CM16FFBS Mods

[Nana & Poppy]

We insulated the storage area as well (on our Rubicon) and it has made a difference that we noticed......or shall I say - these ole' bodies & bones seemed to feel a difference

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Our bed is over the storage area and we have gotten some cold spots and drafts from that area. So figured insulating it could't hurt. Total cost is less than $50 and probably 3 hours of my time. Have to extend the bed to standard queen, but that is another issue.

Aaron

My bad, I was thinking of the basement in my 5er. It's actually a divided void beneath the bedroom. One part is the basement where I keep the stuff and the other part houses the water pump, converter, transfer switch, a few miles of wire and Pex.

Insulating the basement for me would be a lost cause.

[okiejim]

Kathy,
You said you insulated you storage area. Did you just do under the bed or did you do the whole storage area. How much of a difference did it make in the bedroom? I want to put up skirting but if doing just the storage area would work that would take up a lot less time and storage problems.

[Nana & Poppy]

We did all of the storage area - we do have the generator on the driver side, which actually does not got under the bed.....but from the drivers side of the bed to the passenger side storage door has been insulated... We camped with it thru mid-October and our last trip out it was quite "chilly" the bed was actually much warmer than he had been previously - degree wise I can't answer you.....


Also you have to realize that this insulation would only go about 1/3 way down the bed.....(from headboard toward foot of bed)....We figured that it was only 1 4 x 8 sheet of foam insulation and an hour labor....

[wahoonc]

Here are some pictures from the latest round of mods. It was cold and raining yesterday morning and I had a couple of hours.

Got a new digital thermostat installed along with the television bracket.

The current TV is a 15" and is in bad shape (has a cracked screen) I will be replacing it with a 24" Vizio. One thing I did discover is that there isn't much mounting board behind that sticker!

Aaron

[MartyG]

Yes, I found out the same. I had a good grip on the wood screws with 3 out of 4 screws, and the 4th is "soft." Ours looks the same, except my 120vac outlet and the antenna outlet are below, not alongside, the mount. I think I told you, our TV antenna inlet is fed by an A-B switch, loosely held below the TV on the shelf. A is antenna feed from the wall; B is a cable hung around the corner, over the door, down the wall, under the gaucho cushion, and into the holding bay below, with about 30' of cable. If I want to plug into a campground's cable, I just run it outside of the access door. However, I'm still waiting for you to take the lead on installing a cable inlet! I have one ready to mount, but still fear the back wall access.

[nctrailboss]

Saw this thread and decided to join in .I'm just starting to enjoy my new 16fbs after being away from camping for 28 years.I guess I'm like you guys and can't leave things alone.LoL.So far I'm in with the LED bulb swap,axle flip with 225-15 tires and a by-pass added at the water pump that alows me to pull anti-freeze straight from the gallon jug into the system.Makes it very quick,and can do it with one gallon of the pink stuff.The up-graded thermostat is next.Love the trailer so far.0 problems.Also ran a cable hook=up down through the back wall and out of the bottom.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by nctrailboss

Saw this thread and decided to join in .I'm just starting to enjoy my new 16fbs after being away from camping for 28 years.I guess I'm like you guys and can't leave things alone.LoL.So far I'm in with the LED bulb swap,axle flip with 225-15 tires and a by-pass added at the water pump that alows me to pull anti-freeze straight from the gallon jug into the system.Makes it very quick,and can do it with one gallon of the pink stuff.The up-graded thermostat is next.Love the trailer so far.0 problems.Also ran a cable hook=up down through the back wall and out of the bottom.

Yee Haw! another Carolinian on the board! and a small trailer owner to boot!

Welcome!

I actually have a cable outlet that is going to get mounted with the cable fed to it.

Next mod in line is going to be the bed struts. It may happen this weekend. Originally had considered going to the RV show in Raleigh this weekend, but decided that probably wasn't such a good idea. Better off spending a small amount of money on mods, rather than a new trailer at this point.

Aaron

[nctrailboss]

Bed struts sound good.Let me know what length you end up with.Cleaning up the ice damage today,but I'll try to post a pic of my rig with the flip and 15 inch wheels.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by nctrailboss

Bed struts sound good.Let me know what length you end up with.Cleaning up the ice damage today,but I'll try to post a pic of my rig with the flip and 15 inch wheels.

