7x16 Conversion from Georgia

[m.colley]

I am thinking about using 3/4" plywood and gluing on the Formica... That would be another first for me... so I am not sure how that will turn out.

Gluing Formica down is a piece of cake. Just follow all the standard guidelines. And a nice routed edge works great also.
I used a strip of oak around the plywood and that was my exposed wood surface which when stained, looked great.]

Hey Don,
Bob is right, formica is easy to do, specially if you have a router and laminate trimming bit. The wife and I almost went the laminate route ourselves, then she saw what the stain did for the BC plywood and she changed her mind. Its funny, once she saw the counter top stained with the sink sitting in the cutout and the painted trim behind the top, she found out how much she liked it and how much room she'll have on the counter-top. I'm just glad that this part of the project is almost over with.


Martin

[McDave]

Martin,
That's some beautiful work there. You guys are gonna make me have to step up my game, a LOT!
I don't know if you have committed to an A/C, but here is some info. Pugged in Mach 3 last night 7:00, O.A.T. 97f, at 9:00pm inside temp 62f !!!! 6x12 I" polyiso walls & ceiling, no headliner or wall covering or flooring and lots of vents and holes yet to fill. It's a 13,500 so that may be some overkill, and it looks pretty big on that roof. Only weighs like 90#.
Anyways, that was the first trial run. I think it'll work.

McDave

[m.colley]

Martin,
That's some beautiful work there. You guys are gonna make me have to step up my game, a LOT!
I don't know if you have committed to an A/C, but here is some info. Pugged in Mach 3 last night 7:00, O.A.T. 97f, at 9:00pm inside temp 62f !!!! 6x12 I" polyiso walls & ceiling, no headliner or wall covering or flooring and lots of vents and holes yet to fill. It's a 13,500 so that may be some overkill, and it looks pretty big on that roof. Only weighs like 90#.
Anyways, that was the first trial run. I think it'll work.

McDave

Thanks Dave for the compliments, its been a while since I did any serious finish type cabinet/carpentry work I had almost forgot how much I enjoyed it. I've built alot of stuff out of wood recently but its all been rough items, like deer stands, shooting houses, and framing work.

Its funny that you asked about the AC. I've just about resigned myself to having to use a rooftop unit. The wife doesn't want me to have to build a cabinet that's tall enough to house the AC because she's afraid its gonna block the view of her cabinets so I made her a deal, I'm going to mock something up out of cheap lumber just so she can have a visual. If it fails, a rooftop unit will be installed, if it passes we'll go with the window ac.

Just for clarification I'm not totally against the rooftop unit. My concern is as you said the " overkill".. Oh and the power draw from the rooftop vs the window unit. The window unit I intend on using is an 8000 btu Energy Star rated unit. It pulls 2.1 pints of humidity per hour and only pulls 5.4 A @ 115V. and I can buy it for $189.00 .Of course the Coleman's amp draw is almost 3 times the window AC and its almost 3 times the cost. The up side to the Rooftop is ease of install.


Martin

[McDave]

Hey Martin,
I have become very aware of just how small these spaces are, as I am sure you have. My trailer is smaller, but really I'm building for single occupancy, mostly. With 2 people comes more of everything. So it can get small(er) fast. I think we will have to "think outside the box", quite literally, and move some things out of the cabin and claim some of the sq ft that we are moving, but not using. Like the roof, undercarriage and tongue. There are some things you don't really need to see anyways.
My thoughts....

McDave

[Hader]

Martin,

How about through the floor? Would your layout allow it?

[flboy]

Martin, if you can tie into the metal ceiling joists and sidewall, you can effectively build a suspended cabinet for your AC that will not go to the floor or block the view up front when in bed. I did the full length cabinet mainly because I needed to house the refrigerator and etc. as I did. Also, my AC could be closer to the sidewall except that I wanted the face flush with the Refrigerator front.

Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

[m.colley]

Hey Martin,
I have become very aware of just how small these spaces are, as I am sure you have. My trailer is smaller, but really I'm building for single occupancy, mostly. With 2 people comes more of everything. So it can get small(er) fast. I think we will have to "think outside the box", quite literally, and move some things out of the cabin and claim some of the sq ft that we are moving, but not using. Like the roof, undercarriage and tongue. There are some things you don't really need to see anyways.
My thoughts....

McDave

Oh yeah, definitely getting smaller and I've given a couple of different scenarios a look at and I'm still not done. I'm also going to mock up something similar to what Iconfab built towards the ramp door with one exception, I'm gonna see if I can put a pin/swivel on one corner closest to the wall so that the frame can be moved out of the way when not in use. Kind of like the way a bi-fold door pivots. If it works its one more possible solution.


