Where To Start... Where To Start.... :P

[SirJoey]

Comin' down to the wire now....

Removed the wheels, hubs, & repacked the bearings:









Took the opportunity to do a little painting on the springs & shackles, too:







Scrubbed & blacked the tires, polished the center caps & lug nuts.
And the end result...



Ah, the beauty of glossy black tires & freshly polished chrome!!
To quote Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz, "There's No Face Like Chrome"...

[pete42]

You did the inside bearings too, didn't you?

[SirJoey]

You did the inside bearings too, didn't you?

INSIDE bearings? WHAT?!! You mean there's TWO bearings?!!

Based on that pic, I KNEW somebody would ask that!

Yeah, I just took the pic before I pulled the hub off
& got too terribly greasy to handle my camera.

Fair question though, thanx!

BTW, should I do the other wheel as well?

[pete42]

OTHER WHEEL?.......your's has two?

[Ageless]

Yea, polish up the other wheel

[SirJoey]

OTHER WHEEL?.......your's has two?

Well, the mono-wheel model was nice, but just a tad too small, so I sprang for one of those high-dollar, 2-wheel jobs.
Also, I discovered this THIRD wheel hidden under a vinyl conver on the side! Can't even IMAGINE what THAT'S supposed to be for.
Maybe it's like an extra or something, in case U tear up or lose one of the others....

[shortycas]

way to go, Joey!
Looks awesome!!

[Ageless]

Third tire is placed there to balance the weight. Don not remove it or springs on opposite side will sag.

[Alan Wood]

Nicely done. Do you plan on a test trip before the big one?

[SirJoey]

way to go, Joey!
Looks awesome!!

Thanx, Shorty! Most kind of U! I appreciate that!

Third tire is placed there to balance the weight. Don not remove it or springs on opposite side will sag.

Ah, I see. Thanx! I knew it was there for SOME reason!

Nicely done. Do you plan on a test trip before the big one?

Thanx, Alan! Ya know, that's not a bad idea.

Maybe I'll drag it down the road somewhere one day this week or next weekend. Even though
I used it extensively, & drug this little trailer all over creation as a cargo trailer, it still might be
a wise idea to give it a little "shakedown cruise" before striking out on a 1600 mile round trip!

Just over 4 weeks till I head out. I'm counting the days!

[SirJoey]

The camp shower is almost complete!

Based on a suggestion from a member here (Gus Marquardt), I picked up an old, large pressure
cooker from eBay, after first contacting Gus for a little guidance & suggestions as to which
one would be a good choice.

Gus suggested building up the thickness of the lid in the center, with aluminum weld, before
tapping it. Although I can weld STEEL, I can't weld ALUMINUM, nor was I sure exactly what I
needed as far as fittings, etc, so Gus generously volunteered to do the lid work for me! Yes,
there are still a few people left in the world who are actually that nice!

Anyway, when the cooker arrived, I re-boxed the lid, & shipped it off to Gus. Now get this...
this man not only did the aluminum welding for me, he did the necessary tapping, & even ordered
& picked up all the parts I needed, a new presssure gauge, new relief valve which he set to the
proper relief pressure, installed the shrader valve, the diptube & diptube brass fitting!

Even though I assured Gus that I still had weeks to go before leaving, so there was no rush at all,
he still knocked it out in short order, & shipped it back to me! All I have to do is pick up a
sprayer head & hose, & she'll be ready to use!


All in all, a good bit of work, & he wanted nothing more in return, than payment for parts &
return shipping! How's THAT for being a great guy?!! Here's a few pics of what I like to call the
"patented Gus Marquardt Pressure-Cooker Shower"...









To top it all off, Gus' work is TOP NOTCH! The aluminum weld is beautiful, & he even polished up
my old dull lid, & supplied me with a new lid gasket, lubed & ready to use!

I hope this doesn't cause Gus to get swamped with requests, unless of course, he want's to start
a little sideline business here, LOL, but he really deserves the credit for not only doing great
work, & volunteering to DO the work, but for the original idea in the first place!

Thanx a ton, Gus! U R da MAN!!!

[kstephenson]

Hello
Where do we get the plans to build this shower?
thanks

[SirJoey]

Hello
Where do we get the plans to build this shower?
thanks

I don't think there are any actual "plans". This is Gus Marquardt's baby.
He DID mention it in a couple of different posts:

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... ure+cooker

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... ure+cooker

It just seemed like a great idea to me, for an easy way to have hot,
pressurized water anywhere, as long as U have a camp stove or even
a camp fire!

Gus is a great guy, & U can drop him a PM if U have any questions!

[SirJoey]

Thought I'd toss this in, on the outside chance that it may be of some small help to someone just
starting out on their conversion project...

My original sketch of the wall unit. Before attempting construction, I first took careful measurements
of the wall, window size & location, microwave, & television, then drew everything to scale, with each
block in the sketch representing 2 inches. Being an amateur, this helped me tremendously!



I had originally planned to have the fridge under it, but later realized that the fridge was too deep,
& the door would end up being nearly against the bed, so it got moved up front, under the closet.

Had also planned to raise the microwave slightly, to be on the same level as the cabinet doors,
but during construction, I decided it would be too hard to do, given my extremely limited carpentry
skills. Now, I wish I had gone ahead & attempted it. Had I succeeded, it would've looked MUCH nicer.

One deviation from the sketched plan which WAS a slight improvement, was to move my wiring holes
into the corners, instead of going down the center, as in the sketch.

I've already excitedly done several nights of "camping" in my back yard
with this thing, but the actual maiden voyage is scheduled for mid-June!

Thanx to everyone here for tips, pointers, advice, & especially INSPIRATION! I'm painfully aware
that this thing's not even up to AVERAGE standards on this site, but I'm still pretty happy with it.
Yes, I made several bloopers along the way, but the past 5 months have ended up being a learning
& rewarding experience, and all in all, my "new" camper turned out better than I expected!

[Camper]

Hello Sir Joey
I have enjoyed watching your progress on your trailer conversion.You did a great job.I am currently in the process of doing my own conversion ,how ever i am starting with an open trailer as the base for an enclosed trailer.Check mine out and tell me what you think.
Have you used your trailer yet?
Happy camping
Derrick H