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Old 07-29-2016, 09:25 PM   #1
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Joe's EggCamper Journal

I'm starting a thread about absolutely everything I do to our new EggCamper. I just thought it would be a great place to document everything, for info for myself in the future, and others as well to read the findings.

Our good friends are buying our Casita so I have to deliver it to them along with all the upgrades to it I have done! I get to start over with the EggCamper!

So my wife and I brought our Eggcamper home last weekend and have had no time to do hardly anything to it due to work and company. A few issues we wanted to tackle asap were larger fridge, larger tires, a lift kit, maybe a shock kit, new battery, a charge wizard, new a/c, and a new MaxxAir 5100 roof vent.

I will not get much done because I have foot surgery in a few weeks and will be out of commission for 6-12 weeks. This journal will be updated for years.

First things first - assessing the a/c performance. I happened to bring it home during the hottest heat wave of the summer. We had 95* heat and direct sun - I have read the EggCampers a/c was weak and figured I'd give it a try! I let the a/c run for 3-4 hours. I sat a thermometer on the sink and had no fan circulating the air. Egg was in direct sun. The camper never got below 87*. Personally I find that unacceptable for performance, which I have expected and read - so a new a/c will be on the to do list. I do realize sealing the gaps will help. And the roof vent felt like a heat lamp with the sun shining thru - so a shade of some sort for the vent will go a long ways. But I still think a bigger a/c would be a great mod so I will do it. Our Casita froze us out in any condition and I'd like the same in the Egg.

The fridge is bigger than we expected. Although much smaller than our Casita fridge, we decided we can live with it - so we will not be doing anything to it unless we outgrow it which I doubt. You cant turn the fridge light off if you leave the door open so I am going to install an on/off fridge switch next to the water pump switch.

Lastly the egg has 205/75R14 on it now. I upgraded our Casita to 225/75R15 and it was awesome. The bigger tires go with the Casita to my friend. I took the larger wheels/tires off the Casita and put them on the Egg. It had 3" clearance between the top of tires and the wheel lip at 12 oclock with the old tires. It has 2 1/2" with the larger tires. The front/back/inside clear fine. The outside is line to line with the egg lip at 12 oclock where it used to be about 3/8" inside the lip with the narrower tires. I'm thinking the bigger tires will fit, so I'm going to try them one more time and road test it along with a hard shaking in driveway to see how far the tires/axle will move before I give the Casita to its new home. I'll report back with more data once I do the road test.

Attached are a few pics of the egg as we picked it up from the sellers. I plan to take pics of everything I do and post on this thread. I'll keep this thread going. Please join me if you wish, or ignore if I bore you!

Thanks very much! Joe
Attached Thumbnails
DSC01457.jpg   DSC01458.jpg  

DSC01459.jpg   DSC01468.jpg  

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Old 07-29-2016, 09:32 PM   #2
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Here are some pics of the Egg with the larger 225/75R15 tires.
Attached Thumbnails
side-new-tire-02.jpg   tire-new-01.jpg  

tire-new-04.jpg   tire-new-06.jpg  

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Old 07-30-2016, 12:42 AM   #3
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Sweet egg Joe . Just a comment/suggestion for the AC. I don't know but can your egg handle a roof air unit? You'd get better cooling than from a low mounted unit and get more interior storage.
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Old 07-30-2016, 05:56 AM   #4
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Thanks Dave! I do think that would help on the roof, but I think I want to stay with the original location due to structrual, interior headroom (I'm almost 6'6"), and I like the fact this egg only has a vent and a pipe thru the roof period. I know others here put a 8000 btu in same spot so i'll look into an 8000 or 10000 and that should cool the neighborhood!! Your idea would do wonders tho. It makes sense to be on roof and have cold air falling.
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Old 07-30-2016, 11:18 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by JWScarab View Post
I'm starting a thread about absolutely everything I do to our new EggCamper. I just thought it would be a great place to document everything, for info for myself in the future, and others as well to read the findings.

Our good friends are buying our Casita so I have to deliver it to them along with all the upgrades to it I have done! I get to start over with the EggCamper!

