83

I think one of these with a tiny lift and a rear locker would be perfect. But 4x4 conversion couldn't hurt

Thanks! Yeah...you're probably right. Can't hurt. It's not too late, though. It's all fairly accessible. Do you have experience with old propane lines and leaks, or you're just cautious and figure "if something's old, replace it"?

I spend a lot of time these days on Toyota motorhome forums and of all the things people are always saying to check or replace whether or not they look bad, propane lines haven't come up that I've seen.

Well...no it's a plastic canoe, around 70lbs. I have got it up and down off the roof myself, but there's a lot of room for dropping the canoe and hurting myself. It's pretty sketchy.

Luckily there's usually someone around to help. Some sort of guides on the ends of the roof rack and a come along or winch up front would be perfect.

83

Trim



New Fridge



Closest I could get to the original size is about 2" shorter and 2" more narrow, and since I built the countertop around the old fridge...I've got some gaps now that I'll need to fill in. But having a new, working fridge is going to be awesome.

Depending on weather...this all may sit for quite a while now. It's been snowing, and chilly. Sure wish my garage was about 2' taller and wider...

irab88

iTrader: (4)

what kind of fridge is it? there's a common mod for rv fridges where you put a few computer fans at the top to pull the warm air out. it helps the system stay cooler and drop the temperature faster. also, it's a cheap mod

JBurt

That's a cool idea. Bookmarked for later!

83

It's a Dometic, 3-way. 12V, 120V, and propane.

Not a bad idea! I'll look into that. Thanks. By the top I'm guessing you mean the top, outside of the fridge, right?

I know there are battery powered fans for inside the fridge, to circulate air so there aren't cold and warm spots.

aviator

I was just thinking that you could put a shallow knife drawer over top of the fridge but that's the chef in me talking... the fans would be a good idea to boost efficiency. You could also split the difference raise the fridge an inch and put some custom wood grills at the top and bottom and you get a similar increase in cooling efficiency through natural convection... no extra fan means less electrical load draw and less noise as well.

83

Good ideas, but the fridge instructions say that I've got have it in an enclosure which is sealed off from the living space. So basically everything behind the door (aka the entire fridge) needs to be sealed off from the coach area, vented to the outside. There's already a vent back there, so I'm good as far as that goes. But I've got to basically keep the fridge inside its own enclosed area.

If I did it right, that could work with a drawer...but I might just end up having some wasted space above it.

The other thing that you can't see is that half of the stove top is over about half of that space above the fridge. It drops down around 3", so it actually cuts pretty far into usable space up there, even though from the looks of the photo I posted, there's a lot of space above the fridge.

Newbie_traveler

Just found this & Sub'd. Excellent posts & pics Zach! Thanks.
It looks really well done, I like the seat and insulation especially.
I'm looking to follow in your footsteps in a month or three and get and fix a Newport / Omega to tour in then for a grocery getter afterwards.
So this became a bigger project that you initially intended? May I ask how many hours / $ do you have in it? I'm hoping I can do something reliable and nice enough to travel with a lady 7K mi to Mexico for $7K and 150 hours of work. Am I in the ballpark?

Hey have you ever thought about a shower / toilet for the RV?

83

Thanks!

What I'm going to do for a toilet and shower is get a camp shower enclosure/curtain, a solar shower bag, and something like this http://www.cabelas.com/product/Campi...3Bcat104569380

I mostly camp, and I'm a man. Have a woman along means toilet and shower, usually. Indoors. For me, I'll mostly go outside, but figure there will a time here and there that I need a bathroom, and I'm parked in some neighborhood overnight. So then the toilet will be nice. That and if I'm camped for a week or two in one place, having the toilet and shower set up outside will probably be smart. You can only bury so much poop around camp...

I paid $2,300. I have stopped really keeping track of expenses...because at what point is it just routine maintenance, and what is the "project"? But I'd say that I'm around $6,000, including the purchase price. Yes, I'd say you're in the ballpark. I haven't kept track of hours.

I started tearing into it in February, and really only worked on it here and there, on weekends, only when the weather was warm all winter. Really started moving on things in May and June. Once June hit, I was gone every weekend doing summer stuff, so I only worked on it for a couple hours after work most days.

