Slow Build in Oz

[pchast]

Excellent idea.

[MickinOz]

Thanks. I want to start with a nice new stove as my old one I usually carry in the boat is looking decidedly secondhand, to be as charitable as I can.
With the state in a fairly rigorous lockdown, I may not be able to buy a new stove for a while. So it may be a while before I can put my plan into action.
Knowing my luck, if I set it up with the old stove, the new one won't fit.

[edgeau]

Thanks. I want to start with a nice new stove as my old one I usually carry in the boat is looking decidedly secondhand, to be as charitable as I can.
With the state in a fairly rigorous lockdown, I may not be able to buy a new stove for a while. So it may be a while before I can put my plan into action.
Knowing my luck, if I set it up with the old stove, the new one won't fit.

Wise. I recently replaced my old one and the new is definitely very different in layout sizing.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

I wish there were a few more alternative layouts, to be honest.
Someone, somewhere, must have made a b two burner butane stove that doesn't just have a can at each end in an extra long layout.
Basically a two burner is just two singles joined together.
A pity there isn't one that is "squarer". Say with the cans located behind the burners instead of alongside them.

[MickinOz]

So today, the contact tracers have announced that an early player in the latest covid outbreak has lied about his activities.
Now that the clown has 'fessed up, lockdown can be shortened apparently.
The police chief is fuming, but says there is no penalty in the law for lying about your whereabouts in this particular set of circumstances.
He's got the team looking for something to belt this idiot with, but says he doubts they'll find anything.
Lockdown ends tomorrow at midnight.
Shortly after which there will be about 1.5 million vigilantes out looking for this drongo, I reckon.
Tonight was our one chance to try the trailer out.

Spewin'. (That's Strine for pissed off.) Wouldn't mind catching up with this careless handler of the truth myself.

The Pizza Bar where this duff worked has now got police on standby and the owner has had to shut down his Facebook page.

[MickinOz]

So I went down to Service SA.
This is the state government centre for paying levies, driver's and gun licences, vehicle registrations, etc.
Filled out form MR7.
New tare weight 465kg. New GTM (gross trailer mass) 750 kg.
Change classification from trailer to caravan/camper.
Write nature of change in own words in space provided on back of form.

Slow moment at the department, there are 3 ladies manning the counter, only 1 customer - me. It's usually packed, but the heat must be keeping people home.
The lunch time rush I am more familiar with is over, too.
So they inspect the trailer by looking out the window at it in the parking lot.
"Ooh, nice"
Take my word for it on the new tare and gross masses.
Type the new details in.
Print new registration document.
"Thank you sir".
"Wait, what's the fee?"
"No fee sir."

Out the door in ten minutes, with the trailer now a "homemade caravan."

[MickinOz]

GTM is the maximum weight transmitted to the road by the tyres when the trailer is coupled to the tow vehicle.
If the GTM does not exceed 750kg, no brakes are required.
I wanted to be as light and simple as possible.
So I was very keen to keep the tare weight (mass of trailer when ready for service but with no load) as low as possible.
The tare is the actual mass transmitted to the road by the tyres plus the mass transmitted to the hitch of the tow vehicle.
That, for me, is 420kg on the tyres and 45kg on the hitch.
So, I can put 750kg-420kg = 330kg of luggage, food, water etc.
The solar panel weighs close to 20kg. the spare tyre will weigh close to 15kg. Awning when fitted will add about 15.
So subtract 50 from 330 = 280 kg of leeway for luggage.

[MickinOz]

Tiny bit of progress today.
The budget is stretched, and the list of jobs shrinks but slowly.
I rummaged in the "hang on to that it might come in handy one day" box for the galley light.
Found a forward navigation light. It's in OK nick.
So I cut a couple pieces of polished stainless steel and glued them into the shroud to act as reflectors and fitted her up with a little toggle switch.
The "hang on to that it might come in handy one day" box also yielded a handle for the stove slide.

galley light.JPG (66.42 KiB) Viewed 3032 times

galley light 2.JPG (88.4 KiB) Viewed 3032 times

Handle.JPG (97.06 KiB) Viewed 3032 times

[MickinOz]

I really wanted to run all incandescent bulbs in the 'drop.
IMO they have an old school ambience that LED's simply don't have.
So I deliberately put old school tail lights on, and the two reading lights, the dome light and the galley light I found all had incandescent bulbs.
The tail lights are fine as they are powered the truck while driving, but the interior and galley lights added up to 45 watts.

My Renogy controller confirmed the three 10W bulbs were pulling 0.8 amps each, and the 15w dome light was pulling 1.1 amps. If all were on together, that's 3.5 amps.
If they all were on for 10 hours, that's 35 amp hours, a full 1/3 of my battery.

I rationalised that you'd seldom have them all on together, and seldom for 10 hours.
And, I really like incandescent bulbs.

