old miller / beastly

[Neb15]

Tidied up the wires

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had to rig the evap canister to the side but got the second battery tray in

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Gave a couple brass lights a fresh look

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Rigged up a 230mm computer case fan for exhaust on the roof vent, its rather sturdy just with a few zip ties. Im hoping it will help camping in an open area, I may decide to add another one they were only $16.

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[Neb15]

Had to drill some bigger holes in the solar panels mounting brackets, got some 3/8" redi-rod from work and bought some ceiling flanges to mount them. Was able to screw right into the framing so is good and strong, the longer rods will allow me to adjust the angle slightly using some nuts and washers to hold it all in place.

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Just have to run the wires in through the fridges roof vent. I will eventually get around to fixing that dog house up too.

 

[Neb15]

Started the weekend with replacing the wood on top of the front window, with blueskin under it to prevent future problems. After seeing how the screws looked i replaced all the window screws on the camper, except the front bottom, almost 100 in total. All stainless #10 so they really grabbed in.

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Did a real good clean after I was confidant it wouldn't leak. Found a cool truck behind the car wash.

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Got the solar panels mounted securely. Beefed up the power wire to the camper, I wasnt happy with the 8 awg dropping to 10 so i doubled it up.
Went 4 wheeling with some friends, not with my truck though. Had to wait a bit for the ford to dry off, when it got suck there the fan was churning water over everything.

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Picked up 4 sheets of 1/4" ply and got started on the inside of the camper. I cut it all up and my mom helped paint with a good primer before installing. Unfortunately cracked part of the biggest piece trying to get it in, and missed on a few screws. So I guess ill be using some filler and another paint coat.... eventually.

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Finally I ran some 2 awg welding wire from the front to the back. Started cleaning up old wires while I was under there and ended up with the old alarm completely removed plus dead wires from who knows what. Turned out 15' was just enough so ill need more wire to finish the dual battery set up under the hood. Might as well oversize as I re run the stock alternator cable. At the back ill tie the camper and the trailer harness into the large battery cable.

 

[Neb15]

Sunday update. Missing a few receipts but its a close call between home depot and princess auto for whos gotten more of my money! $282 on wires, connectors, nuts &bolts, solar stuff. $150 on 5 sheets of 1/4" sanded pine plywood, cut one mirrored so add another 30. Battery isolator was $80. The new muffler and clamps came in at $125. And this weekend I killed my old battery so that cost another $115 plus dep. Around $30for some paint/primer. The mattress foam was $210 and I cant wait to try it out. the Solar panels I thought were a great deal at $20 of 7w pr. So im over $1000 in on a 'free' camper lol. Heres the latest photos

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The cat is not impressed with all the power tools. I had the isolator wired in for just the one battery, but i didnt realize the havoc it would cause the alternator. After more research it looks like I need to put a resistor in the brown 'exciter' wire and hook it to the alt power before isolation. As a result of my learning about alternators and isolators I drained the battery, two boosts later it was apparent that was the last life for the old energizer.

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I did manage to upgrade the groud and pso to distribution block while I was at it, but the alternator charge wire is stock for now. The batt is a group 34/78 1050amp 850 cold so a nice size up should do good in the winter.

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My '3' wire alt really only has the battery pos and this one brown wire on it.

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Rest of the side walls up and window trim back on, now I can get the curtain hardware back up. I went with a thick bead of white silicone on the seams to hide them for now until I get some trim up. put some pl400 subfloor adheasive behind all the plywood then some drywall screws to hold it in place.

 

[Neb15]

Brought some lumber and a couple joist hangers out camping, built an awning that was stronger than expected.

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Between my friend's truck and mine we managed to hang two hammocks in the shade in the middle of a field, so nice.

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Finally ditched the '88 delco stereo

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[Neb15]

Still fighting with the battery isolator. I bought a deep cycle and currently have it hooked up and working getting charged through the isolator and solar from the camper. The problem is ive had to also keep the stock alt wire running to the truck's fuse box so I think it can still drain my starting battery. The conclusion is I need a different isolator for the cs series alternators that also uses a 's' wire, for reasons beyond my understanding keeping the 'L' wire running stock the alt wont turn on and it needs to go to a only hot when 'on' source. I think the only other way to hack it would be to have the alternator run through the fuse box but have the isolator between it and the main battery... or get/ make mine into a one wire alt. I need a drink just thinking about it lol. Good news is I ran the fridge/camper off the alternator and deep cycle while driving to go camping. I managed to loose both back chrome rings on the same gravel road and my break light is now on so time to do some work. I will post up some photos soon

 

[VCaddy]

Cool old camper, I like all the progress pics. How's the fuel economy with the camper?

 

[Neb15]

On the highway it's about the same as pulling a tent trailer. Works out to about loaded vs unloaded 15.6 l/100km vs 17.9 or 15mpg to 13mpg. Not perfectly accurate without an odometer. Two guys' gear loaded in hit the scales at 6180lb. I can say there's a huge difference on how fast she will run depending on the wind, calm day I'll cruise 120km+ but in the wind it's working to do over 100km/60mph. In the city with the camper, daily driving, but not much gear i burn 100l or 26g a week. I know it would add good traction but I'll be looking to take it off for the winter.


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[RyanMerrick]

Great progress!

 

[Neb15]

Did some exploring in the badlands near Drumheller. Here's a tiny church not much bigger than my truck and a cool hairpin gravel road.

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Spent about $45 on a box of peel and stick floor tiles. Decided might as well imitate the best so I went with roman marble.

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Took a couple hours including scrubbing the old floor, not that difficult. Also wired in a cigarette and usb charge outlet inside and both lights are now working, its a bit more civilized in there now.