A few of the modifications listed are to the Truck -related to/because of the camper. You'll note some of the modifications/additions to our camper come with some campers/modules (ie 110v outside receptacle, reading lights etc.) Our Elkhorn was the mid- Fleetwood model. We saved a bit even after adding the gen and air over the other campers we were looking at. One feature that sold this was the full slide. The entire dinette/refrigerator/pantry, basically the whole wall slides out. There's actually more floor space than the 23' Winnabagel Brave we sold. What is odd I've seen no others, even the catalog shows a different partial slide.

Some links are just pictures that open in separate window,others are separate pages with some text (NOTE pics windows, if you click back on main page without closing it'll drop to background and you wont see any new pics). Need to add a index. Also I'm adding links to others project pages as I come across (bottom of page). If you've stumbled across this without coming from a forum-check them out-a wealth of information!!Whether your a tinker or not.

Purchased camper 04/11/01 : This wasn't the camper we were looking-bout twice the camper we were looking for, but When Margaret stepped into it well.....Its a 2001 Elkhorn 9U 9'-9" floor length, 3500lbs wet. We had a propane generator added as well as air-conditioner.

                                   
Virtual Campers visiting

04/22/01

Add air springs to truck.
When I left the waiting room to see our newly installed camper on the truck....Oh-Oh, sure is a lot bigger on truck. "Oh your truck will handle it fine" (yea well the salesman didn't have to drive it), trip home with our new camper was SCARY. I had ordered air bags when we decided on camper but hadn't installed yet. Got home and installed air bags. This helped tremendously with the camper bouncing on the springs, and virtually got rid of the really bad lean going around corners. Pretty straight forward install. [update: add in dash control, see below]

05/14/01

Raise main wardrobe closet door 2" over bed and add spacer to bottom of opening to allow more room between door and bed. Lying anything on bed or extra blankets got to be a pain. Click for pic

05/01

removed under bed storage (was flip up platform entire bed X 6" deep ~75#). More headroom & this allows us to sit up in the bed +plus got rid of weight especially off nose of camper. I've used some of the wood in other mods. Kinda defeated the raising of the closet door.

05/01

added several shelves in various cabinets, the cabinets by the bed didn't have any. Add shelf & spring loaded rods in front of under sink cabinet, Stuff was always falling out when you opened the door. Added shelf in tv cabinet. (We were using a 5" tv and the cabinet was wasted space.)

05/01

Installed folding Alum scissor steps (our 4X4 diesel with basement camper is a LONG ways off the ground)

06/01

Install new Swing out TV shelf to outside of TV cabinet (freeing up cabinet for supplies). Had to move cable plug to outside of cabinet which involved cutting hole thru wall and installing receptacle from outside. Shelf swings over small bed cabinet, resting on trim and latches to wall for traveling.

06/01

Add a fold out hand rail to aid walking up the steps. Click for pic

06/01

Add a second battery with Perko switch. Enlarged existing cabinets in rear of camper for larger door. Add battery box, rewire for both batteries to main switch. One battery didn't cut it plus now I turn them off (or select 1,2 or both)

06/01

add Rancho 9000 shocks to truck-unbelievable difference in the sway and the way the camper rides.

09/01

add bullet reading lights over bed. Simply ran wire from ceiling lights to corner bed cabinets (again ours didn't come with these)... You can also see the valance over the bed, I shortened and leaned back, it was pointing straight down? Click for pic

[update-correction 03/06. An inquiry bout this addition caused me to look-realized this was what I thought I was going to do...I had mounted the lights/ preliminary check on where wireing was going- then added this entry to the page- Next day I couldn't fish the wire to cabinets, there's a rafter or something up there. Anyway I ended up running power from the cabinet at the foot of the bed, along the wall under carpet and up into the left cabinet. Drilling small holes in all cabinet bases I ran the wire tucking under carpet. Wire is split in first cabinet and then runs to second along wall and then up inside cabinet to second light. I never updated this entry...Im going to add small pieces of wood between shelf and cabinets, kinda like triangles so I can remount the lights facing the bed. At right angles like they are now you really cant turn the light far enough to point more or less straight down-so they shine as much on the person beside you as what you may be reading. Course this has been on the to do list 4 a couple of years. 1st ill look for lights that may work-flexible goose neck would be nice. ]


06/06
update again-added Littllites 18" flexible gooseneck reading lights. See below 06/06

04/02

Add second water pump switch and pilot light in bath,.... rewire so that either switch can turn on/off the water pump from either location (Sometimes we now play dueling switches) Just 1 to many times had to go back to kitchen to turn water on....Used 3 way switches added led to bath switch. Original switch in kitchen now only functions as pilot light (see added switch in pic). Hardest part of this mod was having to wire the main switch in the kitchen from the back side of the drawer cabinet. The main panel is in a solid wall so new wires go from under sink to drawer cabinet to switch

