2013 Mirage XPO 6x12- Mt Air Express

[Rainier70]

Thank you for the kind words. I have tried to be very detailed. My build isn't very fancy and it is far from finished. I have a lot more details to add yet! There are some terrific builds on here that amaze me.

[Rainier70]

Another detail that I haven't mentioned yet. My ceiling cavities are about 1.3 inches deep. I had already put 1" insulation in and added another 1/2" on top of that. That brought my insulation to where it was just higher than the ribs. On the ribs I placed strips of "sill plate sealer" This is a thin ribbed foam, that is slightly corrugated. The nice thing about it is that it doesn't crush too easily. We already had part of a roll.



I simply cut a piece to length and then split it into about thirds and taped it into place. R value probably isn't much, but a small gap over the metal cuts down on conduction there. It also provided the fill I needed so that my paneling would stay relatively flat when screwed in.

I only took one picture that came out where you can see it.



The panels that I put up on my ceiling are the 1/4" underlayment plywood that both HD and Lowes carries. The corner of one piece that started to delaminate a little. I just glued and clamped it. So far it is holding. I have heard of this stuff delaminating when you use a solvent based finish, but I didn't. I used a water-cleanup polyurathane, and it still delaminated on that one corner. They must use really bad glue!

I still need to replace a small ceiling piece that I don't like the color on, and then put some edge and seam molding up. Then I will take some pictures of the finished ceiling.

[Rainier70]

I love Anderson Pole Connectors. They are great. If you aren't connecting your wires directly to a block and need a plug in, then these are the ticket. They are easy to crimp on and you can build a block of connections if you want. The connectors lock together to create a plug of two or more wires. I have these on my battery as I also use the same battery for a boat motor and a fish finder. I also have a portable solar panel that I hook up. It makes an easy switch over.



They come in several different amp sizes and in multi-packs. Here are some reviews on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Powerpol ... power+pole

And a Youtube on how to install them and snap them together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzLvdR6X81k

The Bully CM-02 Spare tire cover came. It seems to be a good generic spare cover. In this picture I have it a little loose as I was still lacing a cable lock through the cord lock area on the cover. It does pull much tighter. I wasn't really trying to get a good final picture of the cover. I was trying to do a picture of the Anderson plugs before I tucked them in under the battery cover.

[Rainier70]

The gap in the corner by my backdoor where the plywood ends has been a problem area for me. I plan on using wood trim on most of my seams, but this gap is an inch wide, and it is also where my bed folds up against the wall. The thickness of a wood trim would interfere with my bed frame fitting flush to the wall. This gap area also is against the small removable panel that is necessary for replacing bulbs in the tail lights. Unfortunately that gap is also a source of fine road dust. The area needed to be sealed, but not permanently.

I finally hit on a solution....roofing drip edge. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Construction ... 093168-_-N



The small lip on this product is not a problem. The only thing I needed to do was to open the angle a little on the piece before I installed it. By open the angle I mean that the molding is set at a little less than a 90 degree angle and you need to widen it a little for it to sit tight against both sides. It was really easy to do. I layed it on its spine on the flat floor and just by pushing it with my hand in the v every 6 inches or so up it, I got a good fit. The resized pictures on here show a kind of ziggy line on the edge that isn't really there.




For the dust, I taped the gap shut before I put the trim piece up. It isn't as good as sealant, but it is more easily removable for when I need to get in this area.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Thanks Cindy for the observation,
I have a ton of ideas which I have developed

But the good news is that my specialist says he can fix it with me going under the knife. May 21 is my operation date. Then after 6 weeks of doing little for recovery, watch out.

Bob

Hey Bob

We all are hoping you operation went off without a hitch & you have a speedy recovery. I need some of your & Cindy's ideas for OTTCT 3.0

Jerry

[lrrowe]

Thanks Jerry,
It went great and I am getting around very well. I have 4 weeks of doc prescribed restrictions including lifting no more then 10 lbs. But the good news is now that I am all but completely off the pain killers, my brain is clear enough to make my CT purchase.

