Aluminum Camper Forum

Update:

Since purchasing Bilstein products and over the past three years I suggest that you DO NOT BUY their junk!

Both rear 5160 shocks failed in under 2 years, switched to the 5100 series and one has failed in 13 months. Bilstein states that leaking shocks are normal.

So, they just leak all the time and you loose support on a constant basis.

Hi,

The saucer is just a friction fit on the metal extension, grab the antenna with two hands and give it a good pull up. It will come off pretty easily. Changed mine years ago. You should have a few inches of cable to work with. Don't let the cable slide down inside the tube mount.

Sounds like a fantastic trip!

I'm not surprised about your Garmin navigation system, I remember seeing the occasional story on the news about individuals getting completely off track and totally lost trusting those devices.

Interesting about the water heater, our main tank electric power switch has failed, but never thought about a wiring issue as well. Always something.

Hey,

We recently had our Zamp 10 amp controller fail after 7 years. So, we ordered a replacement.

Just for fun I made a new harness and connected the controller to our new Bluetti 100 W solar panel. Comparing our smart shunt information with the new controller and the new Bluetti panel we were receiving the same amount of charge, if not 5-10% more than our original Zamp legacy 120 W suitcase unit.

Gone is our old 120 W 70 pound unit and hello our new smaller 100 W unit. Also, the controller can tuck into the back pocket of the solar panel with some reflective bubble foil backer to reduce heat build up from the panel.

New Zamp charging profiles compared to the older version and advanced solar panel technologies made the difference perhaps?

We like easy.

BTW Heavy forest fire smoke is reducing solar input.

You can also try searching for caravan acrylic windows in the UK, lots of RV shops stock them. But shipping and price might not be feasible, as Merlin mentioned the cost, Europe has been using these windows in the caravan industry before they became popular here in North America.

I think we all naturally gravitate to the same types of setups. Inherently it just works, and that is what we want. Comfortable camping.

Pretty nice area to serve out a posting!

Here is a current pic of our camping spot. A tad different to the sunny Keys.

Have a great camping season with your updated power system!

We also recently made the conversion from our x2 Trojan 6 volt AGM batteries to lithium. Very happy to reduce our tongue weight of approximately 100 pounds as well. Noticed a very nice improvement on towing.

For our requirements a 100 AMP heated lithium battery was imperative with a VE smartshunt. Initially the LiTime product was very appealing, but their BMS required an external power supply to engage the self heating function. Ok, how much power is required? A whopping 10 AMPs! All of our camping is off grid, this will not work.

Battle Born employs a true self heating function that uses low AMPs and cycles the heating element on and off, no external power required. It also has a toggle switch that you can turn the self heating function on/off. Why have the element on during the dead of night. We just turn it on at 7:00 AM and the BMS does the rest. Works perfectly. I don't worry about our legacy electrical system providing a full charge to the lithium battery because we are never plugged into shore power, always solar. Battle Born now has an all in one system, no shunt required. I saved some money and went with the traditional smart shunt and battery. System is installed in our exterior locked battery box. IP67 ratings were also required.

Watching old DVD's on the TV, running our diesel heater 14 hours and general trailer power consumption during the night we are averaging 20 AMPs.

We also purchased a Bluetti AC 60P. All in one do it all, we leave this outside to charge our fun devices including some heated seat pads. We hardly use our Honda geny anymore, only for the microwave and oven. The Bluetti is also charged with solar as well.

Happy so far no issues.

In Calgary I recommend a service visit to Standens. They have been maintaining our axles for the past 9 years. They identified all the areas on the aluminum frame that had compromised welds as well. They also realigned our dual
axles due to some abnormal tire wear. The booking availability can take some time, but, it is worth the wait. They are very thorough and reasonably priced.


Welcome, and enjoy your new trailer!

Derek

Finished.

Two weeks in the mountains, night times mostly a few degrees below freezing and trailer stayed nice and cozy.

Absolutely no condensation anywhere, not even between the closed blinds and windows. Premium diesel works the best for value. Kerosene is a bit spendy, but mixed with regular diesel works pretty good. No smoke at all and minimal odour.

Very happy.

Would recommend this unit to anyone who is camping in cold environments.

Here are some pictures of my recent changes.

The old furnace compartment was a complete disaster, why a vented exterior cover when most units have a solid cover with just the vent ports. It was extremely dirty, took a good hour of cleaning before I proceeded with anything else. There wasn't any way to save any furnace components, the dirt ruined everything. I loved how LL bundled the wiring from the furnace and thermostat. I didn't want to manipulate the LP hose after capping the line, too cold and pretty well static in that original position. Will secure a bit better when things warm up.