04/02

change light over dinette to Florescent

05/02

Remove spare tire hoist, rotate so it points to right rear fender well, reinstall. With the over hang of the camper and being to close to the bumper for other options you couldn't insert the rod into mech to lower spare tire. Others have used flexible cable, left rod in and use ratchet, if you do a search on the forums you'll find lots of post. I seem to be the only one I can find that simply rotated the hoist assembly. It was pretty simple on our 01 F250. All of the other options I've seen would require me, at least on our unit, to lay on the ground to access the hoist, and still would be difficult. I had already moved previously installed air bag fill fittings from bumper to fender well.

06/02

Camper slides. Cut strips of PTF and attached to bottom edge of camper. It's like soft nylon, when I get the camper cocked or against the fender wells it just slides. Pic also shows blacked out over hang mentioned below. Click for pic

06/02

add exterior 110 volt weather proof receptacle to rear of camper, got tired of running extension cord inside-especially if its raining- purchase small 110v compressor so we can air down at camp. Seems like every where we camp the Truck/camper usually sits fairly nose low, letting the air out of the bags will drop it a lot.Click for pic

07/02

Add a slide out topper, our camper didn't come with one. Made a HUGE difference in the amount of sound. Now we can actually sleep when it rains. Before the rain was soooo loud hitting the slide out roof. It also keeps some of the debris off.

09/02

Changed screen in gen door to louvered screens. When it rained, water off the ladder and rain bouncing up off the bumper would get into the gen compartment, More than once camping in the rain the gen wouldn't start or would get wet & die. Found some perfect inserts at local hardware. At the same time I removed shipping bolts??? I guess the dealer thought I'd figure it out. Generator is a bit quitter- errrr. If its really hot out I open the gen door for air flow.Click for pic

09/02

Screened all vents. At same time changed gen screen I hot glued window screen to all vents, water heater/refer/heater etc. We were camped some place and got invaded with these lil brown beetles. They literally filled up the gas tube of the water heater, couldn't get it to light, when it finally lit -whooommphh, and blew out a cloud a lil fried beetles. I don't know why they were in there but they caused the gas to build up before the ignitor. I've had wasps in the refer vents.

06/03

add back up lights-tractor style mounted to rear camper bumper.

07/03

paint bottom of camper with driveway coating. It was free. Worked out well, dried hard,flat black and textured. Also coated back of overhangs, now I don't get any glare form the truck tail/brake lights. I had already removed bulbs from 3rd brake light- Click for pic

07/03

Add Tork-Lift camper tie downs. I had removed Happy jack mounts to have re powder coated when we lined bed of truck and noticed they had started bending up the outside of the bed+plus rear Ford bumper you had to tighten turnbuckles till the bumper touched truck to get any resemblance of being tight. This style of mount is the only way to go for a heavy and especially a tall camper. Its now tied to the frame and not mounted to sheet metal. It feels much more secure.

02/04

Add air bag compressor and in dash controls to truck. After airing down to level truck last winter- re airing rear air bags in major storm convinced to put on in dash controls. Added kit with 2-gal air tank. This project took 2 weekends. Its a 2 hr bolt in but I did a custom fab'd mount for tank and compressor (with the help of a good friend) up between walls of bed. Cut dash to install switches and rout air intake behind seat.

02/04

Add "special temporary" cb mount. I was using a mag ant that was chewing up truck paint so I added a bracket to the roof rail for camper ant and at the same time I added an ant mount to truck. Modified truck mount so there's a female connector on it for plugging in camper ant. When camper goes on I remove truck mast and screw in camper ant wire.To-do..I've yet to add a plate on roof, hard mount ant and run wire, Currently its a small mag ant with wire running outside-

06/04

Cut dinette blinds scalloped foo-foo valances to minimum. They arched down toward the corners-some one was real proud when they designed these and they kind of interfered with the viewing area out the window. Looks a lot cleaner- you can see modified valance in cushion pics. I had already cut the one over the bed, was always banging my head on it. Pic of modified valance on dinette (next) page.

10/04

Built a LARGE back cushion for dinette. Now you can lean back comfortably-almost recline. Biggest gripes with truck campers is no place to sit very long comfortably. Its a separate cushion so we can move it. I've noted on some new campers you can actually get recliners.

11/04

Change light over sink to Florescent. I had bought leds to change out bulbs but they put out 1/3 the light so they got placed in fixtures over the bed. They were pricey-there designed to replace bulbs in flat fixtures that are in most RVs-other than the out put there kinda cool- but I was really disappointed in the output

12/04

Built camper supports. Camper is real unsteady on just the jacks. I didn't trust it at all plus its not good for the structure, These take most of the weight when parked in the drive.

