Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Converting Cargo Trailers into TTTs

Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:02 pm

OverTheTopCargoTrailer wrote:Hi Big Daddy Don

don't be so tight, drop a couple 100 pictures on us .....
For those who are too POOR to afford exotic vacations & just wanna dream a little

Jerry


Jerry,

Will do but you won't see many pics of me since I am the guy behind the main camera, but Christi did sneak in a couple of me with her little Samsung camera that I wasn't aware of. While there we met a very nice gent named Thomas. He doesn't claim to be a professional photographer but he is damn good at what he shoots. You can visit his web site here: http://www.kauai-photo.blogspot.com It was our great fortune to meet Thomas at the Kauai Lighthouse/Kauai National Wildlife Preserve. Thomas took a lot of his own time to inform us, guide us, and give us direction on where to see birds on Kauai. He is truly a fine gentleman who made a wonderful difference in our visit to Kauai. I can't help but feel that without his assistance/guidance/sharing we would have spent a lot of wasted time stumbling and fumbling around kauai looking for birds and great birding spots.

Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sat Mar 30, 2013 1:59 am

Been gone a while taking care of business but back in Boise getting ready for the coming camping season, and well looking forward to it. We are long overdue for some boondocking with our CT.

Found a few things worth mentioning. One is a Kelly Kettle. An amazing piece of kit that allows one to boil a quart and a half of water using no more than a few twigs and sticks. Power went out last week at the house and Christi wanted a cup of tea after the power being out for an hour. OK, let's try out the Kelly Kettle. A few twigs and sticks later, about 8 minutes, and we had 1 1/2 quarts of boiling water for tea, or any other use.

Also, found some great lightweight cookware from GSI. Beautiful nonstick aluminum pans, an 8"& 10" both with folding handles. I believe they are more aimed at backpackers but a bit heavy so I see them as better suited to cargo trailer campers. If your CT is like ours, space and storage is limited so backpacker type gear is welcome.

Also picked up a folding Coleman oven for cheap at Walmart but have yet to try it out.

I'll post photos and links to where I got this stuff in a day or two.

We're getting itchy to get out camping. I have been following what backpackers are doing in hopes of keeping it light in the CT. I find much of their technology is paying off for CT use, at least for me.

Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:29 am

BTW, our build is no where near complete, close but not there yet. Be that as it may, this year I am going to focus on things of use for CT camping. Specifically lightweight stuff I am learning about from backpacking and survival forums I have been following (no I m not some nut job wacko survivalist but they do have some good points) Info I think you might find useful in your CT camping experience. A different track for me but hope you can make use of the information. Stay tuned.

Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby roadinspector » Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:32 am

Don,
I've used a Coleman oven for years. They work great. Kinda so-so on the small stove but better on mid size to large. Smaller stoves don't have the btu to work great.

Earnest
Dadgum it! I cut that board 5 times and it's still too short!
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:58 pm

roadinspector wrote:Don,
I've used a Coleman oven for years. They work great. Kinda so-so on the small stove but better on mid size to large. Smaller stoves don't have the btu to work great.

Earnest


Earnest,

We've got the built in two burner propane stove I installed in our CT counter top galley (a few pages back of this this thread) and I am hoping that will be sufficient to heat it.

I have to get going on my income taxes (I rarely get a refund anymore so am always a last minute procrastinator) and then after the 15th we're hoping to head out for a few days of CT camping here in Idaho but have to be back home by the weekend of the 20th because I am scheduled for jury duty and have to call in that weekend then report on Monday the 22nd and am on call that week for same. If I don't get selected we are then heading back to Lake Tahoe and then on to Napa, CA May 1st and will be hauling the CT with us... what a treat... we get to spend the night in the Walmart parking lot in Wennemucca, NV. :o But it does break up the long trip to Tahoe.

Went out to the CT earlier this week to open it up and unload some stuff stored in there for the winter. What I found was truly disappointing. The cement I put down when I installed the linoleum has come unstuck and the linoleum is buckling up in spots. My linoleum install was a single piece and I used the cement recommended by the manufacturer. Guess I should have went with my gut instinct and used contact cement instead. That stuff STICKS! I'm sort of hoping with the heat of summer it will flatten back out but I am not counting on it. If worse comes to worse, when we get back from our CA trip, I will have to take every thing out of the CT from the galley back, lift the linoleum, and re-cement it with something else, such as contact cement, then roll it back in place with a linoleum roller. I spent a lot of time cutting the linoleum to fit and spreading a good coat of glue to keep it down and after a couple of years it comes up? :cry: I am coming to hate the green movement, the EPA, and every other jerk who has ruined our ability to get products that work... a good example being all the paint flaking off cars. :x

OK, rant mode off.

Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby roadinspector » Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:51 pm

d30gaijin wrote:
OK, rant mode off.

Don


Awe come on Don!!!! I enjoy a good rant, especially if its bashing the EPA. Ditto to every word said. :thumbsup: That really sucks about your linoleum. I doubt it will lay down either. Heat-cold, expansion-contraction is not easy on that material especially with the crappy EPA approved cement. Hope the contact cement works. I've had good luck with it but never used it on linoleum.

