This is my first post on EP, so please feel free to share any advice if I've missed/misfiled anything.
Background:
The idea to convert a SpaceKap to a camper came after being thoroughly disappointed with an Arctic Fox 990. The AF sprung a leak just a few months into owning it (I bought it used, so no warranty), and while repairing it I found the build quality to be rather sub-par; the fiberglass exterior is in fact about 1/8" thick, followed by a cardboard layer before the insulation. The issue with cardboard is that once it gets wet, it is extremely difficult to dry out and loses its shape, thus forming wet clumps and de-forming the thin fiberglass envelope. In addition to the cardboard problem, the AF has many seams (read: vulnerable to water penetration), is surprisingly poorly insulated, and weighs 4000lbs, requiring you to move it with a dually. All things considered, I quickly discovered that the AF was not for me.
About myself: I have experience building and renovating homes, I'm fairly handy, I spend most weekends either mountain biking or skiing in western Canada, and I need something that is 4x4, insulated, rugged, self-sufficient, big enough to fit myself, the girlfriend and our dog, and I'd like to get below 15L/100km in fuel mileage. My options:
4x4 Sprinter (or similar) van: Trendy, hip, and overpriced. I also do not like that fact that the camper portion depreciates at the same rate as the van, when really the van experiences much more wear and tear than the camper. I don't have $80k to spend on a van, nor do I expect to be able to find parts for these in small towns. Van: eliminated
Taco/FJ/Tundra/4runner and either a roof tent or a small offroad trailer: The roof tent is not insulated, so that makes this option useless 50% of the year around here. I also like the option of stealth-camping, as well as cooking indoors, neither of which are possible with an RTT or similar setup. RTT: eliminated
Manufactured Campers: While there seem to be some decent offerings out there, most offer luxuries I deem unnecessary (HWT, multiple beds, etc) and few are truly self-sufficient. Due to the excess equipment, most campers are either very heavy or cheaply built, neither of which suit my needs. Manufactured camper: eliminated.
Build your own: Obviously, if you’ve read this far, this is what I went for.
The Build:
I wanted a rugged, lightweight shell that I could pick up at an affordable price, and a SpaceKap (SK) Plus service body seemed like the best option. The SK is made from about 1/4 “ thick fiberglass (thicker in many areas, this is just the minimum thickness), with only one seam for the entire system. It is quite difficult to find an affordable, used SK in Western Canada, however I got lucky and picked one up in Penticton along with the accompanying jacks. Speaking of jacks, these units use removable jacks, which not only lowers the overall weight but also improves aerodynamics. My only issue with the SK Plus is the ceiling height (about 6’3”), as I am just shy of 6’4”. Although the height may seem close, the useable height is closer to 6’ once you factor in insulation, finishes and flooring. They do make the Diablo version which has a taller ceiling, but it is newer and costs almost $20k CAD.
The SpaceKap I purchased already had four windows cut into the roof as well as a very poorly installed vent. It needed a few minor repairs (nothing structural), a good wash, and a truck to go on.
Here is the SK on my old dually:
In terms of truck, I picked up a 2005 Duramax, quad cab with the long box. This one is fully loaded, has under 200,000 km, and was bone stock. I intend on keeping it fairly stock, only adding a Herd bumper, an Espar coolant heater and deleting the cat. It came with Michelin LTX which will do as summer tires, and for winter I’ll be using studded Duratracs. The quad cab suits my needs as I use the rear seats to store bikes in the summer and ski/avi gear in the winter. Skis themselves will be going on the back door of the camper, but more on that later.
Before I get into the “how” of the conversion, here is a list of my appliances:
Fridge – I went for a Nova Kool R3800 DC. This is a DC-only unit (ie, its only source of power is the battery, 12 volts), and uses only 2.2A of power per hour while running. This is very efficient compared to most other offerings on the market, and the R3800 seemed like the biggest fridge I could get that had this kind of efficiency. Given that RV fridges run around a 30% duty cycle, the fridge only draws about 0.66 actual amp hours.
Fan – There seem to be two brands leading the market for this product: MaxxAir and Fantastic Fan. I chose the latter as MaxxAir offerings seemed excessive, and the Fantastic Fan I had in my Arctic Fox had worked flawlessly. The fan seems to draw about 1.5A when it is running on low, and I have yet to use it on the other settings (I doubt I will ever have to).
Lights – I have four LED pods on the ceiling inside the camper, and 2 LED work lights on the back, should I ever need to illuminate the area behind me. Each light takes about 0.2A of power while it is running, and they are on three different switches, so when a light switch is “ON”, at least 0.4A is drawn from the battery.