12/04

Add Pur water filter to kitchen. Simple unit that screws to faucet. Seems like most places the water isn't that great. We carried a lot of bottled water

02/05

Add switches to power supply for Atwood jacks The only way to turn them off was to shut down whole camper, Plus I didn't know how theses were wired or where the fuses were.

04/05

Well finally picked up a small scooter (read small scooter-50cc step thru). Spent a couple of weekends building a rack. Bought a Hidden Hitch front receiver, added a plug for turn signals on the rack. Pretty cool for getting round the camp-running short errands-registering, gettin to the trial head etc. Its not rated for hiway & and were thinking we shoulda got a small M/C maybe. But it'll work for awhile. Kinda don't like seeing the bike in the front but it rides ok. Lots of fun though. Ill be great for sightseeing short trips.

05/05

The dreaded Dometic refrigerator "check light" syndrome.
Finally got tried of refer check light -every time you turn around it'd be on. Forums clued me to the "Dino" control board replacement. Worth the money-.

07/05

Well got a new tv. Picked up a small lcd and an inexpensive dvd/vcr deck.. Hooked up a temporary 12/110v inverter for powering it . Its is so cool the, the power consumption is WAY less than just the old ac/dc TV. Its STEREO to boot!
Yet to hard mount inverter. The TVs 110 so we can use it either way. I bought a very cheap inverter, it works but is pretty loud. Probably get a better one and hard mount it and run wires to a new 110 receptacle by the tv with a switch to turn inverter on/off.
Oh side note, fixed the bat wing antenna that quit on last outing. I was ready to order new head but checked wiring again. traced to the plug where it goes thru the roof-there's a fitting under all that putty(thought it was direct wire going thru roof). cleaned off old putty pulled back boot and there was no end on wire. Water was getting into the boot and corroded wire completely off, cleaned & put on new end and re puttied boot- .good as new. That's when we decided to apply money I just saved & spring for new tv :-)

11/05

Added a rear awning to camper. We enjoy winter camping but getting in and out was a pain in the rain. This unit (another idea from the RV. Net forum) is a Truckin' Awn Companion Awning made by Carefree of Colorado(from https://www.rvawningsonline.com/products/ ). It a simple unit but perfect for the back door, about half the price of a std awning. I installed my self-fairly easy (though check the dims they give before drilling). My camper roof ladder doesn't go all the way to the roof so I opted for a 6' wide unit, also auto rafters cause it extends 4' instead of the 3' on the std. model. This isn't a great shade awning, maybe a big one for the side later, but this works great for getting in and out, and shading the back of the truck.
update: Went out after Christmas, lots of rain- really nice getting in & out of the camper, plus we can open door with out water coming inside. Click awn. open pic Click awn. closed pic

12/05

Added a small accumulator after water pump. WOW HIGHLY recommend this

02/06

New door glass Replace opaque glass in rear door.

03/06

Install Wave 3 heater . Replace furnace that used way to much power. This also allowed us to build/add an additional & much needed larger drawer and cabinet space.

06/06

Reading lights, update again-added Littllites 18" flexible gooseneck reading lights. These things are so cool! Pricey but they put the light where you want it, have a dimmer switch, the head also swivels. We just returned from a week of using them-wow. I mounted them beside the lights I previously installed...that didnt really work (see above 09/01). I got mine from Westlake Littllelites@Westlake
The automotive style come in 6,12&18", with the flex goose neck coming out front or end. I ordered LIT-L-5/18. You can also see them directly from Mfg @ Littlite.com

09/06

Solar Panel
We bit the bullet and added a solar panel  

12/06

Replaced camper batteries-yes a maintenance item. Now have 2 group 29 batteries-kinda hard to find. My solar controller is actually reaching float stage, never did on old batteries-and max holding was 12.2volts, for bout 2 hours. Yup, time to replace.
I also rewired entire system. When I added second batt previously (06/01) I just ran + to batt selector switch and - to common ground. Though it, worked batts probalby never really equalized (plus stock batt was a 27). Since solar made selector funtionless I decided to rewire for true Parallel, tieing both the batts together, + to +, - to -. Camper & solar each now grab pos. from batt 1, neg. from batt 2.

12/06

Install Torklift superhitch We picked a boat so needed a extended reciever, plus now I can tow.

2/07

Adding some adjustabilty to our scissor steps for unlevel ground, plus be able to raise when camper is way off the ground and steps dont reach.

5/07

Pick up a portable tote along auxiliary holding tanking, added a mounting bracket.

10/12/05

Joined NATCOA. Im thinking its a good idea, I like the concept. Figured I'd support them and see what happens. Check em out.

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Plans for the future-