Now that it gets dark at 4:30...I'm back to working on it on weekends. No idea how many hours, though. If you have skills, you'll be a lot faster than me. I'm pretty haphazard in how I approached this, getting sidetracked a lot. And since it was my first time, I wasted a lot of time.

If you weren't doing this in addition to a full time job, and didn't have to wait paycheck to paycheck to buy the stuff you needed, it could be done a lot faster.

83

Check out a lot of RVs, if you haven't already. For extensive travel with two people, one of them a woman, a bathroom may be a necessity. Depends on the woman...

In that case, though they're rare, you might want to look into the 18' Sunrader instead. But if you and the lady are the kind of campers who are pretty much cool with just sleeping in the back of a truck with a topper on it, and the idea of an RV is just to get something a bit cushier than that...the Chinook is great.

To me, it's pretty luxurious. But when I compare it to other RVs...it's pretty small and bare bones.

I only mention this because the idea of adding a shower and toilet to a Chinook, even the Newport/Omega models, is pretty crazy. Some came with a little portapottie in them. But a shower? To make it work, you'd need to competely change the floorplan, and you'd lose a lot of valuable living space. Have you been in one? You'll get an idea of what you can do once you've checked one out in person, if you haven't yet.

83pingpong

Zach
Stuff like the refrigerator size difference always happen to me in big projects like this. You may come up with a slot drawer or map/book storage slot solution to make it look better while adding something useful. But it already looks better than the original inside construction and trim that Winnebago used. And you just can't get a simple and durable 4 cylinder camper at all these days (and definitely not for under $10k).

I managed to get the flywheel bolts off my spare remanufactured engine the other day, but not without building a bolt-on brace with a leg to the floor to hold it still while I loosened them with a new 3/4"- 4" extension for my breaker bar, and a new 3/4" 17mm impact socket (half price at Northern tool-we have a new local storefront!). So I finally got the old engine onto the engine stand and got the engine hoist folded and out of the way! Whew! Now I can get stuff dismantled in the evenings once in a while.

I'm not trying to hijack your thread, but it's below freezing in the shop because I STILL haven't installed the little wood stove, and other projects around the house take priority so often, it is HARD to find time to get on with my plans for the '83 SR5. Just so's you know not everyone has lots of time (and space) to take off the bed and cab and welds up their frame after sandblasting in a few weeks!

You are making GREAT progress. I'd like to see it someday. Maybe we'll take a trip up to the gorge and get out to the coast, and may be able to stop by on the way out, and check it out!

chefdave

Hi
i live in scotland and bought a 1989 calforinan dolphin motorhome built on a long wheelbase pick up chassis total length 22foot and weighs 2.8 tons unladen. it has the 3.0 v6 with 4 speed autobox. have had to seal front overcab. also member of the toyota
motorhome forum. mine turns heads e
verywhere i drive it. in process of improving perforamce like to be able to climb hills without dropping down gears to often.

83

Yeah not much is going to be a "direct replacement" after 35 years, that's for sure! You're lucky you have a shop to work in at least. I have a garage, but the Chinook is about 1' too tall to fit in.

Thanks! Sounds like you're making good progess, too. If you do come through this way, definitely give me a heads up.

83

Yes, I've seen your posts over there. My username is MontanaChinook over at the motorhome forum.

JBurt

Just air down the tires, roll it in, then air them back up.

chefdave

Hi
montanachinook
nice see you giving good advice of restortion.
Dave

83

Yeah...my tires don't have a foot of extra clearance in them. It still wouldn't get me through the door. And I don't have an air compressor.

I can do a lot of stuff in the cold, just nothing with glue or other adhesives.

JBurt

Sorry I forgot to put the cheesy smile in there .

Keep up the good work. You've done some great stuff so far.

83

Ha!

Thanks.

ThatGuy1295

Not trying to change the subject by any means, but my 2010 KZ escape fridge just went out. It leaked ammonia and you could smell it inside the trailer. Like you said all fridges are supposed to be installed in an airtight spot, to isolate the potential chemical leaks from entering the living area. Needless to say they did not do that with mine, there was large gaps in the cabinetry allowing cold air from outside and fridge chemicals to come inside. On my fridge the area of tubing thats exposed to the burner ruptured, normally that stuff would all just vent outside and not potential kill you. So I'm a little P.O.'d at KZ but long story short, sealing it off is very important. Use caulking on the interior of the cabinetry is the easiest way.