Search & Rescue CTC

[svu3r93]

I'm new to this site, but have been lurking for about a month. I am extremely impressed with the ideas, craftmanship, and enthusiasm shown by many CT owners! You should be proud of what you have created.

I am in the middle of a renovation of a conversion I have been working on for about eight years. I purchased a Haulmark in 2002 to transport an ATV for Search & Rescue missions....we average about 60 or so a year that involve ATV's, so it is nice to have everything in one place. Over the years, I had added insulation, a front cabinet, dedicated battery, and painted the walls and floor. This past October, I decided to re-do everything, and construct something that better suited my needs for over-night SAR missions (along with camping) by adding more storage, upgrade the lighting, add a stereo system, and give everything inside a "cleaner" look. The first pictures show what the trailer looked like last summer after I painted the floor.


As you can see, it works, but I felt it could be more functional. Add a large ATV into the trailer, and you really cut down on space.

When I started to tear things apart this last October, my first concern to address was the problem of dirt-road dust entering the trailer. I had heard from friends that the area in the front of their trailers (all Haulmarks) were very poorly sealed - with large gaps for dust to enter. Seems mine had the same problem, as you can see by the poor picture - the white streak is an air gap about 1/2" wide. I sealed the whole front area by the floor with foam, and also along the entire length of the side walls. I have read on this forum about the problems with using rolled insulation, but the area in the front of the trailer uses both rolled and 1" foam board, since there was a large area to fill. If I were to do it over again, I'd probaly just double up the foam board.



I'll post further details as soon as I upload more pictures to my album.

[svu3r93]

I had placed foam board in the channels of the wall beams.







Putting the walls back up.





No, I'm not asleep....just doing some detail painting in the rear corner.



Finished with repainting the interior. Yes, that's a kerosene heater I was using that day....it was below freezing outside....but the door is being kept open. The thermometer got up to 90 degrees inside!



Starting the framing for the new cabinet system. I used 1.5" x 1.5" pine -trying to keep everything lightweight, yet fairly strong. The plywood that was used is 1/3" thickness.



EVERYTHING is screwed together in this system, so that I can get to things later if needed. (Disregard the hammer - no nails were used.)







I have added the plywood to the system, with the idea of cutting the areas for the shelving at a later date....when I figure out the sizes I would want. For the time being, I left the front right area open (if looking from back to front) since I have a portal that a propane hose is fed through from the outside to power a Buddy Heater on cold nights. I may re-think that area at a later time.



The start of the cut-outs. The lights you see will be replaced - never did really like them, and they are high wattage battery drainers.





Finished with the four main areas....just waiting to purchase the wood to build the doors. There will also be a cut-out area in the upper front. That area will house two speakers for a stereo, the fuse block, and inverter. I will be replacing the current lights with low-wattage L.E.D. light strips from www.hobbyking.com - down both sides of the trailer, along with an area above the "counter" area. 99.9% of the time, this trailer is used in areas where there is no power, so I am keeping everything electrical, DC., with the exception of the need to blow up the Aerobed - therefore I need the inverter. The Honda generator is housed in this trailer, but is used for SAR purposes...not for my personal use. As further progress is made, more pictures will be posted.

[droid_ca]

this is awesome
WELCOME
I to am looking at trailers for setting up for search and rescue

[rebapuck]

Good job. Thank you for your rescue efforts.

[pete42]

Now thats a good use of a trailer.
I like the way you aligned the insulation.
altho you said you will only be using DC voltage if you think you may use the trailer for other type of camping trips
120 ac may be a nice thing to have kind of late to run now but something to think about.

[svu3r93]

droid-ca - if you need any suggestions concerning ATV/CT/SAR, please let me know. I have been at it for almost 12 years. Check out this site: www.washoesar.com

rebapuck - thank you!

Pete42 - I had played around with the 120ac idea, but after 10 years of using this trailer with SAR, I just felt it wasn't needed. Maybe someday down the road, I'll upgrade to a slightly larger trailer - say a 6.5 x 12 V-nose, and start fresh. After spending hours and hours going through this forum, there are so many ideas that I'd really like to use, but my trailer size and the fact that I need to house a large ATV inside, prohibits me from incorporating some of them....large, pull-down bed, tiled floor (I often times will end up with a lot of snow on the ATV after a winter mission, and my current floor is showing the results), and a larger cabinet system. I do plan on changing out the ceiling material from FRP(?) to something else that looks a bit better, get rid of those carpeted roof/wall corner boards and replace them with something a bit more eye appealing, and add a tongue box. I am also limited on the size of the trailer that I own since I need to manually move it to and from my truck when hooking up....I need to watch the weight and keep it at a single axle.

