2013 Mirage XPO 6x12- Mt Air Express

[Rainier70]

Wow! I thought I had updated this build more than I did. I got in a rush to get it campable and didn't post any pictures.

To make a long story short, the smoke from Nevada and California came in early last summer. It hit sometime in the first few weeks of June so I went camping with the trailer partially done. I was in the mountains of Idaho and Wyoming from June to October and everything worked great. Even though some of the build was "temporary in nature". Here is one area I was in. I took this picture to get a view of the solar panels, vents, and vent cover.



Then through this winter we were snowed in or gone to visit grandkids, and we didn't get much done then either! Now I am just barely getting started on things, and it will soon be camping time, and I won't be ready again. This build may take awhile longer than I thought.

One of the updates I wanted to mention was my new fan. I had been using a computer fan, and it was great. It was very quiet and had low power usage. I was going to buy another one when I saw the Vortex II fan by Heng. It was reasonably priced, has 3 forward speeds, and 2 reverse. High is 188 CFM and uses 1.18 amps. I am not sure what low uses. Low is quiet, but not as quiet as my computer fan was. It does move a lot more air so I don't have it on for very long. I have had the fan now for almost a year, and I am really pleased with it.



As the picture shows it is mounted so that it is partially in the bathroom area.

I got it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AP ... UTF8&psc=1

[Rainier70]

As you will see from the pictures the camper is still very rough and is a work in progress. Please ignore the tools, dust sheets, and other work junk on the shelves etc.

Here is a picture of the seating area.

The table legs fold and it comes down to make a spare bed. The covers on the cushions I made to fit like a fitted sheet. It was a fast method to get some covers on there before I went camping for the summer. I have decided that I really like them as they are so easy to remove and clean. I may eventually put more tailored ones on or I may not until they wear out. The curtains are simply strung up for now. I haven't got the rods for them yet as I am debating about making them into insulated Roman shades. The table top is not on, the doors on the seats and under the bed need to be done. The top angle to cover the wires, all the molding, and final paint over all the hole fills in the walls haven't been done yet either along with a dozen other things.

Opposite from the seating is a 6 foot long kitchen counter with drawers.





Obviously the counter top and the doors over the cabinet fronts are on the work list too. I love the drawers, but for now I have to bungee them in for traveling.

There are six led lights on the ceiling that light everything nicely. There are also 6 12v/USB plugs. The wiring for two 120 ac plugs is there, but the plugs aren't in yet. The bed (under the dust sheet) is a 6 or 8 inch memory foam Queen. I'll have to look it up. It was very reasonable in price and is super comfortable.



In front of the door are two floor to ceiling cabinets that house my closet, the freezer, the electrical and batteries, as well as lots of junk! They need doors and trim yet.



To the left of the closet is the shower/bathroom area. It still needs frp on two walls. cabinets in the top front area, and closet doors etc



So much yet to do!

[aggie79]

I think everything looks great as is!

[hankaye]

Rainier70, Howdy;

Cindy, It's beautiful. Rusticly complete, a marvel ...

hank

[Rainier70]

Thanks guys. Yes, I went for "rustic". Actually I went for "function first". It works well, and we were very comfortable camping in it last year. One of the "must do's" for this spring is the underfloor insulation. At times in the high mountains my feet froze even with some temporary foam flooring and rugs!


One of the features I forgot to include in my pictures is my NuWay 2000 propane stove. http://nuwaystove.com/product-category/propane-stove/ It has keep me warm in some very low temperatures. And being a vented system it doesn't put any fumes or moisture into the camper.



I have it set up so that it draws its intake air from outside through the bottom and its exhaust out the upper side wall. When traveling its pipes are pulled in and the openings which are 4 inch marine deck plates are closed to keep all dust out. You can see the deckplate plugs on the corner of the counter.

The heatshields behind the stove are insulated "air bake style" cookie sheets. They work absolutely awesome as heatshields!

And yes, the stove and taping do need a coat of high temp paint. My list of to dos is very very long!

[Rainier70]

For anyone who is interested, I put an amp meter in line on my Heng Vortex II fan.. It uses 1.18 amps on high, .75 amps on medium, and .48 amps on low.

It isn't in the same class as a Max air or Fantastic Fan, but I don't need 900 cfm. I usually only run this on low as it is. It also doesn't have the same power consumption.

I would have stayed with using a computer fan, but mine died. This one is louder, but I am happy with it. It does the job.

[featherliteCT1]

Very functional ... I like those drawers that slide in and out.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

Ya, them drawers that slide are good for not gettin' your fingers bit
by the mouse trap ya forgot you put back there...


hank

[Rainier70]

Thanks, featherliteCT1. I love my kitchen pantry. I am just getting the doors on in front of the drawers this week....I hope.


