A new 6x10 build from Nashville!

[attomica]

Hi,
Have, you made any more progress on your build? The exterior is gorgeous. We're looking forward to the interior.
Take care,
Tom

Hi, Tom. Thanks for asking. Nashville’s winter was uncharacteristically ill-suited to working on outside projects. I spent the whole time looking at the trailer, longing to get going on it while it was either too wet or cold to log any time. The past two weekends, we finally got the floor frame undercoating fully applied and have replaced the factory OSB floor boards with pressure treated plywood. I’ve created a kick-ass propane tank bracket for our 11lb tank on the exterior side of the trailer and will cover that soon. And we’ve been gathering parts and components so when we get to the different stages, we’ll have them here at the ready. We’ve got most of the solar system components, the MaxxFan, windows, etc. I have a set of aluminum tubing on order to build the roof set-up that will support the solar panels and the side and back awnings. Today, I’m getting some plywood to start laying out the electrical system components.

I will certainly get back to chronicling the build when progress resumes in earnest.

 

[Grummy-TNT]

Reminder if you have forgot...

While everything they installed inside is out, don't forget a substantial hose down from every possible angle. My "screw less" side walls leaked substantially when you sprayed water into the seams from the rear.

This was happening right after I gutted it and had the tongue way down. Rain ran off the roof, and down the side walls right into the seams.

 

[attomica]

Okay, I have clearly not achieved my goal to maintain a consistent account of progress. Sorry for that.

Here's my propane tank mount. I fashioned it after some other similar side-mount style brackets I've seen made by other companies. I designed in on the computer and made a couple cardboard models before having if finally made of steel. It's laser-cut, then bent, then reinforcement elements were welded in, and then it was powder coated black. I also adhered four rubber pads for the tank to rest against. I intend to secure the tank to the bracket with a lock of some kind so we can be away from the trailer rand not worry about thieves. I was thinking about plumbing some sort of line, but we'll be using the tank for either a stove or a grill with will each be placed in different areas, so I' guess I'll just use a long hose.

Here it is with the 11lb. tank in. It has a flat floor with a semi-circular lip welded in that fits inside the tank's bottom and holds it in place. There's just one strap in place in the pics, but I designed the bracket to have slots for three straps, which is what I'll have in place when we're actually on the move.

I made an inside brace that bridges two studs for the bracket to mount to. You can see the four holes to which the bracket mounts. Those black circles between the brace and the trailer wall are rubber washers. I used those both inside and outside. The tightened mounting bolts will compress them and be good for keeping moisture out. It worked out beautifully. The whole set-up is super solid.

 

[attomica]

I spent a good bit of time learning about electrical systems for RVs. Turns out it's not all that complicated. Of course, you have to pay attention to details and have a bit of mechanical aptitude, but it's totally understandable. My system will be located up in the V-nose and the components are all attached to a piece of plywood.

The power requirements we will have are pretty light (again with the puns). Inside, we'll have four LED puck lights in the cabin, an LED strip in the galley, and a couple 12v automotive sockets in the cabin and also in the galley. From the inverter, I'll have one 120v outlet in the cabin and also one in the galley. Outside, we'll have LED string lights hung under both the side and the back awnings. I honestly don't know how much any 120v devices will be used, but it seems like that system should be included.

The heart of the system is an SOK 206aH LiFePo4 battery. I used YouTube videos by Will Prowse as a guide for my electrics and he seemed to really like this one. It's well-built and has important features.

I may have mentioned earlier that I have my solar panels and components. We bought an assembled kit from Renogy during a black Friday sale. From that kit, I mounted the solar charge controller to the board in the top left, then the inverter in the middle, and the 12v fuse block on the right.

Here's the assembly test fit in the V-nose.

I wanted to be able to remove the battery from the trailer without too much effort, so I installed Anderson connectors on the battery cables.

