Florida Benroy

[greygoos]

Looking sharp.

[cma713]

Thanks everyone!

[cma713]

Well, most of April and May were busy months at work and I didn't have time to work on the teardrop like I was hoping. Our summer break started on Memorial Day so I have been working nonstop since then to get caught back up. My new goal is to having it ready to camp around July 4th.

The last thing I was able to do at the beginning of April was to skin the interior of the galley hatch and add the galley counter and frame out the galley cabinets.





In the last 2 weeks, I have been focusing on running all the wires for the electric. My brothers gave me some 10 and 14 gauge stranded wire that I used for most of the runs. The 14 gauge wire was used for the lights and fan while the 10 gauge was used for the 12v outlets/usb ports and stereo. The only wire that I bought for the DC side was some 8 gauge wire to run from the battery on the tongue to the PD4045. For the AC side I used 12/2 romex to wire the 3 outlets and 10/2 romex from the power inlet to the PD.

I got the hatch all wired up for the tail lights, 3rd brake light, tag light, 2 main white lights and 2 amber lights (which when used instead of the main lights will hopefully attract less bugs at night). All of the wiring for the hatch is ran through 3 different flat 4 trailer plugs in case the hatch ever needs to be removed in the future.

The stereo was something that I looked forever for since I wanted one that would be able to connect to the tv to play both dvds and movies off of a usb drive and have bluetooth so we could control our music from the galley with my phone. I added a switch to each 12v outlet/usb port as well as the stereo to avoid any power draw when not needed. The black plastic that the 12v outlets and switches in the cabin and galley are mounted in is just some abs plastic that I cut to size which was nicer and cheaper than buying an already mady 12v accessory panel.

Everytime I ran into a question, I was able to search the forum to find an answer. Thanks everyone!






Cabin electric panel/stereo:

Galley electric cabinet:

[cma713]

In the last few days, I got the roof insulation in and sanded flush and glued the 2 layers of 1/8" ply for the roof and trimmed off the overhang. The hatch has insulation and the 1st layer of plywood glued down. I would have done the 2nd layer on the hatch too if I didn't run out of glue. It seems that even when I buy "extra" tubes of glue, I always end up needing 1 more. One I get more glue and finish the hatch, I can get started on filling holes and sanding to prep for the PMF.

[fishboat]

You are cranking out the work! Very nice build.

[retep]

You are doing a beautiful build. Very inspirational. I am impressed at your speed of the build. I am thinking of a similar build, so I will be watching and learning from your great build. I may borrow the side mount for stowing the bike rack. Ingenious idea!!! I am reconsidering the Progressive Dynamics power panel after seeing your install. Looks so neat and well organized. Are you making any provision for solar ? Also just as an aside, does the Progressive Dynamics panel support solar. I did not really get a sense they do from their website. I should probably just call.

Many Thanks for sharing your build. I look forward to your updates.
Cheers
Peter

[cma713]

You are cranking out the work! Very nice build.

Thank you! I am lucky to have summer break to have the time to work on it.

[cma713]

You are doing a beautiful build. Very inspirational. I am impressed at your speed of the build. I am thinking of a similar build, so I will be watching and learning from your great build. I may borrow the side mount for stowing the bike rack. Ingenious idea!!! I am reconsidering the Progressive Dynamics power panel after seeing your install. Looks so neat and well organized. Are you making any provision for solar ? Also just as an aside, does the Progressive Dynamics panel support solar. I did not really get a sense they do from their website. I should probably just call.

Many Thanks for sharing your build. I look forward to your updates.
Cheers
Peter

Thanks Peter! I saw the idea for the side mount receiver somewhere else on the site and knew it would come in handy. I will add solar in the next year, but when I do I will mount the solar charge controller in the tongue box so it can be close to the battery and bypass the PD4045. The PD and the charge controller can both be hooked up to the battery and I would just choose which method to charge with based on where I'm camping (shore power through the PD or solar). Hope that answered your question!

[retep]

That makes good sense. Thank You for taking the time to answer.

Again... A very nice build.

Peter

[cma713]

It's been a while since I have posted... so here is the update.

I was able to get the PMF done. I used harbor freight 9x12 drop cloths and was only able to find 2 without the seam running down the middle so those got used for the sides. I washed, dried, and ironed the canvas before gluing it on with slightly thinned TBII. The first picture was just before I started applying the TBII. I rolled the canvas around a 1x2 and used clamps and ratchet straps to slowly roll down the canvas as I went along (no pictures of the process since I had to work fast). There were some spots that I applied a 50/50 TBII water mix over the canvas too. Next, I applied 2 coats of gripper primer followed by 3 coats of mistint brown paint. Finally, I was able to start taping off the design and used exterior house paint for the final 3 coats.

[cma713]

These are from the first camping trip at the end of July at Anastasia State Park. It was campable, but I learned of some things that needed to be modified. Even though I did a water hose test, we drove through a really bad storm and learned of two small leaks that I fixed when we got back home.

After the trip, I modified my A/C drain set-up. I originally had a small hose attached to the bottom of the A/C going out one of the exhaust ducts on the side but it didn't drain as effectively as I would have liked. I ended up drilling a small hole in the bottom of the A/C and placed a cookie sheet with 2 sink drains installed in it under the unit to drain through 2 holes that I cut in the floor. This ended up working perfectly. I will try to get some pictures of that soon and post more details about the A/C soon.

The bike rack setup worked perfectly and it was really nice to be able to move the rack to the side receiver once we set up and as a bonus, it worked well as a towel rack while there.

[cma713]

After the 1st trip, I quickly installed the sink that I didn't get time to finish before. The sink is a 16" stainless steel bowl that slides out. I am using two 7 gallon aquatainers for the water. I have quick disconnect garden hose fittings on the drain hose leading to the container to keep it simple since I have to unhook the drain from the container each time I close the hatch. After searching online for a while, I found a hose sprayer that had a trigger that had an always on setting. I hooked the sprayer up to a foot pump. The sprayer arm is just a modified flexible arm phone holder that clamps to galley countertop.

Another modification I made was to add an Alpicool C30 refrigerator. It was the largest size I could choose and still have it fit under the countertop. Not having to deal with buying ice each day has been amazing.

[eLink]

Nice job! I like the graphics!