Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

[Goatdog]

Good job. I like the security my peepholes give me.


I only have a smoke detector. I haven't found a Carbon Monoxide detector as cheap as you did, so off to Home Depot I will go. I am also looking for a LP alarm...did you see one there?

[d30gaijin]

Good job. I like the security my peepholes give me.


I only have a smoke detector. I haven't found a Carbon Monoxide detector as cheap as you did, so off to Home Depot I will go. I am also looking for a LP alarm...did you see one there?

Goatdog,

I could find no LP detector at my local Home Depot. I looked but there was none in the area where they keep the smoke and CO detectors. That's not to say they don't carry them but I suspect they don't. I think LP detectors are more specific to RV, although I know there are plenty of rural homes out there that operate off of LP, I tend to think Home Depot doesn't cater to them.

The CO detector I bought at Home Depot is the, CODE ONE brand "Carbon Monoxide Alarm" (P/N 9CO5-LP) (item # 21008905) and is shown on my HD receipt as 047871089055 (that's the bar code number). I have no idea if any of those numbers are the typical Home Depot SKU number but it should get you close.

I hope that helps,

Don

[d30gaijin]

Don,

I ordered (and have received) several of the same brand 12vdc receptacles that you are using. They seem to be really high quality units. I plan on using them in my conversion. Glad to hear they are working well. I'll have to look into that 12v fry pan.

I too like the idea of the smaller propane tank. I doesn't make sense to carry a full size tank around unless you have a need for that much propane. Great deal on the propane.

Question for you; what size/brand of battery are you using? I've looked online at some, but I'm still looking.

Thanks,[/color]

Scott,

Guess I am using a little more than a standard auto battery. I bought it back in 2010 and forgot what the heck I had even bought. Be that as it may, it is an Interstate Battery Deep Cycle Marine. Pic of battery is below. You can see the two thumb screw connections I was referring to. For a CT it is much handier using those connections than having to install full size automotive connections and the huge cables they require, neither of which, are necessary to power a CT interior.

Don

[d30gaijin]

Good job. I like the security my peepholes give me.


I only have a smoke detector. I haven't found a Carbon Monoxide detector as cheap as you did, so off to Home Depot I will go. I am also looking for a LP alarm...did you see one there?

Goatdog,

This is the CO Alarm I bought from Home Depot today:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Fire-Safety-Carbon-Monoxide-Alarms/Kidde/h_d1/N-bmgkZuaZ5yc1v/R-202756110/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

Don

[bigbendhiker]

Scott,

Guess I am using a little more than a standard auto battery. I bought it back in 2010 and forgot what the heck I had even bought. Be that as it may, it is an Interstate Battery Deep Cycle Marine. Pic of battery is below. You can see the two thumb screw connections I was referring to. For a CT it is much handier using those connections than having to install full size automotive connections and the huge cables they require, neither of which, are necessary to power a CT interior.

Don

Thanks for the info and pic. I've been looking online and the Optima (Group 31 size) is close to $300. That is not in the budget at this time and if I'm going to spend that much I'll spend a little more and go for 2 6volt golf cart batteries. For now I'll go with a large deep cycle battery such as what you are using.

[d30gaijin]

Received the Viair 12v DC air compressor and Viair 1 gallon air tank the other day. Today I went to Home Depot to buy the fittings to connect the two. On the tank I put a (moisture) drain valve in the bottom port, a pressure gauge in the aft port, and a pair of quick disconnect fittings on the forward port and top port. I use the forward port quick disconnect to connect the compressor to the tank and the top port to attach an air line to extract air from the tank such as for air shock or tire filling.

The Viair is an impressive little 12v DC pump. It will fill the 1 gallon tank to 125psi in just a few minutes. On the stainless steel braided stub/leader air output line that comes attached the the Viair 100C compressor I screwed on a male quick disconnect fitting. That will allow me to hook the little compressor up to any size air tank and fill it as long as it has a female quick disconnect fitting, which any air tank I will ever own will have. The top port quick disconnect is also female allowing me to attach an air hose for filling shocks, tires, or running small tools (granted a 1 gallon tank isn't really big enough to attempt the latter). I also have on hand a 5 gallon air tank with female quick disconnect inlet fitting so will see how long it takes to fill that tank... just for the heck of it, but suspect the compressor will shut off prior to filling such a large tank (in terms of mini-compressor sizing) and have to cool for a bit before it would continue on to pressurize the 5 gallon tank to 125 psi, but I have no doubt this little compressor will pressurize a 5 gallon tank to 125 psi.

