Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

[greygoos]

And I used my Kreg jig again to drill pocket holes in the spars. Here's a weird thing: it was freakishly difficult to drill those pocket holes. The drill just did not want to penetrate the wood. I had to lean into it to push it in and kept having to pause to let everything cool down. I've used the kreg jig a lot, and it's never been this reluctant.

Theories: Sounds like the bit is fried or possibly the jig itself is not set to the proper thickness.

[plectrudis]

Thanks, Jim. I suspect you're right. It's not the thickness--I measured the wood and consulted the chart that comes with the tool. Time for a new bit.

[KCStudly]

Not to assume anything... in fact, I bet you are already aware of this and use the technique, but one way to extend the life of any drill bit when drilling moderate to deep holes is to clean the chips out often (i.e. pull the drill bit out of the hole or jig frequently to drag the chips out and unclog the bit. Wiping the bit clean with a rag frequently also helps cool it. Even though the Kregg jig has exhaust holes to help the chips exit, it can still get clogged up, which generates and holds more heat.

Another technique that works especially well when drilling thinner hard materials... especially metals like steel and SS (a little off topic here)... is to pulse the trigger while maintaining pressure; each time the bit stops heat is transferred away from the bit into the base material.

[NorthEGPhoto]

On the Kreg Jig, I had that issue during my build. First time using it (and in fact still not completely satisfied I used the correct screw length or settings at all times, but I used enough glue and screws to fix the titanic so should be fine!) But.. it was all down to the wood chips not properly getting out of the exit hole. to resolve that I just ran the drill in and out while I was drilling to the final depth. worked great.

[plectrudis]

Over the past couple of months I've acquired my PD4045 and a battery, so I'm ready (mostly) to move on to the final stage of the electrical work: hooking up the juice.

I've spent the past week or so poring over the instructions that came with the PD4045, springdew's installation guide http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=67143, and this diagram http://www.tnttt.com/download/file.php?id=9796, plus some other wiring diagrams from the forum.

Everything finally makes sense to me, except for two things.

QUESTION ONE
Springdew says, "Run a green wire from the ground buss to the frame." Well, that's simple enough. But some of the diagrams I've seen run a wire from the ground buss to the BATTERY, and then from the battery to the frame.

Is that approact NOT appropriate in this case because the negative terminal will already be hooked up to the PD4045? So I wouldn't need to hook anything else up to the negative terminal, and would instead connect directly to the frame?

QUESTION TWO
What do I do with the neutral wires coming from my light fixtures? The positive wires get connected to the 12 pre-installed wires on the PD4045 that connect to the fuses. But where do the neutral wires connect? The neutral buss bar doesn't have enough holes to accommodate all 12 circuits. Do I need an external buss bar to receive all of those neutral wires? And if so, do I then run 1 wire from this external bar to the neutral bar in the PD4045?

In case you need to refresh your memory, here is a pic of my PD4045, with annotations that are basically an updated version of the diagram above, translated into plectrudis-speak.

[plectrudis]

I hooked up the PD4045, the battery, the grounding block, and one light fixture, and--to my everlasting astonishment--I made light happen!

(Actually, at first it didn't, and I thought, This thing is so complex, I haven't a hope in hell of tracking down the problem. Despair. But then Mr P pointed out that the porch light has a switch on its base, and maybe I should turn that switch on? Clever Mr P.)



This is actually kind of a dry run, just to see if I've actually understood what I was doing so far and that everything is hooked up right. Plus, I need more light inside the trailer as I work on the interior. But I'll probably have to disconnect some of what I've done once the bulkheads and galley shelves are in place. That's okay. If I've gotten it to work once, I can do it again.

Some elements to note:
1. For some reason, the PD instructions said to use the black wire coming from the battery for the NEG terminal, and the "white" for the POS terminal. This is weird on a couple of levels, since the battery itself is color-coded for black = POS, and RED = NEG (there is no white). Mr P suggested that I match the colors to the battery, since it's more standard. So I used black wire for POS and red for NEG.
2. I made a grounding block to receive all the negative wires from the 12v circuits and ran a wire from it to a bolt on the trailer. Then I ran another wire from the bolt on the trailer to the red/NEG post on the battery. Evidently, this is a fine thing to do.
3. I still need to install the battery switch and fuse/breaker.
4. I've wired up the power inlet, but haven't plugged it in yet. So I have yet to test the charging function on the PD. I'll also need to put a switch on the POS wire from the inlet, so I can shut it down, if needed. I'll probably install all the switches first, then turn on the juice.

NEXT STEPS
1. Install the master & battery switches
2. Install the dome lights
3. Install a grounding block for the passenger side circuits
4. Install the luan/ceiling material
5. Install the bulkheads
6. Install the shelves. Or insulate and finish the roof. Either way. No dependencies.
7. Install the fan.
8. Re-hook up the electricity & the rest of the fixtures/receptacles.

Then, at a very high level, hatch and skin.
Then AC unit.

THEN GO CAMPING!

[KCStudly]

...to my everlasting astonishment--I made light happen!

Sharing in your enthusiasm reminded me of Tom Hanks' character in Castaway when he created fire.

Glad to hear you are over your trepidation doing wiring!

Funny, I've never heard of a battery having red = neg and black = pos. AFAIK it is always the other way around. I think some marine applications use yellow instead of red for pos, but don't quote me on that.

[plectrudis]

Well.

It's been a minute.

I've been plugging away on the World's Slowest Teardrop Build, but I haven't been very good about documenting. So chagrined. I'll use this post to catch up.

In my last post, I had just gotten the 12V system to work, which still manages to amaze and delight me to this day. This process also included a preliminary installed of the MaxxAir fan--can't remember if I mentioned that or not.

