What about the lift up lid on the outside? Are you going to make it a camp kitchen?
I thought about it. But it works better as a storage counter for traveling. I will be building a little "table" that will fold up inside the galley area, but when the hatch is open, it can be unfolded and extended out of the galley in an L shape from the Galley counter. I can then use this to support a grill while the cooler stays in the back of the camper.
Originally posted by Synthesis: Synth- thanks for the response. I was thinking 5' would be better too( we're used to a King sized mattress).
carnut, any kind of suspension will work.
The default "Utility" trailer axle with leaf springs is fine for most cases. There are also torsion axles which work great for the highway, but may not work so well for off-roading, etc.
One guy has a tri-link suspension. Two pivot points mounted ahead of the axle center line with a swing arm design, and a coil spring. His wife used it for a 4,000+ mile trip through the US hauling live rabbits in the back. No issues with the ride, and the suspension is a true independent.
You can mount a shock to the suspension as well if you need it.
As for the four foot width, I slept fine in it, Island Cat fits into it with me just fine, but the nightly toss and turn, I am not sure how well that would work for two people unless you are VERY close. lol
I read the inforum everyday online. I will check out the article. BTW, at Tyler's show, I will stand a little further away from you before I expell gas.
It features a 4 stage intelligent battery charger that will auto-switch charging modes based on the battery, along with power supply capabilities to power all of the 12v circuits in the camper, with or without a battery.
So, whenever I pull into a site, I can plug into shore power, and run all of my 12v stuff without draining the battery.
I'll post more photos.
The two major projects I have left are: Battery box. I plan to build a permanent battery box and mount it through the floor of the camper so that it can be easily accessed when the mattress is rolled out of the way. The box will be large enough to hold two identical batteries, but will only have one installed for the time being. It will be mounted just forward of the axle, to help minimize the additional tongue weight that dual batteries would add.
Air conditioning. An AC unit permanently mounted on the tongue and ducted into the cabin. I was hoping to have this finished before the Tyler Show... Not sure if that will happen yet.
Wow, 60 amp service on a teardrop trailer. I would think 30 would have been sufficient, but you are loaded for Bear I guess. Does it hook up to your trailer harness and charge the battery while you are driving?
Looks awesome Synth, and thanks for posting that article.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 07-06-2011).]
Wow, 60 amp service on a teardrop trailer. I would think 30 would have been sufficient, but you are loaded for Bear I guess. Does it hook up to your trailer harness and charge the battery while you are driving?
Looks awesome Synth, and thanks for posting that article.
I have not done a 12v+ connection between the camper and the car yet. I am considering it so that when I plug into shore power at a camp site, I can charge both the camper battery(ies), and the car battery.
I am leery about doing so though, because the last thing I want to do is start the car after a weekend of camping on the battery alone, and load the alternator down with a dead battery.
I ran with the power converter this last weekend while visiting the kids. Man, that thing is nice! And it only requires a 15-20 amp outlet to power it.
I also picked up my battery box from the shop last night.
The battery (ies) will be installed through the floor of the camper, just forward of the trailer axle. The top flange of the box will rest on the 1/2" thick plywood floor, with some bolts to hold it in place permanently. The front, bottom and possibly the sides of the box will be covered with polycarbonate and sealed. Held on with some short buttonhead Allen bolts into tapped holes in the battery box frame.
The frame is large enough to hold two identical batteries (it was sized for the battery I currently have, and if I ever have to change batteries, I will need to match the size closely). The hole in the floor over the batteries will be filled with the plywood "plug" that was cut out of the floor. It will be trimmed to fit inside the box edges, and a hinge attached to be able to swing the cover out of the way. The edges of the plywood will have 1/8" by 2 inch steel bar cut and bolted to it. This will provide a flange to rest against the top of the box, and also allow me to seal the edges of the box to prevent hydrogen gas from getting into the camper during charging.
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 07-12-2011).]
So, I got my battery tray cut into the floor. It looks good.
It looks crooked and off center, but it isn't. Measurements were taken several times prior to the first cut.
The "below decks" view.
Slightly angled to show you the trailer axle height in relation to the bottom of the battery box. If the trailer axle can clear it, so can the battery box.
