Mitch's 7X16 (aka:Newbe with 7x16 conversion started)

[mskobier]

Frank,
Thanks for the info on where you purchased your tanks. It is amazing that the water supply tanks are fairly cheap, but the gray and black water tanks are quite expensive. My problem is the amount of space I have below the CT under the floor (6") to mount the tank. I am only doing a gray water tank. The black water will be via portable toilet. I will be purchasing on eof the self contained units.


Mitch

[Kyle1911]

MS,
FWIW, I scratched my head on the gray water tank as well. I don't have my trailer yet, but I crawled under a similar unit at the dealer, and did some measuring. I would have run out of ground clearance pretty quick, trying to mount a tank much bigger than 15 gal. It seems factory travel trailers must be built higher above the frame of the trailer?. I found a Barker 35 gal rolling waste tank at the link below. I will roll it under the trailer, and hook up. I figure I can strap the tank to the floor, at the back of the trailer, and fill it with clean water at home, if I need to adjust the tongue weight a little. Should be about 300lbs full. I won't feel guilty dumping clean water when I get to camp. I bought my freshwater tank (35 gal), from HD Fowler here in East Wenatchee (509-886-8804). Its a nice white poly ag spray tank, with a flat bottom, and a rounded top. It's got a 5" fill neck, and a pipe thread outlet. Also 2 grooves for straps. It is FDA ok for potable water. Cost was $117 out the door, and they had it here in a couple of days. Part# 45223. Have fun!
http://www.adventurerv.net/totealong-po ... p-418.html
Kyle

[mskobier]

All,
Been a rough past couple of months. Between family issues, work, weather, and having four different "bugs" that the the grand kids brought home, there just wasn't any time to work on the CT. Today I was able to get back to work on it. I posted a couple of pics to my album of todays progress.

I have had to redesign how I was going to install the water tank and furnace. After a bit of time with the actual components in place, I discovered the furnace would have to be moved. The exhaust was almost dead center on one of the wall studs. Anyway, I ended up turning the water tank on its side, and will be mounting the furnace above the water tank on a purpose built shelf. This also caused me to move where the refrigrator was going to be installed. It will now be below the counter next to the man door. It will work out ok.

Later
Mitch

[mskobier]

All,
Posted some more pictures to my album, more to come.
My CT is not finished, but we were able to use it over the Memorial day weekend. We went ATV riding at the Morrow County OHV park in Oregon. We had just about every kind of weather imaginable. It was sunny, windy, cloudy, raining, sleeting, snowing, and hailing. All in the first hour after we arrived! And it repeated all weekend long. However, the inside of the CT was warm and dry and we were properly clothed for the inclement weather, so the riding was a blast. Lots of mud and good friends! All in all, a great weekend!

However, the trip home did not go without incident. We realized we did not have any wheel chocks for the trailer, so we stopped at the local wally world as we returned to town. While inside, a page came over the intercom asking the owner of a particular truck/trailer return to the vehicle. So with much worry, I returned to my truck/trailer and found a guy waiting for me. After identifying himself, he stated that he had run into my CT while turning in his truck/fifthwheel trying to park. The passenger side (about mid trailer) of his fifthwheel had contacted the drivers rear corner of my trailer. The upper and lower hinges of my CT had ripped a couple of holes (several inches long and approx 6in high each) through the fiberglass and plywood siding of his fifthwheel. All that happened to my CT was a few scratches, a small dent in the aluminum on the rear corner and scuffed the drivers side rear trailer fender. The guy could not understand how his fifthwheel had received so much damage, but mine had sustained very little. I explained, that my trailer was aluminum over a steel frame and that his was fiberglass over thin plywood. Anyway, after the formalities, we continued home with no further incident. I do have to remove one of my rear hinges to remove the fiverglass/plywood wedged in the joint. The solid construction of the CT is one of the things that had attracted me to CT's in the first place. I guess this was event was even more proof of the strength of the trailers construction.

I guess the guy learned a very expensive lesson about the turning radius of a trailer in tow versus the tow vehicle. For those who have not towed much, the wheels of a trailer do not track the tow vehicle wheels. In fact, the trailer wheels can easily track much tighter that the tow vehicle. The longer the trailer, the more pronounced this tighter turning radius becomes. The guys truck cleared my trailer with lots of room, but the approx 40ft trailer did not. The guy who hit my trailer stated that this was his maiden voyage with the new truck/trailer combination. I guess he hasn't had much experience towing.

Anyway, it could have been a lot worse. A few scratched and dings will serve as a inexpensive reminder to always remember the turning radius of the trailer.

Later
Mitch

[8ball_99]

Glad the trip went well for the most part, Sorry to hear your trailer got hit. Atleast the damage wasn't to bad..

[mskobier]

All,
I have added a lot more pictures to my album. Still lots of stuff to do to get it "finished". At this point it is at least serviceable for excursions this summer.

Here are a couple of pictures of the minor damage from the accident. As you can see, I fared fairly well. Unfortunately, the guy who hit me did not. He has lots of damage to repair. A testimate to just how rugged these cargo trailer really are. The wood wedged in the hinge on the first picture is part of the wall of his trailer. The scuffs and minor bending on the fender does not interfer with the tires at all. I did bend it back up some, but I am not going to worry about a few scuffs.

