It’s been over 18 months since my last post. My need to go full stealth never materialized, so the stealth camper has become a weekend or recreational camper. I did take one serious trip to Texas and back. Aside from 2 flat tires the stealth camper performed admirably. It turns out to be a fine driveway or curb camper, especially when plugged into a relatives extension cord.
In all that time I have learned a few things, and there are some things I would now do differently.
1. Replace your tires after 7 years, even if they look fine. Mine were about 10 years old and were not up to a long trip in the 105 degree west Texas heat. Fortunately I had replaced the front tires, just to be safe, and when the rear tires blew there was no damage, just a fun time in the heat waiting for roadside assistance. Coachnet is a fine roadside assistance provider. Also, metric BUDD wheel nuts are an uncommon size so buy and carry your own heavy duty sockets just in case the tow truck guy doesn’t have them.
2. I would not go with the incinerating toilet if I was doing this again, at least not the EcoJohn. I would probably go with something like this.
Waterless toilets, waterless toilet
It would have been far cheaper and probably better suited to my actual needs. Another good option would have been something similar to this.
wLOVEABLE LOO - Eco Toilet
These types of toilets can also be used in “bag and toss” mode which would probably be more practical for my application.
The EcoJohn puts out really nasty acrid fumes on the outside of the truck (up and out of the chimney) when it is boiling urine down. I can’t run the ceiling fan to blow up and out otherwise it backdrafts the toilet and fills the house with smoke. I can run the ceiling fan to blow air down into the house, but I have to take care not to park the truck so the ceiling fan is downwind of the toilet chimney, otherwise it pulls in the fumes. The toilet will also not successfully complete a burn cycle when driving, probably due to too much draft. It is also a pain to clean the ash from the fire box. It is not soft fluffy ash but more like gravel and hard chunks that have to be scrapped from the bottom of the fire box, and the access through the cleanout port is limited. Overall the toilet works, but there are better options for far less money.
3. The 4 burner propane stove/oven is not a good fit for my application. It makes a ton of heat inside my tiny living space and with the low ceiling the heat is trapped at face level. I also don’t use it very much, like almost never, so the space can be better used for something else. If I were doing it again I would install a small induction cook top and forget the oven. A good quality induction cook top puts almost all the heat into the pan/food, has very good temperature control, and boils water faster than a gas stove. It uses lots of electricity, just like a microwave, but I have the electrical system to handle it.
4. I need larger or more floor registers to provide makeup air with less restriction. The Max-air fan I have in the ceiling vent is great, and moves a lot of air, but my two registers in the floor are restricting the flow.
5. I added Airtabs
Aerodynamic Fuel Economy Savers for Road Vehicles to the back of my box to improve fuel economy. I have no proof that they actually did anything so I can’t recommend them. I should have done a “coast down” test before and after installation but it’s too late now. Hopefully they were worth the money.
6. I had to swap out my Iota DLS-90, 90 amp battery charger, with a DLS-55, 55 amp model. For some unknown reason the DLS-90 would occasionally demand more current that my generator can deliver. It only happens when it is really hot, like it was in Texas. It’s a shame because most of the time the DLS-90 doesn’t stress the generator at all, even when delivering the full 90 amps. The DLS-90 was able to pump enough energy into my batteries to allow me to run my air conditioner all day (and night) in the Texas heat. The DLS-55 might not keep up in the most extreme conditions, but I have no way to test it short of driving to someplace really hot. The DLS-90 really shouldn’t draw that much current, ever, and it only does it briefly. I have no idea why it does it. Fortunately it doesn’t break anything permanently. The generator just needs to be power cycled to get everything working again.
7. My inverter occasionally complains (alarms) about something. As near as I can tell it is complaining about the DC input voltage being too high. It also works fine when power cycled. It seems when you assemble systems from these various expensive parts you can’t be sure how nicely they are going to play together. That is one good argument for a fully integrated package with a battery charger, inverter, and often a transfer switch. Unfortunately such a package would not have worked for me.
8. The catalytic heater is big enough for my application, but is very slow to warm the house when it is cold. The house is so well insulated that it will eventually get plenty warm and stay that way, but it takes several hours to warm up. I don’t consider this a problem so much as a design trade-off. I can always use the stove for initial heating, but that is not the safest thing to do.
On the whole the truck is great. It can driveway camp with just a 15 amp extension cord and even run the air conditioner all day in the Texas heat. It’s comfortable inside (for me) and has everything I really need. The Wi-Fi works even in places that I would not have expected.
Frankly, I am glad not to have to live in the truck full time. I don’t need much in the way of living space, but I would miss my garage and easy access to all of my tools. The truth is, I am not a vagabond by nature and having to move around all the time would have been stressful. I am very happy to use the stealth camper for weekends and vacations, although it would have been far cheaper and less time consuming to buy a small RV for that purpose.