Also, the thermostat wiring is run up through a cut out in the aluminum extrusion framing with no loom or protection around the cut out, definitely a risk of damaging and shorting out those wires. If your furnace stops working that could also be a potential cause.

Water was accumulated at the bottom of the exterior cover on the inside, you wouldn't be able to see it unless you removed everything. Definitely would have rotted out a stick framed trailer. Not sure how it penetrated through, but it did.

The new black exterior coupler has a magnetic connection for the cover and also to connect the intake vent duct. Easy and extremely solid to use.

Still a bit more to do, finish the ducting vents, remove the old thermostat, secure the old wiring, insulate under the fridge with some AFB and run the new wiring for my additional exterior fridge compartment fan. I might also insulate the interior 3" vent ducts, but, I kinda like that radiant heat circulating in that area.

Hey Merlin,

I don't mind the handling of the fuel, just a pain now having 3 types. Propane, gas, and now diesel/kerosene.

The exhaust is pretty minimal, plus the unit will be tucked under the rear of the trailer with the exhaust extending down and towards the back of the rig. Very easy to extend it as required. Plus, the next camper is usually 100-200 yards away.

Always off grid, and more often than not the temps get close to freezing most nights.

Your RecPro would be the unit I would purchase as well. Just a lower priority for us now.

I did look at that Valterra unit, figured since I have the fans and all the components, that I would same some money and put one together.

Cheers,

https://planarheaters.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Portable-heater-Planar-2D-4D-flyer-rev.4.pdf

I am finally getting rid of that useless OEM furnace. As you know, loud, can't sleep with unit cycling, inefficient power usage, multiple issues with; circuit board, limit switch, sail switch etc.

Used a Camco Wave 3 heater for the past few years. Fell apart with all the road vibrations, can't run at night, severe condensation, especially during rain and snowy conditions. Day use in dry conditions, it is great.

Moving towards a Planar portable diesel heater. Early spring I will remove the Atwood furnace, cap the LP line, install new 3" ducts (hopefully a take off vent under the shower pan providing heat into the rear bath), fab a new access panel with a quick disconnect inlet (reuse the old panel possibly).

The portable unit gives me multi use options and I could mount it in the original furnace space with an exterior tank as well. Yearly cleaning is recommended, so having easy access is a plus with the portable unit. Will run a mix of diesel and or kerosene to reduce soot build up in the burn chamber and increase performance at altitude. Low fuel and power consumption, 12 volt ready, constant run option for cold nights. Dry heat!

Mountain camping is challenging with staying warm, our southern neighbors have the opposite, keeping cool and reducing humidity. In 8 years we have used our AC once for about 10 minutes, that's another item to get deleted. Horrible unit.

Fridge will get an additional 12v computer fan(s) installed in the lower access area with a switch installed on the interior to help with cooling on hot days. Made up a small hard wired USB computer fan for the interior fridge compartment on initial start ups and warm day. Definitely helps with cool down. That and a couple ice packs.

Will provide some pictures when work begins.

PH

Hi,

Yes, they did repair all the existing cracks, but the focus was adding in the gussets. With all the welding, I had maybe two wires that had some burnt material but, nothing major. They didn't have to drop any of the holding tanks or move any plumbing lines as well. More emphasis was on the slide side.

When I initially discovered the frame issues (on an extensive trip) I had a welder redo some of the problem areas just so we could get back home. Those areas all eventually cracked again. It wasn't until the gussets had been installed did the problem go away. No issues with the main north south frame, or the A frame, everything was around the perimeter cross members.

On a side note, have your fabricator reinforce your rear bumper at the same the frame is being worked on, so in the future you could mount a bike carrier or a tray to carry additional items. Something I wish I did.

Hi Ed,

Yup, pretty consistent with other rigs over the years. LL did not add enough structure to reinforce the frames, and this is the result.

But, it can be fixed, permanently. We had our 2015 RBS repaired roughly six years ago with absolutely no issues to date. We had about twenty gussets added to those problem areas, we doubled up gussets specific to the slide area, in front and behind the axles, a couple of inches apart.

The old archive has a lot of information about this issue. I would contact a reputable aluminum fabricator/ welder and get some gussets cut out and welded in.

Cost to us was about $3000 CAD and took about a week to complete.

Good luck!

Ah yes, this is a good opportunity to remove that section of plating and use some better fasteners to screw the vertical trailer wall back into the frame. There is a thread on this as well. LL just used a few basic screws to attach this portion and they will fail creating a gap on the interior floor.

I used some heavy stainless lag screws, made a huge difference. Only had to do that on same side as yours and on the passenger side from the wheel well to the storage compartment. Took me an afternoon to complete both sides. Replaced all the metal attachment screws to stainless as well.