TheTrailerShowroom 7X14

[beccae]

George and I were just looking at your trailer in the garage.What size is the passenger side window between the door and back tire? Thank you for all the closeup,clear pictures.We have been following the conversion closely.Really nice job! I'll get a hold of Rick and get back to you privately as to how it goes.Don't want to hijack the thread. Keep sending pictures!

[pmspirito]

The aft window is 37w x 23h, the door window is 16w x 31h, and the forward window is 31w x 16h.

The camera is an Olympus Stylus Tough-6020. It is a great camera with more features than you can shake a stick at. It is waterproof to 16ft and shockproof to 5ft. The photos are downloaded from the camera to Picasa 3 and re-sized for this forum.

thank you for your compliments

www.peterspirito.com

[pmspirito]

An important part of this build is being able to park the trailer in the garage.

I lowered the interior height from 6ft to 5ft 6 inches. Then Lark special ordered a lowered torsion axle.

We knew it would be close. Plan-A letting some air out of the tires just might do it. Plan-B was removing the wheels completely and fitting blank wheel discs in place of the regular wheels and tires.

Plan-B was a success.

[beccae]

Rick (the owner) contacted me,was very pleasant and explained my company contact was on bereavement leave (5 year old neice). He has exceeded my expectations and I am happy with the response. I'll get back to you on the side.I badmouthed the company in print so its only fair I retract it in print.You are being very quiet these last few days-does putting the trailer in the garage mean work has slowed down on it?

[pmspirito]

I only work in the trailer on the weekends and post during the week spreading the info out over a few days.

With the trailer inside work will accelerate. Working outside in this Florida sun has not been very comfortable. I did so because i had so much plywood to cut up. Now that that is done I can work inside. My shop has it's own central air and I keep the shop at 73-degrees when i am working.

I am taking Monday and Tuesday off from work to get ready for my first camping trip scheduled for next weekend.

One way or the other we will be on the road next Saturday. I haven't started the cabinet work as you can see. But i will put an air mattress on the floor, plug in the fridge, and crank up the air.

With the trailer in the garage my two Chihuahua's have been exploring the insides and underneath also. they are checking it out and probably looking for just the right spot for their food bowls

[pmspirito]

We took our first over-nighter. This morning I am sitting under a tree with my sippy-cup of home brewed java enjoying the sounds of the birds.

Great WiFi here at the campground. I am using the Toshhiba laptop I bought at Walmart for a couple of hundred dollars on sale. My daughter has one and she recommended it. It is working very well.

I have not posted last weeks photos of the work that was done. I will do so when I get back home.

Rolling the TT out of the garage and installing the tires went very very good. My driveway has a slope to it and I put a 4x4 a couple of feet in front of the wheels as I eased it out. I pulled the break-away switch and locked the brakes while i jacked it up to put the tires on. I will add a hand held switch to turn on the brakes as I am rolling it out for the next time.

The portable A/C was a flop. There is a whole thread elsewhere on a/c's and they are right about the portable a/c and WHY it doesn't work in a TT.

I only used it because I had it. (glad i did not buy it for the TT). I will be getting a regular wall unit and installing it in the rear door.

Getting the a/c out of the trailer and into the wall will open up a whole lot of storage space. I am also going to delete the hanging closet space and install tote bins or other means of storage. I will have a couple of hanging hooks only. Shirts and stuff I want to hang up will be hung in the truck camper.

The huge countertop is awesome. I did not start out with it so deep. It grew 12 inches when i put the holding tank behind the fridge. THe ceiling height of 5'6" (I am 5'9") is no issue except when taking a huge slug of ice tea right from the bottle.

We slept on an inflatable mattress on the floor that worked well for temporary use.

I am already looking forward to our next adventure.

[David_L6]

Dual hose portables work just fine.

[pmspirito]

that is what I understand from the A/C thread. I already owned this portable so I put it in. It works quite well in the house, I guess because it is a much larger area.

My late 60's Shasta had a wall unit and it would frost the windows.

The good side to this is that I will gain a lot of storage area.

[David_L6]

The good side to this is that I will gain a lot of storage area.

No kidding! The darned things are a lot bigger than they look in pictures and take up a lot of room in a trailer.

[pete42]

"Rolling the TT out of the garage and installing the tires went very very good. My driveway has a slope to it and I put a 4x4 a couple of feet in front of the wheels as I eased it out. I pulled the break-away switch and locked the brakes while i jacked it up to put the tires on. I will add a hand held switch to turn on the brakes as I am rolling it out for the next time. "

You say you left the brakes on while changing the tires I wonder did they become hot leaving them on long enough to change tires
or did you just stop trailer from rolling away and blocked the wheels with the 4X4?

pete

[pmspirito]

see next post

[pmspirito]

"You say you left the brakes on while changing the tires I wonder did they become hot leaving them on long enough to change tires
or did you just stop trailer from rolling away and blocked the wheels with the 4X4?"

I parked it with the brakes on for about 20-30 minutes.

The electrical magnet inside of the brakes never gets hot from the 12volts. It gets hot when it is energized and RUBS (sticks) to the inside of the brake drum where it actuates a lever that moves the brake shoes. The heat is from the brakes shoes mostly and some from the rubbing of the magnet.

You could turn on the brakes and "park" it without any problems except running down the battery.

[pete42]

let me see if I understand, when you pulled the brake switch the trailer was sitting still
so the brakes were never actuated just the magnets against the drum was holding the trailer?

or did I miss it completely and the brakes were activated?

thanks for the answer and by the way nice looking trailer.

pete

[pmspirito]

let me see if I understand, when you pulled the brake switch the trailer was sitting still
so the brakes were never actuated just the magnets against the drum was holding the trailer?

or did I miss it completely and the brakes were activated?

The trailer is stopped, pull the breakaway switch, the brake magnet powers up, the trailer rolls forward about 6 inches. the magnet stuck against the brake drum pulls the actuator lever which expands the brake shoes and locks up the wheels.

normally when you apply the brakes while driving the magnet sticks to the inside of the face of the brake drum and slips because the wheels are turning. But there is enough "sticking" to pull the actuator lever that expands the brakes.

[pmspirito]

Here is the 12 volt power center. The fuse block on the left is the incoming from the tow vehicle, thru the fuse, and out to the trailer lights, brakes etc. If something shorts out on the trailer running lights i will not lose the tow vehicle lights.

the small center terminal strip is for the brakes. I ran a separate cord to each wheel brake. The next fuse block is for the 12volt lighting inside of the trailer. then the Precision Dynamics 60 amp converter/charger. The two batteries are 35 amp hour deep cycle wheel chair batteries. they each plug in via a polarized two-wire connector. I can unplug a battery and use it for my trolling motor, then plug it back in for a recharge.

Every 12volt circuit has a 30 amp fuse. I am not concerned about over current protection. I only care about short circuit protection.