Think I have the small or the extra small, and you have to install them "backwards". The compartment divider gets in the way. I will post pics when and if it gets done.

Aaron

[wahoonc]

Got the bed struts in

Used the HatchLift Kit in the small size. I did have to move the bottom anchors towards the front of the trailer about an 1" after the initial install.

Aaron

[nctrailboss]

Looks good!

[EricNSTL]

I like it, I don't have them on my bed and it is just a pain to get to, so I hardly use that space. I guess I should do this mod.


Are you happy with the operation of the lifts?


Your install looks good!

[MartyG]

Aaron, I had no idea what you were building. I thought "bed struts" meant you were somehow beefing up the frame. Then, the "brand X" I bought yesterday, with a queen bed, has those very struts, just as you designed. Very handy! You must have seen that done, somewhere!

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by EricNSTL

I like it, I don't have them on my bed and it is just a pain to get to, so I hardly use that space. I guess I should do this mod.


Are you happy with the operation of the lifts?


Your install looks good!

They work pretty good. I left them a bit stiff because we are going to be adding a different topper to the bed. Worst case I will have to move the mounting points another inch or so to soften them up.

Originally Posted by MartyG

Aaron, I had no idea what you were building. I thought "bed struts" meant you were somehow beefing up the frame. Then, the "brand X" I bought yesterday, with a queen bed, has those very struts, just as you designed. Very handy! You must have seen that done, somewhere!

Most units seem to come with them already installed except the cheap Dutchmen stuff. I did have to mess with the bed framing a bit. It is framed with 1x2, I knocked one of them out and put 2x4's in. While I was in there I rounded the corners on the bed platform.

Next project is to rebuild the gaucho/dinette so it is square and the slide out bed gizmo works like it is supposed to.

FWIW I have actually built a travel trailer before using a Glen-L plan. I helped a buddy build it to use for deer hunting. Not to mention doing a lot of mods and rebuilding of old units for deer camp use. Only reason we bought the Coleman rather than doing a rebuild is lack of free time. My current job is keeping me on the road 4-5 days a week 40+ weeks out of the year. I do manage to make it home most weekends which is an improvement over a few years back when I was out of town an average of 280 days a year.

Aaron

[wahoonc]

'nother mod...

I was hanging out over on the Lance Forums

And someone suggested this solar kit from Renogy. I really don't want to spend the money to put solar panels on the Coleman, so this suitcase kit is just the ticket. I will make a couple of mods to make it better suit my needs. But it is on order and I will report back when I get a chance. My take is that it should be able to keep the battery topped up after a night of furnace and lights use...IF we have good sunshine the next day. I have contemplated putting in a second battery but not sure I want to run my tongue weight up that much.

Aaron

[nctrailboss]

I'm a little leary of adding tongue weight as well.The numbers are already quite high for such a small trailer,and the size of the tubing is marginal.You can see where the tubing goes trough the front cross member has a small square patch that has been welded in to fill the void where a 1inch taller tube could have been used.The Dutchman 816qb model[same as our trailer] had the larger tubing in the tongue.

[wahoonc]

I haven't had a chance to get real world numbers on my trailer yet, but seat of the pants says it is very tongue heavy. Adding insult to injury is the water tank is at the front, battery and a single LP tank. I already carry a spare tank or two in the rear of the truck. As soon as warmer weather gets here I will drag out the race car scales and get a better idea of what I am dealing with. I used to have a Coleman Niagara popup, that thing was very poorly designed too. it was tongue light and the left side weighed 300# more than the right side due to all the appliances being on that side. To get the tongue weight on that unit into the 10% range you had to load the hell out of the front compartment, then you were pushing your GVW limits.

Lots of poorly engineered stuff comes out the RV industry. They seem to be more interested in how much golly gee whiz stuff they can cram into a unit to push profit margins, as well as how many units they can get out the door, rather than in actually designing and building a safe, reasonable quality trailer.

Aaron

[wahoonc]

Got a triple switch installed in the end of the cabinet near the door. I haven't gotten it wired...yet. The game plan is the dinette light, LED's under the awning and possibly the porch light will get wired to it. And yes I DID clean up the sawdust.

Aaron

[MartyG]

Nice location, Aaron. Plenty of wasted space behind the radio, but you can get to it easy, as pictured. I hated going outside when I forgot the porch light, after I had already gotten undressed!