Take care all,
Mitch

[mskobier]

All,
Bummer day today. I removed the man door on my CT to insulate and install the RV type door latch. Evrything went well until I started to remove the aluminum trim. Thats when I noticed the rot. I finished removing the aluminum and plywood skin and the pictures show the rest of the story. Looks like I get to rip and plane some special thickness pieces of wood to build a new frame. Fortunately, its not that big of a job and should not take that long. Anyway, here are the pictures.

[mskobier]

All,
Well, I spent most of the last two days building a new man door for the CT. I ended up duplicating the original structural design, but used polyurethane and wood glue between the laminates as well as bugle headed construction screws. I ended up using a sheet of 1/8 mahogany plywood left over from another project for the door skin. I was going to varnish the mahogany, but decided for consistancy, to paint it white like the walls. Tomorrow, I'll take pictures of the door with the skin on. The foam insulation is already cut and waiting to be installed. I will be reusing the original outer aluminum door skin. It's not perfect, but it is serviceable. I did notice, that with the laminates glued together, the frame is much less flexible that the original. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Mitch


Completed door frame


RV door lock cutout

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hi MS

Im working on a 7 x 16 cargo trailer conversion, maybe we can trade some tips ? Im working on the solar, electric and plumbing next.

http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

[mskobier]

Well, its been a slow summer for us. I finally purchased some cabinets for the CT at the local HD. They were almost half the price of the same size cabinets at L's. I have the doors off and have been working on applying a polyurethane finish to them.

Still working on the water system. For now, I am going to drain the grey water to a bucket, either under the cabinet or on the outside of the CT.

I have also been working on some LED light conversions. I now have the 3 watt LED's and drivers, just need to put them all together.

Now for the reason it has been a slow summer. My wife, while out riding one of our ATV's, hit a small depression while going too fast, hit the handlebars and broke a rib. Needless to say, there has been very little ATV riding this summer. Hopefully, she will be able to ride again before the really cold weather sets in. I did manage to take the grand kids out to the Juniper Forest sand dunes to ride a few weeks ago. It was a great time and the grand kids got to experience riding on sand dunes and in deep sand.

I'll be posting some more pictures to my album fairly soon.

All be safe
Mitch

[lmajeff1]

Hello,

In the photos of your blog it looks as if you sprayed expanding foam in the ceiling spars, yet I see no holes for the spraying the foam in. This is something I want to do so your help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

[mskobier]

Jeff,
For the most part, I did not use any expanding foam, expect in the front corners. If you are refering to the space between the ceiling bows, I just cut the sheets of foam a little over size and pressed between the bows. I have been considering spraying some expanding foam inside the ceiling spars, but have not got around to it. I am considering adding another 1in of foam to the ceiling, in which case, it will not be necessary. The biggest issue with filling the roof bows with foam, is that is where my wiring runs for the lights and fans.

Mitch

[lmajeff1]

I was going to have lights down the middle but have since changed my mind and am going to run all the main trunks for the electrical requirements down the side where the wall and ceiling curve to meet. My feeling is if it is high and along the same path repair if needed would be much easier and it puts it out of reach of the grandkids.

[mskobier]

Hello All,
Its been a while since I updated my album and gave the group an update on my slow progress. So here goes.

I have been working on installing the cabinets and microwave. I finally decided on how I would install them. They turned out pretty good if I must say so myself. I finished them in gloss Polyurethane in a natural wood color. The mounting was a bit of a challenge since the steel supports in the front wall run horizontally instead of vertically. I ended up making a couple of hangers that are attached to the ceiling bows. That was the only way I could ensure the cabinets would not sag in the middle. Heres a couple of pics.





Today, I completed the sleeping platforms. I ended up making them higher than originally planned. They are made out of 1" steel tubing with 1/16 wall. Each platform has three hinges that are screwed into the steel wall studs with #14 self tapping screws. The top of the platforms are at 25". This height gives me lots of storage space under the platforms and it also allows the grandkids to sleep under the platforms when we are camping. The legs fold out when the platforms are lowered and back in when they are stowed. The platforms are held up for transport by a simple clevis pin and angle bracket. There is 2.5" between the platforms to avoid a hand pinch point. The deck is 1/4 birch ply. I will be replacing it with 3/8 in the near future. The 1/4 plywood feels like it wants to break when I was testing it. I will have to shim out the hinges and latch when I do replace the deck. Sorry for the picture quality. I just could not get the camera to cooperate.











Heres the new generator I picked up. It is a CPE inverter tech generator. This thing is amazingly quiet when in econ mode. It is rated at 1600 watts continuous and 2000 watts surge. More than enough power for my limited needs. About the only thing that uses AC is the microwave and power converter. I got an awsome deal on the gen. It was a store return that would not run properly. I got it for less than 1/2 price at a store whose business is selling store returned items. The pilot jet on mine was completely plugged. Once I got that cleaned out, it runs great. It only weighs about 50lbs. Nice and portable, and quiet too!



Well, that about wraps it up for tonight. we have a camping trip with the grandkids scheduled for next weekend. I'll give a report once we return.

Later
Mitch

[mskobier]

All,
I changed the title of this thread to Mitchs 7x16 conversion. I have been chipping away at it for a year now. I guess I am not a newbe anymore, so I changed the title. Anyway, as I reach basic completion, I will post more pictures. hopefully, someone will find them usefull.

Mitch