My Jamboree Build

[Its_Hondo]

For a long time I have wanted to buy a small Class C motorhome that I could use throughout Colorado for riding events as well as outings with my 2 kids.

As time went by, I decided to buy a used vehicle and hopefully one that was based on a Chevrolet. It needed to fit in my driveway and have 3 sleeping areas - a bed in the back, one over the cab and a dinette that converts to a bed. That way each of my kids (or 2 riding buds) has their own sleeping space.

It also had to have-

- a generator
- a standup shower
- propane heat
- a kitchen
- cab and coach air conditioning

So I found a 2005 Fleetwood Jamboree 22B on Craigslist in Palm Springs, California and it looked like a good deal. During telephone negotiations I found out that the seller was a "sailboat guy" who installed a wood burning heater in the coach. This worried me some and because of this the price agreed to was lowered as I just planned on removing it. More on this later.

So I jumped on a Frontier Airlines jet and flew to Palm Springs to make the deal. That's Kenosha Pass leading into South Park (yes, THAT South Park, CO)-



and The Black Canyon just west of Gunnison, Colorado-



I arrived in Palm Springs to a beautiful 65F day, a typical clear desert day!

[Gjac]

You did a fantastic job documenting all your work. Do you feel the multi-fuel heater was a good mod? Have you used it much? Does it work well with wood?

[Its_Hondo]

Here's a neat mod that the previous owner did to the coach- a 3 piece privacy curtain-



He made it out of thick vinyl and it snaps in place. It has heavy duty zippers to connect the 3 pieces, so you can remove the center piece to access the drivers area.

[Its_Hondo]

About the time I finished installing the Surge Suppressor, the mailman showed up with another item I was waiting on-

A thermostat to control the Dayton 5ZK52 wall heater that was installed in the bed base.



Here's a pic of the heater installed-



The 1,500 watt/ 5120 BTU Dayton heater is powered by 120 volts when the generator is running or when the RV is plugged into an outlet. While it does have a basic thermostat, it's really inaccurate and impossible to set without any doubt.

So I bought a Aube Technologies TH401 Compact Non-Programmable Thermostat form Amazon. It's a basic digital thermostat that I can mount anywhere. My plan is to mount the thermostat on the wall above the rear bed so that it can easily be adjusted while in bed.



First I hooked it up to the 5ZK52 to test it out (after I disconnected the factory thermostat)- it worked just fine-



After that I removed the bed base top in order to run the electrical cable to the thermostat-



I ran the romex cable (12-2) from the heater box to the area below the thermostat location. The cable secured to the box-



The wall that I'm mounting the thermostat to is hollow, and because it will be carrying 110 volts, the connections need to be made in a standard electrical box. I used an "old work box" -



I cut the mounting hole in the thin luan wood wall with a utility knife and pulled the romex up through the hole-

-

Then I pulled the romex into the box, mounted the box in the opening and connected the thermostat wires to the cable using wire nuts. The electrical tape is just my technique-



Then I mounted the thermostat base to the box-



And installed the cover-



Then I reinstalled the top of the bed base and the heater itself. Here's a pic with the mattress installed. I like the location-



While the cover was off I bought a steel plug at Ace hardware to fill in the hole where the old thermostat control used to go. Then I painted it with some brown spray paint-



All I have to do now is install the cover when the paint is dry.

One great feature about this thermostat is that I can set it to maintain a minimum of 41F in order to keep the coach warm on those cold nights in the driveway..... 😄

[Its_Hondo]

Today was a busy day!

first was the installation of the Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C Surge Protector.

Here's the shore power cord storage compartment-



The outlet on the left is where you plug the shore cord into when not hooked up to external power. This allows the coach to be powered by the generator. Next to that are connections for cable tv & telephone - installed by the previous owner.

Here's the EMS-HW30C mostly installed with it's cover off. In order to orient the unit with the output on the left & the input on the right (the shore cord) I mounted it upside down-



Then I plugged it in to household power and got 120 volt, 60 hz & no error messages-





I installed the cover right-side up (it will install either way) so that I could read the error codes . I installed the remote display above the surge suppressor as I thought it would be best to have the display in the compartment so I could read it when hooking up power. I also secured the main cable with a steel/rubber adel clamp-



In the last image you can see that I have the cord stowed & plugged into the receptacle. Now the surge suppressor reads & protects the generator output.

[Its_Hondo]

indyzmike wrote:
I too like all of the ideas including pics. I do have one suggestion on the GFCI outlet install. I had an outlet on the outside wall of my camper and water leaked in through the outlet gasket. I took the gasket out and sealed around the outlet with sealer. I would not trust the gasket to seal long term.

