And now the moment you didn't know you've been waiting for...Atl-Atl's 4x4 Ford E350 RV documentation thread!!

[Atl-atl]

If you come through Durango before the 28th, we are around with our Sportsmobile. After that, off to CH.

We will be in Durango Aug 20-23. Ive also got my Blazer in tow behind the RV. Plan is to have a basecamp with the RV and use the Blazer for cruising around. Wife will be working so Ill probably just be riding my mountain bike all week.

 

[Bigly]

Oh you poor guy. We have so much good mountain biking around here. I'm off to do one right now before the rain comes. Do you know where you are going to stay/camp yet?

 

[Atl-atl]

Oh you poor guy. We have so much good mountain biking around here. I'm off to do one right now before the rain comes. Do you know where you are going to stay/camp yet?

Ha I know. We will be at United Campground. Not our typical choice but the wife needs wifi for work and the starlink is just not reliable enough to be out in the middle of nowhere. Hit me up if you want to ride.

 

[klahanie]

Things that make you go hmmm...



SMF !

 

[Atl-atl]

Put together a flat tow setup to see if the RV will be able to tow the Blazer. Spent ten days driving from Flagstaff to Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride and back to Flagstaff using the RV as a home base either parked at an RV park or wild camped and then used the Blazer to drive around town, go on adventures etc. Pretty stoked about this new setup. Going up the higher passes gets pretty slow at times ~30mph for the steepest grades above 10k feet but highway and normal two lane driving 65mph is easy. The attention it gets is off the charts. Individually these rigs are eye-catching but towing a camper with a camper is a whole new level. Driving across the reservation from Cortez CO to Kayenta AZ there were gnarly storms and a 30-40mph headwind. Hand calculated MPG over the 120 mile stretch was 4.13!! Thats a new record!!

Here is a picture of the setup. Tow bar is a Roadmaster Flacon 2. This is a cool tow bar because it doesnt use a standard hitch with a ball. It directly mounts inside your receiver and has a pivot and swivel to get the flexibility it needs. This is essential for the type of offroad driving I do when seeking out remote camp spots etc. The only downside to this setup is all of the pieces involved have play and when you add up the drop receiver, brake, tow bar and d-ring adaptors there is enough play that the towed vehicle moves around quite a bit.

Roadmaster Falcon swivel.

For brakes I went with a Readybrake system from NSA RV. Its 100% mechanical and there are very minimal failure possibilities. There is spring loaded mechanism inside the silver sleeve that pushes forward when the towing vehicles momentum slows enough for the towed vehicle to push forward. This mechanism pushes the black lever on top which tugs on a cable that is attached to the towed vehicles brake pedal. My blazer happened to already have a hole in the firewall immediately behind the brake pedal so running the cable/housing to the front of the truck was super easy. The whole system is incredibly basic and just works. Its so much better than the alternatives like a huge box that you put in front of the drivers seat that pushes on the brake pedal, needs to be moved/stored every time you want to drive the towed vehicle, needs power to run and relies on sensors inside the box to know when to push on the pedal.

I used a basic set of magnetic tail/brake lights that plug into the 4 pin harness on the RV and stuck them on the back bumper of the Blazer.

If I decide to tow the Blazer more frequently I will definitely make some changes to this setup so the towed vehicle settles down. Ill swap the tow bar for one from NSA that has their ReadyBrake integrated. This will eliminate one link in the chain that causes sway. Also whenever I get around to building the front bumper for the Blazer Im going to integrate D-ring mounts that are high enough so I can ditch the 4" drop receiver. This will eliminate another link in the chain. Lastly I want to figure out how to wire the stock Blazer tail/brake lights so I can plug them into the 4 pin of the RV so I can ditch the magnetic trailer lights. In the end our trip was a success and I couldnt be happier about being able to bring both rigs on the same trip without the hassle of a trailer.

 

[PaddyPlatanos]

So I spent a couple days getting familiar with the roof. Turns out there is a mini solar panel up there which is cool. Theres a light on the control panel that has a label that says "solar charging when lit" but I missed the panel last time I was up there since its about 12" x 18" and stuck to the top of the AC unit. I cant imagine it does much but its better than nothing.

Also the two vents are enclosed in these massive boxes that are meant to allow the vents to be open during any weather. Thats great and all except they render the vents nearly useless. When wide open they have almost no air flow. So I ripped out the one above the bed in favor of a powered fan. Super pumped about this one. I happened to have the exact fan new in the box because I was going to install it in my Go Fast Camper but never got around to it.

Old vent box
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Old vent
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The name of the game on RV roofs is GOOP and lots of it. What a pain in the ass to remove, especially since the roof is thin rubber. Best tool I found was this fiber strand removal wheel. Too much force and it will go through the rubber but it did a great job.
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New fan
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Next up I cut the opening for the new range hood. This one actually vents to the exterior unlike the old one that did nothing.
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Installed some fake subway tile as the backsplash.
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Also installed a new tinted operable window with a screen. Its a slightly smaller size than the one I removed which is not great. It also uses a slightly different mounting flange that Im not happy with. Looks great but its not sealed correctly and Im kinda stuck about what to do. Just waiting on the new faucet to arrive so I can finish putting the kitchen back together.
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I am in the process of buying a 19G, and may be following you down this path albeit at a SLOW pace and with more outsourcing as I am 100% new to this world. Your work is incredible. Quick question: was there electric wiring for the roof vent fans already running to the cutouts, or did you have to run it yourself? I couldn't tell here.

 

[Atl-atl]

I am in the process of buying a 19G, and may be following you down this path albeit at a SLOW pace and with more outsourcing as I am 100% new to this world. Your work is incredible. Quick question: was there electric wiring for the roof vent fans already running to the cutouts, or did you have to run it yourself? I couldn't tell here.

Thanks! Have fun with yours. There was no wiring because it had a vent in both spots. There was wiring to a light in the ceiling above the bed so I ran wires from that, about 2 feet away. Unfortunately the way the ceiling/roof is constructed there is no easy way to get wires into that area. I was fortunate in that I installed new paneling on the ceiling so I was able to simply run the wires above that before installing it. If you are planning to keep the factory ceiling it will be very difficult to run wires.

 

[PaddyPlatanos]

Thanks! Have fun with yours. There was no wiring because it had a vent in both spots. There was wiring to a light in the ceiling above the bed so I ran wires from that, about 2 feet away. Unfortunately the way the ceiling/roof is constructed there is no easy way to get wires into that area. I was fortunate in that I installed new paneling on the ceiling so I was able to simply run the wires above that before installing it. If you are planning to keep the factory ceiling it will be very difficult to run wires.

OK, that’s what I figured considering how bare bones they try to keep these things for Cruise America. I might end up doing some kind of peel and stick finish on the ceiling, so I’ll keep that in mind.

Having rented this unit a few times before, fully aware that the stock range is pretty much useless for anything beyond boiling water, so that is going to be the first upgrade, I think we’re going to skip the oven as we don’t even use an oven all that much at home.

Might attempt the soundproofing a little earlier in my upgrade process as my wife and kid tend to sit in the dinette and the noise is definitely intrusive. Really appreciate all of your step-by-step photos here.