Wiring the trailer is currently under way. That will also include mounting the solar panels so I can run the cabling down to the charge controller, but before I can mount the panels, I have to mount the roof bars. So, it's clearly a very involved phase of the project. That, coupled with the fact that it's going to be "hotter-n-****" for a while means I will have to get to it when I can. Once that is all completed, we can move on to insulating and interior construction.

 

[JasenC]

It's looking great.

 

[attomica]

I was able to get my solar panel assemblies (SPAs) put together this weekend. There are two SPAs, a front one and a back one, with the Max Fan between them.

Here's the roof layout:

A SPA is composed of two roof bars and two solar panels, attached to make it one cohesive unit. This will make getting them on the roof and mounting them an easier process, but with the ability to remove a panel if needed. The roof bars are 1.5" square aluminum tube with welded-on footpads of 3" square aluminum tube, cut at 45° to give it a better look and allow access to the bottom to drill through and run attachment hardware. On the driver's side, I installed plugs in the end of the tubes to keep debris out and give a more finished look. On the passenger side, I'm leaving the tubes open because I will be using a "slide-in bar awning" design. The roof bar at the back of the trailer has a different footpad design because the same sort of "slide-in bar awning" will be used there to cover the back galley area.

I've made some progress in wiring the trailer for both the 12V and 120V systems, and that can continue as soon as I get the SPAs mounted so I can get the cabling routed down to the electrical center.

 

[featherliteCT1]

Your panel mounting system looks great, especially the angle cut feet. So does your work table with the routed edges and beveled table leg attachments. Much attention to detail!

 

[twisted lines]

So, we're going to hope that A) We never have to deal with a flat and, There'll be plenty of space to deal with it if we do.

Reminds me to finish my spare mount in the same area;

As for changing tire.
My last flat was 1/2 Hour? into the drive from a motel just did a walk around tires were fine.
Had it been conveniently placed such as your’s, Would have be so much easer to change it
As it was I drove that rental trailer on a narrow freeway, flashers on at a safe speed Till there was a turn off!
No tire at all.
Job payed well, load was very small and very valuable as was I

Same story every day of the week don’t feel safe don’t do it!

Midway USA with

Rack feet idea may get stolen The 11lb mount, this is a reminder where the picture was fits in this category

 

[attomica]

Much thanks for your compliments and comments!

I got the SPAs assembled and onto the top of the trailer. It all fits just right! I love it when things work. I still need to tidy the wiring, but that should be fairly easy since I gave myself enough room under the panels to work on that.

I'm going to hopefully use the coming three-day weekend to make some good progress. I say "hopefully" because it looks like rain chances are pretty high.

 

[Onajourney]

Questioning the direction of your front air vent. Might be a rain catcher.

 

[attomica]

Questioning the direction of your front air vent. Might be a rain catcher.

Oddly, that's the way it came from the factory. Still, it doesn't matter. I've blocked and sealed-off both that one and the one on the other side to eliminate that concern.

 

[attomica]

Took advantage of the great weather this weekend. Our trailer is now fully-insulated. Every space between the wall studs and the roof bows is filled with tight-fitting 1" foam board and under the floor boards is 1.5". I've gone through and filled, then trimmed every nook, cranny, and crack with expanding foam. It actually seems to make quite a difference. We got started one late morning and when we opened the back barn doors, the interior felt substantially cooler than the temps outside. Like the over night temps inside hadn't yet evened out to match the current outside temps.

We've spent quite a bit of time researching showers. Ours will be an outside one, so we've considered the propane heated type in a Pelican box mounted on the outside, the Yakima Road shower, The Geyser sponge concept, and the myriad of portable shower solutions on Amazon and elsewhere. Everything we encountered of course had its negative and positive points, but there was just more compromise than we wanted. Then we came across the Waterport. (thewaterport.com) It too has it's negs, but the positives are more numerous for us. So, we got that in and figured out where it will reside outside the trailer. I had to get an inside bracket made to bridge between two the of the wall studs. Since the Waterport will weigh around 50lbs when full, I had this bracket made with 3/16" steel.