Water pump – I opted for a SHURflo 4008-101-E65 3.0 Gal/Minute pump. There are both cheaper and more expensive options out there, but this one seemed to strike a good balance between quality and price. So far, it’s been fantastic.
Fun fact about the water pump: I wanted to be able to draw water from glacier runoff, so I’ve plumbed it such that the pump can, with the flick of a few switches, either push water from the tank to the sink, or pull water from outside and fill the tank. In order to do this, I had to sacrifice the tank’s breather hole to use it as a filler, and thus use the fill spout as a breather. When the tank is extremely full and I travel over rugged terrain, it can at times let a little water spill out, but this will be eliminated with the addition of a cap for driving, while continuing to use the existing cap for when the water pump is working. To fill the tank from a creek takes just under 10 minutes (29 Gal at 3 Gal/minute), which I think is pretty reasonable.
Heater – This part was hard to decide on, but I chose a Webasto AirTop 2000 STC heater. This will draw diesel from the truck’s fuel tank, meaning that I don’t need to carry propane in the camper. Diesel also burns a lot drier than propane does, which is important in the winter. Webasto heaters are very common in heavy equipment and large trucks in Canada, so getting support for this unit should not be an issue if it ever malfunctions.
Water tank – I wanted about a 27 Gal/100L water tank, but had pretty specific requirements in terms of layout and needed a cube-shaped tank. I ended up settling on a 29 Gal/110L marine water tank, which I’ve been very satisfied with.
Solar – Initially, I opted for a single, 100W monocrystalline panel. Through some basic research, I gathered that mono panels are slightly more efficient than poly, and that mine could generate about 5A per hour at peak capacity. My research suggested that MPPT solar panel controllers are significantly more efficient than their PWM counterpart, so I opted for a 30A MPPT power controller. My thought is that with limited roofspace to mount panels on and with limited room for battery storage, I would be wise to seek optimal efficiency. So far, using the camper during our western Canadian summer (i.e. long days), the solar setup can keep up, and I have yet to see the battery dip below 12.2V at night unless I park the truck in the shade. That said, our days get much shorter in the winter and cold is not conducive to efficient power transfer, so I will be adding a 50W panel to my setup to account for winter conditions and to keep the SK self-reliant.
Background:
The idea to convert a SpaceKap to a camper came after being thoroughly disappointed with an Arctic Fox 990. The AF sprung a leak just a few months into owning it (I bought it used, so no warranty), and while repairing it I found the build quality to be rather sub-par; the fiberglass exterior is in fact about 1/8" thick, followed by a cardboard layer before the insulation. The issue with cardboard is that once it gets wet, it is extremely difficult to dry out and loses its shape, thus forming wet clumps and de-forming the thin fiberglass envelope. In addition to the cardboard problem, the AF has many seams (read: vulnerable to water penetration), is surprisingly poorly insulated, and weighs 4000lbs, requiring you to move it with a dually. All things considered, I quickly discovered that the AF was not for me.
About myself: I have experience building and renovating homes, I'm fairly handy, I spend most weekends either mountain biking or skiing in western Canada, and I need something that is 4x4, insulated, rugged, self-sufficient, big enough to fit myself, the girlfriend and our dog, and I'd like to get below 15L/100km in fuel mileage. My options:
4x4 Sprinter (or similar) van: Trendy, hip, and overpriced. I also do not like that fact that the camper portion depreciates at the same rate as the van, when really the van experiences much more wear and tear than the camper. I don't have $80k to spend on a van, nor do I expect to be able to find parts for these in small towns. Van: eliminated
Taco/FJ/Tundra/4runner and either a roof tent or a small offroad trailer: The roof tent is not insulated, so that makes this option useless 50% of the year around here. I also like the option of stealth-camping, as well as cooking indoors, neither of which are possible with an RTT or similar setup. RTT: eliminated
Manufactured Campers: While there seem to be some decent offerings out there, most offer luxuries I deem unnecessary (HWT, multiple beds, etc) and few are truly self-sufficient. Due to the excess equipment, most campers are either very heavy or cheaply built, neither of which suit my needs. Manufactured camper: eliminated.
Build your own: Obviously, if you’ve read this far, this is what I went for.