So my wife and I brought our Eggcamper home last weekend and have had no time to do hardly anything to it due to work and company. A few issues we wanted to tackle asap were larger fridge, larger tires, a lift kit, maybe a shock kit, new battery, a charge wizard, new a/c, and a new MaxxAir 5100 roof vent.

I will not get much done because I have foot surgery in a few weeks and will be out of commission for 6-12 weeks. This journal will be updated for years.

First things first - assessing the a/c performance. I happened to bring it home during the hottest heat wave of the summer. We had 95* heat and direct sun - I have read the EggCampers a/c was weak and figured I'd give it a try! I let the a/c run for 3-4 hours. I sat a thermometer on the sink and had no fan circulating the air. Egg was in direct sun. The camper never got below 87*. Personally I find that unacceptable for performance, which I have expected and read - so a new a/c will be on the to do list. I do realize sealing the gaps will help. And the roof vent felt like a heat lamp with the sun shining thru - so a shade of some sort for the vent will go a long ways. But I still think a bigger a/c would be a great mod so I will do it. Our Casita froze us out in any condition and I'd like the same in the Egg.

The fridge is bigger than we expected. Although much smaller than our Casita fridge, we decided we can live with it - so we will not be doing anything to it unless we outgrow it which I doubt. You cant turn the fridge light off if you leave the door open so I am going to install an on/off fridge switch next to the water pump switch.

Lastly the egg has 205/75R14 on it now. I upgraded our Casita to 225/75R15 and it was awesome. The bigger tires go with the Casita to my friend. I took the larger wheels/tires off the Casita and put them on the Egg. It had 3" clearance between the top of tires and the wheel lip at 12 oclock with the old tires. It has 2 1/2" with the larger tires. The front/back/inside clear fine. The outside is line to line with the egg lip at 12 oclock where it used to be about 3/8" inside the lip with the narrower tires. I'm thinking the bigger tires will fit, so I'm going to try them one more time and road test it along with a hard shaking in driveway to see how far the tires/axle will move before I give the Casita to its new home. I'll report back with more data once I do the road test.

Attached are a few pics of the egg as we picked it up from the sellers. I plan to take pics of everything I do and post on this thread. I'll keep this thread going. Please join me if you wish, or ignore if I bore you!

Thanks very much! Joe
pictures look great, for a starting point. Where in Ohio are you and will you be able to make the Ohio rally in september? would love to see the Egg as I am trying to decide which FGTT to get ,when I finally take the plunge, which includes selling my house on Lake Erie.

all the best for your project I will follow closely as I try to learn as much as I can.
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Old 07-30-2016, 10:05 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by arthynne View Post
pictures look great, for a starting point. Where in Ohio are you and will you be able to make the Ohio rally in september? would love to see the Egg as I am trying to decide which FGTT to get ,when I finally take the plunge, which includes selling my house on Lake Erie.

all the best for your project I will follow closely as I try to learn as much as I can.
Hello Alida, I'm in Ross Ohio. Pretty close to the rally in Sept. But I'm getting Achilles Tendinitis surgery in a few weeks so I'm not sure how long I'm going to be down. Dr said 6 weeks on crutches and zero weight, then 6 weeks therapy. Cast comes off first week of October. So my camping and the upgrades to the egg are going to come to a screeching halt before it really even starts. But I knew this going in! Wanted to secure the egg. The thread may take a good pause - but it will be going again soon!! The rally would be a long shot. You or any member here is more than welcome to stop by and see it tho in Ross.

p.s. - my best friend and his wife took delivery of our Casita today - so its gone and we are down to one egg! Sold before it went up for sale - so that's cool!
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Old 08-02-2016, 07:30 AM   #7
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Tire sizes

Well my friend that bought our Casita insisted I leave the brand new alum 15" wheels and brand new Maxxis 225/75R15 tires (I dont blame him one bit!!).

But I trial fitted them while I had a chance. I'm about as sure as I can be that the larger diameter should not be an issue. What I am a "tiny bit" concerned about is the width. Will the outer edge of the tire hit the lip of the EggCamper in extreme bumps? That being said, I really like how the Casita doesn't have a lip - rather a rolled radius corner. But I'm about 90% sure it wont hit. I've decided to use the original Egg tires longer just because I dont see sidewall cracking yet. But when I do replace - they are going to 15". I like the 225 over the 205 because the diameter is 2" more then the 14s on 225's and only 1" more than the 14s on 205s. I think when I do go - Im going to 225/75R15.