[droid_ca]

Hey svu3r93
I'm in the process of setting up a search dog just getting the ball rolling so to speak I clicked that link and its not working..ok I got it to work just had to remove the period off the end....do you use dogs for your search work?

[svu3r93]

Personally, no I do not, but they are used in our county. I believe you can find information in the "Wilderness Finders" link under the "Specialized Teams" area on the left hand side of the webpage.

[svu3r93]

I got a few things done today with the wiring. I will be installing five LED light strips from www.hobbyking.com that take very little power to run. Each strip draws .4 amps, so the plan is having one strip above the counter space on one switch, and two strips down each side of the interior - switched individually. The OEM light, which will have the bulb replaced with a LED replacement, will be on a fourth switch, and the fifth switch will turn on the inverter for the few times I need AC power. A possible sixth switch will be installed when I get a stereo installed. The picture of the interior wall with the plywood off, shows the switches prewired, and will be run up through the cavity of the wall and over to the fuse block...which I still haven't fully decided on the placement. The switch plate is just a $1.98 blank wallplate from Home Depot that I drilled for the switches.

[svu3r93]

A little more work was accomplished today. I installed the battery in an area that I figured would work the best. I had debated on placing it on the tongue or inside the cabinets, and the inside location won out, mainly due to the ease of wiring everything. I ran 10 gauge wire from the battery to the fuse block, then 14 guage from there to the switches/accessories. At this time, I only have the OEM light wired to the switch - the LED light strips have not been installed because there are a few other steps I need to complete before that happens, and the stereo/speakers have yet to be purchased. The doors for the cabinet, along with a counter top will probably be the last items I get to. I was also able to get the inverter installed, and eventually will have a power strip plugged into it that will be mounted in the counter top area.

[svu3r93]

It warmed up considerably in the last few days, so I was able to get some quality time into the trailer. I have never liked the carpeted boards I installed a few years back that covered the curved area where the wall meets the roof. I finally figured out a way to cover the area, and install the 12 volt LED lights that are a big part of this CT renovation. I installed a piece of MDF primed baseboard on the ceiling area as a nailer for the plastic poly caps. The caps can be nailed directly into the wall, but without wood on the ceiling, I had to go with the nailer. I had planned on using a staple gun, but that plywood on the walls was really hard, so I broke out the 18 gauge nail gun - much easier!





I cut the poly sheet (found it at Home Depot) to the correct width, and slipped it into the channels.





I then attached the LED light strips (two on each side), to the 3/4" aluminum angle, then screwed that into the roof supports, right next to the nailer. I should have taken the time to paint the outside white, so I'll need to take them down at a later date. The reason I used this diffuser method is that the light strips are very bright, and staring at them directly is a bit annoying. The LED strips were then wired to the switches. I also had a bit of a dilema with the front top corner area, but with some cutting of the poly sheet, I fabricated a filler. Not perfect, but it works.

[Wolfscout]

I like your use of the poly sheet. I'll have to check that out. Give me another idea.

[tnsurveyor]

Be sure to vent that battery compartment!

This is looking very nice.

[capt4903]

I like your use of the poly for the wall/ceiling transition....i couldn't figure out what i wanted and ended up having a local metal fab shop bend up some alum diamond plate for me....I'm a I.B.E.W. master electrician, but kept my a.c. circuit simple....put a twist-lock recept on outside of nose and fed it through with a nipple into a surface mount (plugmold) junction box and raceway.....still gotta finish my d.c. circuit for 12 volt lighting.....got photos in my album....

I use my trailer to haul the Streetglide and dont have a lot of room either.....air mattress for sleeping....[/img]

[svu3r93]

It's been a while since I last posted...December! I finally saved up a bit of extra cash so that I could continue the improvements on the trailer, so here it is. The cabinets have been painted a light brown in order to break up the white walls. A strip of L.E.D. lights with a diffuser were added to the area above the counter. The pine for the cabinet doors was purchased, trimmed to size, edges routered, painted white, and the hardware installed. One piece of corner trim was attached, but the rest will have to wait until the stereo, speakers, and top cabinet door is installed. A 12 volt marine plug was placed in the counter area for any accessory that might require that sort of power. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the counter top yet.