I will be flattered to pass on ideas for your OTTCT 3.0

I am almost ready to go buy my CT. But I have a few questions for our forum members to ask on a new model I just came across. But I will start a new thread for that so as not to hijack this thread of Cindy's.

Bob

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Bob

Good to see your back - if you have a left over supply of Oxy - let me know LOLROTF


A hospital stay can be more dangerious then landing at low tide on Omaha beach.
At least that's what my Gaul bladder said - when they almost killed me removing it.
And remember nothing beats a CarMate trailer.

Cindy

I love that story where it was 65 in your trailer with your heater and water in the shower pan was frozen.
I might have to try that myself as soon as I can find a cold place to park around here. I miss the cold so much.
I hope I didn't scare Jim away from building Noa's Ark - I was scared he was gonna skip insulation & just throw some
paint on his wood walls - Bob's gonna have to catch up on Jim's story living in trailer with 8 pets.

Cheers
Jerry

[Rainier70]

A preliminary verdict on the bottom insulation.

So far since putting my under frame insulation in I have travel well over 100 miles on gravel roads and about 300 miles on paved. I am seeing nothing but a little dust on the canvas covered insulation. I also have three small sections in the front of my ct that have mostly uncovered pink foam insulation. It shows a little dust and maybe a couple of little tiny rock dents. No real wear at all.

I private messaged BC Dave about his insulation also. He glued on his insulation with no covering. He hasn't traveled as much with it, but it is holding up fine and shows no damage.

Then I saw this post by Nobody. He has had uncovered insulation on the bottom of his camper since 2006, and had it on all kinds of roads.

There probably as many answers to your question as there are builders on this forum. None are 'wrong' or incorrect. What's right for one person may not work as well for another.

I built my TD in 2006, using an HF 1800# trailer & a couple of profile drawings I expanded from quarter inch graph paper. I built my floor from ripped spruce 2x4's, 1x6 pine for side rails, & 1/2" CDX ply for the decking. After the 'floor' was completed I inverted it on a couple of sawhorses & 'painted' it with asphalt roofing compound. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the coating wasn't nearly as 'stinky' as expected, & the 'tackiness' only lasted as long as it took to dry (overnight). I then cut pieces of 1" styrofoam (Dow 'blueboard') to fit the recesses under the floor, installed them with PL Adhesive, & as an extra caution, I used small pieces of scrap wood as 'battens', 'nailed' to the floor frame with 18ga brads from my HF nailer/stapler. Almost 8yrs & 20K plus miles later (towed thru all kinds of terrain from freeway to National Forest/BLM back country roads/trails) the foam shows considerable stains/marks of travel, a few tiny 'gouges' probably from road debris, but NO deterioration or tendency to 'de-laminate' from the floor. In SE New Mexico in 2010 we encountered standing water in the streets of several towns, that in places almost 'floated' the TD. I've also driven through lots of heavy rain/T'Storms where I'm sure the tires & passing vehicles sprayed lots of water up under the TD. I've found no indication of residual moisture nor any evidence of rot in the wood portion of the floor, nor corrosion to the metal of the trailer chassis. As an aside, I live in central Arkansas where our average humidity is quite high & equipment not properly protected has ample opportunity to suffer ill effects from it...

Here's a few pix of my floor under construction





This how the underside looks this morning (not bad considering what it's been exposed to since 9/2006)

I think we have been over thinking and over engineering floor insulation. I don't regret covering my insulation with the canvas/paint coat, but after having seen how my uncovered insulation is holding up and how little "wear" others have experienced, I think it will be more than adequate for the long haul. I am wondering if the "cover the insulation" comes from RVs and trailer houses originally using fiberglass batts that needed protection from water etc?????

I will continue to check on mine on how it is doing, but I won't be canvasing over the small odd shaped pieces of exposed foam that are in the front. I will be doing some foam fill in spots that I haven't gotten to yet, but that is about it.