All in all the Viair 100C is an impressive little onboard compressor. I plugged it into my recently installed 12v DC cigar lighter outlet in the CT and it worked just fine (I was initially worried about it being too much amp draw but so far it seems ok). It will be nice to have the availability/access to high pressure compressed air while on the road and this little giant should do the trick. Truly a worthwhile investment.

Now I only need to figure out its mounting. I think I will mount the compressor, by itself, to a board and mount the 1 gallon tank to another board for ease of storage, keeping both fully portable. If I want to take along a larger air tank, such as a 5 gallon tank, that option is open thanks to the quick disconnect fittings at the compressor and the tanks.

The below pics shows the maiden voyage power-up/run-up of the Viair compressor and tank. You can see the pressure gauge needle at the 125 psi point (before it goes into the red zone).

Don

[8ball_99]

Nice I'm sure it will come in handy. I'm not sure I'd try to run that one on a 5 gallon tank though. I'm sure you know but its only rated at 15% duty cycle. In a pinch it would probably be ok. But You would probably burn it up pretty quick with much use. The thermal protection doesn't really help all that much. I've known a few people who have burnt them up. Infact I would love to add a second 480c to my truck just cause I use it more then I ever thought I would. I have a feeling mine is running a little more then it probably should.

If I were you I would go ahead and mount it to your tow vehicle. That way you always have it with you camping or not. They are pretty handy.. I used mine for tools for work all the way down to blowing up balloons at a birthday party lol.

OH btw I got my co and gas detector from Lowes. It detects flammable gas and is also a CO detector. It plugs into 110v but also has a battery back up.. I hardwired the battery back up part to the onboard battery. So if the trailer is plugged in it runs off 110v if not it just pulls from the main battery.

[d30gaijin]

Nice I'm sure it will come in handy. I'm not sure I'd try to run that one on a 5 gallon tank though. I'm sure you know but its only rated at 15% duty cycle. In a pinch it would probably be ok. But You would probably burn it up pretty quick with much use. The thermal protection doesn't really help all that much. I've known a few people who have burnt them up. Infact I would love to add a second 480c to my truck just cause I use it more then I ever thought I would. I have a feeling mine is running a little more then it probably should.

If I were you I would go ahead and mount it to your tow vehicle. That way you always have it with you camping or not. They are pretty handy.. I used mine for tools for work all the way down to blowing up balloons at a birthday party lol.

OH btw I got my co and gas detector from Lowes. It detects flammable gas and is also a CO detector. It plugs into 110v but also has a battery back up.. I hardwired the battery back up part to the onboard battery. So if the trailer is plugged in it runs off 110v if not it just pulls from the main battery.

8Ball,

Thanks for the additional info and your experience with the Viair compressors. Considering the cycle on time (15%), you're right. Trying to fill a 5 gallon tank would be a bit much for the Viair 100C compressor. It'll do what I need (mostly filling the air shocks and maybe the occasional tire) if I keep its use within reason of its out put.

A question for you: Are the Viair compressors sufficiently weather sealed that I could mount it under the Jeep (exposed to road/snow water when it's raining/snowing)? I searched their web site but didn't really come away with a definitive answer to that question but I noticed you mounted yours to what appears to be an under body frame rail. I also noticed that Viair makes a nice mount for the 280 to 480 series compressors that I am sure I could drill a few holes in to make it work for mounting the 100C to a frame rail on my Jeep Cherokee, which also leads me to believe their compressors are in fact weather sealed, still I am not 100% certain about the 100C model I have i.e., is it sufficiently weather sealed to mount external?

For now I think I'll mount it to a small board with rubber feet and just carry it in the CT when we're hauling the CT, and in the Jeep when we're not towing the CT. The compressor and 1 gallon air tank don't take up much cargo space.