One battery inserted to see how it fits and looks.
The plywood piece that came out of the hole that was cut will be trimmed down to fit inside the battery box opening. I have picked up several pieces of 1/8" thick by 1.5" wide bar stock, and will be attaching these to the plywood plug. This will provide a flange all the way around the edge that I can gasket and seal the box from the cabin.
The sections below the floor of the battery box will have polycarbonate mounted to them and sealed with silicone. This will provide a bullet proof shield to protect the batteries from rocks, etc, and help enclose and protect the batteries and keep dirt/water, etc from getting in and gunking things up.
The floor does tend to flex the tiniest bit with the tray sitting in there. I will be mounting another piece of angle iron underneath the floor against the box and the bottom of the floor. Bolts will run through the flange on the battery box, through the floor and through the angle iron under the floor. When tightened, this will sandwich the floor, stiffen the support, and provide a surface that I can seal to prevent water from splashing up into the cut edges around the box.
In the meantime: White EPDM Rubber Roofing gets dirty FAST... I have a tire cleaning product called Bleche White. It works fantastic for cleaning white wall tires, or raised lettering, or just scrubbing a tire clean before protectant is applied.
In this odd angle photo of my hatch, you can see the dirt and scuzz built up on the EPDM from when I installed it.
10 minutes later and that same hatch looks like this (albeit, still wet).
Bleche white, sparingly applied to JUST the epdm roof, then scrubbed using a scotch brite pad, then rinsed thoroughly just makes it gleam. The white roof looks brand new (cause technically it is....) and really catches the eye.
PS: I am now the proud owner of a 6100BTU electronically controlled Window AC unit. This thing is TINY, and has the digital control panel that means I can safely extend the panel into the camper when I permanently mount this thing on the tongue of the trailer.
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 07-14-2011).]
Well, the AC is mounted to the tongue of the trailer, and ducted inside.
There is no return to the front of the unit, as I had to mount the AC "cold" side forward on the tongue. Something I hope to be able to remedy this week by relocating the support bars I mounted on the tongue further forward towards the hitch.
The Flexible exhaust pipe works great for the AC line into the cabin, but does not provide enough flexibility to mount the AC close to the cabin without flipping it backwards...
I have it running right now in a test to see how cold the cabin can get. I have the AC set to 64 degrees.
Here is what the AC currently looks like. The two ducts will be hidden inside a tongue box to cover everything nice and neat... But for now, it is weather tight, and perfectly towable just like this...
Used two of the black rubber couplers and two black rubber 90 degree elbows. Replaced the fittings in the forward wall with the rubber elbows, and used 2" PVC for the ductwork. The two couplers are quick disconnects for the lines so I can remove the AC unit at any time. Photos later.
Closer shot. The flecks on the black rubber elbow is actually condensation from the AC blowing cold through the ducting.
The beginnings of the pipe wrap. R2.0 rating. Just enough to keep the lines from sweating.
The AC is also now facing the correct direction for the air return. The air return will also be in the front wall, centered below and between the cold air ducts. The duct work will be made from plywood attached to aluminum framework mounted on the front wall. It will seal the air intake to the rectangular hole that will be cut in the wall. The plywood will be coated with fiberglass to weather-ize it. And everything will be caulked and sealed. Eventually, a box will be built over the AC and duct work to hide it.
All of the wiring for the AC unit's control panel will be routed up through the left cold air duct (the one that is currently insulated), and then the panel will be mounted in the wall and a trim plate put around it. The AC will be able to be completely controlled from inside the camper.
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 07-21-2011).]
The originals were on there less than a week, and with less than 16 hours of AC usage, were already showing signs of rusting through the protective coating due to the condensation. To add to that, I was unable to route the cold air return to the AC unit like I wanted. While it gets cool inside, it is not as efficient as I'd like, nor does it actually dehumidify the air.. The only thing worse than a hot sweaty night, is a cold clammy night in bed... (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER)....
Had a hell of a time with the wire crimpers today trying to crimp and heat shrink the extended wiring for the control panel in the interior of the camper. My wrists aren't cooperating, and my right wrist is hurting quite badly. Yay me.
