Troy's Tiki Hut

[Vedette]

I was wondering how I had missed your build to date? Until I noticed the dates??
Read from the beginning!
Great Job!
Glad to see that you built your chassis, and showed others how simple and affordable it can be! Again....Nice Job!
You look to have gone first class and put in everything you thought you would need and want in a first build.
My only observation with doing this is weight???
I am currently on my second build, and although I have absolutely no complaints about anything I did on Miss Piggy (maybe the complexity of the table) I am making an attempt to "build lighter" on Kermit.
Would be interested to see what your finished "loaded" weight is?
Keep up the Great work.....you are almost at the finish line.
Brian

[spbiknut]

I was wondering how I had missed your build to date? Until I noticed the dates??
Read from the beginning!
Great Job!
Glad to see that you built your chassis, and showed others how simple and affordable it can be! Again....Nice Job!
You look to have gone first class and put in everything you thought you would need and want in a first build.
My only observation with doing this is weight???
I am currently on my second build, and although I have absolutely no complaints about anything I did on Miss Piggy (maybe the complexity of the table) I am making an attempt to "build lighter" on Kermit.
Would be interested to see what your finished "loaded" weight is?
Keep up the Great work.....you are almost at the finish line.
Brian

Hey Brian,
Looking forward to seeing your second build come to life! Thanks for the props on my build! I was on a roll when I first started then had some personal issue take up the better part of a year...Life right!? You're correct about the weight...I haven't taken it to the scales yet, but I'm thinking it will come in around 1200lbs...I'll make sure to post the actual once I find out.

I'm already thinking about my second build!

Take care,
-Troy

[dales133]

Looking good Troy nice to see unique designs

[spbiknut]

I built some "gas-less" hatch supports out of a adjustable clothes hanger bars I found at HD. I'm not a fan of gas struts. I use to be a mechanic and have had a couple of hoods come down on me due to strut failure. This was easy and cheap and the locking pins give me a higher level of comfort than the gas struts.

-Troy

[spbiknut]

Did someone say "Home-Made Swamp Cooler"? I've been pondering this for a while. Looking forward to seeing it in action especially during this summer down in the Keys! The pump and the fan take up less than 3 amps with the fan at full speed and less than 1 amp at slow speed. I've been keeping everything 12volts and only using shore power when available to charge the batteries. I'm also looking for a solar charging system for some true boondocking.

[low-n-slow]

Troy,

I am liking your build and have a lot of the same ideas for my build that you have put into yours. I really like the idea of the cooler. My only thought would be how the humidity in FL will affect the effectiveness of your swamp cooler.

On the other hand, here is a link to a solar panel that I know works really well for vehicle batteries:

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-02 ... olar+panel

I am the vehicle control guy where I work and have several of these for our work vehicles. They all work really well, just a little too big to leave on the dash though. I am thinking of getting one and somehow "frenching" them into the back hatch.

Looks great though, and should make for a great beach camper.

Jason

[rebapuck]

Put the bottle opener outside, next to the galley.

[noseoil]

Wondering how much ice you will need for over night? It should work pretty well, but you will be eating up the ice pretty fast with the heat exchange.

[spbiknut]

Troy,

I am liking your build and have a lot of the same ideas for my build that you have put into yours. I really like the idea of the cooler. My only thought would be how the humidity in FL will affect the effectiveness of your swamp cooler.

On the other hand, here is a link to a solar panel that I know works really well for vehicle batteries:

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-02 ... olar+panel

I am the vehicle control guy where I work and have several of these for our work vehicles. They all work really well, just a little too big to leave on the dash though. I am thinking of getting one and somehow "frenching" them into the back hatch.

Looks great though, and should make for a great beach camper.

Jason

Jason, thanks for the link to the solar battery maintainer. Looks good! I've been pondering the humidity issue. I'm thinking if I keep it vented it should be much of problem, but we'll see...I'll report back after the first trip down to the Keys.
-Troy

Put the bottle opener outside, next to the galley.

Yup...I think you're on to something there...it sounds like a good spot for it!
-Troy

Wondering how much ice you will need for over night? It should work pretty well, but you will be eating up the ice pretty fast with the heat exchange.

Yeah...you've got a good point there. I've tested this cooler and it holds 10lbs of ice for two days with nothing running through the system and the water stayed "cool" for five days...that's with the cooler sitting in a hot garage. I'm going to use anti-freeze as the fluid in the system so the heat exchange through the cooler shouldn't affect it as much as plain water. I'll post the results.
-Troy

[spbiknut]

So here is my "cold box" with my repurposed trans cooler, large 12v fan and shop vac fittings for the air ducts. Installing it today and going to test the system tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. I'm thinking that I'll need a condensation drain, but that's easy enough to add later.

[spbiknut]

Here it is installed.

[low-n-slow]

That cooler looks really neat. I'm curious to see how it works, I might have to try and use that idea since most of my camping will be in the desert. Just curious though as to the air flow from the fan in such a confined space.

Jason