The tiny, all-electric, slide-in camper I built for my F150 Lightning doesn’t have a shower, but I’m working on it...

[On the Road with Ralph]

I know you are retired and have no interest in commercializing this yourself. But there is an alternative: You ought to approach a couple of the slide-in manufacturers to see if they would be willing to license your design ($$) and pay you a consultant fee (more $$) for input on a commercial version. If this is something that interests you, but you don't know where to start, email me [email protected]

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[kjhall]

As promised, I just uploaded a short video illustrating how I built my Lightning pop-up camper:



I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

 

[kjhall]

I know you are retired and have no interest in commercializing this yourself. But there is an alternative: You ought to approach a couple of the slide-in manufacturers to see if they would be willing to license your design ($$) and pay you a consultant fee (more $$) for input on a commercial version. If this is something that interests you, but you don't know where to start, email me [email protected]

Thanks Ralph. I'll give it some thought.

 

[RedLightning86]

I’ve been slowly reducing our carbon footprint for many years now, and I wanted to extend that to camping. The F150 Lightning is the perfect tool for it. But the all-electric, low-drag, lightweight camper I wanted for the Lightning didn’t exist. So I designed and built my own. I call it the “Lightning Trail”.



It’s not perfect, and I’m still working on things like a front fairing to reduce drag further, graphics to make it less plain, and an inside shower. But overall, it works great. And as hoped, it has a fairly low impact on the Lightning’s range (<15% reduction). We’re hoping to use it a lot this summer.

I’m also working on a video of the construction process if anyone is interested.

Would love to hear your comments.

Fantastic camping rig! I am in awe of your rig, having built much more rudimentary camping rigs myself. Would be great to see your construction video(s).
As to fairing, I have the Colorado fairing on my GoFast Camper on my Lightning. Helps more with noise than mileage, I think. Coloradofairings.com is the linkI believe.

 

[kjhall]

Fantastic camping rig! I am in awe of your rig, having built much more rudimentary camping rigs myself. Would be great to see your construction video(s).
As to fairing, I have the Colorado fairing on my GoFast Camper on my Lightning. Helps more with noise than mileage, I think. Coloradofairings.com is the linkI believe.

Thanks for the kind words.

How does the Colorado Fairing fasten to your Lightning? I'm thinking that may be a simple option for me to try.

 

[kjhall]

Fantastic camping rig! I am in awe of your rig, having built much more rudimentary camping rigs myself. Would be great to see your construction video(s).
As to fairing, I have the Colorado fairing on my GoFast Camper on my Lightning. Helps more with noise than mileage, I think. Coloradofairings.com is the linkI believe.

And hopefully you saw the construction video above?

 

[LightningCanuckNB]

This is really cool. For the shower I would recommend a portable propane shower. I have one and they work fantastic and can run off a tiny refillable camp stove cylander. Yes it is not electric but you really don't want to be burning your battery heating water IMO.

 

[Peddyr]

Wow, this thing is pretty cool! Well played sir

 

[kjhall]

This is really cool. For the shower I would recommend a portable propane shower. I have one and they work fantastic and can run off a tiny refillable camp stove cylander. Yes it is not electric but you really don't want to be burning your battery heating water IMO.

Thanks for the feedback and advice!

I actually have an electric hot water heater already working in the camper, and hot and cold water roughed in for the shower. (FYI, the hot water heats up VERY quickly, so the heater doesn't run very long at all) My biggest issue is a shower pan/drain. I could go with an outdoor shower, but an indoor version would be much more useful. I've got some ideas I'm percolating and will update when I implement something.

 

[Ecstatic]

Nice job Ken. Coming from a slightly different approach, I’m working on an aerodynamic expandable redwood and cedar strip fiberglass shell. I still have a long way to go, but if you’re willing to share, you could save me a bunch of time and work if you could pass on links or ordering info for your sink/pump/water heater/water tanks, fridge, cooktop, cassette toilet, and memory foam mattress. Just about finished with the two overlapping panels, and soon to start the half nose cone, over the cab venting window, and over the tailgate screened entry door.

 

[kjhall]

Nice job Ken. Coming from a slightly different approach, I’m working on an aerodynamic expandable redwood and cedar strip fiberglass shell. I still have a long way to go, but if you’re willing to share, you could save me a bunch of time and work if you could pass on links or ordering info for your sink/pump/water heater/water tanks, fridge, cooktop, cassette toilet, and memory foam mattress. Just about finished with the two overlapping panels, and soon to start the half nose cone, over the cab venting window, and over the tailgate screened entry door.

Wow. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. I'll put together a list of products I used, most of them purchased on Amazon.

 

[kjhall]

Nice job Ken. Coming from a slightly different approach, I’m working on an aerodynamic expandable redwood and cedar strip fiberglass shell. I still have a long way to go, but if you’re willing to share, you could save me a bunch of time and work if you could pass on links or ordering info for your sink/pump/water heater/water tanks, fridge, cooktop, cassette toilet, and memory foam mattress. Just about finished with the two overlapping panels, and soon to start the half nose cone, over the cab venting window, and over the tailgate screened entry door.

Below is the product list. I'm not endorsing any of these products, they just happen to be the ones I chose.
Sink:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PDFM2K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Faucet:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075294KMD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Induction cooktop:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PF36P29/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pump:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P8BE6S8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Water tank:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07659973Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mattress:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WJY916B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Toilet:

Thetford C223-CS Cassette toilet & exterior access door

Fridge:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DZQI700/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Water heater:

Notes: most small heaters don’t have a drain, which makes winterizing difficult – this one does;

Tankless heaters are not great for showers, and draw a lot of current so I didn’t go that way

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbi...ater-heater/6ep2-1/p-1444452203873-c-8690.htm

 

[Ecstatic]

Awesome, and thank you. Yes, I’ll post photos once I get it all finished.

 

[kjhall]

Playing with some graphics options…

 

[skyak]

Wow. Just wow.

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