Mods already?
Yes,... only a few weeks of ownership and I'm already doing some
modifications. Actually, most are additions, as the camper is really
well constructed and everything has been working well.
1) Bathroom Improvements:
- Shower Guards
- TP Holder
- Narrow Trash Can
- Floor Mat
- Shower Stuff Holder
- Door Hooks
2) Dry-Erase Board:
The
dry erase board is mounted in the camper along the entry wall and will
allow us to write notes to one another,... the meal list for the week,
and also emergency contact information. One thing we are going to teach
the kids how to do is to notify emergency services if needed. Upon
arrival at a campground, this is a way we can write the address and site
number for quick reference. Hopefully never needed, but best to be
prepared than not.
3) Battery Disconnect Switch:
The RV/Marine Deep Cycle
battery we have is a Group 27 Interstate Battery. Even though you
aren't camping and using the lights or fans, the battery is still being
used by the CO/LP Detector when you are parked at home waiting for the
next trip. A few weeks of this, and you'll go out to a dead battery.
So, a simple way to terminate any loads on the battery is by adding a
disconnect switch up front to make it easier than unboxing and taking
the leads off the terminals after each trip. The marine switches are
great for this application and I used them before on the Popup with the
solar solution. For this, I'm just going to add a battery tender lead
directly to the terminals since I only have one lead going to each
terminal on this setup, unlike the multiple that the popup had. All
complete, it looks proper and is clean and simple.
4) Backup Lights and Wheel Lights:
This
started out as a rather simple endeavour,... that had some minor
complications. Finding the proper LEDs was actually pretty simple and
mounting them to the back of the camper symmetrically was a trick, but
got it. Each hole in the camper side wall was pre-drilled and then
prior to final fasteners, filled with clear RV silicone and the fastener
installed. The passenger side LED passed right into the rear storage
compartment, but the driver side one I thought would be there too, but
was off by about 2 inches and ended up in the box for the main power
cable. To access it, I needed to figure out how to remove the bulkhead
that is within the back bench area. Lots of sweat and some
contortion,... and I got it removed without scratching anything and I
have a pretty good access to get the wiring organized. This also opened
up the access port where the wires pass from the underside of the floor
to a wiring box.
The wire feeding this signal is the
center pin on the truck connector. This is the Yellow wire in the
harness on the camper side, and needed to be run from the terminal box
on the tongue down the length of the camper. I chose to use Yellow
automotive wire to keep it clear what the use was for and run it in the
wire loom along the length of the camper, driver side, with the
turn/brake signal wires.
 |
| Pilot Drilled the Wall, and Thru-drilled for wires |
 |
| 4" diameter round LED light mounted and sealed in place |
 |
| Centered and Symmetric below the Stock tail lights |
To aid in backing up, I found
short 4 inch LED strips that could be placed at the edge of the wheel
wells over each of the tandem wheels, to gently light the wheels
themselves and a few feet around them. These are also tapped into the
yellow reverse light signal wire. More info to come on these as I get them installed and tested out.
And I am still reading the booklets and trying to make a checklist of things. The more you read online at the Keystone Forums or in the manual, the more there is to remember.
