Weekend Visitation Rights

Progress on the camper over the last couple of weeks has again been going in fits and starts, with a number of things happening in the back of the shop so we don’t see anything when we look at the camper. But, there are a few things that Tom has been itching to work on with the rig, like getting air compressor stuff put together, so at the beginning of last week, he asked Justin if we could plan to bring it home for the weekend.  This meant that a few things had to happen:  the bathroom window had to be installed, all the roof vents had to be installed, the water heater had to be put in so that access hole could be closed, the two utility doors to the outside from the bench/utility box in the camper had to be finished, and they had to figure out a way to keep both back doors closed since only one of the big latches has arrived.  We pulled into the shop yard at about 4:30 on Friday afternoon, and Marcos and Nelson were hard at work on the last few finishing touches…but they made it.  And, we discovered that it was something of a whole shop event to see the rig pulled out, ready to drive down the road.

Although the guys at Koops’ have pulled the rig in and out on Monday mornings to sweep, this is the first time it has been pulled out to be driven down the road.  Everybody who has been involved in the project so far, which is pretty much everybody in the shop, wanted to watch.

Marcos had to make sure it looked presentable before going out in public. This only caused a little stress, because I followed in the Isuzu and watched something dripping on the road the whole way home.  I was worrying that a couple of months of sitting in the shop had something essential leaking, but it turned out it was just water pooled somewhere from the power wash.

I followed the camper up the road towards home.  It looked gigantic in the shop, but on the open road it looked, well, normal.

Even though it looked pretty normal sized driving up the road, I went up the driveway first not only to video this momentous event, but also to make sure the top wouldn’t run into any wires or branches.  Tom had thought to trim a bunch of branches last week in preparation for pulling into the driveway.

It was pretty exciting to finally see this sitting in our driveway, even if the inside is mostly empty.  We did quite a few tours this weekend!

One of the main reasons for bringing it home was so Tom could finish up the dual air compressor system and get it installed in that open box you can see just in front of the back wheel.  The truck came with two air compressors, one for the AirRide suspension system, and one normal air compressor as backup and to do normal air compressor things like blow up tires.  However, none of it was protected, so the hose would dangle and catch on things, and the whole system would get dirty.  Now, it will be easy to switch between the two compressors, and everything will stay neat and clean.

Roof vents are in!  The two smaller ones are over the bathroom and the kitchen, and the larger is an escape hatch over the bed.

This box has utility compartments on either side, and the middle will contain two water tanks, each approximately 35 gallons.  Lids will be put on all three compartments, and we will add a cushion for a bench.  Another smaller box will contain batteries off the right side of this box, so this L will be our dining area.

The design for the water tanks.

Closeup of the utility box that will hold most of the plumbing components, like the water pump and valves to fill the tanks from the outside, or connect to shore hookups.

In the back, the rack to hold the water heater, water pressure tank, and two small butane/propane tanks was installed.  The water heater controls are accessed through a door on the side of the camper.

The white door is the access to the water heater controls.

We will be taking the camper back by 9AM tomorrow, Monday, morning so progress can continue.  We are really excited to see what comes next!