope Light package" from CBConcept.com.
They provide a nice warm indirect lighting that is way better than the glaring stock lights (which are still there, if needed). Below is a poor picture, but gives some idea how the lighting looks.
below is a pic of the back of the oak valence I added with the rope lights attached prior to mounting the valence on the bottom of the cabinet.
Finally received and installed new sofa-bed and cab captains chair (driver side not in yet). Totally updated the interior to as-new condition on this 2001 model. TV replaced with LCD and relocated to where you can actually watch it from the dinette (has swing-out bracket). Feeble factory cab seats replace with slightly larger, more plush captains chairs (6-way power driver seat) and adjustable lumbar support. New carpets throughout. Indirect 12V LED rope lighting behind new oak valences under side overhead cabinets.