Good idea- I'll do that tomorrow-

[Its_Hondo]

ron.dittmer wrote:
Thank you for sharing your experience and projects. You are quite a creative guy, obviously having a great time in making your motor home your own and how it will serve you and your family.

Regarding your transmission cooling efforts, are there inherent transmission cooling deficiencies with the GM chassis? Are you planning on towing something heavy? Or was it done simply for assurance?

I will be towing and also just don't like the idea of burning up the transmission in the mountains.

[indyzmike]

I too like all of the ideas including pics. I do have one suggestion on the GFCI outlet install. I had an outlet on the outside wall of my camper and water leaked in through the outlet gasket. I took the gasket out and sealed around the outlet with sealer. I would not trust the gasket to seal long term.

[ron_dittmer]

Thank you for sharing your experience and projects. You are quite a creative guy, obviously having a great time in making your motor home your own and how it will serve you and your family.

Regarding your transmission cooling efforts, are there inherent transmission cooling deficiencies with the GM chassis? Are you planning on towing something heavy? Or was it done simply for assurance?

[Its_Hondo]

Also, the Kenwood CMOS 310 camera that I installed has 5 different views, including corners & 2 different split views. On of my main reasons for the camera install was to monitor my motorcycle trailer while moving- sometimes straps come loose.

Of course it's great for backing up and for lane changes.....

[Its_Hondo]

The brakes on the Jamboree seem to work really well. Yesterday I had to really stand on them at highway speed when a trucker decided to slow almost to a stop on a downhill grade.

[proxenus]

Its_Hondo wrote:
Also, I chose to use the 12v & switch to control the Glowshift Temp gauge lighting because I really didn't want to dig into the wiring too much & hunt for a lighting wire. As a side note, if I had known about the Scangauge 2 before hand I wouldn't have installed the external trans temp gauge.

I already got the Scanguage 2 on mine so I won't have to add the transmission temperature sensor. I do need to add a brake controller and a backup camera so I will have to dig into some of my wiring for those. I chose to get a separate camera system rather than integrate into my receiver so that will make things more difficult for me with the wiring.. but eventually I also want to add blind spot cameras for lane changes when I'm towing. I know you have your camera system done but I thought I'd just link this for anyone else who is reading: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GM5GKO

Do you have any plans for your brake system? My pedal is pretty spongy, I'm assuming there's some air in the lines so I'll be upgrading to ATE Typ 200 fluid (DOT 4) when I bleed it. I also planned on putting some Hawk severe duty front pads on the front. No plans on the rear yet.. I am assuming mine has never had any service done to the drums. (I've got 60k miles on my chassis) On my older cars I always replace the wheel cylinders and just put some new shoes in and replace or turn the drums.. are there any upgrade possibilities or is it even worth it?

[Its_Hondo]

Thanks for the props- 🙂

Re the trans thermostat, it really is there to maintain a more constant fluid temperature. Coming down I-70 from Idaho Springs yesterday the fluid temp did cool off to 165 F, but that was it. Before I installed the thermostat it cooled off much faster and to a lower temp coming down I-70. It's not really necessary if you only drive in the summer, but I plan on using it all year round so I wanted to keep the fluid temp where GM recommends- 170- 200F IIRC.

Also, I chose to use the 12v & switch to control the Glowshift Temp gauge lighting because I really didn't want to dig into the wiring too much & hunt for a lighting wire. As a side note, if I had known about the Scangauge 2 before hand I wouldn't have installed the external trans temp gauge.

[proxenus]

Just wanted to say thanks for posting writeups on your projects. I too live in Denver and recently purchased a class C in Texas and drove it back. I also wanted a chevy based chassis, I have a 2002 Four Winds 5000 28a with the 8.1L Vortec and 4L80E trans.. I have a lot of the same things planned that you have already completed. Unfortunately I'm still trying to get my roof replacement complete, the weather hasn't been very cooperative lately.

Question about your Derale Thermostat, after reading about it is the only advantage the warmup time or does it help in other situations? If I read your temperatures right your fluid temp was lower while coasting after the valve was installed than before?

And one other question - on your dimmer circuit I saw you chose to install a separate switch since you couldn't easily locate one to tap into.. did you consider the radio wiring harness or was it too difficult to reach?

[Its_Hondo]

Took the Jamboree up into the mountains to stir up some bleach, dish washing detergent and water softener that I added to the black tank (3/4 full of water). I figured that the twisty roads going up & down Squaw Pass would churn up the mix before I dumped the tanks.

Stopped for a few pics on the pass- it was beautiful today-

[NTORACN]

Nice work Its Hondo!!!