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4500 Camper/Jeep Hauler Build

Been slowly chipping away at the odds and ends in the box over the last few days. First up, I made a mount for a garden hose mount - this goes to the other side of the water hose reel. While I considered trying to plumb something more directly into the camper, the reality is the city water and the water tank fill on the camper are on opposite corners and I want to use this hose for either. So I'll carry a 8-10' jumper hose, whatever is needed to get to the camper.

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The hose reel is so tall it has to sit flush on the bottom of the box unless I want to remake the reel entirely. So it has some countersunk holes in it now that will attach to the bottom of the 80/20.

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Some final adjustments and shims added to the framework and I bolted it down to the floor of the box.

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Plotting out the holes needed for the cable/hose exits. Only one chance to get this right..

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Hope they are in the right spots.

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After drilling a few more holes, these rollers go on the outside (underside) of the box.

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And these doors go on the inside with little flaps that can slide open to surround the cable/hose when it is extended.

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Frame back in, and looks like they are where I wanted them.

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Next up is getting the air reel in the box so I can figure out where to put the surge protector. Then it may go back on the truck - the main thing left will be to drill for bulkhead fittings to get air and electrons in and out of the box.
 
Last couple days work. First, getting the air reel attached to the frame and in the right position.

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That let me mount the surge protector and pre-wire the input side of it from the reel. I also installed a bulkhead fitting for the air reel.

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Air reel and frame in. This was ridiculously complicated - I am very glad I used 80/20 for this, if I had welded a frame that couldn't be adjusted or disassembled/reassembled I'd have to start over. After this I put the box back on the truck.

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Electrical reel installed and bolted in.

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Lastly the water hose reel. It's not bolted in yet, still have to take it out to finish up some wiring behind it.

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Everything fits, just. It's a lot tighter than I thought it would be, but I wasn't originally planning on doing the surge protector. Without that, everything could shift to the right at least a half an inch and it'd solve a lot of problems. Tomorrow I hope to finish up the wiring for the reel retraction motors, and then it will just be a matter of running the AC cable and hooking up the 12 volt and air line to the box.
 
Doesn't look much different, but there was a lot of hours between the last picture and this one. The reels are wired up, the hose reel is installed (after pressure testing it), the air line is connected. The cord is on the reel again as well.

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All that's left in here is to run the AC line over to the backpack box and install a strip light. After that I have some Jeep stuff to do and then it's time to get ready for the NWTC rally...
 
Drilled the holes between the boxes to install some cable glands for the 6/4 SOOW cable to carry the AC power from the cable reel.

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That now has the L2 phase wired up to the truck's multiplus. The L1 side will go to a 30a outlet on the back of the box where the camper will plug in. When I have 50a service both the truck and camper will charge - if I am somewhere with only 30a or less only the camper will get shore power.

I installed a motion activated LED strip light - works great. Ordered some more for the other boxes and the backpack. I also 3D printed a cap for the spigot as well as a guard for the 50a shore power cable prongs so they don't get bent.

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Pulled the shore power cable out of the roller hatch in the bottom of the box and plugged it into my shop...

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And we are charging the truck via the cord reel and the hardwired surge protector.

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Once the 30a receptacle arrives I'll get that installed and wired, and that will be pretty much it for now. I've decided to wait on the tailboard for a bit - I can't do it the way I want with the current camper as the camper's skirt will hit it. The next camper should have some more clearance. I do still have to make some splash guards but I don't know when that'll happen.
 
dieselscout80 said:
Looks amazing!

What motion sensor lights are you using?
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Thanks - I found these on Amazon.


I originally was thinking to do the usual push button switch on the door, or a magnetic switch, and wire some light up to that. But these motion sensor lights turn on when they see the door open, and stay on as long as I'm doing something in the cabinet. I haven't timed them exactly but they seem to turn off about 30 seconds after the motion stops. So far it works great and much simpler to install.
 
Trying to squeeze in one last project while getting ready for the NWTC rally. I need to put a 30 amp shore power outlet on the back of the cabinet for the camper (or future camper) to hook to, so it can take advantage of the new cord reel and all in the truck. However, I also need to put a breaker on that outlet because the truck's shore power is 50 amp and I need to protect all the 30 amp wiring in the camper. But I don't have a ton of space to do all of this because the bike slide has to move past this area. So in the end I decided to design a custom housing and 3D print it.

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The housing has the 30amp outlet that goes through the box wall, the green thing is the breaker, and there is a 1" NPT that comes in from the side for a cable gland where the 6/3 SOOW cable comes from the truck's shore power junction box. Plus a removable lid.

I printed it out in ASA and added some melt in brass threaded inserts.

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The circuit breaker pokes out the side, and the lid screws on.

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On to drilling a hole in the cabinet after rigging up some chip collection.. Sorry about the dark, there's not a lot of light where the truck is parked at the moment.

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The box installed seen from the inside, minus the lid.

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And the outside.

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That's as far as I can get until some more wire shows up tomorrow, I didn't have enough to hook it all up.
 
I truly enjoy reviewing your custom work, particularly standout pieces like the custom housing you recently completed - it looks fantastic!

A crucial point that images and descriptions fail to convey is the immense time and effort invested in the design, fabrication, and assembly of a complex piece like yours. When you factor in the research and purchase of raw materials, components, specialized tools, and more, it’s understandable why these feel like never-ending endeavors.
 
Bigboom338 said:
What did you get? That is something I have been thinking about getting.
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Ended up with a DJI Mini 3 with the controller with the built in screen. So far it’s been nice. Probably won’t use it a ton so a lightweight mini drone is the way to go for me.
 
gprguy said:
Ended up with a DJI Mini 3 with the controller with the built in screen. So far it’s been nice. Probably won’t use it a ton so a lightweight mini drone is the way to go for me.
Click to expand...
Good choice. Bought a DJI Air 2 at Costco about 4 years ago, really only use it camping, searching out spots or fishing spots. Boondock a lot so it’s a great tool in the backcountry. Went to Valley of the Gods a few years back and used it to find a site, launched up about 300’ and could see everything. Moved out about a mile or so and easily found one I could see. Otherwise it mostly sits in the case waiting.
.
 
Had a really great time at the NWTC Rally last week - lots of good folks, food, fun and cool truck campers on our own little "island".

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This week my Side Piece from ModMyPackout finally showed up. Took about 6 weeks (as advertised, no complaints) but it's here and nicely made. It attaches to the side of the packout.

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This lets you put a organizer or compact organizer on the side of the box, which lets me store some more stuff in the angled section of the truck box.

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Here's what it looks like back in the truck box along with the two compact organizers on the top.

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Not gonna fit too much more packout storage in there. :)

Other than cleaning the bugs off the truck and camper that may be it for a bit - I need to get the cameras installed on our cargo trailer for our Moab trip in September.
 
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