45 foot T2000 Conversion with Camper

[superbird03]

The shower and stairs.

[superbird03]

Was able to get the slide out wall cut out. I am sure the structure I made for it is way over kill but what else is new. I used 1.5" x 3" .180" wall boxed steel all the way around the opening and then a piece of 2" x 3" .250" wall steel for the header. The top, bottom and front piece of steel I used the existing 5/16" bolts that secure the outer aluminum to the FRP by drilling and tapping the steel and using longer bolts. Turned out great but lots of work! The aluminum frame work for the slideout is designed to just be screwed into the wood wall. I decided to drill through to the steel and tap holes in so I can secure with #8 stainless screws instead. I am going to pull back the aluminum frame work and paint behind it yet so when I paint the hole camper I will just paint up do edge of the frame work and not have to worry about behind their. Will also help seal up the wood incase water did get behind there I shouldn't have to worry about water getting into the wall.

[superbird03]

Also removed the driver side fuel tank to make room for my diesel generator and put it in the shop as far as I could for winter.

[bushpilot]

How big are your fuel tanks?
Are you gonna have storage under the box?
Why not put the gen under the box?

[samcrimm]

Looks like your doing a super job! Like Don asked why not in the back and your going to miss that fuel tank.... Did they send cut out instructions for the slide out?
Keep up the great work

Sam

[superbird03]

Hey guys... thanks for the questions. The truck had dual 135 gallon tanks. I average 6.5 mpg or so pulling the trailer so I should have no issues going atleast 600 miles on a tank of fuel. I am thinking that will be sufficient? Your thoughts/experience on that?

My thinking for the generator up there is for storage and to get the noise as far away as possible. Being this is a twin screw, I really don't have a ton of storage. I wanted to have one big area with pass through storage so I am planning on leaving everything behind the drives open for storage and didn't want the generator back there. Mounting would be much simpler if I would mount it under the box but I would again be giving away storage. By putting it in place of that fuel tank, it will still be hidden behind the lower fairing when I put back in and wont cost me storage.

When I ordered the slideout frame, I told them what dimensions I wanted the rough opening to be. I could have made it whatever I wanted but had to leave room at the top for the 2 pulley sets and motor in the center. They then make the framework to fit that. The instructions then give me the outer dimensions of the room that I will build with the deductions for their frame work and clearance that they want. It is basically 2.25 inches per side and 2 inches per top and bottom. I went with a rough opening of 146" wide and 72" tall. I would have like to of made it taller, but I am some what height challenged as I didn't go with a real tall box as I wanted to keep this thing under 12' with the ac unit to fit in my shop.

I have started construction of the room portion of this now and will hopefully have the frame work done by the weekend. I will continue to post pictures.

Thanks again for the comments!

[bushpilot]

with duel 60s (or is it 65s, i can squeeze in about 70) i usually run about 650 maybe 700 (no more than 800) and refuel...usually somewhere near 1/4 tank...but I've run it to an 1/8 (won't do that again, because i put 55 gal in one side).

do you need pass thru storage? for?

[superbird03]

Thanks for the info Don. I don't have anything specific in mind for needing pass through storage other than my friends class A has the sliding trays on his and it seems like he can cram lots of stuff on those and still access them.

[Bob86ZZ4]

I've got twin 60's on mine and go 700-800 per fueling. I think you'll be fine with one 135 tank.
I love the looks of it built into the garage like that!

I have a pass through framed in my rear storage boxes. I like it for storing my fiberglass collapsible flag pole, and I also have a larger tv antenna that I store in there and put up when parked. For getting local channels since the directv doesn't tune them when I'm on the road.

[superbird03]

Thanks for the info on your fuel tank. That eases my mind a bit

[bushpilot]

i have a 15 foot Extend N Climb ladder that i have to have (since i don't have a ladder on the coach)....it collapses down to about 25 inches and can lay flat in a storage bin.

as for the TV stuff - we have the Winegard RoadStar (RS) 2000 for over the air HDTV

[superbird03]

Well I had my son's 6th birthday party over the weekend and knowing I would have lots of helpers around, I made sure to utilize them towards the end of the party by having them help lift this slide out in. Even with the use of my 2 post car lift and sons 4 wheeler, it was still very challenging to lift the unit up to the 51 inches it needed to be. I gestimate the slide out weighed in at 550lbs or so. There were 7 of us including me and it took everyone to get it lifted up lined up and in! That FRP is HEAVY!!!!!!!!

[bushpilot]

very nice! congrats on the milestone accomplishment!

[superbird03]

I still have some tweaking and lots of finish work to do but was very anxious to get the unit working. Was very proud to see it work last night

[samcrimm]

Very nice to see it works!!

Sam

[38Chevy454]

Good job and nice milestone to check off!

[Total]

I'm new to this forum... But have been building expedition trucks before. You guys do some impressive builds!!!!

[THUNDERUSONE]

Awesome! !!!

[superbird03]

Feels like I haven't made much progress this winter but slow and steady I guess! Here are some pictures of painting the slide out and interior work. Working on staining all the cabinet doors for the kitchen and bathroom. That has proven to be a much larger task than I originally gave it credit for.

[Schiada]

I like it !