Tom & Shelly's build

[noseoil]

Tony, there was no mention of the license plate type or status on the registration for ownership. The whole "issue" was with the fact that it was an owner-builder camper (an "amateur" build). They had no clue what it took, or what skills were involved in the labor for building a finished product for recreation.

I finally asked if I just brought it to their office, if they could "inspect" the job to see if it met their "standards" for an insurance policy. I guess they were expecting a cross between Rube Goldberg & a trash recycler for a travel trailer. When they came out the back door to their parking lot, their jaws dropped open. "You built this, but...?"

I guess we tend to forget that folks who think punching holes in paper & attaching paper clips to make money, think of this activity as building something...

[tony.latham]

I guess we tend to forget that folks who think punching holes in paper & attaching paper clips to make money, think of this activity as building something...

'Xactly.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

...hopefully I'll get the fenders back on tomorrow and take some pictures ...

I need to weather proof the solder joints for the brakes, and I think some old fashioned silicon gooped over it is probably the best, though not the prettiest.

Tom

I forgot our local hardware store closes for Easter, so had to wait a day to buy the silicon. Here's the left side



My Dad used this for the radio control wiring in his model airplanes, so hopefully it'll do the job here. It insulates (electrically), keeps water out, and acts as strain relief. I made sure to goop it good around the wire insulation. Also, I like the bright white, so folks will notice it even under the trailer!

The black cable of 10 gauge wire comes from the junction box in the front of the trailer (where it's connected to the 7 pin cable), the green wires are the left side brakes, and the red/black pair goes through the axle shaft, and comes out on the right side (at least I think that's what it's all about)



Not pretty at all, but I think it should work.

Next step is to get those fenders back on!

Tom

[twisted lines]

My Father dug into everything with wire's and Tubes His trick for hanging the wires was a hot melt glue gun I better go through that in a wire box, Then go shopping for silicon

[Tom&Shelly]

The fenders are back on, after a few years. We want to take it outside, hose off the sawdust, and take some pictures, but cooler weather and high winds persuaded us to delay a few days



So here's a shot from the back, showing off the candy striping.

In the meantime, I've been putting together a top shelf that will hold the counter lights



That wire hanging across the back will eventually be hidden under the shelf. The hole to the left, in front of the wires from the roof, will be a small compartment to hold an outlet checker, line/neutral checker, Harbor Fright multi-meter (free with coupon), and a 30 amp-15 amp plug converter; things Tony doesn't need without 120 vac. I'll make some sort of panel to hide the wires from the roof.

I showed Shelly the white LED lights I plan to use for the counter lighting. She mentioned it would be nice to have amber lights to dissuade bugs. I remembered I have some--marker lights that I bought off the interwebs, but, when they arrived, found they have no reflectors. I also have red ones, and mentioned that, and Shelly said those would be good if we want to preserve our night vision.

So that's a rotatory switch, that will go from OFF, to RED, to AMBER, to WHITE.

When we have her outside, we plan to jack up each side and verify the brakes are connected to the tow vehicle. At this point, we're really ready to roll.

Next in the construction will be some nice to have features: We plan to cut out a profile of full paper towel roll and holder out of blue foam and see where it'll fit on the hatch without being crushed by the shelf or counter. We also will add a galley organizer (Tony's name for it) for the back and side of the counter. I also want to laminate some maps on the sliders for our cabin clothes drawers.

Tom

[tony.latham]

things Tony doesn't need without 120 vac.

XACTLY.

I've got a continuity checker in my tongue box. It's there so when you and I are telling lies around a campfire sometime, and your DC stuff ain't working, I can help you out.

You should get that thing done. It's camping season. Like now.



I just snapped that.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Well, at least we celebrated the camping spirit here by building a fire in our log cabin this morning.

We're planning on testing Cabin Fever out at Bandelier in a few weeks.

Tom

[tony.latham]

out at Bandelier in a few weeks.

I had to Google it. It's in my bucket.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

out at Bandelier in a few weeks.

I had to Google it. It's in my bucket.

Tony

Highly recommend it!

Somehow, neither of us have been there in years (separately, before we met), even though it's only 2 hours away. I was last there the Fall before they had a devastating forest fire (in 2011), so want to see how things have recovered.

Similar ancient dwellings to other places in the Southwest. Several relatively short hiking trails. They are at about the same altitude as we are, with similar forests: lots of pinion and juniper.

I haven't camped there before, but it looks like a great place for our first teardrop test. Not too expensive as campsites go, not very crowded on weekdays, and no power (so we'll test the battery drain, and recharging on the way home).

We'll try a few of the trails, test out our galley, and make a list of whatever we missed.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

We're ready! Well, soon as we get her registered. Had her outside for a wash and some pictures





Once we take her down the driveway, it'll be too much trouble to bring her back up, so she'll go in the garage. We were about to do it, but Shelly pointed out we won't need to until we take her out for paperwork and registration next week. Guess I should think about anything else I absolutely want to do in the workshop first.

So we haven't had her out for a test drive yet. Right now the brakes buzz, but we jacked up one side and they didn't brake. Guess we'll have to get the thing going to finish setting up the brake controller.

We'll also find a nice place to take better pictures!

Tom

[bdosborn]

Looks great!
Bruce

[Tom&Shelly]

Looks great!
Bruce

Thank you Bruce.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

The solar power system seems to work, although one of these days, I need to run the battery down a bit and test all of the charging schemes





This is the panel I plan to put on our garage.

Gee, free electricity! They oughta be putting these suckers everywhere!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

We had the camper on the road today and she handles like a dream--real good road manners. Took it down to the trailer builder and he wrote us a Manufactures's Statement of Certificate of Origin, and a final Invoice (which we paid for the trailer itself 3 years ago). Those should be enough in New Mexico for us to register our trailer. We have an appointment with MVD (yes, it should be DMV, but in New Mexico it's not) on Thursday.

Then we took it to our mechanic (we own a Jeep, so we're real good friends with our mechanic). We'll probably get passenger tires to replace the trailer tires, since we want to take it to the other end of the continent.

Anyway, the teardrop is now in its garage, which means 1. It's time to go camping, B. It's time to re-organize the wood shop!

Tom

[pchast]

Enjoy.