Yetti's 2007 Outfitter Apex project.

[locrwln]

Hope you get it sorted. Not a fan of that system, too many moving parts and they seem fragile.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

It's mostly just tubes and bolts, not a lot too it. But like most of this camper, not well taken care of. North star, hallmark, outfitter still use it, even the electric system just has a jack motor bolted to it. I'm sure once i understand it better, and take care of it I won't have an issue. I hope. I think* its just an adjustment somewhere. But don't know yet.

More complicated then the fwc system though.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Looks like north star does not use the system anymore

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Brown Truck Santa( UPS) brought more camper gifts today, One and Extra crank handle, drill attachment for crank handle, new corner guards ( I will cut to fit, the outfitter ones were 300/set.) And a new/rebuild kit for the piece the crank handle goes into. The last time, some of the teeth on the handle, broke. I think i just cranked it down too far as its hard to tell where all the way down is. And I will mark/ where the carriers should sit when down so I can gauge better.

She will be out the next two weekends, and I will T into the propane for a quick connect when I was to just use the big buddy catalytic heater vs the furnace. For times I dont need the basement and tanks heated. And I like to have options.

 

[locrwln]

Looks like north star does not use the system anymore

I believe they switched over to the Rieco-Titan roof lift system (like my Bundutec). The nice thing about the system is that it doesn't intrude into the living area or block any of the windows.

It's mostly just tubes and bolts, not a lot too it. But like most of this camper, not well taken care of. North star, hallmark, outfitter still use it, even the electric system just has a jack motor bolted to it. I'm sure once i understand it better, and take care of it I won't have an issue. I hope. I think* its just an adjustment somewhere. But don't know yet.

More complicated then the fwc system though.

I agree that it's not too "complicated," but it definitely is a "clunky" design in my eyes and has kept me from buying campers in the past (Hallmark, Northstar). Also, I think one of the issues, unless it has been addressed since I looked at them was that the pivot points are just holes drilled through the tubing and bolts ran through the holes. There isn't any kind of real pivot point for something that sees that much stress. It has to have a certain "looseness" to operate, which I don't like.

Not raining on your parade or camper, just my observations of having looked at the design.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Clunky and Simplistic is a perfect explanation! it really is that as far as the hardware goes, thats where I am having a pain- just trying to get it where it should be, ( read, loose) trying to figure out what is supposed to be loose where. The joints are just bolts through drilled holes in the tube, and trying to figure out what the previous owner " fixed"

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I took apart the Gear Housing and found the trouble, lots and lots of metal shavings: + little hunks of metal stuck in the gears. No wonder it was eating crank handles. I have a complete rebuild kit, but ended up just cleaning it all out.

Now that im looking at it on here, it also looks like the white plastic guide ( idk what HECO calls it, yet) also needs replaced, or it just looks out due to the gear housing being off.

The other things i did, maybe the BEST MOD YET- was simply to mark with permanent marker where the carrier glides are at when down/resting. No metal shavings, and no more stupid operator over cranking it down had made a big difference so far!



I also learned, that apparently the previous owner had pulled the fuses for the CO, smoke, and propane detectors. After kids and dogs had been unpacking all there stuff from the back, and the 120ibd dog,someone must of bumped against the stove top and gotten the knob turned on. Where she flowed into my camper for a few hours, until after walking next to it I noticed the HEAVY smell. I went inside and noticed what had happened, ( im lucky, as the propane heater was on). I wondered even more why the alarms had not been going off....now we know.


I was planning on adding an 1500ish watt inverter at some point, helping my uncle with some barn work, and fencing we were talking about this camper, and plans,etc. Turns out he had a new in the box 800watt off brand inverter, and insisted on giving it to me. So 800 it is, cant beat free. Ill try and get it wired in sometime, and also get the propane system sorted out, and quick connect for the buddy system ready. She proformed great the last 4 days of PNW rainy weather.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thanks Google!!!

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Also, the girls started calling the camper " toad"...i have no idea why; but it stuck. go figure.

I also finally measured now that y bed is set up the way it will be, its 9 inches from the middle of the roof( highest peak) to the bottom of the camper, Ill start looking and thinking about a rack, or basket, something to help with the wind. Not much room though, and figure an inch for flex?

 

[locrwln]

I have found after owning 4 cab over campers that a lot of the flexing you see is from the rear of the camper anchor points. On my Lance, I had the bumper anchors in the stock bumper and it allowed for a lot of flex and "porpoising." I switched out to a Ruenel bumper and most of the flex went away. On my Sunlite, I tried the bumper anchors again and saw the same problem. Built some anchors that plugged into the stock receiver hitch and most of the flex went away. On my current Bundutec, it's bolted to the flatbed and I have about 1/4" of an inch between the sharkfin and the bottom of the camper and so far, it hasn't hit. I have taken some pretty rough roads and I keep checking to see if it's hit, but so far so good. So yeah, as long as your camper anchors are solid, an inch should be more than enough.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thanks Jack! This is using the torklift quick mounts, and steel eye bolts bolted to the steel of the flatbed. She stays pretty tight, the front torklifts are spring loaded to allow a little flex. I recon im still learning the proper tension on the tiedowns.

Well I was a little behind as I ended up replacing a waterpump and T stat, in the rain by headlamp the night prior to leaving. So i did not get the camper loaded until the next afternoon as I was leaving work, I wanted to be able to use the built in tank with my big buddy heater. And my propane regulator had black fluid leaking out of it, so after a trip to the hardware store I came up with a plan and put something together. I am happy with it, spent Thur-Sunday in the cold and snow for a dog sled race, she preformed great! I did not fill the fresh tank, just used a portable water jug- and added deicer to the black and grey tanks. The propane hose is a quick connect, fold up under the sink when its not needed. The big buddy heater kept it at 70 inside all weekend, running at low. Had to switch tanks, Saturday night. The stock furnace works well, but i did not want to suck the battery down. As it is, i did not start my truck again until Saturday when we pulled out. The battery stayed 12+ all weekend.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I do pretty much everything, alone.....apparently I left some tiny vice grips on the back side of a nut. I tried self tapping screws, but the sheet metal was to thin, so i used some small bolts I had laying around. I had to use the vice grips on the lock nuts so i could zip them tight w/o being able to reach around and hold both sides.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I really need to get those full size sides built...

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

No one warned me: the more time I spend in my camper, the more time I want to spend in it.... And in new pretty places

Sent from somewhere remote on my BlackBerry

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Also got some wrenches that, are now dedicated to stay in the camper. 3/4 is the size it takes to adjust the torklift fastguns. They really don't need adjusted much, once you get them set, but I was caught once with just adjustable wrenches. On the way back from the sled dog race, and was unable to tighten one.

....well I was also kind of lazy, I could of dug out my tools but it was not that bad.

Sent from somewhere remote on my BlackBerry