This past weekend I bought some 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle aluminum and made brackets to mount the battery boxes to our frame.
Our plan is to have 1.5" x 1.5" angle iron welded to the frame (where I have them pinch clamped in the pictures), then the aluminum angle sits on top (held in place with quarter twenty screws, once I'm sure where to put them, and drill the holes). The boxes should be close to flush with the top of the floor. They do extend down further than the axle about a quarter inch, but hopefully we'll never get that close to rocks with the trailer. If we want to try a road like that, we leave the trailer back at a camp site.
Could only find an 8 foot piece of the angle aluminum at the big box store, so now I have more scrap to find a use for!
I also bought an electric heater for our garage. Took the 240 volt basement circuit I had the electrician install when the cabin was built, and wired in a 50 amp outlet. Could have used 30 amps for the heater, but didn't want to change out the circuit breaker, and we may want the 50 amp circuit some day. But that led to the problem of finding a cord with a suitable plug. (The heater came without a cord.) Found a 6 foot range cord that fit the bill, but it would look neater if it were a few feet longer.
Think I may redo it with a longer cord, and maybe a switch, if I can find one that will handle 50 amps. Or maybe use the cord I have to a 30 amp breaker in its own box that I use as a switch, and 10 gauge (vice 6 gauge) wire to the heater.
The heater works really well, but sure makes the meter spin! Firewood is cheaper around here. We have a three car garage (if you parked them end-to-end) and in 15 minutes my head was noticeably warmer. The thermometer on top of the layout table went from 63 to 66 in that time, but I'm sure would have warmed considerably as the air warmed from the top down. Just right for our Winter epoxy needs!
We did put on two more coats of epoxy on the edge of the floor, and seems to have cured. Should be able to sand it soon, and be done with epoxy until we start the walls in a few weeks!
Finally, this has nothing at all to do with teardrops, it's a different hobby entirely, but I was in a consignment store this weekend and ran across this 16 inch aluminum sphere
The sign said "whatever this is, it's $19.99." I knew immediately what it is: it's a calibration target for my homemade radar! I have no idea what it used to was. Any guesses? (the clerk had one and my response was "yes, and you should see the size of the angel on top!")
Not sure how it was made either. Which is really why I'm posting it here--anyone have any ideas about that? It is lightweight so the wall must be thin. It's so thin it's dented in spots, which messes with the radar calibration, but I think I can find a good hemisphere. The surface is grooved latitudinally, but I can't see evidence of a seam. There is a small hole at the North Pole where there is a string, like a Christmas ornament.
Tom
Then I add up how much I've spent on camp stoves up till now and it's well over what one of these cost. And everything I've read is that these stoves will last a lifetime. And you can pass it down to your grandkids. And you can get rebuild parts.
Going on 26 hours, and it hasn't really cured. It is cool down there these days--50's to 60's, so we were hoping it was just slow due to that, but I put the lamps on the touch ups, and also what was left in the pot, and it hasn't seemed to help.
) Anyway, I've got three coats of Helmsman on the sides I've been working on now, and it looks okay; don't think I should change products now. Think I'll add a fourth before turning them over and doing the other sides. Guess we'll see how well it holds up in camping conditions.
