Starting my build

[DustinS]

Getting the smaller fridge will be better for weekend camping IMO. If you're going to be traveling and doing extended stays then yeah it MIGHT be worth it. Have you tried plugging in the one you got to test the amount of heat it would give off as well and take into consideration ventilation for the cooling mechanism on the back?

[aztrooper]

Getting the smaller fridge will be better for weekend camping IMO. If you're going to be traveling and doing extended stays then yeah it MIGHT be worth it. Have you tried plugging in the one you got to test the amount of heat it would give off as well and take into consideration ventilation for the cooling mechanism on the back?

I haven't plugged it in yet. Just going to sell it. Went to Home Depot yesterday and found that the 4.3 and 4.5 Cu. Ft. were on sale but are not now even though the sale price was still on the 4.5. Rats. Maybe it will go on sale again when I get closer to needing it. We did pick up the five 3/8" 4X8 sheets of plywood to make the under side with plus two gallons of Behr Alky white paint to seal it with. Also picked up ten 4X8 foil backed foam sheets to use as insulation in the walls. Got the plywood painted today and plan on installing them tomorrow or Thursday. Need to pick up the self threading screws. Once I get that installed, I will get the 6" fiberglass batting for the floor insulation and then put the 3/4" plywood floor back on. Also got the two windows, the 33 gallon fresh water tank, 55 amp converter, thermostat for the 16K BTU Surbaban furnace and fantastic fan in the mail. Parts rolling in.

[aztrooper]

Well, after looking over and measuring the Whirlpool refrigerator and putting it onto my scale drawing, it isn't going to work and still have a permanently mounted toilet, so, back to plan A. When we were at the Home Depot on Tuesday, the in-store sale on the Vissani 4.3 cu, ft. was over. I just for the fun of it looked on HD's website and found it still had the sale price on so we bought it. YEA!!!. It's black with the stainless steel front on the doors. NICE.



This will work out just right. It will go under the A/C unit in a cabinet made for the two. I also found a combination microwave/convection oven that will go just right above the stove/oven in the kitchen. COOL.

It's an Emerson 1.5 cu ft. 1000W at WalMart roll back priced at $179. The stainless steel on the two appliances will match the stainless steel gas oven/range. Now I have to talk my sweetheart into letting me get the polished aluminum diamond plate for the kitchen back splash.

[aztrooper]

Christmas time again. I received the Shurflo 3.5 GPM water pump, filter, fantastic fan, 15" square stainless steel sink with "J" faucet, two windows and the Dometic 310 toilet that I had ordered last week, Today I ordered the black electrical power cord hatch and black water inlet hatch with locking cover. Monday I will get the painted bottom wood installed and then put the 6" fiberglass batting insulation in the floor and put the 3/4" floor boards back down. After that will come the foam insulation in the side walls, front and ceiling followed by wiring and then put the plywood walls back up. That should take up the week. I will be getting in my new Ryobi 18V cordless tool set I bought on sale on Tuesday since the mail doesn't run on Monday. Those will help a lot. OOPS. I forgot the two new windows that came in. Got to get them in before the foam as I will have to cut one vertical and weld in an upper and lower support for them.

[abqlloyd]

Looking good.

[aztrooper]

aztrooper, Howdy;

Looks like a fine job ... what's it look like underneath ???

hank

Got out and did a little more work. Since you asked, here is what it looks like after the axles were installed under the leaf springs.

[aztrooper]

I went out today with the intentions of getting four of the bottom pieces of OSB installed to create a new bottom for the trailer so I could insulate the floor. I had already painted the sheets and now needed to cut them to the proper length. The "I" beam main frame rails measured 76" from inside to inside. I cut my sheets to 76" with the thought of bowing them down so they would then fit in place. Wasn't that easy, of coarse. First problem was with the axle hangers and bolts. I had to then cut a notch in the wood to get past that. Still wouldn't bow enough so I used my multi-tool and cut 1 inch off one end. Mean while, I had applied latex caulking around the frame and it was starting to set. After cutting off the inch, with the help of my brother-in-law, we got it bowed enough to fit into place. Two hours. I then got back underneath and using self tapping screws with washers on them, secured the sheet from the bottom onto the cross braces then went on top and screwed down through the wood and into the "I" beam flanges. Got my caulk back out and caulked around the top and bottom edges. I will caulk the bottom around the edges when all the sheets are in place. Glad that is over. Now three more full size sheets to go.

So to clarify, the sheet fits on top of the "I" beam flanges and under the cross pieces. Hope that clarifies.

[hankaye]

aztrooper, Howdy;

Thanks for the 'under' pix of the axle swap.
Under floor insulation, neat project, looking forward to seeing
it unfold.

hank

[Xinterface]

I really like the idea of sealing off the bottom of frame. In the future, it will be that half that could potentially fail due to weather or what not. This way your saving your upper three-quarter inch wood from being exposed to any kind of weather and the less likelihood that you will be removing cabinets to replace your main floor. I live in Michigan so I deal with salt in the winter.

Thanks for sharing,
Joe

[aztrooper]

I went out last week and after thinking about the underlay wood, decided to cut the sheets of wood in half length wise. That made a HUGH difference in the amount of work it took to get them in, especially the ones above the axles. Got all of them in except the front one and then the very front "V" section. I'm going to have to do the last front one differently because of the way the factory built the frame. The "V" frame from the tongue and the cross supports don't have the same 3/8"space between them and the "I" beams so I will have to put the plywood on the bottom of the "I" beams and caulk it up real well. The front "V" section of the trailer will not have wood under neath it as there is nothing to fasten it to so I will foam that small section in and put a heavy coat of paint on the underside of the floor 3/4" plywood.

