The Gimlis
New member
- 92
- 3
- 0
- Location
- Minden, NV
After looking at the 109's for possible RV conversions, we decided to make our own!! This allowed us to run all wiring, plumbing and etc within the walls, easily hidden.
We purchased an awesome 35A2 from Rueb aka bigelk50 in Oregon last fall and brought it into our steel fabrication shop and the conversion was underway!
We kept the flat bed - which was a good idea at the time, but we would not go that way again because that limited our access for the electrical and plumbing! What we were trying to get past by building our own box!
We travel alot of forest areas and decided that a steel box and steel sheeting was the best. We would poke a hole in aluminum the first time out. Yes, we are heavy - 18,000 lbs. Yes, we are somewhat top heavy - but not as bad as you might think. We sank the 70+ gallon fresh water tank down onto the frame rail, and the grey and black water tanks are on the floor of the original bed - the gray under the kitchen table, and the black is directly under toilet. Yes that means you step up into the bathroom (shower in bathroom also!). We have been in some pretty good leans, with no "OMG we're gonna tip" feelings.
We have 12 and 24 volt solar on top, a 30 gal propane tank (on the front above the cab) and we placed a generator under the drivers side door on a slider so you pull it out to use it and that keeps the exhaust as far away from the truck as possible.
We have tens of other modifications done to make this work and be safe and extremely confortable. I'm working on our own website, guys and girls, that will have more pictures and details, but wanted to tease you all.
It garners an amazing amount of attention - almost too much. We don't spend much time in real campgrounds and the last time we did, we spent nearly 4 hours giving tours. That's not why we built this, we built it to find our own camp spots away from everyone. But we do have to admit that the attention is gratifying, because we did spend alot of time on this.
I'll send out a post when the website is up, so those of you interested can check it out.
Thanks for looking and we'll see you all soon!
We purchased an awesome 35A2 from Rueb aka bigelk50 in Oregon last fall and brought it into our steel fabrication shop and the conversion was underway!
We kept the flat bed - which was a good idea at the time, but we would not go that way again because that limited our access for the electrical and plumbing! What we were trying to get past by building our own box!
We travel alot of forest areas and decided that a steel box and steel sheeting was the best. We would poke a hole in aluminum the first time out. Yes, we are heavy - 18,000 lbs. Yes, we are somewhat top heavy - but not as bad as you might think. We sank the 70+ gallon fresh water tank down onto the frame rail, and the grey and black water tanks are on the floor of the original bed - the gray under the kitchen table, and the black is directly under toilet. Yes that means you step up into the bathroom (shower in bathroom also!). We have been in some pretty good leans, with no "OMG we're gonna tip" feelings.
We have 12 and 24 volt solar on top, a 30 gal propane tank (on the front above the cab) and we placed a generator under the drivers side door on a slider so you pull it out to use it and that keeps the exhaust as far away from the truck as possible.
We have tens of other modifications done to make this work and be safe and extremely confortable. I'm working on our own website, guys and girls, that will have more pictures and details, but wanted to tease you all.
It garners an amazing amount of attention - almost too much. We don't spend much time in real campgrounds and the last time we did, we spent nearly 4 hours giving tours. That's not why we built this, we built it to find our own camp spots away from everyone. But we do have to admit that the attention is gratifying, because we did spend alot of time on this.
I'll send out a post when the website is up, so those of you interested can check it out.
Thanks for looking and we'll see you all soon!
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