The only issue is the 225's are "D" and I can get the 205's in a 15" in a "C". The Egg is light and I hate to get too stiff of a tire. When I "shake or rock" the two campers, the Casita would rock (axle flex) but the EggCamper would hardly flex at all. The axle give was much tighter. So I'm torn on if a D rated tire will just make things much stiffer which I don't want.

There are small bolts that hold the black rubber wheel moldings to the Egg. If you flip the bolts - with the heads to the inside - this will also add clearance and not have sharp edges if the tire were to contact on a huge upward travel of the wheel. It will take over 2.5" bump of travel to contact - probably 3".
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Old 08-03-2016, 12:21 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by JWScarab View Post
Here are some pics of the Egg with the larger 225/75R15 tires.
how will you handle your spare? Will you update your spare to the larger size and will it fit in the closet?
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Old 08-03-2016, 12:46 PM   #9
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how will you handle your spare? Will you update your spare to the larger size and will it fit in the closet?
Hi Chrystal,

That's a great question I have been pondering. I think a lot of the things of the EggCamper were done as a cost savings (tiny fridge, tiny roof vent, etc). I used to think the spare in the closet was also for cast savings (no bracket needed). But - the more I come to think about it - I LIKE the spare in the closet. It keeps the outside so clean, uncluttered, less to rust.

That being said, I did not get to try the larger spare in the closet. I will try that when the 2 eggs meet again. But looking - it looks like a no-go for the larger diameter in the closet. If that's the case - I'm inclined to maybe leave the spare as the 14". It will lean by 1" if I ever have to use it but hopefully that's just till I can get to a tire shop. I'm kind of a stickler for maintenance and overkill - so my plan A is to always keep tires covered and replace on a schedule - and never need the spare.

Once I try the larger spare in the closet - I'll add the results to this thread.
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Old 08-03-2016, 01:18 PM   #10
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Sounds great and don't worry, many of us overthink things Can't wait to read more!


Quote:
Originally Posted by JWScarab View Post
Hi Chrystal,

That's a great question I have been pondering. I think a lot of the things of the EggCamper were done as a cost savings (tiny fridge, tiny roof vent, etc). I used to think the spare in the closet was also for cast savings (no bracket needed). But - the more I come to think about it - I LIKE the spare in the closet. It keeps the outside so clean, uncluttered, less to rust.

That being said, I did not get to try the larger spare in the closet. I will try that when the 2 eggs meet again. But looking - it looks like a no-go for the larger diameter in the closet. If that's the case - I'm inclined to maybe leave the spare as the 14". It will lean by 1" if I ever have to use it but hopefully that's just till I can get to a tire shop. I'm kind of a stickler for maintenance and overkill - so my plan A is to always keep tires covered and replace on a schedule - and never need the spare.

Once I try the larger spare in the closet - I'll add the results to this thread.
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Old 08-08-2016, 09:20 AM   #11
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Spare Tire in the closet

Got some time to check out the spare tire situation again. Its tucked away very nicely in a pocket behind the converter. A larger diameter tire will not fit into this pocket. So at this time, what I plan to do when I do replace my wheels/tires to larger is to just leave the original 14" spare in the closet. I think its not a huge deal. If I were planning on driving across country on my spare - maybe a different story, but since its a temporary spare - I'm leaving as is so it can remain in the closet - even tho the wheels/tires will be upgraded to 15"
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Old 08-08-2016, 09:40 AM   #12
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Fridge running on the battery while dry camping

Well we took the Egg out for its first real camping trip!! We went camping for 2 nights and canoeing 1 day. Our campsite was dry-camping. What a better time to test the fridge on battery mode!!

So we unplug from the truck at 8pm Friday night. We use little to no lights in the camper (15 minutes total), and use no fan, no other power at all - except the fridge. The battery was at 12.39v when we unplugged from TV. Next morning its at 12.04v. I LOVE the way the fridge cools nicely and stays cold. It stays at 32*-34* with a seting of 3 out of 5 - nice!!

