The Annex - 5 1/2 wide X 10 long X 5 high

[JohnSw]

I mounted an aluminum box to house the battery, chocks, assorted blocking for leveling and a lug wrench.




I built a box to hold the battery which I vented. I also cut a drain hole in the aluminum box under the battery. I included a place to securely store propane tanks for the cook stove. The propane tanks are in a separate compartment that has large hole cut in the bottom to allow any leaking propane to escape. (Propane is heavier than air.)

[JohnSw]

I wanted a small window in my door. I thought about just having a fixed window but really wanted it to open. Here is an overall of the rear of the camper.




A closer view of the window.... The windows is Plexiglas, piano hinge is stainless steel, the hinge screws are screwed into a 1/8 x 1/2 aluminum bar. The aluminum channels are 3/8 x 1/2. There are probably twice as many aluminum pop rivets as necessary. The latches are from a work project long ago. It seemed a shame to just throw them away when I might be able to find a use for them and, what do you know, 25 years later, I did. The seal is by Trim Lok. It's EPDM closed cell .62" wide x .38 high with a presure sensitive adhesive that I got from Zoro.com




The window in the open position.... Initially I was planning on some kind of lever with a roller to ride in the channels to open the window. That's the origin of the side channels. This was getting too complex and it occured to me that I could just push the window open and put a stick in it. I hinged the screen and made a fancy stick. I actually made two fancy sticks, a long one and a short one.




Inside of the door... I made a screen frame from 3/4 x 3/4 poplar and used the table saw to cut a groove for the spline I had leftover from replacing the sliding door screen.




I've had the camper on the road twice - both times in rainstorms. The window has not leaked.

I posted this in the "Teardrop Construction Tips and Techniques" section under the topic "Everyone Loves a Homemade Window" so to keep everything in one place, let's post questions or comments there.

[JohnSw]

As long as I'm doing windows, my side windows are windows salvaged from an RV. I did not get the inner trim ring so I mounted them with Aluminum screws I found on a $2 sale table at an RV dealer.
I think it's important to have at least one window that cranks out as opposed to a sliding wing. This allows the window to be open in the rain.



I used butyl tape under the window flange. I also ran a bead of clear caulk around the outer edge. I used Dap Alex Plus for doors and windows. There isn't a dab of silicone caulk on my trailer (or my house).

[JohnSw]

To hide my rectangular wheel wells I screwed these trim pieces in place.

[JohnSw]

I chose to use muffin fans for ventilation. They are relatively cheap and don't require a roof vent. I built the camper in a single car garage so total height was a big concern. Not knowing how much ventilation the fans would yield pushed me to use three 120mm fans.

[JohnSw]

Our first outing was with the North Carolina Tearjerkers for the January 2016 Shiveree and we found even one fan (or 2 at half speed) was a lot of air in January so I added the 7805 voltage regulator to the circuit. The 7805 takes a 12 VDC input and puts out 5 VDC. I'm not an electrical engineer but I what I understood was that you should not have the 12V feedback to the output of the 7805 so I added a diode. If I misunderstood, the diode won't cause any harm other than dropping the voltage by an additional volt or less. I also ignored the capcitors in the example circuit because I'm only powering a fan and voltage variations are not a problem. Now I can run one fan at 5 V or 12V and if that is not enough I can run two additional fans at 6V or 12V. I could be up all night trying to figure out the optimum combination but at least I'll have enough ventalation.
(Click to enlarge)