Bones Gateway 3650BH

Well It has been A little while. I had a very busy year last year. I had a frame movement and lost part of my roof but all that is fixed now. Here are a few things I was up too.

My speakers dry rotted and needed replacing.




Next I took one of Jarad's mods and fixed my shower door track drains.

While I was working on the shower door I didn't take pictures but the door pulled all the screws through the luan. I added backer boards behind the luan to give a bit more strength. I have thought about ripping the whole shower out of the camper and putting in one of those nice full fiberglass one piece units.

I wanted to move my water filter inboard from it's location under the frame. I would have to take it from it's travel location and put it on the frame and hook up. now all I have to do is run the water line, connect and I'm done.




If I was going to do this again I would have installed a screw on fitting instead of crimping the line so I could remove the filter.




I might need to make something like I saw in Jim B's post because I made a mess here doing a mod with the water lines. It might be a simple pan that drains to the outside but enough to catch water.

I needed to make an access door that I can get to the filter when I have everything in the basement


Since I was working on the water lines I have always wanted a way to shut the washer lines off so I cut the Pex and put in valves. This way I don't have to worry about winterizing these lines anymore.



Last mod to add are the kitchen cabinets. We always had a few issues getting the plates out of the cabinet because of the stile for the door so I removed it and added it to the door instead. All it required was a bit of trimming and careful reattachment.



I have parts to upgrade my suspension the Morryde shackles and the CRE 3000 equalizer but I need a bit more time to do that install.

You've been busy. Nice work Dave. Good idea on the water line valves to keep them isolated.

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jesstalkn said:

You've been busy. Nice work Dave. Good idea on the water line valves to keep them isolated.

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Thanks

We have been using our camper going on 4 years now. When we purchased we specifically wanted the booth dinette thinking it was the best option and looked good too. Well shortly after having the camper we realized with a family of 4 the booth doesn't work too well. The table is a real pain in the arse to get up, I bang my knees every time and kids keep kicking you because your right there as well as tipping the table over along with all the drinks cereal and what ever else is on there:angel::angel:. We never stored much of anything in there but we have another mod coming that will hopefully add a closet in the living area as we enter the camper. Here are a few pics of what is to come. All this was a test fit with the current table and our dining room chairs to see how it would look. We will eventually get another table and chairs.












Here you can see what taller chairs look like when the slide is in. Either well have to get small back chairs or these will have to be moved for travel.



The sofa use to be smack up against the back of the booth which had staples sticking out and tore up the side of the sofa

Bones said:

The table is a real pain in the arse to get up.

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Do you have to put the table down while you travel? We just removed our table for the first time in 3 years. We love the slide out storage under the seats. We had table and chairs in the last trailer and after sitting in both options in the ElkRidge we all loved the wrap around sofa and seating.

It it looks like our booth table and chair was a different configuration than yours though.

JWalker said:

Do you have to put the table down while you travel? We just removed our table for the first time in 3 years. We love the slide out storage under the seats. We had table and chairs in the last trailer and after sitting in both options in the ElkRidge we all loved the wrap around sofa and seating.

It it looks like our booth table and chair was a different configuration than yours though.

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Yes. The table wobbles all over the place. it is top heavy and difficult to get up and down. The new table will probably be made of wood and bolted to the floor.

It's time for a few updates. The table has gone through 2 iterations. We found a cheap table and painted it. After using it for a season we decided it was too small for our family. We enlisted the help of a local custom/refinisher furniture carpenter.

First iteration:



Final Iteration:


I had only the top constructed and I reused the base from the first table:


Here I am showing my thought on sliding brackets to help give some stability. We will see if they work or get ripped out of the wall. When my slide comes in the table separates from the wall as the slide floor sags.


The DW and My self hated the double sink in our camper. It was shallow and small. We ordered a new sink but I didn't have time to install it. Here is what it looked like before and now after. I definitely like how it came out


Before:



After:



Over all view. I removed the tiny cabinets I had to open up the counter space.


I think I will be adding bench seats instead of the chairs so we can slide in and out of the table. The chairs are nice but we have fallen off the edge of the slide a couple times and I can just screw the benches to the slide floor and not worry about strapping them down for transport.

I replaced the Capacitor for the front AC. It went dead at the end of the season last year and it's still too cold to tell if it will work. If not looks like I may be shopping for a new AC unit.



The New one is bigger than the outgoing one but the same capacity. As soon as we get some warm weather I will test it out. Fingers crossed.

Bones said:

It's time for a few updates. The table has gone through 2 iterations. We found a cheap table and painted it. After using it for a season we decided it was too small for our family. We enlisted the help of a local custom/refinisher furniture carpenter.

First iteration:
View attachment 61016


Final Iteration:
View attachment 61017

I had only the top constructed and I reused the base from the first table:

View attachment 61018
Here I am showing my thought on sliding brackets to help give some stability. We will see if they work or get ripped out of the wall. When my slide comes in the table separates from the wall as the slide floor sags.


The DW and My self hated the double sink in our camper. It was shallow and small. We ordered a new sink but I didn't have time to install it. Here is what it looked like before and now after. I definitely like how it came out


Before:

View attachment 61015 View attachment 61020 View attachment 61023

After:
View attachment 61026


Over all view. I removed the tiny cabinets I had to open up the counter space.
View attachment 61021

I think I will be adding bench seats instead of the chairs so we can slide in and out of the table. The chairs are nice but we have fallen off the edge of the slide a couple times and I can just screw the benches to the slide floor and not worry about strapping them down for transport.

I replaced the Capacitor for the front AC. It went dead at the end of the season last year and it's still too cold to tell if it will work. If not looks like I may be shopping for a new AC unit.