Off we go canoeing Saturday. We return at 7pm to a fridge at 46* and climbing. Then went to bed hoping it would go back down, Woke up in the middle of the night to hear fridge cycling on/off/on/off/on. I turn it off and put the food in the cooler.

Sunday morning I check battery and its 11.99v but thats with nothing running. I turn on fridge and battery drops to 11.5v, then the fridge kicks off.

We go home Sunday, plug into house 110v, and wella - fridge stays on and cools great!! I was worried the fridge was broke. It was just that the battery we depleted. It depleted in 18ish hours. Keep in mind its a 3 year old group 27 Interstate battery.

Thoughts: I still love the 12v DC only compressor fridge. But you need more power to dry camp with this setup. When I get back on my feet again and start doing my mods, it will be getting a pair of 6v golf cart type batteries with very high amp hours - and some sort of solar (portable - not attached). This should get us thru 3-4 days of dry camping I hope! I'd love to hear others experience dry camping with the fridge running. But when I read "it will run several days on the battery" I'm just not seeing that.

Lastly - absolutely LOVE the Egg! The space and room and simplicity have won me over!! We slept great and I didn't steal my wife's side of the bed!! Waking up you feel like you are in a room, not a hallway. Its 110% worth the switch for me - and I enjoy the planning/upgrades to come!
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Old 08-08-2016, 09:51 AM   #13
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Pics of the egg at the local canoe rental

A couple pics. Our friends with our old Casita couldn't make it but our friends with their 21 Escape (nice!) could! A great weekend!
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Old 08-08-2016, 10:00 AM   #14
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Why are you so stuck on the bigger tires? Because the Casita had em? 14s should be fine.
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Old 08-08-2016, 10:32 AM   #15
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Why are you so stuck on the bigger tires? Because the Casita had em? 14s should be fine.
I think its the mechanical side in me. I do mechanical design / maintainability work for a living. I overkill and over maintain everything!

I guess 15" tires appeal to me because bigger diameter, less revolutions, less rpm's on wheel bearings, heavier load rating, and also just an excuse to put aluminum wheels on it!!
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Old 08-08-2016, 10:49 AM   #16
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I think its the mechanical side in me. I do mechanical design / maintainability work for a living. I overkill and over maintain everything!

I guess 15" tires appeal to me because bigger diameter, less revolutions, less rpm's on wheel bearings, heavier load rating, and also just an excuse to put aluminum wheels on it!!
So get 14" aluminum wheels and put your tires on them. Then forget about it. Be proud of yourself for not doing overkill but recognizing instead the sufficiency of design that will well serve the purpose because that practice is also a sound, engineering approach which conserves cost and materials as well as reduces weight. Lightweight but good quality, design to purpose without overkill.
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Old 08-08-2016, 11:07 AM   #17
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So get 14" aluminum wheels and put your tires on them. Then forget about it. Be proud of yourself for not doing overkill but recognizing instead the sufficiency of design that will well serve the purpose because that practice is also a sound, engineering approach which conserves cost and materials as well as reduces weight. Lightweight but good quality, design to purpose without overkill.
I'm sure it would work! But my brain would short circuit.....ha. It's the same reason I need bigger A/C, and batteries. Bigger is always better......haha
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Old 08-08-2016, 11:23 AM   #18
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I'm sure it would work! But my brain would short circuit.....ha. It's the same reason I need bigger A/C, and batteries. Bigger is always better......haha
I agree, nobody was ever sorry they did the best job possible.
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Old 08-08-2016, 11:57 AM   #19
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Here is a link to my EggCamper modifications , mainly the 2010 and 2011 posts in the earlier years, the later years were for my Escape Fiberglass RV - Search Results
I did a wood floor, added a hatch, added propane heat, extra 12v outlets and lights and weather radio, closet storage.
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Old 08-08-2016, 12:10 PM   #20
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Not to mention I would have to sell my Silverado with the V8 and tow package!

Seriously tho - I understand overkill is not "needed" in some cases, but it is a comfort feeling and I do believe it leads to fewer "issues" while on the road. Beefier designs just last longer.

CPAHarley - THANKS for the links - I am going to read every one and steal ideas!!
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