Generic Benroy Foamie in NE Wisco

[TimC]

I walk through how I did my interior about half way down this page http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=54099&start=405 .
I walk through how I did the ceiling about 1/3 of the way down here http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=54099&start=600 .

Very clever use of lumber to roll up the excess canvas; and lumber framing to help hold the ceiling canvas. I'll definitely benefit from your experience.

Our ceiling is poly varnished lauan and it is cut, assembled into one piece and pre-finished on the garage floor before installing. Same Fredrick "inside-out" method of ceiling/roof construction that I used on my previous TDs. So, interior walls may still be PMF'd before that ceiling is installed.

Similar to this, but from ceiling out will be lauan, 1 1/2" foam, PMF vs lauan, spars and foam insulation, two layers of lauan and PMF




Thanks George, Tim

[ghcoe]

[TimC]

Despite clamping the cleat faces to keep them flush many of them sit proud of the wall. Made a router jig to shave off the uneven bits.

[TimC]

Doing a little work to finish up prepping interior walls for PMF. I think PMF is the way to go. We'll put a good overlap on the floor/wall corner that will help secure the wall. Over that we'll put a trim peice in that corner that will be able to be screwed into the floor as well as the cleat face along the bottom of the wall.

The porch lights will go here, just to the side of the door. I need to bury some cleats in the foam for anchor points. Then finish spackling the walls.





Andy is due for a weekend work session next week. I hope to have a lot of the putzy work complete so we can close in the roof while he is here.

[Mr. Lahey]

You're making great progress on this build. Really moving right along. Looks great too!

[MickinOz]

I like the look of that porch light.
Where did it come from?

[MickinOz]

BTW, I see you to have a Renogy solar charge controller.
I have a Renogy Rover MPPT controller I am about to install.
I chose it because it seemed like a good step up from the extra cheap Ebay specials that no one can even agree really are MPPT.

I read the manual and it says always connect the battery to the charge controller before connecting the solar panel. It says NEVER connect the panel before the battery. Capital letters in NEVER.
So I had a quick google, and your manual says similar on page 7.

I haven't yet found out what happens if you install everything then use an isolating switch to disconnect the battery.
Does that count as connecting the solar panel before connecting the battery?
Despite there being, apparently, some sort of damage potential involved in having the panel connected to the controller without the battery, the manual still recommends fuses on both the panel and battery wires.
So you could, potentially, blow the battery fuse and end up with the panel still connected to the charge controller.
Maybe it's just an initial install thing.

[TimC]

I like the look of that porch light.
Where did it come from?

Andy ordered them from here... https://bestprolighting.com/product/step-deck-light-bpl400-rst-8
They come with a " 12V JC Bi Pin 20W bulb". Not sure what that is. An LED bulb option is $14 extra. Andy found a pack of five LED bulbs on Amazon for around ten bucks. They are built well. Better than most RV lights I've seen.

[TimC]

BTW, I see you to have a Renogy solar charge controller.
I haven't yet found out what happens if you install everything then use an isolating switch to disconnect the battery.
Does that count as connecting the solar panel before connecting the battery?
Despite there being, apparently, some sort of damage potential involved in having the panel connected to the controller without the battery, the manual still recommends fuses on both the panel and battery wires.
So you could, potentially, blow the battery fuse and end up with the panel still connected to the charge controller.
Maybe it's just an initial install thing.

That is a conundrum! I have read that warning. I don't have a kill switch or fuses on my TD's solar sytem. My battery kill switch is downstream of the battery. On Andy's TD I'll be installing a fuse at the panels and just downstream of the charge controller. Something I may have to do to my TD someday.

I have an MPPT on TD#1 and don't really notice a difference in charging. Of course I haven't studied its operation other than installing it. It's supposed to be more efficient. Something about it converts overvoltage capacity to amps? I don't know! Andy's charge controller is a PWM. Supposed to be a good one. I've gone from an $8 cheapie CC to a little bit pricier one to now an Epever 20a. The Epever is the first MPPT I have tried and I guess I'm happy with it even though it takes up a large space compared to the cheaper PWMs.