Here it is, getting holes drilled...

...and here it is installed. The four bold in the middle correspond with the holes in the outside bracket.

The outside bracket from Waterport is super sturdy, welded from heavy gauge steel and powder coated. I put a pretty good application of Sikaflex marine sealant on the back of the plate and around the bolt holes to prevent water intrusion.

So, the tank has a bracket that slides over the mounted bracket, which holds it in place. There's a hole on the mounted bracket that matches a hole on the tank bracket through which you can put a bolt & nut or even a padlock to prevent theft of the tank. We chose to mount just over the fender.

We also got started on finishing the ceiling. We're using a utility panel from Lowe's, called RevolutionPly. It's pretty thin, but robust enough for me to surface mount our LED puck lights and it takes stain nicely. We'll be using three full-length strips to completely cover the ceiling. This way there will just be two seams we can cover with a thin trim strip. We got started with the center strip, which is where the Maxx fan is, so I had to cut the opening for that.

After the ceiling is done, we'll get going on either the walls, which will be painted shiplap planks, or the floor, which will be rolled sheet vinyl with an oak plank appearance. We really want to get this thing done. We've reserved a site at a state park on New Year's Eve, so it's gotta be done by then.

 

[pchast]

You've made a good start.
If your able to keep at it you will be.

 

[attomica]

The past couple of weekends have been productive. The ceiling is mostly done. Just have to stain the trim strips and pin nail them up on the two seams. The LED puck lights were easy to wire and mount. They're surface-mounting, so I just had to drill a hole for wire passage and screw them on. You may notice the right side is lighter than the middle and left sides. We got our staining sequence confused and that's what happened. Luckily, we just had to unscrew the puck lights and apply another coat of stain, but it's no fun, doing that upside down, but the whole ceiling is now consistent.

The floor was an easy install. We're using sheet vinyl so it was just lay it in and cut it to fit. We got the thickest vinyl Lowe's carries and it feels nice on the feet. We didn't trowel on any adhesive, but instead used carpet tape. That stuff is strong and I suspect will work perfectly.

We got going on the walls too. We're using 1/2" thick x 8" high shiplap planks. They're surprisingly light-weight and install easily. We found planks that were already primed, so we just rolled on a coat of cabinet paint in our chosen color, let it dry over night, and started screwing it in. I really like this look with the hidden fasteners. The blue tape marks the studs so we know where to position the windows. You can see the evened-out ceiling finish here too.

Once we get the walls completed, we'll install the three RV windows - two 12" x 30" on the driver's side and one on the passenger side. That will be an exciting and intimidating experience, I'm sure.

 

[nsfr1206]

It’s not so bad putting in windows. Just measure thrice and cut once. Be sure to use some blue tape so you don’t scratch trailer with saw and it’s very nice to have an extra pair of hands when you are ready to install windows.


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[nsfr1206]

And it’s looking good! I did nickel gap on my trailer. People seem to think it looks good. [emoji1]


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[Camper2]

I looked at that same flooring at Lowe's one day... I want to put it in my trailer too.

 

[attomica]

To those who've followed my progress or are even a little interested... I haven't updated in a while because I had to relocate. All the selling, buying, packing and moving just takes gobs of time. Plus, the new house needs a bit of work. Sooo, the trailer conversion has been paused for now. I'm sorta bummed because I really want to get this trailer done so we can go out and see the world! Well, our part of it anyways. There is a plus though...

...the new house has a monster garage!

I'll be able to fit all my stuff in there with plenty of room to work on and finish the trailer INSIDE! I'm stoked!

Hopefully, I'll be able to resume before too long, but you know how things go. I'll detail more as I get to it.

 

[chopperwalker]

Are those doors 10 foot? That is a great space.

 

[Bezoar]

Looking great - can't wait to see the interior come together once you are settled!