7x7x16 V Nose Cargo Trailer Conversion, First Build

[jr9744]

jr9744, Howdy;

jr9744, Howdy;

Yep, you're getting good at building boxes. Did you put some sort of venting in it ?
Most electrical stuff like that have a small fan to help cool it, but the fan needs
to be able to draw some outside air to do that. Just a heads-up...

hank

I left the back of the box open. Plus I added some vents on the side and on top. I can easily add a fan to circulate some air. You think the PD4045 needs outside air though?

It already has one, front bottom Left, the venting is to dissipate the heat so the fan does not have to work as much.
The fan should only need to activate when there is a heavy load or when the battery runs down which make the
unit work harder.

hank

Cool. You know that fan has never ran. I'll make sure it can get air flow.

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[McDave]

Hey jr,
Where ya at? You OK? Give us a thumbs up...

McDave

[norgewizard]

[quote="jr9744"]Allright, so testing the shower is on hold because we are at about 20 degrees today. I plan to buy some more 'rv' antifreeze just to do some testing. Now the tanks are empty since my trip.

Since I now know that I can stick to state parks for the time being and be able to shower and use the toilet there, I'm focusing on the floor, floor insulation, and fixing the pin holes I put in my roof with the solar panels.

I've basically have done all the sanding and painting by hand. Preparing floors is very labor intensive, but I'm happy with my result of the first panel. It can only get better. A before/after pick


Inside the trailer


Considering I've never done this before, I'm very pleased with the results. 9 more panels to go!!

jr....the floors look great I did a restaurant in Houston about 30 years ago using this same material. About 5000 s.f. After we had it installed and 1 coat of
finish on it we went back and beat the He## out of it with some towing chains.......gave it a distressed ....older....look. We then put 2 more coats of
finish on for protection. Held up for 5 years in a commercial application. Owners were ecstatic with the appearance. Keep on keeping on!!!

Tim

[jr9744]

I'm still here cracking on the tiny guys. The last few weeks have been super hectic.

So around the beginning of February I took a trip to Florida to really see how my solar performed. I went about 3 weeks while boon docking or in state parks with no hookups and I can report that my solar kicked ass. I can run my fridge 24/7, my lights, and pretty much anything else I need. My laptop and my phone and all my electronics stayed charged with no issues. Per my Renogy charge controller, the lowest I got one night was like 68% left in my batteries. However, once the sun comes up, my batteries are back at 100% within an hour. Although I complained earlier about the Renogy display, the actual device does an awesome job of keeping my batteries charged. And, the batteries are absolutely awesome.

I have been making progress on the tiny, so here are some pics:

I had to replace the hose that connected my black tank to my black tank blade (It was leaking). Thankfully I went to an rv place that gave me the correct plumbing for free since it was less than a foot run.


Since I'm in Florida, we needed to get the AC in (Been in the 85's lately) Hole for AC output vent


AC Output vent installed


Inside View of vent.


AC Base frame built and AC in place:



Hole on top for AC input air (My step dad debated on needing this vent. AC works fine without it. But I decided to put it in anyways)


AC Input vent installed:


AC input vent from the inside:



Top of AC built:



AC sealed in with insulation. I'll be cutting 1/8 inch underlayment to finish it off:


The ac clearly had a tray to collect water. So we cut a hole there and tied a tube to it for water output. We later changed it to a funnel which let the water drain better.


We also installed the Max Can Fan. Vent that came with the trailer off:


Max Can Fan base in place:


Fan Installed. We still have to add the bottom trim piece that goes inside the trailer. we'll do this once we finish the ceiling.



So up next is getting in some windows! I bought a regular house window from Lowe's and hope to get it in this weekend.

Some random pics of my boondocking:

My first ever fire in Ocala National Park. $8 per night with no hookups. My solar did me well.


Withlacooche River Park in Dade City. I stood here for 2 weeks completely off Grid. $10 per night. Nice park.




If you notice that I also put up the pine boards on the side and back of my trailer. The back is done. But the sides we just put up so the wood will be out of my way during my trip to Florida. We will have to take them down and put them up correctly soon.

I'm getting close to getting this done! My goal now is to have it ready by April 1st. Then I'm headed to Las Vegas!!

