M116A3 Build

[Padilen]

Pics are making me miss my KK!

[lfhoward]

Thanks Sharon and Padilen! The KK Liberty is quite a versatile little vehicle, as you both probably know! I do enjoy it and it works well for my job as an ecologist. I do find that it struggles a bit up long hills on the Interstate while towing, but I suspect that my camper is heavier than the average teardrop due to the military trailer starting at 1000# to begin with. I will eventually weigh it at a truck stop and let you all know how heavy it is. The KK is slow and steady. Not a V8 but it gets the job done!

[Padilen]

I like your trailer build would love to have your job!
Yeah, weren't you on Lost ?my issue wasn't so much it but me.The small foot well and having to raise feet up over door sill was to painful. I have leg and ( or up?) back pain. The KK was my first non pickup as a only vehicle. I've had 2 mini vans but still had a 4x4 pickup. I sold my last pickup because the KK was so capable. I won't lie a V8 would have been great in them. I went back to a pickup, bigger flat floor no raised door sill. Now I have a 12 Dodge Ram, and it's got the power. But I do miss my KK I don't give it "my best" vehicle award that's for my Might V10 that I should not have parted with. But the KK was actually best in cost& value. I had one out of pocket repair other than wear items and warranty/recall. I could have pushed that as warranty.
And yet people laughed at us, I was laughing right back when my KK went through while they sat stuck.
Enjoy

[lfhoward]

Hi Padilen, yup I am on LostJeeps as well, and have a version of this thread (more Jeep oriented, less construction nitty gritty) over there too. Sorry to hear you are dealing with back pain. That is never a fun thing. I understand about the T-case hump keeping you from stretching your legs out straight.

Today I did some tweaking of the DIY front window clamps. I took them apart, moved and reglued some pieces, and screwed the frames and trim rings back together. Sounds easier than it was, but I am hoping this solves a small leak I was having in the front during torrential or long rain storms.

Next I embarked on prepping to build the folding benches that turn into the queen size bed platform. I rerouted a number of wires that I had temporarily secured a few weeks ago but which were in the way, and mounted small courtesy lights and switches in the front compartment. The lights and wiring in the compartments are going to be much easier to do now from above before I install benches over the top.

After I finish the wiring tomorrow I should be ready to install the bench tops, hinges, seats, seat backs, and removable bed slats. The goal is to sleep next week on a real mattress instead of an air mattress on the floor.

[lfhoward]

I'm almost ready to build the convertible side benches that become a queen bed platform, but before I can start that I needed to finish some electrical work that goes underneath. Here are some photos from that task.

I installed courtesy lights and switches in each utility cabinet, even though there are no doors yet to open the cabinets from the outside of the trailer. You can see where these utility doors will go if you look up an earlier picture of the outside of the build.

Starboard utility cabinet (with solar charge controller, general kitchen cupboard space):


Port utility cabinet (with onboard battery charger, inverter, BlueSea fuse panel):


Dashboard area with outlets and reading lights temporarily tacked into place. The dashboard will contain a wire raceway to hide the wires you see here, and the outlets and reading lights will be flush mounted. This is a temporary setup to get me back out camping next week:


Reading lights on (led replacement bulbs on order to reduce amperage draw; reading and courtesy lights are on a different fuse than the interior ceiling lights in case I need to replace a fuse at night):


And the rest of the electrical for completeness... The solar charge meter and the remote inverter switch, along with the switches for the interior and exterior porch lights:


Interior led light and Fantastic Fan:


Rear led light plus a view of the back door. The interior will one day be clad in the same cedar paneling that the back door has now:


And of course all the wiring will be hidden in the ceiling, under the benches, in the dashboard raceway, and behind cedar paneling.

[lfhoward]

Update before I head back out into the field tomorrow: I have the convertible benches finished.

Cargo mode with the benches stowed:


There are notches in the side for cross rails, which are made of oak and very strong:


The front 1/3 of the bed platform can be deployed separately. That way, it can act as a third bench, or a place to stow the Ikea mattress (rolled up) while making the rear 2/3 of the trailer available for either cargo or living space.


Here is how it would look as living space, with the side benches open for sitting. I would like to find or make a collapsible small table that can go in the center, which could stow under the front bed platform.


