The I never have time thanks to kids Tear Drop Camper Mods...

My wife and I bought an Escapade Trailers Backcountry in 2019 and after a few minor modifications we took our first trips. Learned a lot from camping with a 1+ year old and 2 dogs and now we are taking lessons learned and deep desire for more abuse and planning a trip for this summer. With our 3 year old...2 dogs...and a 1 year old. The list of must haves, nice to haves, and luxuries has grown with preplanning.

Our running list of wants/needs for the camper:
- Roof Top tent (CVT Mt Hood Large Installed)
- Exterior lighting (Drivers, passenger, rear, toolbox, and front/rear underglow.
- On board heat
- Propane (Power Tanks 11lb tank mount and 11lb tank mounted above spare tire on PS)
- Water storage (20 gal. on board water tank mounted to bottom side slightly behind line of axle.)
- Off grid battery charging solar/generator (Honda EU2200i)
- Step sides accessibility
- Wheel tire upgrade
- Lift
- Power upgrades - dual battery - Front and rear battery systems
- Sink
- Water heater
- Slide outs
- On board air compressor
- Rear Awning
- Tool box (Front rack cut down and tongue box installed)
- Work surfaces
- Bike storage and swing arm
- Blinds
- Door stops
- Cargo nets
- Hooks/racks
- ARB awning room (ARB Awning Room purchased)
- Roof rail add (Received order from Escapade, installed at rear, remounted fishing rod tube).
-

2019 Pick up day:

 

Cool ride!

@McRib

 

2019 Mods completed

Cargo nets installed on the back wall and ceiling of the interior mounted with stainless d rings.

 

2019 Mods

Trash-a-roo for spare tire
Built SS mounting plates for paracord jeep hood latches and then attached with rivets as door stops.
Bought fold down aluminum drop down table for jeep swing door cut it half and riveted to 1/2" square tubing cut to length then infilled with scrap tool box aluminum diamond plate. Widened to fit between across the PS window mounted thru side wall with SS hardware.
Installed quick and easy curtains - tarp clamps, black nylon rope and blackout shades off of Amazon

 

Solid list! Looks good! But where is the fridge?! Also a room for one of the awnings is awesome! Great for privacy and changing stand up style!

 

2019 Mods

Added custom confer roof rack from old Taco topper.
Added magnetic washers for mounting battery powered puck lights to DS and PS.
Bought conduit carrier kit and some UV resistant 4" CPVC pipe and built fishing rod tube for roof rails.

 

Stay tuned

 

Ohh now I'm excited!

 

2019 Trips highlights

Illinois to Owatonna MN
Owatonna MN - Teddy Roosevelt Natl Park
TRNP - Miles City, MT
Miles City - Cody, WY
Cody, WY - Rapid City, SD
Rapid City - Chamberlain SD
Chamberlain - La Crosse, WI
La Crosse - Illinois

Lots of days spend at each spot- most of the time spent outside of Cody visiting family and friends.

 

2020 moved from Illinois to Wisconsin and Pandemic and baby so no travels.

But 2021 here we come...

Modification Priority list:
1) Power Upgrades and repairs
2) Tri Fold Mattress
3) Roof Top Tent
4) Lift/Tires
5) Water System
6) Galley Revisions
7) Step sides/rear swing/bike holder
8) Propane
9) Added Storage
10) Air Compressor

 

2021 Mods 1) Power upgrades Status 1/29/21

Found faulty design with on board electrical.
1 - I was operating the system under the thought that the 12v battery system was charging when the trailer was plugged into the vehicle - answer...nope
2 - I was operating the system under the assumption that when the camper was plugged into shore power I was solely running the system off of shore power - answer no when plugged into shore power I was powering a power strip that powered a battery charger, small power strip in the main cabin and the air conditioner.
3 - I was operating the system under the assumption that I could be charging the battery and running off the 12V system simultaneously - answer nope not wired to allow for this I was only charging the 12v system when i was plugged into shore power and had no 12v devices (lights, power bank, and Maxx Air vent fan).
4 - Positive wire from battery charger ran into fuse block then to inline fuse then to battery
5 - Negative wiring was run from battery to all devices and spliced with tape no bus bar no crimp or solder connections

Plan of attack:

Picked up -
- Dual battery charger
- New added port fuse blocks with negative bus bar
- Rocker switches
- Battery volt meters with % readout
- 2 new deep cycle batteries with 2 + and 2 - terminals (original was shot and only had 1 +/- terminal)
- New wiring/connectors/heat shrink/etc
- 4 new exterior LED lights
- Under glow LED lights
- 4 pin relay
- Rocker switches 2 sets
- Water pump switch (for water system)