I went to Home Depot and bought a roll of 1/8" thick three inch wide foam to put between the roof frame cross pieces and the aluminum roof. My idea was to keep the trailer as quite as possible and eliminate wear and tear on the roof banging against the steel cross pieces. It took a little less than one 50' roll to do it. In the picture, you can see the foam between the rafter frame pieces and the ceiling. I bought two rolls thinking I would need it but only needed one. I'm sure I will be able to use the other somewhere.


After getting the that done, I cut the 1" thick foil backed foam insulation for the ceiling. It went in very nicely. You can see that a couple were a little loose but that will not be a problem when I put the ceiling on.


So much for today. I need to start going out earlier in the morning and not waiting until it gets up in the high 70's.

[Rainier70]

[aztrooper]

I got out earlier this morning to get some things done. First thing was to tape up the ceiling insulation to the metal cross members and finish up the last three sections that I left undone. The first was the very rear most section. There is a bright aluminum filler sheet that is screwed into the top of the door opening that I took down and then cut the 1" thick foam and got it installed. Then I taped all the pieces I put up Saturday and cut and installed the last front whole piece and then measured and cut, installed and taped the "V" front ceiling foam. Looks much better when it doesn't sag down. With that done, I still needed to install the last sheet of OSB under the bottom at the front. I did it the same way I had been doing it by cutting it in half length wise and installing one piece at a time. The front piece was a little challenge because of the "V" tongue box frame that angles back to connect to the side frame rails but I got it all screwed in. There isn't a way to fill in the front "V" section so I am just going to undercoat the 3/4" plywood floor very well and put it back down. No insulation in that section but it isn't that big of a section and will be under the front kitchen cabinets. The next step to finish up the underside and floor will be to caulk all the edges of the OSB on top and underneath, install the fiberglass insulation in the floor and then put the 3/4" plywood floor back in. I need to remember to also drill a hole in the OSB to run the brake wires back down and reconnect them. With the floor done, I can start on getting the 1" thick foam insulation in the walls and getting the original plywood back on. I'm going to start at the front and work my way back to where the windows go, put them in and finish it up. We have decided to go with a short tight weave carpet for the walls over the original plywood. Shouldn't be to hard to do that. I'm thinking contact cement on the wood and then on the back of the carpet. That should hold it in place.

[aztrooper]

I've been pretty busy the last two weeks so today was the first day I have been able to get out to the trailer to work. Thought I had everything I needed to get alot done but when I got there, I found out I forgot the caulking so I did what I could. The first thing was to cut the 2X6 boards to the width of the main "I" beam frame rails. This was to give me something to screw the 3/8" bottom sheets where they didn't match up to the "C" channel cross supports. I cut them 76" long, cut a 2" long, 1/2" wide slot for the brake/taillight wires to go thru and then tapped them into place just inside the "I" beams and over the seams. I then cut the 24" wide R19 fiberglass insulation to length and temporarily put it in place. In the first picture, you can see the "V" section that will be open except for the 3/4" plywood floor. Nothing there to attach a sub-floor to. At the bottom right of the photo, you can see a 2" space between the "I" frame and the outside edge of the trailer. I am going to use 4" wide aluminum flashing to cover that to stop any water/dust/mud coming in contact with the 3/4" floor boards. I'll secure it with the caulk onto the top of the frames.


The next photo is the second section cut to length and temporarily put in place. I did that so it will be easy to pull it out and caulk it up around the edges. When I put the floor in, I will run screws down thru the floor into the 2X6's to hold it in place on the top as well as the bottom thru the sub-floor.


Ended early because I got out there late and really couldn't get anything else done and it was getting hot. I'm going to get out there early tomorrow morning.

[aztrooper]

I went out this morning at 7am to get started. My goal was to get all the floor insulation in and the floor back down. YEAH. I did it. I even remembered to drill two holes in the bottom sheet to bring the brake wires back up through and reconnect them to the main wire.

I am so happy with that major accomplishment done. Next step is to get underneath and caulk up the seams and edges of the OSB so it will all be water and weather proof.

[aztrooper]

I got out this morning to finish up the underside of the trailer. Tired of working in the dirt. haha. I got all the underside buttoned up and caulked up. Here is the pictures of the finished bottom side.




It was still cool so I started on the interior wall insulation with the 1" foil backed foam insulation. I started on the left side of the "V" nose and worked around to the right side "V" section. Don't know why but there was two 12" square 1/2" thick for a total of 1" thick pieces of plywood 13" up from the bottom of the each section of the "V" nose that has a screw holding them from the outside of the trailer skin. Might be there as stiffeners is the only reason I can think of. Anyway, I got the front done and then got the right side started back to the first section past the door. This is going very quickly. The foam fits inside the "Z" vertical brace and is held in place on the other side by the screws that hold the other side of the adjacent "Z" brace.





I then used the canned expanding foam and sprayed it into the center metal channel and the ones on the left and right side. It initially looked good but then after a while, it looked like it was sagging. I'll buy another can of foam and go back and fill it in. You can kind of see it in the pictures if you look closely. Going back out tomorrow and get the rest of the side wall insulation foam in up to the point where the windows will go in.