"The X-Cubed" C.T.T.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Nice.

Thanks... sometimes it really is about the little things in life.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Finished pinstriping the other side (had to order more orange pinstripe) and painting the inside of the hatch. Almost ready for Liberty Bell TearJerkers Spring Gathering next weekend at Codorus State Park!

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[chadwalber]

Finished pinstriping the other side (had to order more orange pinstripe) and painting the inside of the hatch. Almost ready for Liberty Bell TearJerkers Spring Gathering next weekend at Codorus State Park!

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This whole build, and your recent finishing touches, are pretty awesome. I'm getting ready to start my journey to build... I hope comes out a tenth as cool as this is!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[absolutsnwbrdr]

This whole build, and your recent finishing touches, are pretty awesome. I'm getting ready to start my journey to build... I hope comes out a tenth as cool as this is!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Thanks! It continues to be a really fun project! Couldn't have gotten this far without lots of reading on here and TearJerkers!

[absolutsnwbrdr]

The push continues! Getting ready to paint my design on the giant hatch....

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I should really own stock in 3M. Soooo much blue painters tape has been used on this camper.

[capnTelescope]

Nice added touches, Zach.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Nice added touches, Zach.

Thanks!


Had my first outing of the year last weekend! Liberty Bell TearJerkers were at Codorus State Park, here in Hanover, PA.

I'm definitely loving the lights in the hatch.... perfect ambient light at night! Quite a few tours were given to curious onlookers, and I got a number of compliments on the new side graphics.

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[absolutsnwbrdr]

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[absolutsnwbrdr]

Apparently I never posted up the finished galley hatch graphics, so here they are...

Paint was drying, waiting to be pinstriped....



And finished...

[absolutsnwbrdr]

And in preparation for CRA, I've started installing the vents for the air conditioner. If you havent read the entire build thread, the air conditioner is a standard 5000btu window unit, which mounts in an opening in the lower bulkhead wall. There's no point in dragging an air conditioner along if its not needed, so its removable. Until now, we just left the galley hatch open a little bit to vent the warm air, but I wanted something a little more "finished".

My design calls for (2) splash-proof computer case fans mounted in the side walls of the lower galley, blowing out. Fresh air will be drawn in from openings in the galley floor. The lower galley is about 30cu.ft., and each fan is capable of moving 64cfm, which means I should get a complete air change every 15 seconds. Hopefully this is adequate, but time will tell. We don't often go camping where we have power to run an air conditioner, so this should be enough to get us by on the trips that we actually do use it. The fans will be hooked to a simple toggle switch, and they'll just run whether or not the air conditioner is cycled on or off.

Cutting the holes in the side of the camper was a little tedious, as I needed a square hole on the inside (to hold the fan) and a round hole on the outside.

I first made a square template for the Dremel to follow, and attached it to the side wall



Cut the opening in the 3/16" interior skin and the 3/4" insulation





And then made a "frame" that closed the wall back up and covered the insulation. The fan fits perfectly inside the frames. This was done on both sides of the camper for maximum ventilation.



Then I cut a 4-1/2" hole in the exterior skins.





And test fitting the fans...



The holes will get sanded and painted to seal the wood, and I'm in the process of making the exhaust vent covers.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Exhaust vent covers are almost ready to install. One more coat of bedliner, and they'll be good to go!



Also created a cover for the fresh air intakes, hopefully to prevent (or at least minimize) dirt and water intrusion during travel. I have some fiberglass screen that will keep the bugs out of the ports.







Picked up a gallon of Black Beauty Asphalt Fence Post Paint on my lunch break, so I'll take care of the undercoating this evening.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Oh I forgot to share these two pictures.... the first is the two intake holes in the floor of the galley, and the second is a close up of the exhaust fan and cover.





And in case you havent read the build thread up to this point, the unfinished wood panel seen in these pictures is a door that is hinged at the top. When open, a window A/C unit fits in the opening. I really dont feel the need to drag a window ac unit along on all the trips, and that opening doubles as a doggy door when my beagle comes along.

[ae6black]

I am sort of bumbed that Glendale fell through, I wanted to come up just to see your TD. If I ever get around to building # 2 your unit is one that I wanted to look at for ideas that I might want to incorporate into my second build. I've enjoyed reading about your build and one day will catch you at a gathering.

Art

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Glendale? You mean Prince Galitzen State Park?

One of these days we'll run into each other! Any chance you're going to CRA next weekend? I'll be there!

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Finished getting the exhaust vent covers installed!





However....

I put the A/C in the camper to test the venting, and I have to unfortunately chalk up this initial attempt as a fail. Each of the two computer case fans move (supposedly) 64cfm, which isn't near enough. They definitely kick the hot air out my exhaust vents, but not fast enough. I put a thermometer inside the lower galley, closed the galley hatch, and let the A/C run for a while. The teardrop cooled off very nicely.
But within a couple hours the ambient air temps in the lower galley were up around 120°f.

The two fresh air intakes in the floor seem to be more than large enough, as there isn't a rush of air going in, but rather a calm steady flow. Which leads me to believe that my fans just don't move enough air. I've ordered two new 120mm fans, each rated at 103cfm, which should be here Saturday. If these don't do the trick, I'll need to play around with other options, possibly utilizing a fan in one of the intended fresh air floor intakes as an exhaust fan. Having 3 exhaust vents and one intake vent would certainly increase air velocity, which may be just what I need.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Crossroads of America Gathering is rapidly approaching and I'm running out of time to fail again. However, if I do, the hatch will just stay open during the day while we run the the A/C, and at night the hatch will just stay cracked open a few inches. This has been sufficient for the past few years... I'm just wanting a more "finished" approach.




Oh, and this X-Cubed project really needs to come to a close, as there is a new one looming...
Say hi to our 1976 Serro Scotty 13' Gaucho. Poor girl's bones are rotted away and she's in need of a complete frame-off rebuild, but all the skins, trim, lights, windows, and hardware are there and in great condition.