Made me laugh, Hank. I had a mouse come into my last cargo camper one night. It climbed in on the propane hose that I had routed through a port on the floor. He came up and looked at me, and I looked at him, then the fun began. I threw open the door, and I chased that poor bugger up one side and down the other before I got him out the door. By the end I'm not sure who was in worse shape him or me and the camper!

After that I was careful not to let the propane hose get close to the ground, and I put a collar of aluminum foil around it where it came through the floor.

With this "new" camper I did a permanent black iron propane pipe into my stove... With lots of caulk around the pipe! I'm not scared of them, but I sure don't like creepy crawly nasty dirty things in with me!

[rebar]

I like the stove but can you also burn wood?

And did you build another FRP curbless shower pan? I'm looking for FRP that looks like tile rather than the generic pebble texture but the price quadruples.

[Rainier70]

No. The Nuway stove I have is propane only. I believe that NuWay does sell a wood stove. You can check on their website. There are also many small tent stoves or more substantial small wood stoves available like the Cubic Mini.

Yes. In both of my cargo camper conversions I used FRP as my shower floor. You can see that floor on page 15 of this build thread. Or here is a link for you: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=55219&start=210

[rebar]

Yes. In both of my cargo camper conversions I used FRP as my shower floor. You can see that floor on page 15 of this build thread. Or here is a link for you: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=55219&start=210

Thanks Cindy, but aren't those pictures of the first single axle trailer?

Curbless is used for ADA compliant showers ,but for a cargo trailer conversion, it's a great way to save floor space. It can also keep debris and mud tracked in contained at the door.

http://www.marlite.com/designer-wall-sy ... x-frp.aspx

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Marlite-Sym ... /203555913

I'm not seeing dual fuel wood stove's probably for a good reason.

[Rainier70]

My mistake. I thought you were talking about the other shower floor.
I went out and took some pictures of my shower area now. The aluminum angle along the two side is where FRP with go up those walls. When it is done the FRP will come down over the metal angle.

The whole shower/bathroom/closet access area is 36 inches wide by about 52 to 54 inches long (the front curves out). I put 3 drains in the floor to account for a sometimes unavoidable leveling problem. I usually have the CT a little off level intentionally for the shower and the head of the bed. That also makes it easy to predict to what corner my shower water will go. I use a bucket under the appropriate drain to catch the water. I shower everyday, but since I boondock exclusively, I only use a half gallon or so of water.

Here is a picture of the two drains towards the back. The unfinished or open wall shows my under the seat storage. For now it is behind a curtain. Soon it will be behind a wall.



This is the front shower drain. Complete with my broom and dust pan. The bench is usually down over a portapotty, trash, and sprayer.





I run the curtain across in front of the bench. With the bench down the shower area is about 36 X 40. And looks something like this:



The FRP holds up very well. We used the shower area daily for 4 months straight last year. It doesn't show any wear, even from our muddy boots. We like it, and it works well for us. We hopefully will be finishing it this spring. We have FRP walls, new curtain, closet doors, cabinets on the front end at the top, and a mirror/medicine cabinet in the plans.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

[Rainier70]

I forgot to mention the shower floor lip in my single axle where it was by the door was only a 1/4 or 3/8 inches high. We never tripped on it, and it didn't bother us stepping on it. The shower lip in my double axle trailer is higher at about a half to 3/4 of an inch. Part of the reason for the higher lip is that we will be putting in foam flooring, and we thought it looked better with its thickness added to the floor.

[Rainier70]

Curbless is used for ADA compliant showers ,but for a cargo trailer conversion, it's a great way to save floor space. It can also keep debris and mud tracked in contained at the door.

http://www.marlite.com/designer-wall-sy ... x-frp.aspx

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Marlite-Sym ... /203555913

I'm not seeing dual fuel wood stove's probably for a good reason.

You might be interested in this "low curb" shower floor that Elk Mountain Trailers did. It is in the video on about 1:45. You only get a brief look at it, but I think that it is a good use of space with a pull out port a potty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-2AYJwKedo

I liked the look of the Marlite sheets, but unfortunately Home Depot won't ship them in here.

A dual fuel stove would burn through the gas delivery and safety systems when you used wood in it. Although there might be a way of protecting it with lava rock or a metal slide in pan or something similar. A couple of other wood stove issues is that the ash and the wood are messy (and buggy), and a small stove needs to be fed every few hours.

I've never really looked at many of them, as I can't use either wood or diesel for fuel. So that eliminates some stove systems for me. Good luck to you