Bigfoot 2500 Underbelly, Thoughts and Pics
Starting on a project on the camper (Bigfoot 2500, 10.6) and as part of it, I needed to remove the bottom panels of the camper to see where the tanks are. I took some pics and stitched them together t...
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Well, stage one of the camper project is complete. Added a bunch of additional strapping to get the tanks hanging in the right direction. Water tank now empties to about 90% empty which I'm going to call a win. I think the hose connection would have to be rerouted to underneath the tank to get another 5% drainage.
The grey tank which is the middle tank was hanging completely in the wrong direction. Hard to see from pics but the rear strap on it was nearly useless. I'm not sure what they were thinking but now that I have it orientated correctly, I probably picked up another 15% capacity, maybe even more.
The black holding tank was the only tank that the straps were actually tight on and was not hanging or sagging at all. I still added one brace to it but doing fine.
One thing I found surprising, I always thought the bottom footprint was 1" or 3/4" plywood behind the fiberglass. Nope, it's 1/4", then 1" of foam and then 1/8" plywood on the inside. The weight rests on a wood bottom rail that goes around the perimeter. This made finding solid wood a bit more challenging than I would have liked. In the end, a lot of screws and a few lucky hits but I don't think anything is going anywhere now.
Tomorrow is phase two (see last pic). We will be building a cradle out of aluminum. This will be secured to be bed and the camper will sit inside of it. The plan is to remove the jacks (they need to be serviced and painted in addition to the actual mounting brackets. I may end up leaving the jacks off, haven't decided just yet but it's been rolling around in my mind. A little bit of weight reduction. Then again, when it's windy, always nice to have jacks. Might just remove the fronts and leave the rears in place or just them cleaned, painted and put back on. Who knows.
Anyway, the whole idea is that once the cradle is built the camper won't move around at all. Aluminum tubing for those wondering is 3"x5" with .25" wall. Way overkill, something I didn't really realize until it was being loaded onto my truck after being cut. The 3"x5" was a result of them not having 3"x4". Had I done a little more homework before picking up the tubing, I would have gone with maybe 3"x3" with 3/16" wall thickness. But, it's paid for now so it is what I'm rolling with.
Before: Grey Tank was actually hanging in the wrong direction so it would never fully drain.
Front facing aft. Finished bracing water tank. You can see grey tank behind it. hard to tell but it's sagging in the corner so it would never drain.
I had to use a lot of screws because it was hit or miss on finding solid wood.
Full stitched underbelly shot.
Tomorrow's project:
The grey tank which is the middle tank was hanging completely in the wrong direction. Hard to see from pics but the rear strap on it was nearly useless. I'm not sure what they were thinking but now that I have it orientated correctly, I probably picked up another 15% capacity, maybe even more.
The black holding tank was the only tank that the straps were actually tight on and was not hanging or sagging at all. I still added one brace to it but doing fine.
One thing I found surprising, I always thought the bottom footprint was 1" or 3/4" plywood behind the fiberglass. Nope, it's 1/4", then 1" of foam and then 1/8" plywood on the inside. The weight rests on a wood bottom rail that goes around the perimeter. This made finding solid wood a bit more challenging than I would have liked. In the end, a lot of screws and a few lucky hits but I don't think anything is going anywhere now.
Tomorrow is phase two (see last pic). We will be building a cradle out of aluminum. This will be secured to be bed and the camper will sit inside of it. The plan is to remove the jacks (they need to be serviced and painted in addition to the actual mounting brackets. I may end up leaving the jacks off, haven't decided just yet but it's been rolling around in my mind. A little bit of weight reduction. Then again, when it's windy, always nice to have jacks. Might just remove the fronts and leave the rears in place or just them cleaned, painted and put back on. Who knows.
Anyway, the whole idea is that once the cradle is built the camper won't move around at all. Aluminum tubing for those wondering is 3"x5" with .25" wall. Way overkill, something I didn't really realize until it was being loaded onto my truck after being cut. The 3"x5" was a result of them not having 3"x4". Had I done a little more homework before picking up the tubing, I would have gone with maybe 3"x3" with 3/16" wall thickness. But, it's paid for now so it is what I'm rolling with.
Before: Grey Tank was actually hanging in the wrong direction so it would never fully drain.
Front facing aft. Finished bracing water tank. You can see grey tank behind it. hard to tell but it's sagging in the corner so it would never drain.
I had to use a lot of screws because it was hit or miss on finding solid wood.
Full stitched underbelly shot.
Tomorrow's project:
