Well folks, I got the trailer campable just in time (6:00pm weds for a 6:00am ferry) for the maiden voyage. I didn't have time then for pics, and I forgot the camera at home, so fere are a couple of what the Locust looks like now:
It pulled beautifully. I hardly knew it was there behind my minivan, and I rolled right down the road with a smile on my face.
Setup in camp was quite fast. I simple uncoupled from the van, rolled it into location by hand and then put a car jack under each corner as levelers. I'd like to make an adapter so I can crank the jacks up and down with my cordless drill. Yeah, I'm that lazy
Even though I was in a shaded site, I popped the AC into it's opening and ran it for an hour or so, then decided it was unnecessary and turned it off. I don't think the sun ever directly hit the trailer, and it never warmed up to the point where I felt it was needed.
The trip was to Fort Stevens state park, outside Astoria Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest being what it is, we got plenty of rain. It came down in buckets early Friday morning, and remained overcast for most of the day. Saturday started of gray and turned to rain mid afternoon, and didn't let up until Sunday morning. Throughout those two days not a drop entered the sleeping area.
The hatch was a different story. I hadn't had time to epoxy the hatch before throwing on the paint, and I haven't found a good seal yet either, so there was a bit of water in the galley area. Not much, but a bit. The plan is to strip down the hatch and epoxy it properly. I also ran out of time with the latches to hold the hatch closed and ended up throwing a couple of padlock type shackles on. These didn't provide much if any pressure for the hatch against the weather stripping, and therefore allowed a more significant amount of water in when driving home in the rain.
I only have a cheap piano hinge installed on the door a this point and it too leaked when driving home through the rain. I'll cover it up with some rubber and aluminum later as well.
I've still got plenty of work to do, but overall I'm really very pleased with how it's working so far. I'll get back to work in a week or so, after I get through the honey do list that's been building up over the last couple of months.
-Greg
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.
I can't wait to see pictures of the galley!
