Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

[d30gaijin]

Glad to hear of all your progress, Don. Geekin' and tweakin' is great fun. I'm helping a pal go through/update his kewl lil 17' Wilderness Yukon circa 1988. Cleaner than clean off of Denver CL. She's about ready to tow, and our upgrades will keep his outings all-fun; low maintenance/troubleshooting. A super Floorplan/Bath & storage layout for a 14'x7' Box. Some new Bumper/Tongue/Wheel paint; Tongue re-layout; and electrical repair brought it back to clean, stock condition.

There's a pleasant 'Zen' to paring down and hauling around only what you need/what floats your unique Boat while boondocking.

EG,

Boondocking is indeed a fun way to go, and going minimalist is the way to do it. I think we'll be doing even more of it next year now that we've had a taste of it. I will be designing accordingly in the future, as I said before in this thread my build is design as I go and will be a work in progress for some time to come.

Can you post some pics of your friends 17' Wilderness Yukon circa 1988? What little info I could find on-line they seem like dandy little TTs.

Don

[d30gaijin]

No activity on the CT conversion due to weather but I did buy a SurFlow 12v "on-demand" water pump to replace the near useless "at the sink" hand pump. I figure as long as I have 12v inside the CT why not have an "On-demand" water pump to make life easier. Of course that will necessitate installation of a new faucet but I can handle that wee-bit-oh-plumbing.

More later, weather permitting.

Don

[Engineer Guy]

Sorry about not responding to the Post above re: Wilderness Yukon pix. I didn't see it/receive an e.mail on the Topic progression. Or, more likely, I received - and accidentally deleted - it. Will take and post some pix of the Trailer in a few weeks, weather permitting. I hooked up and towed his Trailer last Sunday JUST to make sure my mid-sized, 5k lb.-rated SUV could handle the 3k lb. dry Trailer weight. No problem. I just looked at a similar, used '89 Trailer from another Manf. at a higher price point, BUT I couldn't stand in it w/o my 6'1" Head touching. That's a knockout spec, unfortunately.

On demand Pumps are a breeze to hook up and use. To hear the Pump less frequently - not a huge concern BTW - Accumulator Tanks are nice. I just saw one on clearance at a Big Box Store for $38- or so. They're ~2 or 3 Gallon Pressure Tanks where an internal bladder 'gives' under pressure to store more water between Pump cycles. The ability to easily drain Shur Flo Pumps is nice in freezing weather to sidestep damage. Free advice: be sure to put in an in-line Fuse or CB to protect the Pump separately.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/shurflo-accumulator-tank/2290

Walked the new Bridge in front of Hoover Dam yesterday. Absolutely stunning!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/A-Breathtaking-New-Bridge.html

Unfortunately, one cannot be at Hoover Dam and around to take advantage of this deal simultaneously:

http://boulder.craigslist.org/rvs/2115315288.html

[d30gaijin]

Sorry about not responding to the Post above re: Wilderness Yukon pix. I didn't see it/receive an e.mail on the Topic progression. Or, more likely, I received - and accidentally deleted - it. Will take and post some pix of the Trailer in a few weeks, weather permitting. I hooked up and towed his Trailer last Sunday JUST to make sure my mid-sized, 5k lb.-rated SUV could handle the 3k lb. dry Trailer weight. No problem. I just looked at a similar, used '89 Trailer from another Manf. at a higher price point, BUT I couldn't stand in it w/o my 6'1" Head touching. That's a knockout spec, unfortunately.

On demand Pumps are a breeze to hook up and use. To hear the Pump less frequently - not a huge concern BTW - Accumulator Tanks are nice. I just saw one on clearance at a Big Box Store for $38- or so. They're ~2 or 3 Gallon Pressure Tanks where an internal bladder 'gives' under pressure to store more water between Pump cycles. The ability to easily drain Shur Flo Pumps is nice in freezing weather to sidestep damage. Free advice: be sure to put in an in-line Fuse or CB to protect the Pump separately.

EG,

While looking at plumbing schematics I came to a similar conclusion in that an accumulator tank might be a good addition. In the interest of simplicity for our CT it will be cold water only going through the Shur Flo pump because we're rethinking our design (again). Now trying to decide if we should keep the 110v ac water heater I put in, since we have yet to use it, and go with some sort of external solar water heater for an external shower, a change from our original plan to build a shower internal because an internal shower would take up a lot of space in our 6x10. If I eliminate the 4gal. internal water heater that would be a great spot for the accumulator. After our last dry camping experience we found there were a lot of things we don't need, or can get by without, hot water inside the CT being one of them. We heated water in the microwave for our bird baths, face washing, and teeth brushing and that worked out well. I reckon it is a matter of planning ahead for where we will be camping. If we camp in a full service campground then we have showers available to us so, again, no real need for hot water inside the CT. Still, our current interest is dry camping and with that we recognize the need to conserve and do without some amenities, hence the internal shower is deemed unnecessary so we'll be looking at external showers and solar heater systems similar to what tent campers might use, or simply do without a shower for a day or two i.e., resort to bird baths. BTW, thanks for the tip/recommendation on the in-line fuse to the pump. Will do.

Dry camping in a small CT is fun for us because we can get to places we would have difficulty getting to in our Jayco TT, and even if we could with the Jayco we would still be faced with limited services available and the limited gallons available in the Jayco. On the other hand, if we start out on a camping trip knowing the limitations we face dry camping in the CT I think we're better off, size wise and and bulk.

If you get a chance please post the pics. Not that I plan to buy one but I am interested in options.

Don

[GPW]

Don , you know I'm in favor of anything Solar ... have made many solar cookers out of cardboard boxes and tinfoil ...But my favorite is the windshield shade solar cooker/water heater... http://solarcooking.org/plans/windshield-cooker.htm

Simple multitasking with things you already have and carry (probably) ...