Then we applied Poor Man's Fiberglass to the interior. (I know this is an odd choice, but I wanted a covering that would be water resistant and would smooth over any bumpiness in the surface of the wall. Which sort of worked. Unfortunately, I only got a wallpaper smoothing tool (a flat trapezoidal piece of plastic) after we put up the first wall. Strong recommendation: slather on the glue very thickly, use dry, ironed canvas, and smooth it out with the wallpaper tool as soon as it's mounted. I also hammered in brads to hold the canvas in shape.



IIRC, my next step was to put the roof on. Interior skin first, then insulation panels + puffy foam, then exterior skin. I got the whole thing installed except for the nose, because I ran out of plywood. So this pic is actually one of the most recent, but it shows roughly how I installed the others back in March-ish.



I used straps to hold it in place, screwed it down for fit, then uninstalled, applied construction adhesive, and re-screwed.

Back on the interior, I installed the luggage shelf that goes over our feet, painted the walls, and installed ceiling tiles and "crown molding":



I used that fakey PVC trim for the molding on the grounds that it would be more flexible than wood. It is, but even so, some of the curves were too much for it, and it snapped in a couple of spots. Eh, well--that's what wood filler is for. The dome lights are hooked up, but not yet re-installed on the ceiling in this pic.

Next step was to prep the A/C air return system--a register, booster fan, and ductwork. Unfortunately, I just learned that the manufacturer has discontinued my A/C unit of choice, so some re-jiggering of plans may be required. Hoping this back-end work can remain as is, though.

Here's the plan:



Here's me testing the concept:



And here's the finished product. It had to be installed before the shelving in the galley because the other way around... would be madness.



I had to cut a giant hole in my floor to accommodate the ductwork. I hated that SO. MUCH.

The pic unfortunately provides a closeup of my wires--so many wires. Since then, I've applied more split loom in an attempt to tidy them up, but I think wire management will always defeat me, as you will see below.

A/C return system in place, I started work on the rest of the galley. I PMF'd the walls and installed more of the ceiling tiles as a backsplash.

(For the curious, I ordered the ceiling tiles from Home Depot: Global Specialty Products Dimensions 2 ft. x 4 ft. Glue Up Tin Ceiling Tile in Matte White https://www.homedepot.com/p/Global-Specialty-Products-Dimensions-2-ft-x-4-ft-Glue-Up-Tin-Ceiling-Tile-in-Matte-White-204-50/205223390. It's made of "styrene," which I found to be nicely flexible and fairly easy to work with. I never was able to hide the seams as well as I would have liked, though.)

I also installed a fiberglass/linoleum flooring, which is covered in protective paper in the image below. (Lowes: Mohawk 6-ft W Cut-to-Length Kinsley Square Marble Decorative Low-Gloss Finish Sheet Vinyl https://www.lowes.com/pd/Mohawk-6-ft-W-x-Cut-to-Length-Kinsley-Square-Marble-Decorative-Low-Gloss-Finish/1001210420 )

Then I started assembling the shelves. I'm keeping these--like the cabin luggage shelf--super-simple. Partly because the exactitude needed for cabinetry isn't my forte, and partly to keep weight down. It will be filled with plastic boxes held in place with webbing in the end--no drawers, no cabinet doors. Plane Jane. The only cabinet-like component--a countertop box to hold my Dutch oven--I'm actually ordering from Etsy.

Here I'm dry-fitting the first two bays of the shelves:



And here, gloriously, is the finished shelving unit. Not yet screwed in, but wrestled into its final location with much labor by Mr P & me:



The countertop came from IKEA: EKBACKEN countertop, matte anthracite/laminate74x1 1/8 " (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/ekbacken-countertop-matte-anthracite-laminate-30409021/ ). It's a standard size, which I cut to fit with a circular saw. This went surprisingly well. Per the instruction booklet, I covered the area that I would be cutting with painters tape to help keep the cut neat.

This was a fair bit of work and anxiety, so I'm including a second beauty shot just to luxuriate in it:



In case you were wondering, the plastic film over the side walls was to protect them during the installation of the shelving--not a permanent feature.

As you can see, though, the wires remain a mess. I'm not sure what, if anything I can do about them--all attempts at organization fail. There are just too many wires going in too many different directions--some to the passenger wall, some to the driver wall, some up to the countertop, some down through the floor, and some into other cabinets. Ug. Also, the PD4045 isn't yet permanently installed--it's just resting in its future home. I have more thinking about how to do that best.



However, the wires remind me of a happy thing--In this same period, I also (mostly) successfully installed my 110 system! Holy cow, the blasted thing works (mostly)!

I've got an outlet in the cabin and two in the galley--and two of the three work. The one that doesn't, of course, is the one I installed solely to service the booster fan, and it's buried in the darkest depths of the electrical bay. I'm hoping I'll be able to uninstall it with the help of a very long-handled screwdriver and a lot of profanity, but I'll be damned if I reinstall it back in there. Either it comes out permanently (and the booster will have to consume one of my precious countertop outlets) or I find some other home for it.

Nevertheless. I installed two 110 outlets without setting anything on fire and they worked on almost the first try! What the heck!?

And I had to uninstall and re-install the battery, battery kill switch, and ground bus while working on the galley, and they also successfully returned to life. In fact, you can sort of see that four of the cubbies in the shelving unit have under-cabinet lighting (though not permanently installed--more mocked up in location). So chi-chi! The other two cubbies will get dolled up when I have the budget for more lights from IKEA.

So progress is getting made. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that coronavirus gave me a new impetus (and time!) to work on this project. Travel to outdoor locations in our own tiny self-contained micro-hotel sounds really good to me these days.