[McDave]

Well there he is. I was gettin' worried about ya. So, wow you were busy but got a lot of camping in. That's cool that your solar has the poop to do the job, my needs are about the same as yours, Mostly just refrig and some LEDs for a couple hours and the pump for a few minutes.
The T&G looks pretty damn sharp in there. Must be starting to feel like a cabin when you are in the woods. It will be nice to have A/C if your heading to Vegas. Let me ask you about the A/C vent on top. Where is that located? Is that for cooling the compressor?
Sounds like you had a pretty good time and your rig is working well, Shower and bathroom and plumbing OK? Did you get the water heater lined out? Inquiring minds want to know...

McDave

[flboy]

Ditto on glad to hear the solar did the job. I figured it would. Good stuff.

Assuming the top vent is to draw air in and is isolated from output vent with foam board or etc... I think your AC will work fine. Just make sure input and output air flow is isolated and that you are getting good airflow out through that back vent. Nice work!

Good to hear from you again. :-)

Which Ocala NF campground were you in? I

I will be on Withlacoochee in two weeks for Devils Creek Dual Sport. We rally and camp at Sertoma Youth Ranch near Dade City and ride two 125 mile offroad loops over the two days. It will be a good time for sure.

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[jr9744]

Sounds like you had a pretty good time and your rig is working well, Shower and bathroom and plumbing OK? Did you get the water heater lined out? Inquiring minds want to know...

McDave

We still have to take out the water heater and open it up (Way past the return date on Amazon. Warranty may still be good with the company, but that may be a pain). We think some inner tube or something broke since it just dumps water when we turn It on. So since the water heater is down, the shower has turned more into a 'storage' of sorts. This has moved down my list because most places have showers (I didn't know this before), so it's not as critical.

The toilet and the plumbing are rock solid now, but I had to go through these things:

- Black tank was leaking. Had to completely take the toilet off and black tank out to fix.
- While up north, I forced the petal on my toilet down (It was frozen), and broke the mechanism inside the petal. $60 fix.
- I lost the cap for my black tank vent, so 7 bucks to get a new one.
- Related to plumbing, my one way water valve froze while I was up north. Because of this, my whole water system would not pump water. I had to inspect the system and realize the one way valve was the culprit. I just took it out for now.
- Leaks. I spent tons of money on Dicor and making sure I sealed every place where my solar was. While I was in Virginia it was raining and showed me all my leaks. I vowed to get them fixed, cause leaks and cold weather really sucks. But, I no longer have any leaks.
- Framing...The upper shelf that holds my batteries actually broke! This one put me on edge when it happened since my solar was my lively hood. But we removed all the batteries and rebuilt that frame so that it won't budge for anything now.

I think that about rounds off my 'issues'. I'm really at a place now where I'm ready to start sealing things up. The only reason I'm waiting on the roof is because I need a Cellular setup to pull in cell phone signal for my data needs. I'll probably get some Yagi antennas in a MIMO configuration tied to a Verizon/ATT&T/Tmobile hotspots. I'll be getting hotspots for all those carriers (Remember I will work on the road, so needs at least 50 hours a week of internet). I also want to get one of those hdtv external rv antennas (Taking recommendations). After I get these in, i'll be done with the roof.

[jr9744]

Assuming the top vent is to draw air in and is isolated from output vent with foam board or etc... I think your AC will work fine. Just make sure input and output air flow is isolated and that you are getting good airflow out through that back vent. Nice work!

Which Ocala NF campground were you in? I

I will be on Withlacoochee in two weeks for Devils Creek Dual Sport. We rally and camp at Sertoma Youth Ranch near Dade City and ride two 125 mile offroad loops over the two days. It will be a good time for sure.

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The top vent is to draw in air in. We did a pretty good job of sealing the hot exhaust air. It comes out that vent at full force.

I stood in a campground called Shanty Pond. There was really nobody there. I'd go back though. It's was a good experience.

Enjoy Withlacoochee and take pictures! I'm considering getting some sort of Bike. Probably more of a cruising street Bike. But a dirt bike may just work.

[flboy]

.

I stood in a campground called Shanty Pond. There was really nobody there. I'd go back though. It's was a good experience.

Enjoy Withlacoochee and take pictures! I'm considering getting some sort of Bike. Probably more of a cruising street Bike. But a dirt bike may just work.

