Slide out Air Conditioner

[wlooper89]

The topic about a slide out cooler got me thinking about my PetCool again. It has not been used yet because we usually take the cat with us and leave a door open for her into an attached screen room tent. But maybe we could make a nice bed for her and let her just stay in the tent.

Space lengthwise is very limited. An 80" mattress reaches all the way to the foot panel that covers the tail light area. So anything at floor level would be in the way of the mattress. But I am thinking it might be possible to make a slideout in the side of the tear for the air conditioner. When towing it would slide into the cabin area and then be pulled out for use while camping. This could also work with any window AC unit.

The walls are 3/4 plywood. It might be nice if the piece cut out of the wall could be made into a small door that would close while towing. Any thoughts on how this could be done? What sort of rails and how to seal the small door for towing? I am also wondering if the rails could be above the air conditioner and somehow attached at the top. We may be able to have the air conditioner slide out into the side tent so rain leaking inside the trailer while camping might not be a problem, but the opening would need to be sealed well enough to keep the cool air inside the trailer.

Although I installed my trailer electrical system, I am completely inexperienced with making doors and how to seal them, type of hinge and trim around the door and opening. Pretty much everything about it. Making/installing the slide out would also be all new to me.

I would very much appreciate any ideas and suggestions.

Bill

[mikeschn]

My two cents worth...



More here:
http://www.mikenchell.com/TAB_Photo_Album/index2.html

Mike...

[starleen2]

Here's Mine. The aluminum strips on the outside mate up with the weather-stripping on the AC hatch is to prevent it from sticking to the paint. I use foam strips to seal around the edges


Te air conditioner unit is secured by two angle brackets attached with a mounting screw on the unit and wing nut and washer to the camper on both sides.

[wlooper89]

Thank you Mike and S. Stewart for the great photos and ideas. Mike's slideout drawer for the AC unit looks good. Also the wing nuts and "L" brackets on S. Stewart's trailer allow pulling the unit out for camping without using slide rails. Still thinking.

Bill

[len19070]

Heres one of mine "during construction".







Happy Trails

Len

[Lgboro]

If building in a Petcool, do you guys think building an open drop floor in a sealed compartment or a slide out would work better? The drop floor could be expanded metal to aid in ventilation and drainage. I plan on doing one or the other as soon as it quits raining every day I have off. Planning on an external thermostat if a regular 24 volt house tstat will work with the Petcool or if I can find one that will work.

[b.bodemer]

I've got a slide out for my Scotty. Just got back from it's maiden voyage. With high humidity and temps hovering in the low 90's it sure was nice sleeping with ac for a few nights.

http://barbsserroscottymakeover.shutter ... mpergetsac

What will be nice is that during the late fall and early spring I'll get back that space again for storage by simply putting the ac in the garage until summer again.

Barb

[kennyrayandersen]

I like the slide out -- nice job!

[wlooper89]

Super nice looking Len and Barb. My Little Guy has some large decorative decals on the sides, so I hope to make a door from the part that I cut out to keep the same look. The sides of the trailer are 3/4 plywood.

One other thing is the floor area is almost exactly the size of our queen mattress. There is a galley shelf above the foot of the bed and I think I could attach the slide rails to the bottom of the shelf and the sides of the PetCool near the top, so nothing would be attached to the floor. The air conditioner would be suspended with rails high on the sides instead of near the bottom. Otherwise I think it will work pretty much the same as some of those shown above. I found slide rails with 200 lb rating so they should be plenty strong. Thinking about the trailer bouncing along. This supplier has them, shown here, plus a number of other types and lengths.
http://www.cabinetparts.com/c/drawer-sl ... 6/#general

Bill

[Jason and Amanda]

To solve my Little Guy/Petcool problem I actually went about it completely differently. Instead of having the A/C be part of the trailer, I made the 2" ducting a part of the trailer.

Basically I drilled holes through the floor under the "under bed storage" and I sealed that with some foam and plastic baffles, used some threaded PVC to tighten it down and sealed the whole deal with silicon caulk. Then I just ran some homemade A/C ducting made from 1/4 paneling up the front of the trailer in the corners high enough to stick a tiny air register for the air to flow out. I now just put the Petcool on the trailer tongue when in use and the heat or A/C flows a little further than the door template solution but is permanent and I have all the interior space, no holes in the side of my trailer, and use of both doors.

I really need to take pictures! BRB

[Jason and Amanda]

Ok so these were taken after I had already assembed some of it, sorry about that but basically here goes.

Passenger Side


Drivers Side


Bottom of trailer


Closer shot of inside


So this was before any of the ducting except for the modification I did over the wire tray. But at least it will spark ideas/questions.

[Mukilteo]

I would like to see how that looks when it's finished. Although thing are begining to cool off here.