However, then I thought about the 2 amps for the TV, and the average 2 amps or so for the old school fridge (5 point something amps running at roughly 20 minutes per hour I think I came up with). I decided that, even with a 105 amp battery, something had to give.

If I were to kick back and relax, and not think about economising on power, I could easily be dragging 7+ amps. Wouldn't be long before DOD became DOA.
All I'd have to do is fall asleep with it all still running, not all that unusual as I get older especially if the kickin' back and relaxin' involves a bottle of red wine, and I could wake to a damaged battery.

I didn't want to be having to be that alert while camping, so I bit the bullet and bought some LED bulbs for the lights.
The 2nd two arrived today.
Total consumption with all 4 lights on is now 0.55 amps. Less than 1/6 of the power consumption.
That's more like it.
I guess I will get used to the different light. It could be my imagination, but I think there is a touch more light. Cost less than 20 bucks, too.

[noseoil]

Nice job on the rolling weight, it's good to see you were able to build it without too much weight & still have room for loading a "few" more things for a trip. Nice to see there are still good people in government as well, it's not always as positive when meeting a bureaucracy or its people.

I know LED stuff is a bit more difficult at times (strange colors, too intense & costs money), but the trade-off in current use is the one saving grace they have over incandescent bulbs. That and usually a 50,000 hour life span makes it a good trade-off in terms of use, power draw & $$. We shaved off some energy consumption on our build the same way & it's been a good compromise for us as well.

Glad you've gotten things "almost finished" now. I would add that brakes are good to have on any trailer. It usually isn't an issue, but one panic stop on the road in rain or gravel without them can make things very difficult. With your low rolling weight hopefully it will be good anyway. You might take it out for a spin & try some harsh stops on a gravel surface while turning, just to see how it acts under power. It might help later if you know how things will happen in a panic stop. Good job on the build, a job well done!

[MickinOz]

Good job on the build, a job well done!

Thank you.
I laid in the cabin last night contemplating what else to do.
The galley needs work, I may yet add a box on the draw bar. (if I do, it'll be as light as possible, and probably 7mm plywood.)
I'm not too concerned about brakes.
I towed an un-braked 16 foot boat for 30 years. Only added brakes when the government changed the rules.
I had one serious tyre smoking panic stop in that time. In traffic. I kept the whole lot in my lane. That outfit weighs about double this thing.
I believe one advantage of the teardrop's set up is the comparatively long drawbar. Makes for pretty good stability.
We'll see, I guess.

[NevadaBlue]

I really like what you are doing. I’m slower than you though.

LEDs are good stuff and can be had in nearly any color now. I even bought replacement bulbs for salvaged light fixtures, they have a bayonet base like the onld incandescent ones.
I think the main light for my rig will be one of those light strips. They run on 12 volts and can be cut to length, AND run on a little remote that allows changing color, dimming, etc. Should work well, if I ever finish the build.

[MickinOz]

I really like what you are doing. I’m slower than you though.

LEDs are good stuff and can be had in nearly any color now. I even bought replacement bulbs for salvaged light fixtures, they have a bayonet base like the onld incandescent ones.
I think the main light for my rig will be one of those light strips. They run on 12 volts and can be cut to length, AND run on a little remote that allows changing color, dimming, etc. Should work well, if I ever finish the build.

Thank you.
This has really been therapy, to be honest. My industry is very marginal, I can't count how many times we've gone broke then come back from the dead.
Staying afloat gets quite stressful and tends to drive a bloke to the demon drink.
Getting out in the shed and actually achieving something, even a very minor thing, is very helpful.
It has kept me away from the fridge and the couch on quite a few week nights, and greatly assisted progress. Still it has been 13+ months to get to this stage..

I too am running old style and in one case salvaged light fittings. I had to be careful buying LED replacement bulbs as the part numbers, descriptions and pictures usually do not match.
For example they'll say its a #1142 Bulb (single filament) , BA15D, then have a picture of a BA15s, then say in the description it's actually a replacement for a stop/tail bulb (twin filament).
Then you have to estimate the light output of the bulb (convert wattage to lumens).

But I deciphered it all in the end, and both purchases resulted in getting exactly the product I required.
If anyone else is reading this, the trick if you have a single filament bayonet base bulb with two contacts on the base and the pins at the same height, not offset, is to search for a boat anchor light bulb.

It was either figure out the thousands of adverts on Ebay, or pay $15-20 per bulb at the local auto stores.
We are pretty lucky here.
The local Autopro store is usually no more expensive than on-line shopping and sometimes cheaper, but for some reason none of the auto stores seem to have found cheap LEDS.

We will never finish these builds. There will always be a little mod, improvement, feature that needs attention.

[rjgimp]

"Wait, what's the fee?"
"No fee sir."

So... did those nice ladies need to pick your passed out carcass up off the floor?

[MickinOz]

I dang near ran out the door before they changed their minds.