Thank you for the Lowes tip with regards to the explosive gas and CO detector, only thing is I would kind of prefer a battery powered detector but then again, your idea to wire it into the CT main battery and the 110v ac makes a lot of sense.

Again, thanks for the great tips.

Don

[cam_tx]

Just looking through all the posts and again. Many great ideas of yours that I will try and incorporate. Just wandering if you had any pictures with your cargo all loaded for camping with the Sportster loaded as well. I wanted to see how you have your bed/mattress mounted when you travel with the bike.
My cargo will be hauling my Ultra Classic or side-by-side, depending on where I am headed. I have a bike trip planned for this summer up to Montana but the trailer will be staying home on that trip.
Did you do more work on your upper cabinet?
That will be my main cabinet because I will need to get to the e-track across the front of the CT for tying down the bike or side-by-side.

[d30gaijin]

Just looking through all the posts and again. Many great ideas of yours that I will try and incorporate. Just wandering if you had any pictures with your cargo all loaded for camping with the Sportster loaded as well. I wanted to see how you have your bed/mattress mounted when you travel with the bike.
My cargo will be hauling my Ultra Classic or side-by-side, depending on where I am headed. I have a bike trip planned for this summer up to Montana but the trailer will be staying home on that trip.
Did you do more work on your upper cabinet?
That will be my main cabinet because I will need to get to the e-track across the front of the CT for tying down the bike or side-by-side.

cam tx,

We have yet to load the Sportster in the CT and take it anywhere. All our trips to date have been camping/birding trips. I haven't even fired up the Sportster this year because it needs a new battery and too many other priorities precede it. Sad, I know. Still, what we plan to do with the bed frame is, once the Sportster is loaded, we'll place the top bunk back in place and store the bottom bunk frame and mattress lashed to the left wall of the CT (as looking into the CT from the rear doors).

Interesting timing for your second question about the overhead cabinet. Just today I did the door opening cutouts. My doors are on order and I doubt they will arrive before we leave but I made the cuts today so we can use the overhead to store a few things.

To make the cuts I first measured the area to be cut (1/2" less than the outside door size) then drilled each corner with a 1 3/8" hole saw. From there I used my jig saw to cut the straight lengths... well they're supposed to be straight. I wandered a bit on the right side bottom door cut so there is a slight bow to it but that will be hidden once the door is installed... my lack of woodworking skill came into play there. Oh well...

Tomorrow I will sand the cabinet face then stain it. Wait a day then apply varnish, wait a day, sand again, and varnish again and see how it looks i.e., it might need a third coat of varnish (actually I'm not using varnish, rather some kind of Polyurethane finish).

Christi wants to do the galley back splash area in that dimpled/quilted looking tin/aluminum one used to see in restaurant kitchens back in the 50's/60's behind the main cooking/frying stove but I can't find it, nor even a reference to it anywhere. I'll keep looking.

Don

[8ball_99]

Yep mine is mounted to the frame under the truck. They can be mounted pretty much anywhere. Only two things to keep in mind is heat and you need the intake mounted in a dry area. I have a hose ran up to my tool box in the bed of my truck. I did that so I don't have to worry about water getting in it, but also the air is much cleaner vs pulling air from under the truck. Most places we camp are off on back roads half the time they are dirt or gravel. So getting the air intake up high helps a lot with keeping the filter clean. Filter is also very easy to get to. I have a train horn and a semi horn on the same truck so the compressor does kick on going down the road from time to time. Heck for that matter some of the roads we drive on we honk the horn on blind corners since the roads are so narrow. Beep a semi horn and the people on the other side tend to stop and wait for you to come around the corner

[d30gaijin]

Surprise surprise, a wonderful surprise arrived today. The custom built overhead galley doors I ordered back on the 18th of June arrived today. I didn't think they'd be here before we were scheduled to leave but low and behold they arrived today. I ordered them from "Fast Cabinet Doors" in California. All their doors are custom built to the users specifications, in my case I needed red oak raised panel doors measuring 10" x 22" and figured they would take a month, or more, to get here. Not so. The price was $38 for the pair (very reasonable but the shipping was the killer, but then again, the way they package them I can understand the $27 shipping cost). They match the red oak plywood cabinet face very well. I'd post a pic but am having problems uploading pics to the tnttt.com server for some reason, I keep getting an "internal server error" message. Will update this post with pics once I can upload pics to my album.