To Do list
- Remove old battery box at front of trailer install new tool box and put battery box inside toolbox COMPLETE
- Remove old fuse block, and battery charger at cabin system
- Re terminate existing 12V system into new fuse block and ground
- Add new wiring from charger to battery at the front
- Add new wiring from battery to volt meter and readout
- Add new wiring from battery to new 12v fuse block at the front.
- Mount and wire new lights (under glow, exterior PS, exterior DS, Tool box) to new rocker switches at front.
- Add second battery in rear galley
- Add wiring from dual charger to new rear battery
- Add wiring from battery to volt meter and % readout
- Add wiring from battery to new fuse block in rear and ground
- Mount lights and wire to new rocker switch (exterior galley lights, underglow)
- Move 2nd shore power plug in galley to flush mount power strip
- Mount and wire water pump switch and relay
- Pray it all works

Existing wiring set up minus the single charger


New dual Charger

Drew up a wiring diagram for my reference

 

2021 Mods

3) Roof Top Tent - removed the confer roof rack, ordered 3rd roof rail from Escapade campers and mounted at rear roof, remounted fishing rod tube to new roof rail. Order CVT Tents Mt Hood Large Desert Tan fabric.

 

Wow! Great mods - fantastic rig. Beautiful pictures and family!
Wish I had done something similar when my daughter, now married with two young boys of her own, was younger. Thanks for sharing!

 

I just picked up an Escapade last month and I'm already deep into mods. I chose them specifically because of the cheaper basic campers you can mod yourself.

Currently upgrading the electrical with LiFePO4 batteries and a solar inverter/charger, as well as a Propex propane heater.

Next up is the Camplux propane water heater.

I have a 7 and 10 year old. They prefer to glamp, as does my wife.

 

Did a little bit of rework on the wiring.

Pulled the old single charger - Installed the dual.

Pulled the old fuse block - Mounted and wired new fuse block w/negative bus.

Added connectors to ground existing system ground wires and terminated at bus bar.

Reconnected existing system positive wires to fuse block

Labeled fuse block and future rocker switches

Built wiring harness for volt meter for front battery

Still have a lot of tidying up to do and revision to the cabinet space.
Soon - Wiring harness from battery to system with disconnect switch - wiring harness from charger to battery - wiring harness from battery to volt meter and meter install - Switch panel mounting and lighting install.

 

I had them relocate the spare tire to the driver side, so the Camplux would have to go on the passenger side. I haven't ruled out just keeping it in a Pelican case and not mounting at all. More flexibility for shower/dish station location.

I also asked them to install the AC cabinet on it's own, with no AC, with the intent of putting the Propex and inverter in there. When boondocking in CO, a propane heater is invaluable. Even in summer, the nights are chilly at 10K altitude.

I also have a Tepui Kukenam 4 on top (hence the 3rd bar), so any solar panel would need to be mobile (maybe attached to the Tacoma bed rack). Planning to put some MP4 connectors on the tool box.

Check out this guy's YT channel. He's in CO as well. He has the same model as you do, and has done some cool mods. I'm planning to do his rock light mod soon.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEqQ7rhtpCvEcVdqDRfEPfQ/videos

Keep up the mod posts. I'm happy to join in. I don't do Facebook so TW is one of my outlets.

Cheers!

Jason

 

I was thinking about the pelican case as well! If you do it let me know the sizing - my tentative plan was to mount the pelican case DS above the water system hook ups and fill ports I installed. The thought was I could route the gas piping and water connections (into heater and back to system) into the pelican case and still pull the water heater out if needed. The only worry I had was the venting of the combustion air from the water heater.

I haven't shopped too much on heaters but that's a great idea. It's nice to have A/C but it takes up a lot of space, it only runs on shore power or else its a huge power drain and its only necessary a few months out of the year but heat is definitely a game changer.

I'll check him out for sure. I have under glow in the works right now wiring it up for the front and rear.

You're more than welcome to hop on this thread TW is my outlet as well.

 

Pretty sure the 1550 Pelican case fits the Camplux. I’ve seen them on CL for $50 used.

Today the propane/CO2 detector got installed as well as Victron Bluetooth battery monitor.

Pics will follow this weekend. Bought a pair of 11lb propane tanks. Camping World has a good deal on Worthingtons at the moment.