Tucson tortoise: Edit for photos

[lfhoward]

The wood working and the attention to detail in this trailer are amazing. It is a functional piece of art. Very very nice!

[noseoil]

OK, making progress on the A/C installation. Here's what we have so far. A view from outside looking at the panel. Rivets from the front side which go into the backing pieces.


Here's a partial insert shot. Still some more stuff to go inside the box to locate the A/C unit in it.


Set the unit in place & turned it on. Temp went from 86 inside this morning, down to 64 in about 20 minutes, so it's getting plenty of air flow on the back end. More to follow tomorrow.

[KCStudly]

The wood working and the attention to detail in this trailer are amazing. It is a functional piece of art. Very very nice!

+1

[noseoil]

OK, glad to have an extra day this weekend. Thanks to those who gave so much so we could live as we do now. Many men & women have made sacrifices, it's a day of remembrance for me.

A few more shots of the work. Basically have most of it done now, but still have to locate the holes for the spring-pins to keep things in place while driving or parked & running.

Used aircraft rivets which were the left-overs from days gone by. Here's a detail shot of the lower corner, how it looks when viewed from the outside-front.


The shroud in place to measure some blocking.

The bottom white strips are PTFE pieces (teflon) to help reduce friction when sliding the unit front to back in the opening. The shelf itself is angled down to the front, so any water which gets inside will drain to the outside. I always level the trailer when parked, so water shouldn't be an issue for us with rains or condensation. We'll have to see about that one though. Time will tell, but the box is skinned with aluminum, so it should be OK with a little moisture from time to time.


Here's the face frame cut & dry-fit to check gaps & clearances. The metal shroud isn't completely flat, so I had to scribe the inner edges & sand off a bit of wood prior to assembly, to close up some of the gaps. Worked well enough.


Detail shot of the side plate. This is the location where the spring-pin will be dropped into place, to keep the A/C unit from moving around while driving. The A/C is about 6" bigger than the box it sits in, but it should be OK. Have to see when we get rolling how it all stays put & then works when we stop.


This is how it looks when it's shoved forward. Temperature dropped about 20 degrees in 30 minutes, so we have good airflow on the exhaust side & plenty of air movement.


Finally, here's the A/C up & running. Still have some odds & ends to finish, but the basic box, unit, panel & ideas seem to be OK. Need to finish the face frame & get some weather stripping for the back side where it mates with the headboard. Also have to make more blocking for the top of the shroud, once the final installation is made.

[Dusty Mark]

Read your entire build. You've done great work with taking it to a high quality level. Your wood colors are great! I like your front mount air conditioning system. I would have used that if I hadn't needed a storage module in the front due to the dog kennel taking up so much storage space.

[noseoil]

Thanks Mark, appreciate the feedback on my build. Must have taken a while to plow through all of that stuff!

Almost done on the AC installation. Worked until noon, but that's enough for me. It's 106 today & forecast highs for this weekend are 112, glad I don't live in Phoenix, it's really hot there! Here's the "before" shot of the inside & the "after" shot with the air running.


After 1/2 hour I shut things down, but it works. I've attached the face frame permanently to the front with some dry wall screws (top & bottom, 2 each). Also found some thin weatherstrip at Home Delay which is glued to the back side of the face frame. It makes an air-tight seal when it's in place. The spring plungers were drilled & hold the unit in place from shifting now, in or out.

Did the same thing on the inside face of the aluminum close-out panel, then drilled & tapped some fine thread #8 screws to hold it in place. I still need to epoxy the inside of the holes, where they got drilled through the wood & aluminum, but it's up & running now. If I did it again, I would insulate the galley bulkhead. That puppy is hot now with the hatch closed up!

[noseoil]

A few detail shots of the installation. This is the lower corner of the face frame. A thin weatherstrip is being compressed against the cabinet face.


The same weatherstrip was used inside the back of the close-out panel, which is screwed in against the front of the box for traveling. The screws are in the top & sides of the panel, 4 in the top, two in the sides. The flange of the angle is drilled & tapped to slightly compress the gasket when the "travel mode" has the AC unit slid partially into the cabin. It appears to be air tight, but we'll have to see about that on a dusty road. Also, a hard rain will be a good test at speed. This is the gap at the top of the box, which allows more outside air to be drawn in by the fan for airflow. It's about a 1/2" gap, so more air gets pulled in from the top as the fan is pushing air out through the condenser coils.


The driver's side at the box opening. The hole in the green panel is the hole used to take the stainless steel screw and fasten the flange of the aluminum angle to the box when travelling. The 1/8" aluminum plate is fastened to the AC cabinet shroud, drilled with a hole in it, & accepts the "spring plunger" which is in the cabin side of the box, about 2" in from the face frame. They're just spring loaded pins with a 1/4" X 20 thread & the pin inside. The gray stuff is a 3M adhesive tape, used to locate the plate prior to fastening. This locks the unit in place for travelling so it can't slide around inside the box.