Timing wise it couldn't have worked out better. I finally cut the overhead galley cabinet face a couple of weeks ago, something I kept putting off due to my limited wood working skill. Still, once I got the cabinet faces cut to fit the CT roof contour I was reluctant to cut the door openings so kept putting that off too, well until yesterday. Yesterday I decided I had to make the door opening cuts no matter what, and did so because we will need access to that upper galley space for storing things whether the cabinet doors arrived or not. Well Hallelujah! The cabinet doors arrived today.

Don

[d30gaijin]

We received our Haier portable a/c unit, ordered through Home Depot, yesterday. This is the same unit Goatdog has in his CT, and that's why we bought it i.e., nice to go with a known item. It seems to work well for him in his 5x8 CT so I figured it's good enough for me, especially considering my upcoming deadline.

I went with portable a/c because I don't want to cut any holes in the side of our CT for a window unit (stealth is what we want, looking like no more than a standard contractor's CT).

Testing the a/c unit in the garage freestanding it blows out plenty of cold air, certainly should be enough to keep an insulated 6x10 CT cool, but I guess we'll see for ourselves this summer. Only bummer about it is that it arrived with a cracked exhaust nozzle (see pic below). I took the nozzle to my local Home Depot to inquire how I deal with it. They were very helpful by calling the home office and asking them to send out a replacement to me. Initially the home office wanted me to return the entire unit and reorder it... NO WAY! How stupid is that? Send a 30 plus pound package back for a 50 cent plastic flange to be replaced? Thankfully my local Home Depot folks were dilligent and told the home office, "Uh that's kind of stupid." Supposedly the home office is sending me a new flange, I'll be surprised if they get it right. Be that as it may, I can still use the cracked unit to get me by for the summer.

I plan to vent the exhaust port through the CT floor. I will try it in that setup initially and see how it works. Some folks claim a single tube isn't as efficient as a dual tube unit. OK, guess I'll find out about that. If my single tube unit doesn't cool the CT it is a simple matter to build a small enclosure for it, poke a hole in the side of the CT for a dryer type vent, and let the air flow from behind the a/c unit flow through that vent... Bingo! Two vents. If that doesn't work I'll try something else. In the mean time, the Haier unit will, hopefully, work for us through this summer.

A plus to the Haier unit is that it fits under our folding table. That's nice.

Don



The cracked, as received, exhaust flange.

[bigbendhiker]

Surprise surprise, a wonderful surprise arrived today. The custom built overhead galley doors I ordered back on the 18th of June arrived today. I didn't think they'd be here before we were scheduled to leave but low and behold they arrived today. I ordered them from "Fast Cabinet Doors" in California. All their doors are custom built to the users specifications, in my case I needed red oak raised panel doors measuring 10" x 22" and figured they would take a month, or more, to get here. Not so. The price was $38 for the pair (very reasonable but the shipping was the killer, but then again, the way they package them I can understand the $27 shipping cost). They match the red oak plywood cabinet face very well. I'd post a pic but am having problems uploading pics to the tnttt.com server for some reason, I keep getting an "internal server error" message. Will update this post with pics once I can upload pics to my album.

Timing wise it couldn't have worked out better. I finally cut the overhead galley cabinet face a couple of weeks ago, something I kept putting off due to my limited wood working skill. Still, once I got the cabinet faces cut to fit the CT roof contour I was reluctant to cut the door openings so kept putting that off too, well until yesterday. Yesterday I decided I had to make the door opening cuts no matter what, and did so because we will need access to that upper galley space for storing things whether the cabinet doors arrived or not. Well Hallelujah! The cabinet doors arrived today.

Don

Don,

Those cabinet doors look really nice. It sounds like the price was real reasonable as well.

How are you going to finish them? Red Oak is a beautiful wood, a clear sealer would look nice.

[Verna]

Don:

Lowe's and Home Depot has the "dimpled aluminum/tin" panels your wife wants. Look in the kitchen cabinet display areas. They have different patterns and colors, too.