In short, if I was to do it again I would glue and screw the insulation on, or batten it, but I wouldn't worry about putting a cover over it. You could always do that later on if you wanted.

[hankaye]

Rainier70, Howdy;

Thanks for the update on the under-insulation,
something I'm going to consider when I do my build.

hank

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Very good post Cindy

In my yard I have 3 pieces of foam, white , pink & dow blue board exposed to the sun for 2+ years, which is generally the most damaging.
I can tell you the pink is trashed - worthless, the white is in the middle & the Dow Blue board is almost perfect.
The blue board is 2 x the cost ..... but worth every penny.

[Rainier70]

Irrowe on another post asked about sealing dust out. As I answered that post, I got to thinking that I should add a copy of that here on my build as those are problems I have had to deal with to make my camper more "comfortable". So here is a copy of what I posted in the Off topic area.



Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby Rainier70 » Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:51 pm
I travel hundreds of miles a year on gravel/flourdust roads. At first I had some trouble with it, but as I have chased down the problem areas, I have very little now.

First problem area was the weather stripping on the doors. The corners where the sealant strips met were not always together. A little flexible sealant to "glue" the ends together took care of most of that. I still have a small amount by my side door. I will eventually find where it is coming in.

Next were the floor seams. I ended up sealing these both under the trailer and on the upper part of the seams themselves.

The back doors seal pretty good, but dust settles in a pile on the top of the seals, and if you aren't careful it will come in when you open the back doors. I have a very thin nylon curtain that goes over the back door area that catches that junk and keeps it out. It is attached on the sides and top with velco tabs, and acts as a dirt catcher and a very fine bug screen. It isn't always on there, but I try to have it up before I travel.

Next was around the base of all the walls. Cargo trailers with overlapping alum siding on the outside allow a lot of fine dust through and into the wall area. I had to put a line of caulk both on the bottom and the top of the molding there. I still have a couple of vertical seams on it that I didn't do and need to.

Last was doing the back corners by the barn doors. This area is where you can access the rear lights so it needs to be accessible for repairs. Since that is also where part of my bed frame attaches and folds up against I hadn't fully sealed it off. All the dust that I thought was coming in the back doors was actually from these two vertical seams. I opened both of them up, carefully taped the vapor barrier in there and then lightly sealed the corner with metal "drip edging". No more dust in that area! viewtopic.php?f=42&t=55219&start=120

I'm not worried about ventilation. When I am in the trailer and the cargo door bars are off the doors, they don't fit very tight. I can see light and feel the draft on the side door alone. Plus I always have the top vent open and usually a window or two.

Dust from the roads can be really nasty and gives my hubby some bad allergy attacks so I try to keep it out as much as possible. We have a canopy on the truck that I gave up camping in because there is no way to keep that fine flour road dust out.

[lrrowe]

Thanks Cindy,
I was of the opinion that I will have a dust problem with on dirt or gravel roads and your feedback goes to help confirm it. My challenge will be to find all those areas where it can happen and do some work as you did to address it. I also think this tells me I do not want air vents on the sides added either. Just another place for dust to find its way in. Maybe some dry runs down some dirt/gravel roads will be in order before I do the first bit of work on it.

Bob

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Guys

If your sick of dust just get a RV cover over your CT when your on dusty roads
Or follow a water truck down the dusty roads

[lrrowe]

Jerry, when I was unfortunate to have to have to work, I used the technique or belief that every idea has merit if you use it as the beginning of a solution process and continue to think of better versions of it. I think that can be called "brainstorming". Sometime times wild and crazy idea results in the vastly different and much improved solution.

So keep those ideas coming no matter how crazy they might sound.

[Rainier70]

Irrowe, I would think that you would have less of a problem in your area of the country. Never the less I wouldn't put the side vents in. Here in Idaho our gravel roads are also victims of the drought, and I swear that the cloud a vehicle raises doesn't settle for a good twenty to thirty minutes. If the road is straight enough that I can see back, you can tell where I have been for miles!