The Build:
I wanted a rugged, lightweight shell that I could pick up at an affordable price, and a SpaceKap (SK) Plus service body seemed like the best option. The SK is made from about 1/4 “ thick fiberglass (thicker in many areas, this is just the minimum thickness), with only one seam for the entire system. It is quite difficult to find an affordable, used SK in Western Canada, however I got lucky and picked one up in Penticton along with the accompanying jacks. Speaking of jacks, these units use removable jacks, which not only lowers the overall weight but also improves aerodynamics. My only issue with the SK Plus is the ceiling height (about 6’3”), as I am just shy of 6’4”. Although the height may seem close, the useable height is closer to 6’ once you factor in insulation, finishes and flooring. They do make the Diablo version which has a taller ceiling, but it is newer and costs almost $20k CAD.
The SpaceKap I purchased already had four windows cut into the roof as well as a very poorly installed vent. It needed a few minor repairs (nothing structural), a good wash, and a truck to go on.
Here is the SK on my old dually:
In terms of truck, I picked up a 2005 Duramax, quad cab with the long box. This one is fully loaded, has under 200,000 km, and was bone stock. I intend on keeping it fairly stock, only adding a Herd bumper, an Espar coolant heater and deleting the cat. It came with Michelin LTX which will do as summer tires, and for winter I’ll be using studded Duratracs. The quad cab suits my needs as I use the rear seats to store bikes in the summer and ski/avi gear in the winter. Skis themselves will be going on the back door of the camper, but more on that later.
Before I get into the “how” of the conversion, here is a list of my appliances:
Fridge – I went for a Nova Kool R3800 DC. This is a DC-only unit (ie, its only source of power is the battery, 12 volts), and uses only 2.2A of power per hour while running. This is very efficient compared to most other offerings on the market, and the R3800 seemed like the biggest fridge I could get that had this kind of efficiency. Given that RV fridges run around a 30% duty cycle, the fridge only draws about 0.66 actual amp hours.
Fan – There seem to be two brands leading the market for this product: MaxxAir and Fantastic Fan. I chose the latter as MaxxAir offerings seemed excessive, and the Fantastic Fan I had in my Arctic Fox had worked flawlessly. The fan seems to draw about 1.5A when it is running on low, and I have yet to use it on the other settings (I doubt I will ever have to).
Lights – I have four LED pods on the ceiling inside the camper, and 2 LED work lights on the back, should I ever need to illuminate the area behind me. Each light takes about 0.2A of power while it is running, and they are on three different switches, so when a light switch is “ON”, at least 0.4A is drawn from the battery.
Water pump – I opted for a SHURflo 4008-101-E65 3.0 Gal/Minute pump. There are both cheaper and more expensive options out there, but this one seemed to strike a good balance between quality and price. So far, it’s been fantastic.
Fun fact about the water pump: I wanted to be able to draw water from glacier runoff, so I’ve plumbed it such that the pump can, with the flick of a few switches, either push water from the tank to the sink, or pull water from outside and fill the tank. In order to do this, I had to sacrifice the tank’s breather hole to use it as a filler, and thus use the fill spout as a breather. When the tank is extremely full and I travel over rugged terrain, it can at times let a little water spill out, but this will be eliminated with the addition of a cap for driving, while continuing to use the existing cap for when the water pump is working. To fill the tank from a creek takes just under 10 minutes (29 Gal at 3 Gal/minute), which I think is pretty reasonable.
Heater – This part was hard to decide on, but I chose a Webasto AirTop 2000 STC heater. This will draw diesel from the truck’s fuel tank, meaning that I don’t need to carry propane in the camper. Diesel also burns a lot drier than propane does, which is important in the winter. Webasto heaters are very common in heavy equipment and large trucks in Canada, so getting support for this unit should not be an issue if it ever malfunctions.
Water tank – I wanted about a 27 Gal/100L water tank, but had pretty specific requirements in terms of layout and needed a cube-shaped tank. I ended up settling on a 29 Gal/110L marine water tank, which I’ve been very satisfied with.
Solar – Initially, I opted for a single, 100W monocrystalline panel. Through some basic research, I gathered that mono panels are slightly more efficient than poly, and that mine could generate about 5A per hour at peak capacity. My research suggested that MPPT solar panel controllers are significantly more efficient than their PWM counterpart, so I opted for a 30A MPPT power controller. My thought is that with limited roofspace to mount panels on and with limited room for battery storage, I would be wise to seek optimal efficiency. So far, using the camper during our western Canadian summer (i.e. long days), the solar setup can keep up, and I have yet to see the battery dip below 12.2V at night unless I park the truck in the shade. That said, our days get much shorter in the winter and cold is not conducive to efficient power transfer, so I will be adding a 50W panel to my setup to account for winter conditions and to keep the SK self-reliant.
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