Don & Karen's 6 x 12 Deep Vee Front CT

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Glen good find, thanks for the links

[rebapuck]

Liking your build. But every time I look at the pictures it throws me. I have to remind myself your door is in the vee.

[MtnDon]

Recent progress....

Queen size mattress in place... The ceiling has been finished in hull liner material with wood accent strips across. It is glued in place with 3M Fastbond 30 NF rollered onto the ceiling and 3M 77 sprayed on the fabric backside. The 30 NF is very nice, almost no odor, not flammable and friendlier to brain cells than the older contact cement. I did not use the 30 NF on the cloth as it was difficult to spread w/o soaking the cloth.



28" LED TV on a swing arm wall mount...



We have a cable/antenna feed thru the wall and an HDMI connection for the laptop.

Sown with the swing arm out...



TV can be swiveled to face the rear doors as well.

Outdoor work table for camp stove, etc. It uses a bracket I got from Vintage Trailer Supply. Plus I added to spring lock shelf brackets to provide extra support. The whole thing lifts off easily to be stored in the pickup box.






Next may be a dangerous move. The CT is almost finished. Tuesday we are taking off for CO for up to two weeks or so. I have a bad habit of having projects reach the 95% completed point and then stalling....

[Gonefishin]

So sweet. Like that outdoor work table on the trailer idea. I'm often setting up a free standing table I carry in the truck. The whole rig looks like a comfortable home on the road to me.

[lrrowe]

Looking good Don.

What are your plans for heat or if you posted or referenced the answer earlier, I missed it?

Bob

[dustboy]

I can't believe you crammed all those amenities into a 6x12, indoor galley AND a shower! Guess that's the big benefit of the Vee nose.

[MtnDon]

Well, crammed is more or less correct terminology.

[lrrowe]

Don, when you ordered your trailer, did you move your side door threshold up to account for the 2" foam? I see that you have a cap at the back door and to me, obviously did not do that for the barn doors. But I can not clearly determine what you did for your side door. In the "before" pictures, it looks like the factory floor is right at the threshold height and in the "after" photo, it still appears that the threshold is at the floor level after the 2" foam was added.

Thanks,
Bob

[MtnDon]

We made no special requests for door height. The first 2" of floor insulation wass installed between the frame rails and crossmembers after the factory 3/4" plywood was removed. Then 1" foam was installed over the frame members and the 3/4" plywood installed on top of that again. I had seen two other RV side door installs from the same factory. Maybe I should have spec'd the height instead of trusting them to do as they had in previous trailers. But it worked out okay. There is still about a 3/8 inch drop from the door aluminum threshhold to the rubber "marble" flooring. That gives me enough space to add a hardwood trim strip when I get around to it.

[MtnDon]

"Home again, home again, jiggity jig"
... or...
a 1329 Mile Shakeout Trip

Two weeks were spent in CO, working our way north from the Salida area to the final 5 days in Rocky Mountain NP. We had a great time. The trailer tracked excellently in the terrific head, front quartering and side winds that we encountered. There are a couple/three glitches that I need to sort out, but nothing that seems too serious. I'll know better when I troubleshoot / evaluate the issues.

#1 was the brakes lost communication between the brake controller and the trailer. I just used lower gears more, carefully watched down grade speeds and all was fine. The trailer weighs less than the break point where brakes are required.

#2 was the auto transfer switch (generator/shore power or onboard inverter) crapped out. We used extension cords and did some back and forth switching and made out okay.


#3 was a very small propane leak developed at one of the fittings in the high pressure section. Solution was temporary; turn off the main cylinder valve between uses. I decided that was better than trying to tighten the 1/4" brass pipe more and risk twisting it off... I've done that before.

[MtnDon]

Looking good Don.

What are your plans for heat or if you posted or referenced the answer earlier, I missed it?

Bob

Heat. On the CO trip the coldest we woke up to was an interior temperature of 57 F when the overnight exterior low was 36 F. We were camped more or less off by ourselves and ran the H2000i to warm up a little with an electric 1500 watt heater. That did nopt take long.

For the future I have two options under consideration.
1. A Propex heater placed in a space under the bed. It would vent exhaust through the floor and off to one side, then draw combustion air through a duct under the floor, but at a distance from the exhaust. The heated air and return would be ducted via their 2 1/4" (approx) flex ducts.

2. A hydronic system using heated water from the hot water heater. I have a small heater core I can try out. All I need is a small 12 VDC water pump and a fan, plus need to make an enclusure / duct for the heater core. I will most likely try an experiment with the hydronics before spending the 'dough' for the Propex.

[MtnDon]

I have to add the comment that we had the best nights sleep over the entire trip that we have ever had on a camping trip. That includes the years we had a class C, the Westfalia and all the tent and back of the truck camping we have done over the past decades. The Serta queen size mattress was wonderful!.

[lrrowe]

MtnDon,
I still have the hydronic idea on the top of my list. I wish you success on that project so we all can benefit from your efforts. I was going to look at the Attwood heater with the internal and separate coils as a means of heating the water and keeping it away from the remaining 6 gallons in the heater tank.

Oh and that is good news that you had a good night's sleep and good time with your trip.

[hankaye]

MtDon, Howdy;

While you were touring around Co. Rascal and I were up in Mt.
Having just purchased the CT there was zero insulation just
the oil filled electric heater and a 5'X7' rug from Wally World,
the camp cot and a lod sleeping bag from the 1980's. Over
night temps. during our week in the West Yellowstone dropped
into the 30's at night and generally the high 50's to low 70's (the
last few days). We were surprised that the oil filled heater was
able to keep the trailer and contents (us), an nice warn 68* avg.
at night. Turned it off during the days.
Hated to drill that hole in it at less than 48 hours old ...

hank

[bdosborn]

What, no pics from the shake out trip? What gives?

Bruce