CNC Build: The Bed and Breakfast at 4 years and 40,000 miles

[capnTelescope]

Thank you, Tim. It's all one big collection of "small" projects. As they get physically smaller, they get more fussy. The CNC sure helps with the detail stuff. Playing with it has been one of the larger fun elements of the build.

Keep plugging away!

[capnTelescope]

Good grief! It's been so long since I posted that I was all the way back to page 3. Been camping or getting ready to go camping or recovering from camping, so there's quite a bit to catch up on.

My third trip with the Tear was the Xth annual gathering at Beavers Bend in southeast Oklahoma. This trip I managed to do my first damage.

Failure to raise the landing gear:

It's more like darnage than damage. 20 bucks for a new tongue jack and back in biz. I didn't like that jack, anyways. Too wobbly.

After the Beaver Bend gathering I decided to see more of Oklahoma, since I hadn't been to OK before, So I headed west.

The farther west I went, the worse the weather started looking. BB had already been a rainfest, so enough of that. Kansas was another "hadn't been there," so I headed north. Got to Dodge City and called it a night.
The next day looked better weather-wise, so I continued west. Spent the night at the campground in Lake Pueblo State Park, close to Pueblo, CO. Uncrowded and quiet and a nice campground.

It was time to head home, so back to the Rock. 1200 miles in 24 hours thanks to the crash pad I'm towing. You can sure put some miles behind you when it's easy to catch a few ZZZs as needed.

The biggest need I saw after this trip was a tongue box to hide the propane tank in for ready hookup. Also, I hadn't yet executed my plan to charge while towing, because the tongue box was part of that plan.

On to the next post...

[Sheddie]

Hi Brad, good to see you are getting some miles behind you with your TD.

[noseoil]

$20 seems like "cheap education" to me. Hopefully that's all of your troubles behind you & smooth sailing from now on & into the future. 1200 miles in 24 hours seems like a lot of windshield time to me, but if it was safe & you were able to sleep along the way then all is well. Good you've been able to get out a bit now & enjoy all the hard work & time you spent in the build.

Any modifications planned at this point, or just finishing-up stuff like the tongue box left to do now? Sounds like a successful trip to me. Best, tim

[tony.latham]

I didn't like that jack anyways.

Bro: To tell you the truth, I saw that jack in your build thread and didn't like it either. Hah!

After leaving my jack's removable wheel at a campsite, I wrote up a "Towing Checklist." It kind of goes with your "wheels down takeoff" since it's an old pilot's protocol as you might know.

The List generally doesn't see the sun light when I'm preflighting for a departure, but it's in my head. I'll look at the galley and click The List off in my brain, shut the hatch and secure it. I'll eyeball the hitch (still clicking off The List), start the engine, turn the lights on and emergency flashers and do a final walk around making sure the trailer lights are working and I haven't left the chocks or leveling blocks laying in the grass. And one last eyeball of the hitch.

Glad to see your putting some wear on those tires. We're heading out tomorrow.

Tony

p.s. Here's the list:

Towing Checklist:

-Windows up
-Fan lid down
-Doors clicked shut
-Drawer locks installed
-Stove lock engaged
-Hatch latches closed
-Ensure the hitch is fully down on the ball and locked
-Hitch safety pin engaged
-Safety chains attached and crossed
-Pigtail connected
-Jack fully up
-Jack wheel loaded
-Leveler blocks and wheel chocks loaded

[capnTelescope]

good to see you are getting some miles behind you with your TD.

Thanks, Frank. I find I'm *really* liking this mode of travel.

"cheap education"

Nail on the head, Tim.

1200 miles in 24 hours seems like a lot of windshield time to me

I'm pretty sure now that I over-recollected the mileage. But it was 24 hours.

Any modifications planned at this point...?

I'm seriously thinking about a redo on the suspension. It's rated at 3500#, and it's way too stiff. Not so cheap education. If I do, it'll be torsion. I'm having camber issues with the Timbren that are probably more to do with the guy who welded up the frame.

...putting some wear on those tires.

(see above) More so than expected. Trying to soften the ride, I lowered the tire pressure. When I got home, the tires were badly worn on the outside edges. A classic sign of underinflation.

... I wrote up a "Towing Checklist."

Bro, funny you should mention that. Same-same. I've also left a pair of wheel chocks somewhere.

We're heading out tomorrow.

Safe travels!

Tongue box build coming soon!

[capnTelescope]

Tongue Box

Now that I was motivated, I needed a tongue box design. After some research, I liked one
by DesertMoose, so here goes:

First I cut out a cardboard template for a test fit. CNC, of course.

This pic reminds me. I reworked the laser pointer for the CNC to get
a better cross at the table level. That is *so* much better!