Martin

[m.colley]

Martin, if you can tie into the metal ceiling joists and sidewall, you can effectively build a suspended cabinet for your AC that will not go to the floor or block the view up front when in bed. I did the full length cabinet mainly because I needed to house the refrigerator and etc. as I did. Also, my AC could be closer to the sidewall except that I wanted the face flush with the Refrigerator front.

Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

Thought about that and haven't given up on the idea. Also thought about something in the ramp door area as well but need to lay out the tape for the possible bed frame first, might be able to get to it this weekend. Believe me when I say I'm trying to exhaust all possible/practical solutions before I spend the money on the rooftop unit. I can do alot with the $$$$ I'll save between buying the window AC versus the rooftop.

Martin

[flboy]

Thought about that and haven't given up on the idea. Also thought about something in the ramp door area as well but need to lay out the tape for the possible bed frame first, might be able to get to it this weekend. Believe me when I say I'm trying to exhaust all possible/practical solutions before I spend the money on the rooftop unit. I can do alot with the $$$$ I'll save between buying the window AC versus the rooftop.

Martin

Is your rear door a Ramp or two barn Doors? I mounted an AC in my ramp on my first CTC build. It worked real good and just took about a minute to put in place when I set up camp.

I

[flboy]

Thought about that and haven't given up on the idea. Also thought about something in the ramp door area as well but need to lay out the tape for the possible bed frame first, might be able to get to it this weekend. Believe me when I say I'm trying to exhaust all possible/practical solutions before I spend the money on the rooftop unit. I can do alot with the $$$$ I'll save between buying the window AC versus the rooftop.

Martin

Is your rear door a Ramp or two barn Doors? I mounted an AC in my ramp on my first CTC build. It worked real good and just took about a minute to put in place when I set up camp.

Old build- Pic of AC

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=50647&start=105

[m.colley]

Is your rear door a Ramp or two barn Doors? I mounted an AC in my ramp on my first CTC build. It worked real good and just took about a minute to put in place when I set up camp.

Old build- Pic of AC
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=50647&start=105

Mines a ramp and its the easiest place in reality for me to add a AC now other than the roof. I know the wife told me that we ought to put a rooftop on it but I really like the idea of using the window unit. I'm gonna do some investigating tomorrow while I'm working on the CTC. I may shift it to the left side some ( compared to your old build) since my future bed will already be on that side once I build it. Thanks for the reminder of your previous build, its given me a couple of more ideas to consider.


Martin

[m.colley]

Had a chance to work most of the day today on my build. I got quite a bit done. I finally got my LED strip lights installed after installing the upper trim. Man those things are bright. I hung all the lath strips to hide the edge seams on the plywood and replaced all the factory screws in the plywood walls with pan head screws and hinged button screw caps. Once I dp all my touch up painting you won't see any screw heads anywhere on the interior.
.
Here's the dimmer & rocker switch panel I built and installed. It controls the upper LED strips separately and the overhead LED lights as well. A single rocker switch controls the overheads but they can be turned off individually at the light themselves.

I also got all the trim work done in the V-nose section. Now I just need to do some painting.

Tomorrow I plan to do some trim work, some painting. and possibly get my plumbing done.


Martin

[McDave]

That looks great, Martin. I'm a huge fan of indirect lighting. It's making your trailer look a lot larger than I know it to be.
You could have a Sock Hop in there before the bike and other cargo go in...
I just made that up.. I've never been to a Sock Hop, so I have no idea...But still, it looks large.

McDave

[m.colley]

That looks great, Martin. I'm a huge fan of indirect lighting. It's making your trailer look a lot larger than I know it to be.
You could have a Sock Hop in there before the bike and other cargo go in...
I just made that up.. I've never been to a Sock Hop, so I have no idea...But still, it looks large.

McDave

Thanks Dave, same here. I like the indirect lighting too. We'll use the overheads for loading most of the time and use the side mounts in the evening when we're winding down. I call the side LED's mood lighting, specially when their dimmed down. Your right too when you say it "looks" bigger than it really is.

The whole idea behind our build was to give us a few creature comforts without cluttering it up. Both the better half and I love to camp, but putting up a tent in the dark isn't fun and I had to face it, at 56 years old, I'm not getting any younger. Getting up off the ground even with a air mattress isn't getting any easier. The wife and I still keep our duffle bag packed that can be thrown on the Roadking if we want to rough it. I've got a 4 person tent, ground cloth, single burner butane stove, coffee pot, 2 coffee mugs, cream and sugar, hatchet, air mattress, pump and blanket packed in it. Strap my light sleeping bag and pillow(s) on the outside, fill a saddle bag with a couple of days worth of clothes and we're off. I've packed it up so many times that I can have the bike packed and ready to roll in fifteen minutes . When the wife and I first met she didn't believe I could be on the road that quick and made me a bet, she'd pay for our weekend in Cherokee NC if I could have it ready to roll by the time she got to my house, needless to say she lost .

Martin

[chiefairwrench]

That made mine look like I slapped it together great job Looks awesome