It'll be good to get out on the road and get away. Not sure when we will be able to. Between work and I have stripped mine down from the quick put together for our vacation and am in the build stage again. Only able to work on it on weekends, but thats ok. It gives me time to over think it during the week. I am sure that my favorite wife likes it when I'm outside working instead of under her feet.

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar. (and not a penny more!)

Earnest
Dadgum it! I cut that board 5 times and it's still too short!
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:43 pm

roadinspector wrote:Awe come on Don!!!! I enjoy a good rant, especially if its bashing the EPA. Ditto to every word said. :thumbsup: That really sucks about your linoleum. I doubt it will lay down either. Heat-cold, expansion-contraction is not easy on that material especially with the crappy EPA approved cement. Hope the contact cement works. I've had good luck with it but never used it on linoleum.

It'll be good to get out on the road and get away. Not sure when we will be able to. Between work and I have stripped mine down from the quick put together for our vacation and am in the build stage again. Only able to work on it on weekends, but thats ok. It gives me time to over think it during the week. I am sure that my favorite wife likes it when I'm outside working instead of under her feet.

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar. (and not a penny more!)

Earnest


Earnest,

I hear you brother! Best wife too likes it when I am out doing something and not under her feet. She's got her own hobbies aplenty and doesn't need me bugging her. 8)

Got some updates on my CT I will post following this message.

Don
Last edited by d30gaijin on Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby roadinspector » Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:20 pm

d30gaijin wrote:Got some updates on my CT I will post following this message.

Don


Looking forward to it! :thumbsup:

Earnest
Dadgum it! I cut that board 5 times and it's still too short!
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:57 pm

We've been hauling a not convenient table inside our CT. It's about 4' long and 28 or so inches wide. It is of a plastic top with folding legs bought at Home Depot. It worked well enough but was not really convenient to use. It had to be folded up and stored away either under our bunk beds or atop them. In travel it always seemed to slide out and off the bunk, crashing to the floor.

So of late we thought, hey, we need a folding table bolted/hinged to the wall that will fold up when not in use and fold down when we need it to work on our lap tops or when eating. We kicked around a lot of ideas such as a simple piece of plywood cut to the shape that could be bolted to the wall with hinges and a leg/or legs to hold it up in position when folded down for use. But then I got to thinking about tables we have owned in years past when we were much less affluent than we are now, not that we are all that affluent now. :oops: Simple kitchen tables that had a decent top but spindly legs. That's what we need, I thought.

So today we decided to hit the local thrift stores to see what we could find in the way of a simple round kitchen table top that we might be able to use for a folding CT table. My idea was to find a round small kitchen table that I could cut in half and use only one half of it bolted to the side wall of our CT using hinges so it could be folded up and out of the way while in transit and dropped down with a leg or two to support it when parked for the night. What we found today after visiting our fifth thrift store was this (see photos below). A small pull apart kitchen table with provisions for a leaf insert i.e., no cutting in half required because it was already so. We found it for $5 because it had a broken leg, which was perfect for our needs. I have no use for the legs as I will make my own. The first photo shows one half of the table as it originally came to us (the other half is in the house being modified). The second photo shows the mods I am making to one half of the table after the sliding leaf hardware was removed (and a cross brace glued and screwed to mount the hinges to).

My intent is that the table will fold up. I thought about installing it to fold down but then realized doing so would cover part of the ETrack hardware installed lower in the CT sidewall, something I will need open/available if I haul my Harley in the CT i.e., the ETrack provides the tie down points I will need to lock the HD in a parked position within the CT.

I will post more photos as I complete the installation of the table.

One half of the original table.

Image

The other half as modified for hinge attachment to the CT side wall i.e., stiffener brace added.

Image

These are the hinges I intend to use to bolt the half table to the CT wall. Bought the hinges brand new from the local Habitat For Humanity Re-Use store, $1.50 for all three. Total cost of the new to us CT folding table now stands at $7.50. :applause:

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Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:15 pm

roadinspector wrote:
Looking forward to it! :thumbsup:

Earnest


Finished the new (to us) table install today. Naturally nothing works out as one plans, especially if it is a design as you go thing. :roll:

Pics and text in the next message.

Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:32 pm

OK, got more done on our CT conversion today i.e., the folding table is installed and ready to go for our next outing.

Originally I intended to install it as a fold up table so I could still retain access to the ETrack I installed on the sidewall a couple years ago to support a full size queen bed, which didn't work out at all (you'll need to go back through our build thread to see and read about that and subsequent conversion to bunk beds). I left the ETrack in place figuring I could use it as tie down point should I want to take my Harley with us on an outing. Well it came to light that the table half used for our folding table is a lot heavier than I originally thought (it is made of pressed board with a Formica top and fascia, and as we know, pressed board is dense and heavy) and installing it in a fold up position would be a disaster waiting to happen. If I hit a big bump or traveled over rough road, which we do when boon docking, and if my design to hold it in the folded up position came loose, the table would flop down and rip the hinges right out of the 3/8" ply wood wall, which is the weak point of attachment. I decided better safe than sorry so changed the design to a fold down position. That change meant the ETrack was in the way and couldn't be used. Not a big deal. I can/will install tie down points embedded in the CT floor if I decide to take the HD along.