Bed slats in place. The slats stow behind the benches when not in use.


And the bed platform fully deployed. Now I will be able to have an actual bed instead of a sleeping bag on the floor!

[noseoil]

Looking very nice now. Coming together well & the odds & ends seem to be falling into place. Amazing how much time the little stuff eats up as you go, isn't it?

[lfhoward]

Hi everyone! I am back from a summer of camping and fieldwork for research in the mountains of Western Maryland and ready to start the school year. (The other part of my job as a professor is being a teacher.)

It's also a good time to begin to attack some of the odds and ends of my trailer build, as it was never really done! It was campable and it worked out wonderfully during the summer. Here's what's left (short list):

Seal the bolts holding the body down to the trailer with rubberized goop. Done!

Seal the edges of the roof with RV molding and butyl putty tape the way it is supposed to be. (Right now I slathered Sikaflex on the seams and it held for the summer, but it is already showing signs of splitting due to expansion of the metal.). I have a couple of questions about this process that I posted here: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=66993. That should get the shell more permanently waterproof.

After that, I'll turn my attention to the solar panel and get it installed on the roof and run the wiring in the ceiling.

Once the solar panel is on, I can finish the interior of the camper. I have cedar paneling for the walls and some birch ply for the ceiling that will go up, and I'll be making some cupboards and shelves too.

That's all for now! I'm sure there will be more to do. I am looking forward to it.

[lfhoward]

I had time to putter with a few odds and ends this afternoon:
- cleaned 8 weeks of dirt off the Fantastic Fan
- finished installing the rest of the hinges on the benches/bed platform, so now hinges go the entire length.
- constructed interior window frames for the side windows that stylistically match the front and rear window frames.
It was nice to get my tools out again and make a small amount of progress on the trailer.

[S. Heisley]

I can hardly wait to see more!

[lfhoward]

Thanks Sharon!

I do have some pictures from the summer that I can post up.

Here's base camp at Little Orleans Campground in Little Orleans, Maryland.
A shot that shows the Jeep Liberty for you, my tow vehicle.


And zoomed in a bit on the kitchen and the students' tents.


All the comforts of home for sleeping.


The electrical system, including the 120VAC and the 12V DC with the USB ports will be incorporated into a "dashboard" eventually. For now they are tacked into place.


During the day the trailer converted into a storage shed for the field equipment and camping food. The Jeep got this job at night.


For a while there camp towels stood in as curtains.


Now I have real curtains, thanks to my wife and her mom who crafted them for me! They used velcro in the design so the curtains can easily attach to the window frames. The curtains have a thick backing so they keep it really dark in the trailer for sleeping.






The next task is to get the solar panel up and running. I'll post pics once I have the panel in place on the roof. Today I worked on the interior supports hidden in the ceiling, so there is not much to show yet.

[S. Heisley]

That bed looks mighty comfy! It looks like you did just fine, out in the willy-wags!

[lfhoward]

Sooooo much better than sleeping in a tent!!!!

Made some progress on the interior today. I am putting off drilling holes in the roof for the solar panel until a cooler day that isn't threatening rain.

I started paneling the drivers side rear corner with 1/4 inch cedar. It smells amazing and is probably lighter weight than plywood.


That's a fold-up tray table there in the corner. It isn't strong enough to lean on but it will hold odds and ends, plus be higher than foot level when the bed is deployed.


I am thinking ahead to cold season camping with shore power.


I paneled up to the front of the side window before I ran out of daylight.


The cedar panels go behind the pine bench for a nice tight seam.


And finally a look at the bench and paneled wall with the tray table in the up position.


Looking forward to tomorrow.

[Padilen]

Yeah go and post another pic of the KK to make me miss mine again! Looking good! I'm doing a little "remodeling on my CTC already. I've got to make a curtain now too! But I've just taped a towel up till I do.



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[lfhoward]

Hey Padilen! Thanks for stopping by the build thread. I've definitely been posting more travel trailer stuff than Jeep stuff lately, but stop by LOST every once in a while if you need a KK fix!

Towels will definitely do the trick in a pinch for curtains. I tacked up some $3 curtain rods and used clothes pins to hold the towels on. That got me through most of the summer!