Aluminum Camper Forum

I went to the automotive section in Walmart and found a rectangular universal fit set of mud flaps I think were made for pickup trucks. I did have to trim them, which was easy. The key was the rectangular shape, since the place they are fastened is a straight section of aluminum behind the wheels. I bet an auto parts store would have them in stock if etrailer doesn't.

Good advice to check the perimeter, powderhounds.

For mud flaps, I just bought generic that are 10x16. I cut a small notch to fit the wheel well and fastened them with SS self-tappers.

Sure enough, water can get in. A couple years ago a very heavy rain stayed over us all day all the way across Wisconsin and the entire floor under our foam and carpet was soaked. However, that was epic and not the norm. For our 2014 16TBS the main culprit in a normal rain was the wheel wells which I solved shortly after purchase with a tube of silicone pumped into each wheel well. I also installed large mud flaps behind the second axle which help a lot with road spray from the trailer tires. Now, a typical rain doesn't get anything wet inside. For our camper, it would not be possible to install coroplast for the purpose of sealing. There are too many things in the way.


As a side story, we camped last year at an Oregon state park next to a couple with a Lance camper. After a day of hiking, they came back to their camper with water pouring out of every opening, large and small. A faucet had failed and water was several inches deep inside. Now, whenever we leave the camper I turn off the outside water.

I remember reading all your modification posts many years ago. Someone will be getting a great RV! You were an inspiration to us all.

Lots of reasonably priced batteries now. Any particular reason you went with Li Time? I have read good things about them.

Our 16TBS is 10 years old and I would not hesitate to buy another used one. I suggest continuing the search for one with the aluminum roof, but that's just because I don't know anything about longevity of the TPO roof.

One important thing to keep in mind appliances and equipment will also be as old as the camper and RV appliances don't last forever, unlike the camper itself. You may eventually need to replace things like an awning or hot water heater, or exterior lights, but that's true for any brand RV. And unless the previous owner was really diligent, budget for new tires and wheel bearing service.

And powder hounds, thanks for bringing this to the forum. I passed it along to a Land Cruiser forum where I'm an active member. Some other members do have Battle Born batteries as house batteries in their overlanding setups.

Same here. I'll be installing 4 new batteries of some other brand at my cabin this spring. That potentially internal loose bolt with intermittent connection in the Battle Born is absolutely unacceptable and could cause electrical damage to other equipment even if it doesn't cause a fire. I hope anyone experiencing the problem reports it to the Consumer Products Safety Commission because that's the only way to get Dragonfly Energy to take action.

Ack! I've got 4 of these in an off grid solar system.

Do you know when Will did this video. I couldn't find a date on it.

Those inputs/outputs will be a challenge for our site too. We'll have no hookups, but the property has a hand pump well, a shed with a composting toilet, and we have 220 watts of solar. We also have a portable waste tank on a small trailer and there is a public campground 10 minutes away that charges $5 to use their dump station. This all may prove to be too much of a challenge, but we'll give it a try.

Good intel on the humidity. Our intended campsite is lakefront on Lake Michigan so it will be a high humidity spot. I'll figure out something to mitigate it.

We have nice mattresses from Mattress Insider that have held up well for 11 years. I'll check to make sure no mildew sneaks up on us.

This coming summer we plan to park our camper at some property we own and use it for extended stays; perhaps as long as a few weeks at a time. However, the camper itself will be at the property for most of the summer as we come and go. For those of you that have done extended stays or use a seasonal campsite, is there anything special we should think about for this type of use?

Thanks!

What's the crank on the upper part of the top pantry for?

It's been great. Very comfortable and fits much better than the original sleeper sofa. We have more room in the aisle now when the slide is either in or out. We got it without legs so it sits directly on the slide platform with a piece of plywood under the sofa. I did put some shims about an inch high under the front to tip the sofa back a bit. This is the one we bought (and wow has the price gone up!).

https://recpro.com/recpro-charles-62-rv-jackknife-sleeper-sofa-with-drop-down-cupholders/

Good info. Very versatile. Thanks