Be all that as it may, I installed the table today and it works great. Folds down and out of the way when traveling and is quite sturdy when in the up/in use position. In the photo below it is in the in use position. The support leg came with the table but I am using it in a reverse position, meaning the square foot you see on the CT floor was originally screwed to the underside of the table. It has a cone shaped/taper on the end that you can't see since it is under the table top that originally fit into a tripod set of legs with an opposite cone receptacle. I'll use it for now to support the table but will likely make something lighter to support the table (the table leg you see is fairly thick wall tube steel welded to the, also, heavy steel base plate). I can do with a lot less weight and still end up with a sturdy table. The second photo shows it folded for travel. A side benefit to the table install is Chrisiti can use it as a night stand since she gets the lower bunk. :applause:

Total cost for the folding table installed is about $10, that includes the cost of the table, the hinges, stiffener wood brace, glue, and screws. And I still have the other half of the table should I decide to install another folding table on the opposite wall of the CT. Tables aplenty. :lol:

Once I think we have our CT build where we want it... well then most everything has to come out so we can install the finished wall paneling and redo the linoleum floor because the glue didn't hold and the linoleum is buckling up. I might then decide to just go with bamboo floor laminate because I am so disappointed with the linoleum we bought. It turned out to be lousy stuff that was supposedly commercial grade/heavy duty, and it seemed so at the time, which is why we bought it in the first place. But it isn't. It stains easily, is soft so anything the least bit sharp cuts it, and the glue recommended no longer sticks it in place. That sucks big time. :x The galley will remain in place no matter what. If anyone ever suggest that you should design as you go... refer them to this build thread. I have learned sooooo much from my mistakes. Only thing is, I am still making mistakes but continue to chalk it up to learning as I go. I am obviously a glutton for punishment. :oops:

Next step is to convert the top bunk so that it folds down and acts as a back rest for the lower bunk making the lower bunk into a couch. Stay tuned because I am learning as I go, and that's been going on since 2009 when we first bought our CT. :FNP

Don

Table in the in use position.

Image

Table in the stow-away for travel position.

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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby roadinspector » Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:17 pm

Don,

:thumbsup: I like It! :applause: That was my original concept for a table till I came up with another idea that works better for us. I like the round. You have a good size table without it taking up too much room. I ended up getting RV removable table legs and recessed floor mount. Light weight and user friendly. My table is fee standing in the middle of the floor so I used two. The cost of one of my legs with two mounts was a few dollars more than your whole table setup.

Earnest
Dadgum it! I cut that board 5 times and it's still too short!
2001 quad-cab Dodge Cummins 3/4 ton camper special, 16x7x7 CT work in progress toyhauler, 01 HD Ultra Classic, 98 HD Heritage Softail, 88 HD 1200 Sportster. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=51510
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:52 pm

roadinspector wrote:Don,

:thumbsup: I like It! :applause: That was my original concept for a table till I came up with another idea that works better for us. I like the round. You have a good size table without it taking up too much room. I ended up getting RV removable table legs and recessed floor mount. Light weight and user friendly. My table is fee standing in the middle of the floor so I used two. The cost of one of my legs with two mounts was a few dollars more than your whole table setup.

Earnest


Earnest,

I am familiar (I think) with the recessed floor (socket) mount you refer to. I'm guessing it is like what we have in our Jayco travel trailer that accepts our stow away stand alone round kitchen table. I'm thinking of getting one of the floor mount sockets for the CT table support tube. I have been to our local Camping World store and they have the floor mount socket as well as the tapered end tubes for sale.

Got any photos of your set up, or a link?

Thanks,
Don
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby roadinspector » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:37 pm

Don,
I am sure it is the same as whats in your jayco. Typical rv recessed mount. This is the best pic I have at the time. If you want a better pic let me know & I'll get one tomorrow.
102317

Earnest
Dadgum it! I cut that board 5 times and it's still too short!
2001 quad-cab Dodge Cummins 3/4 ton camper special, 16x7x7 CT work in progress toyhauler, 01 HD Ultra Classic, 98 HD Heritage Softail, 88 HD 1200 Sportster. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=51510
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Re: Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

Postby d30gaijin » Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:25 pm

roadinspector wrote:Don,
I am sure it is the same as whats in your jayco. Typical rv recessed mount. This is the best pic I have at the time. If you want a better pic let me know & I'll get one tomorrow.
102317

Earnest


Earnest,

Your CT is looking good! :thumbsup:

Did you have to drill a large hole in the floor of your CT to accommodate the table base?

Don
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