[MickinOz]

I've sent Renogy a message asking for clarity on isolating switches.
Feed back on their website suggests they seem to be in all sorts of diabolical strife. Some due to product quality, some due to lack of service which I got the impression is a Covid virus related thing.
I try not to let bad product reviews worry me too much unless there are a lot of them. A firm may sell thousands of units, but everyone who gets a good one probably doesn't post on the internet.
Their dud unit rate might only be one per thousand, 0.1%, and that will get plastered all over the net, but you aren't going to hear about the 99.9% that are fine.

MPPT controllers are of best use in fairly special circumstances, of which I have some.
If you are desperate for power, a MPPT controller can eke out a little more in the reduced light conditions at the start and end of the day. But it depends on the power curve of your panel.
If you have a panel that is the right voltage for a 12V system, you'll be hard-pressed to notice.

Or, you could have what I have.
I have a brand new 250W panel that was left over when my son's boss changed brands at their solar installation business.
House mounted grid connect solar is huge over here. You can put up to 10 Kw of solar on your roof and get a subsidy for doing so. (Saves building more power stations as the population grows.) Thanks to Tesla and others, now we can also have batteries to use the power generated at night, too.
The boss changed brands and gave the last 4 old panels to his workers.

But - its a house panel. The 250 watts is achieved with about 31V at 8 amps.
I could use a PWM controller, but I'd only get the 8 amps - about 112 watts at 14 volts on the battery.

This is where MPPT is supposed to shine. It is supposed to take the 250 watts at about 31V 8 amps, and turn it into about 224 watts at about 14 V 16 amps.
(Nothing's 100% efficient)
I looked at the myriads of youtube videos of the cheap Ebay MPPT and many were tested, and pulled apart, and proved to be mis-labelled switching regulators, not MPPT at all.
So despite my earlier statement re: not believing everything you see on the net. I looked elsewhere.
Will this work? I'll let you know.

[TimC]

Due to the heat and humidity this weekend I'm tackling some jobs that take me to the cool basement workshop. I've made treated lumber spacers to mount the fenders to the frame. I also laminated and machined the mating pair of 1 1/2 inch maple to mount on top of the bulkhead that will eventually hold the hatch hinge. One half is mounted securely to the bulkhead and the other half is the hatch top frame member that will anchor the hinge.

I put another layer of spackle on the interior walls. That is going slowly. Several coats have taken days to harden up with the intense humidity we are having. Very humid days were rare up here until the last year or two. Something is going on for sure. We usually "enjoy" a stretch of several weeks of dry spell in late July and early August. This and last summer there is no sign of drought. And the mosquitos! They are usually gone by August except in the deep woods.

Another task I could handle easily without Andy is plywood facing for the galley. I just happen to have a decent piece of 1/2" ply (thanks Menards for always packaging my lauan shipment with useful materials!). First I made a cardboard template for the port and starboard sides.



Transfer that to my ply.



Add a 3/8" "gutter" to keep water out.



Fits! Now adding some stretigic pocket holes to anchor it to the floor and bulkhead. I'll also glue the ply to the foam.



Next up is finish spackling and scratch the foam to prep for PMF. I must remember to make a legend for the locations of cleats and wires before we cover everything up with PMF! More on that in a later post.

[TimC]

Thought I would waterproof the edges of the galley wall faces where water may reach. After doing some research I passed on epoxy resin and I'm going with Titebond III. Other posts have reported good results waterproofing with this and seeing as I expect little water to reach this wood and TBIII being readily available it was a good choice.





I'll sand them smooth and add another coat before installing these.

[TimC]

Anchored the galley wall faces with pocket hole screws and PL Premium. Had a spare 4" roll of fiberglass so I thought I would use it to help glue the wall to floor.





A clear poly drop cloth helps record cleat and wire locations. It will come in handy to locate anchor points for hooks and cabinet frames after covering the interior with PMF and paint. when the camper is finished its easy to fold up and stash below the mattress for future reference.

[pchast]

Great idea.....
Why didn't I think of that?
Maybe mark the wire runs too..

[TimC]

Getting a few items out of the way before the weekend. Work session with Andy this weekend and I want to be prepared...

The a-frame tongue jack plate was finished by the local welding shop and I drilled mounting holes and painted it.



Added some fiberglass to the floor/wall seam after realizing the 4' wide canvas I bought was only 4'wide. Doh! Wanted a little extra help holding that joint.




Andy arrived! On to PMFing the interior walls.