View attachment 61024 View attachment 61025

The New one is bigger than the outgoing one but the same capacity. As soon as we get some warm weather I will test it out. Fingers crossed.

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Looks good Dave. I like the sink. Big difference !!!
Thanks for sharing

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Well unfortunately the rv gremlins strike again. My capacitor fix was not the problem or the fix. It got warm enough here today for me to test the AC unit and it still would not come on. So I decided to do some more investigating and discovered the compressor cap and wires had cooked itself to the point of melting connections. I'm glad the thing didn't catch on fire, that could have been bad and I'm glad it quit at the end of the season last year. Looks like I'm in the market for a new AC as this thing is 5 years old and probably not covered under warranty. I called a local place today to see if they can get me a 15k heat pump single zone. My outgoing model is a 13.5k BTU AC. Worse case scenario I'm ordering just a 15k AC unit. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

I'll have to figure out some way to get the new AC to the roof when I get it.

Bones said:

Well unfortunately the rv gremlins strike again. My capacitor fix was not the problem or the fix. It got warm enough here today for me to test the AC unit and it still would not come on. So I decided to do some more investigating and discovered the compressor cap and wires had cooked itself to the point of melting connections. I'm glad the thing didn't catch on fire, that could have been bad and I'm glad it quit at the end of the season last year. Looks like I'm in the market for a new AC as this thing is 5 years old and probably not covered under warranty. I called a local place today to see if they can get me a 15k heat pump single zone. My outgoing model is a 13.5k BTU AC. Worse case scenario I'm ordering just a 15k AC unit. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

I'll have to figure out some way to get the new AC to the roof when I get it.

View attachment 61074View attachment 61075View attachment 61076View attachment 61077

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Hate that happened to you Bones, but glad you caught "it instead of "it" catching you so to speak. Good luck.

Sniper said:

Hate that happened to you Bones, but glad you caught "it instead of "it" catching you so to speak. Good luck.

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Thanks. Waiting on a shipping cost now for the unit. It has to come directly from dometic

This can be repaired using a compressed terminal repair kit. I had to do the same to mine. $25 bucks...


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Our suspension components have been making considerable noise towards the end of the season last year. I purchased the wet bolt kit during the summer for the correct track system from MorRyde. I order a different kit for the correct track as the bolts are longer. Here are some pictures of my upgrades. It was a chore to jack this heavy beast up.







After I drove the trailer back to storage I was amazed at how quiet the suspension was. I will know next month how the suspension upgrade does for our first trip of the season.


I had some shackles that have elongated over the years. I'm glad I did this now and didn't push the project down the road. I was debating, jacking the trailer up is quite a process when you don't have level up. There is a possibility that the shackles could have given out during our travels this year.


I found this damage to the Spring hanger. Not sure what I am going to do with this at this point. I don't know if I should have the hanger cut off and replaced or if I can leave it.


Received my new AC/Heat pump 15k BTU unit. I hope to have this installed before we camp in the next few weeks. This would be a great time to try out the heat pump feature of the unit as the temps should not be below freezing but low enough for heat.

Looks good Dave nice work.


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jesstalkn said:

Looks good Dave nice work.


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Thanks. Make sure you keep us posted if you get MorRyde IS. I like the air bag potential of the maybe new IS from MorRyde

Bones said:

Our suspension components have been making considerable noise towards the end of the season last year. I purchased the wet bolt kit during the summer for the correct track system from MorRyde. I order a different kit for the correct track as the bolts are longer. Here are some pictures of my upgrades. It was a chore to jack this heavy beast up.

View attachment 61232 View attachment 61233 View attachment 61234 View attachment 61235 View attachment 61239 View attachment 61236



View attachment 61238 View attachment 61237

After I drove the trailer back to storage I was amazed at how quiet the suspension was. I will know next month how the suspension upgrade does for our first trip of the season.
View attachment 61243

I had some shackles that have elongated over the years. I'm glad I did this now and didn't push the project down the road. I was debating, jacking the trailer up is quite a process when you don't have level up. There is a possibility that the shackles could have given out during our travels this year.
View attachment 61241

I found this damage to the Spring hanger. Not sure what I am going to do with this at this point. I don't know if I should have the hanger cut off and replaced or if I can leave it.
View attachment 61242

Received my new AC/Heat pump 15k BTU unit. I hope to have this installed before we camp in the next few weeks. This would be a great time to try out the heat pump feature of the unit as the temps should not be below freezing but low enough for heat.
View attachment 61240

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Looks good Bones. I think you'll be very happy with the wet bolt kit. It's made a big difference on our rig.

Sniper said:

Looks good Bones. I think you'll be very happy with the wet bolt kit. It's made a big difference on our rig.

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Thanks. That is good info to know.

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Sniper said:

Looks good Bones. I think you'll be very happy with the wet bolt kit. It's made a big difference on our rig.

Click to expand...

Thanks. That is good info to know.

New heat pump AC installed. I'm waiting for the control kit to come in so I can get it up and running. I really want to test out the heat pump feature.

I'll let most of the pictures do the talking.












I tore out all the old foil and tape. I re-sealed everything. A lot easier without the AC unit in place.






I need a new control kit since the one I had was for just the AC. The new one on order should have blue tooth and the Heat pump feature.



The finished AC on the roof and bolted down


I'm doing all these improvements and upgrades and haven't even used the camper this season. I have about 1.5 weeks left before the first trip.

Looking good Dave. Nice job on the flashing too

jbeletti said:

Looking good Dave. Nice job on the flashing too

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Thanks Jim.