The same shot, but on the passenger side. Hole for mounting the face panel, airflow into the condenser & the copper plumbing inside the AC unit for the condenser. It seems to move enough air to let the unit run efficiently.


I still need to epoxy the inside of the holes, to keep water out when it rains, but it's mostly finished now. Hopefully, we won't have to run this thing too much, but it's nice to know we can fire up the generator if it's too hot & get a good sleep in at night. Another item crossed off the list, not much left now.

My goal was to finish before I retire (on June 21st this year, it's here already!). I had budgeted $,5000 over the 2 year build. Time? I had no idea when I started, that's why it was 2 years. So far I have 473 hours of build time & $6,700 of direct costs in materials (doesn't include a few tools, clamps, etc. along the way). I don't think I'll be 100% done when I hit the finish-line at work, but it's pretty close now. I still need to make a couple of sliding doors at the headboard, but I'm pondering that one still.

I want to thank everyone on the site again for their helpful input. There's no way I could have figured all of this out without so much positive feedback & good ideas on how (not) to do things. I guess it's true, if you're into it, you're never really finished.....

[noseoil]

OK, the epoxy is in place now for the fasteners holding the cover in place. Just used tape to make a dam & a layer on top so clean-up is easier. After it cures, I drilled it out again so the wood should be fairly well protected under the aluminum skin. Thinking I should get some neoprene washers or something, to seal the screw heads from rain.


Here's what it looks like with the panel fastened & the screws in place.


I'm not sure I would recommend this system for a panel in an opening to anyone. It's a PITA to set up & everything has to work right, tolerances are very close & I'm still waiting to see how it works on the road. I guess time will tell if it's a good system or not. I thought of putting a hinge on the top edge for the panel, but decided on the screws. I can always modify it if I have to at a later date. We'll just have to see how it holds up over road trips this summer & look for leaks.....

Going to make a couple little pieces of aluminum angle to cover up the edges at the top of the box, to make it look a little better & seal up the joints.

[tony.latham]

As usual, superb craftsmanship. (And boy, am I glad I live up here where I don't need AC for camping!)

Tony

[noseoil]

Yea Tony, I hear you on that one. On Sunday afternoon, I used a car cover to try to keep some of the heat out. I sort of freaked out two days ago (Monday) when I came home & opened the trailer after work. The cabin said 120 degrees, but that's as high as the thermometer can read, so it was pegged & I'm not really sure how hot it actually was inside. The official high that day was 111, I think.

The galley was a different story completely. I had trouble working the latch, I mean aside from burning my hand on the metal, it was too tight. It faces west and was in the sun all afternoon with the cover in place. When I got it open, the oven thermometer, which was on the top shelf, was reading over 150 f. Whoa! I tried closing the hatch again, but the aluminum had expanded enough to spring the hatch out of shape & make closing it impossible.

I got the hose out & watered it down so the aluminum could shrink up again, left it open for a while in the shade (sun going down) & it relaxed again & closed normally. I went to Wally's World & got a cheap canopy to cover it up, at least most of it, so it's mostly in the shade now during the day.

This evening it's 108 in the cabin & as I type this, the galley is "only" 110 now. It's 8:20 P.M. & outside it's down to 95, so it's cooling off pretty well this evening. I didn't want to buy another canopy, but seeing the temperatures like that pretty much did me in & I'm not willing to see all the work & time I've put into this thing turn into a melted puddle in the back yard.

That's also why the truck & trailer both have new tires. When we leave here on trips, the pavement can be 160 & a worn or under-inflated tire is a disaster waiting to happen.

[tony.latham]

Flat crazy.

T

[KCStudly]

Next project, building a carport for the camper?

[noseoil]

Did a test of the air conditioning this weekend. No leaks with the wind, rain, hail, thunder & lightning up at 7,400'. It was a good hard rain that lasted for a couple of hours. Had the AC unit pushed out for sleeping & there were no problems with this setup at all, no drips! The generator works well, the power supply was fine for starting & running, & the PD4045 was up to the task without any problems. No leaks on the road either, so along with a nice camping trip it was a good test of the setup. Had a great trip.

[KCStudly]

Not having to worry about water getting in is a big stress relief, I am sure! Sorry that you got rained on , but good that you had a nice thorough test session.

[noseoil]

Well I made it! Today was my last day of work & it's official now, I'm retired. My goal was to finish the build before I retired, but it looks like I'm still doing some small stuff. The biggest thing left on the list now is the galley drawer in the center section of the base, but it's no big deal that it isn't done. I have a few more ideas for some extra things which weren't on the list originally, but it's at 99% finished now.

Will be reporting on a trip to the north in a few weeks, as time permits. I'll be so glad to get out of the heat for a while this summer, Tucson is living up to its moniker of "The Baked Apple" so far this season. Sunday was 115, yesterday was 112. Today it was much cooler at 106, so it's cooling off a little now. Will be posting more in a while....