Test fitting:

The gap is intentional. I'll be putting a bulb seal between box and
the front of the cabin. Just happened to have a bunch to fit a
quarter inch edge that I didn't use on the galley hatch.

Right side and front panel piece set up for measuring the front
panel width:


Glue-up:


Preparing to cut the lid ribs:

You can see a little HD Purple 70% off lumber cull paint on the
small piece. I got lucky when I went to get some cedar plank for the
lid and misc parts, as they had several pieces in the cull bin.

One pair of ribs stiffens the sides:


Another pair shapes the lid. The slats are ripped at a 4 deg angle and dadoed to fit the ribs.
Laying this out in CAD was incredibly helpful.

A quick spray of spar varnish, and it's looking good:


Shoulda done the sides in cedar, too. I'll cover the box in Aluminum one day. The cedar plank was finish planed only on one side, so the outside of the lid is rough, and the pretty side is on the inside.

I had some concern about the "adequate ventilation" floor of the box being a major source of water/mud/road apple intrusion to the box. Later, it turned out that my fears were unfounded.

Next up: charging while towing!

Stay tuned

[Sheddie]

Nice job Brad shouldn't be too much extra weight up front either.

[aggie79]

Nice job on the tongue box Cap'n! It goes really well with the profile of your teardrop.

The cedar I used on my tongue box was the same way - finished one side only. I flipped a coin and put the rough-sawn side to the inside.

One of these days, if I ever get to go camping again, I hope our paths cross.

Take care,
Tom

[capnTelescope]

If you've waded through the Charging While Towing thread in Electrical Secrets, then you may know me as the wacko who charges his trailer battery by running a smart charger from a 12V inverter fed by the TV. The main reason for doing it this way is that the charging system in your TV is tailored to quickly recharging the starting battery, and won't necessarily supply healthful voltages and currents to my (your) fancy specialty deep cycle battery.

A lot has been written about battery charging, discharging and storage, and written by people more knowledgeable than I am. The main point to remember is that one charging method does NOT fit all. For longest battery life use a charger suitable for your battery.

Here's a quick run through my current (pun intended) charging while towing system.

It all starts at the TV battery:

another view:

12 volts from the battery goes through a fuse (red wire) to what looks like an old school starter solenoid. That's the shiny object off in the darkness that my fingers are pointing to. This is a Cole Hersee (24059-BP) 12V Insulated SPST Continuous Duty Solenoid. It is controlled by the yellow wire, which is hooked up to a wire that is hot only when the car key is in the run position. Thanks to the solenoid, there is no connection between the TV battery and the trailer when the TV is turned off. When the TV is turned on, the solenoid connects the red wire to (can't hardly see it) the 10 ga black wire that runs back to the 7-pin plug at the tow hitch, shown here:


The connectors at the front of the trailer plugs into the TV's connectors.

Note the large white, black and blue wires coming out of the 7-pin plug. these are ground, +12VDC and electric brakes. There's also a small red wire peeking out of the bundle that is the backup light wire. I kept the 4-wire pigtail so that the trailer could be towed by any vehicle with a 4-pin plug. I hook up both plugs to tow and charge.

In the tongue box, the white and black wires connect to a 400W inverter:

110VAC comes out of the inverter through the yellow plug, and enters the trailer through this junction box:

where they go to the back of the trailer and power the smart charger:

(the gray "Genius" box, upper left under the counter).

At the risk of overloading you with too much information, the power for the charger enters the trailer's system through this relay setup,

which allows me to plug into shore power without having to remember to throw a switch or something. The charger plugs in here.



Just for fun, another view of the wiring nightmare under the galley:

[tony.latham]

Holy buckets! That's where the tire wear's coming from. Hauling all that copper. Sheeeeeeesh.

Something's not right here. Either you're doing more in that 'drop than charging an iPhone or this is the lost season of Breaking Bad.

T

p.s. now I'm gonna have to read through that damn thread..

[capnTelescope]

That's where the tire wear's coming from. Hauling all that copper.

I figger there's over 500 feet of wire in this beast.

Either you're doing more in that 'drop than charging an iPhone or this is the lost season of Breaking Bad.

No iPhone, it's an Android. Must be the other.

[Kaz]

Those are some cool puzzle joints. I don't know about where you are but one thing I can get here in Boston is 5x10 sheets. Not cheap but a huge labor saver.

[capnTelescope]

Hey, Santa Kaz. Welcome to my humble build journal. I hope you've found me to be nice and not naughty.

Here in central Texas, we can probably get 'most anything if we try hard enough. Or spend hard enough. I didn't want to do either one very hard. Too much fun with the CNC.

[capnTelescope]

Here's a schematic drawing of my Charge While Towing setup.