...and here's something you can easily make http://solarcooking.org/plans/funnel.htm

[Engineer Guy]

Now in SoCal wondering where Charleton Heston might be... Raining so relentlessly, we need him 'in character' to part the proverbial Seas. Unreal precip here...

If I built tomorrow, or remo'ed one of the small TTs I've reconned, I'd likely install and safely vent one of these:

Eccotemp Demand Water Heater

My own Japanese-inspired reuse of space would be to sink a Big Box Store Shower Pan into the Trailer Floor. I can also get a used one for a song at a local Materials Recycling Center. Create a flush, drop-in 'hatch' to cover it when not in use. Put a 3 sided Shower 'Ring' around it, as seen in Europe on many Tubs, and install a weighted bottom Shower Curtain. Such a Shower Ring could hinge down to the wall, or a few Cotter Pins could allow quick Ring detachment and storage. A Shower when you want it; open, usable space when you don't. A few quick disconnects and a Ball Valve or two would allow using the same Heater and Pump for an outside Shower, or Camp cleanup, etc.. Check Valves, as used on Solar HW Systems to prevent reverse flow, would be handy in this application.

Especially with Demand Heaters, Accumulators [Pressure Tanks for us Well users] even out pressure excursions. This provides even temp output from Demand Heaters by eliminating hot and cold water spikes endemic to Demand Pump cycling. Consistent flow in = consistent flow out. You can still flip on Sink water to prank the showering Wife, however. ;-0

In most all the World I went to on Biz, ya just don't drink the water, even at 5 Star Hotels. You drink only the dedicated, filtered-spigot water. Big Box Store Filter schemes could allow one or more potable water taps, separate from other CT/TT uses.

With thoughtful Plumbing, water from sources like a Creek could be plumbed to the Demand Pump input, which can pull a decent head. One Heater user raved about 'endless', hot Showers with such an inlet scheme. Cooties and Bacteria not killed by 110 F Water temp could be dealt with by filtering or Bleach Chlorination in an external Tank or Bladder. The key would be to not cross-contaminate potable/non-potable water by not thinking through proper Plumbing. Or, a 2nd Demand Pump for $<100- would pay for itself by Propane savings [vs. maintaining heated stored water], and absence of Shore Power hookup Camping fees.

Chlorination Links

[Ctcanuck]

Excellent ideas Engineer Guy!

[Shadow Catcher]

You can achieve water potability using filters. We can pump from a stream or lake into our FW tank using a two filter, ceramic carbon and First Need type remove it ALL filter made for pop ups.
The surge tank can be made using PVC pipe and a few fittings.
I specified a 6 gal gas electric water heater and will have one of the single hose showers like that use on the AT trailers made by Bulfinch in the UK.
Now all we need is the trailer, 14 months over due.

[d30gaijin]

My Mozilla Fire Fox browser crashed and I lost all of my bookmarks. UHRRG!

I am trying to rebuild using Fire Fox beta 4.8 because I can't get Fire Fox 3.6 to come up at all, my system doesn't even see it. Another UHRRG!

Don

[MegC]

Not even searching all drives for *bookmark* brought anything back? That would be most unusual, and I'd be wondering if the HDD was borked in that case....

[pete42]

Not even searching all drives for *bookmark* brought anything back? That would be most unusual, and I'd be wondering if the HDD was borked in that case....

nothing on hard drive I want to coment on Meg's picture before when I saw it I thought I've seen it before somwhere now I know where "christmas story" did you get a BB gun for Christmas too?
ol'pete

[MegC]

Lol... my 'help' (or non-help) was actually for Don, since he'd lost all his bookmarks in firefox.

I'm not Ralphie. But "oooooohhhhhh fffffuuuuuuuddddddggggggggeeee" has been heard from my mouth. Only I didn't say fudge. What can I say... I work with people and computers.... some days it's a race to see which one will melt your brain faster, and when they're both going nuts together you're just doomed.

[d30gaijin]

Not even searching all drives for *bookmark* brought anything back? That would be most unusual, and I'd be wondering if the HDD was borked in that case....

An update on the Firefox crash...

I searched and was able to come up with the "Favorites" from IE Explorer on my old machine but I have been using Mozilla Firefox for the last few years and a search of files for my Mozilla "Bookmarks" came up empty, and it was in Firefox that I had the bulk of my bookmarks.

Be that as it may, I figured if I was going to have to start over building my bookmarks I might as well do it on a new computer that isn't so prone to crashing and all the quirks Windoze based computers seem to have. My thoughtful wife bought me a new Apple Macbook for Christmas. Geeez what a beautiful machine it is. I'm starting over finding and rebuilding my bookmarks (the old Compaq laptop is still operable, barely) so at least I can log onto the web sites saved by IE Explorer then mail them to my new computer but it is a laborious process. Still, considering I'm off for the rest of the year, and since the weather outside is frightful and the MacBook is so delightful, as long as I have no place to go let it snow let it snow let it snow... OK so forgive my lousy analogy.

Don

[bdosborn]

Recovering Your Firefox Bookmarks

- Find your profile in c:\Documents and Settings\[your XP user name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

- There should be a subfolder there called bookmarkbackups. Find the most recent bookmarks html file in there (usually with a date after the 'bookmarks' bit.

- Copy it to somewhere safe and rename the existing one bookmarks.html.

- Copy it to the default profiles folder (up one level from the bookmarkbackups folder, deleting the existing bookmarks.html file.

- Close Firefox if it's running and relaunch it. Your old bookmarks should be restored.

Bruce

[GPW]

A Mac huh ??? Welcome to the club !!! The wife just got an Air Book for Christmas , and I've been playing with it ... After having a few PCs ,and all their problems ( ) I'll never go back to those ...