Thanks... I'll enjoy Withlacoochee. It is always a fun ride. It has hookups with water and electric and I can dump my tanks on exit. Going to try the electric water heater element out on the trip. Except for cooking on the stove, I wont need propane or run off solar. I'll just leave the converter on full time to run the DC lights and etc.. and pop the breaker for the solar panels.. I don't need to do that, but I do when I run off full hookups just so they not in the picture at all and I will be in a Oak Hammock anyhow where they will see very little sunlight.

Shanty Pond is just a few miles down the road from Salt Springs off of HWY 19 and about 8 miles from Lake Delancey where I have camped often. I'll have to drive through there and check it out next time I go by. I believe that one is seasonal and not open in the summer. Did they have a dump station when you exited?

Nice job on that rear vent. I can see it better on my bigger PC screen at home and can see you left the steel stud in tact. I like the way you installed your AC. Kind of the same way I did mine except in the rear and you could still get a bike in from the ramp if you ever decide to do that.

[McDave]

Well, if your plumbing and toilet froze then chances are pretty good the water heater did as well. That's not a good thing.
You will likely find that a tube in the heat exchanger has split. You may be able to repair it, or not. So lesson learned on cold weather and plumbing. Those heaters have a thumbscrew at the bottom where the hoses connect, that may not be tight. That thumbscrew is to drain the heater. Water pump off, loosen thumbscrew and let the hose/wand hang down water will drain out. Check to see if it tight before you disassemble heater. If it is loose, it will leak like crazy.
OK, that's not bad at all for the first big test. Nice job jr.

McDave

[jr9744]

Shanty Pond is just a few miles down the road from Salt Springs off of HWY 19 and about 8 miles from Lake Delancey where I have camped often. I'll have to drive through there and check it out next time I go by. I believe that one is seasonal and not open in the summer. Did they have a dump station when you exited?

Nice job on that rear vent. I can see it better on my bigger PC screen at home and can see you left the steel stud in tact. I like the way you installed your AC. Kind of the same way I did mine except in the rear and you could still get a bike in from the ramp if you ever decide to do that.

Shanty Pond had water and a dump station when you exit. The host said the pump was broke, so no water. I wasn't ready to use the dump station yet. My first experience with dumping my black tank was at Withlacoochee. I thought that stuff would just flow out, but not really (More of a manual process than I thought). Also the host told me there was a mama bear with cubs around C loop I think. So I walked through there with my pooch, but really didn't explore that area too much.

I think I saw Lake Delancey, I'm going to look it up.

Yup, my ac is pretty identical to yours. Your last rig/setup is pretty much my template when I'm looking for ideas. Since I was in a rush for the ac input vent, I just went with a cheap inlet from HD. You have a very nice and fancy Camco inlet.

[jr9744]

Well, if your plumbing and toilet froze then chances are pretty good the water heater did as well. That's not a good thing.
You will likely find that a tube in the heat exchanger has split. You may be able to repair it, or not. So lesson learned on cold weather and plumbing. Those heaters have a thumbscrew at the bottom where the hoses connect, that may not be tight. That thumbscrew is to drain the heater. Water pump off, loosen thumbscrew and let the hose/wand hang down water will drain out. Check to see if it tight before you disassemble heater. If it is loose, it will leak like crazy.
OK, that's not bad at all for the first big test. Nice job jr.

McDave

Yup, I've learned some hard lessons with letting my trailer sit in freezing weather. I'm gonna see if that screw is loose today. If that is all it is, it will be great. I'll keep you posted. If its not the screw, I really hope we can repair it. That is one expensive mistake.

[jr9744]

Well, we got our first window in today!!! It was pretty easy to install with all the help I had (Step-Dad, Nephews, NIeces....). Having a window really makes a world of difference! Starting to really feel like a tiny house.

Inside view before we sealed it all up:


Inside view with it sealed up:


Looking outside:


Outside view:


This week we'll put the pine sideing back in correctly and finally be done with the right side of the wall!!

As far as windows go, i'll add one more on the other side for a total of two. I was going to put one on the ramp, but I think two will be good for now.

[flboy]

The window looks really nice. It looks big enough as an emergency exit if the door was barricaded or etc.. Good to always have a second way out since the RV doors open out and it wouldn't take much.

I know that is for a house... so how did you seal that? The RV windows have a flange that pulls tight with Dicor tape to seal. I have never thought about a regular house window or how to seal it well ?

[McDave]

That does look like a tiny house! That should brighten things up a lot for you.
Sure is nice to have some helpers around.
Nice job, jr.

McDave