I now have an air return from the interior of the cabin. It isn't pretty on the outside, but who cares? It will be covered by the tongue box eventually.
Everything is silicone sealed, and the control panel is mounted inside the teardrop. It is currently about 70 degrees in the teardrop, and only going to get colder.
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 07-24-2011).]
The trim still needs to be made for the control panel.
The AC unit iced up on me after about 45 minutes of running at the max setting.
I have one of two things. Either not enough air flow, or the evaporator is dirty. I am leaning towards not enough air flow.
Since I planned to provide an air intake point for the AC to draw outside air, I'll just go ahead and install it before the weekend so that it pulls both outside and inside air. This should keep me from suffocating with the windows closed... BUT, it blows strong and cold before it ices.
The hatch is built with the exception of a small strip of plywood at the very top front edge (intentionally left off for now, until the hinge comes in)...
Looking at your AC unit(I like the idea of AC in it), I was wondering what you thought about putting the AC unit in the very back of the trailer under the galley (where the tools are located-maybe this area would have to be made taller?)? Would it cut into the length of the sleeping area too much?
[This message has been edited by carnut122 (edited 07-24-2011).]
I actually considered installing the AC back there when I got my hands on the unit. Either the hatch would have to come all the way down to the bottom, or the AC unit would have to be moved up above the lower section.
It actually would have cut into the sleeping area about 8 inches, to allow the necessary air flow from the back of the AC unit.
In reference to your A/C unit freezing up. I should preface this with this, I am not an HVAC tech so I really don't know what I'm talking about. Having said that, I think adding an outside source of intake air is probably a smart thing to do. But, I wonder if you might want to consider a way to regulate how much outside versus inside air you are putting through the unit. I would think there is an ideal mixture for incoming temp. There might even be a way to automatically regulate that. I would suggest that you might want to consider a de-humidifer inside that camper that would drip outside. I would think a small unit would be satisfactory.
In reference to your A/C unit freezing up. I should preface this with this, I am not an HVAC tech so I really don't know what I'm talking about. Having said that, I think adding an outside source of intake air is probably a smart thing to do. But, I wonder if you might want to consider a way to regulate how much outside versus inside air you are putting through the unit. I would think there is an ideal mixture for incoming temp. There might even be a way to automatically regulate that. I would suggest that you might want to consider a de-humidifer inside that camper that would drip outside. I would think a small unit would be satisfactory.
Great project.
The AC unit dehumidifies as it is... The outside air flow source will most likely be an adjustable vent, similar to the top vent you find on a charcoal grill. Just open the flap to allow outside air in. I believe it iced because of the lower air flow and the colder air being channeled back into the intake. Cold air + humidity on an already cold evaporator will ice it up fast if the air flow isn't high enough to prevent it.
I actually considered installing the AC back there when I got my hands on the unit. Either the hatch would have to come all the way down to the bottom, or the AC unit would have to be moved up above the lower section.
It actually would have cut into the sleeping area about 8 inches, to allow the necessary air flow from the back of the AC unit.
I'm just weighing my options as I'm still trying to talk the wife into that month long Alaskan Highway adventure.
I'm just weighing my options as I'm still trying to talk the wife into that month long Alaskan Highway adventure.
Nice.
If you look at several of the "store bought" models out there, the AC unit is actually mounted up high in the galley/cabinet area. I did think about that as well, but I did not design the wall and roof to make room for it. So that is why I built the tongue unit.
If you build, then you need to plan ahead for these amenities. Otherwise, buy one that comes pre-configured the way you want.
Oh now. You have lived some. Still, I've seen a lot of people I care about die over the past few years, each of them worked up until about a month before they died.
Sure they took vacations, spent a week here of there with family, they had a life, but they never lived.
And I am not saying that they were not happy, or they were not responsible, just that they should have enjoyed their lives more instead of saying "I'll do it when I'm older". Guess what, older sucks, things are harder, and you can't do as much of it, if you make it to older.
I haven't checked this thread in a while but man, you kick ass! That thing looks very professional and you're not even done with it! Being a larger fellow like me just how comfy is it inside while laying down? Plenty of room to stretch a bit? Or just enough to get comfy?
