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Camping Trailer Build

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I got the ones that are the whole unit, not the replacement "bulbs". They seem to be much brighter than the florescent bulbs I replaced with them and they're instant on. I can't complain for $20 a light, I installed 8 of them in the garage and it's way brighter/better lit than it was before.

I've replaced every bulb I can in my house with LEDs (from costco mainly). No more burnt out bulbs or bad starters makes it worth the price of admission.
 
We only had a few hours tonight, but we still managed to get something done. I decided to make the "lids" a bit smaller than originally planned, so we cut out the original hinge point and made a new one that was wider. To avoid warpage I decided to use 3M Panel Bond Adhesive to glue the center cover on. I'll probably use it on the lids and doors as well. Here it is clamped in place:

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I "worked" from home today, luckily my boss is cool and doesn't care that I spent the day in the garage as long as I answered a few e-mails. I put in enough unpaid hours outside of my normal shift that he gives me quite a bit of slack on things like this.

I did a bunch of finish welding and a bunch of painting today, so nothing really picture worthy. I'm having issues with my "semi-gloss" POR-15, 1 coat = semi-gloss, 2 coats = gloss. So if I miss any spots, it looks like crap... In other words, the paint looks like crap. I'll fix it some other time, this is good enough for this trip.

I did have some time to play around with the electrical panel while paint was drying, so that's a cool picture at least:

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13 hours in the garage today... At least it's starting to cool off a bit, I don't think it got much over 100°F today, a nice break from the 110°+ we've been seeing lately.

We started early so we worked on things that didn't make too much noise. I mounted the solenoids, ran the grounds, installed the batteries and made a ground cable for them. We leak tested the water tank one last time before installing it, mounted the water pump and did some painting.

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My second attempt at making a stainless faucet area came out much better than my first. I'm getting better with the TIG, but I still need a lot of practice.

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We also managed to finish welding the roof and skin it (panel bond). It's stainless so I don't need to paint it, but eventually I'm going to bedline it, for now I just painted the steel parts. I hate rushing stuff like this, because I know it looks bad, but I just couldn't justify wasting time masking it or wasting paint painting it. Tomorrow I'll flip it over and paint the bottom (at least around the edges) and it will be ready to install.

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During the "too early to make a bunch of noise" time this morning we plumbed and wired up the faucet and tested it out:

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Then we moved on to making the doors and lids for the trailer. The lids are a bit weird, the drivers side hinges from the middle like you'd expect, but the passenger side hinges from the side, it's set up so it sits on the fender and creates a counter-top for cooking. We will be mounting the stove on it so all we have to do is open it and hook up the propane, it's skinned with stainless so it will be easy to clean:

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We finished up with the door for the electronics area, here it is with the skin clamped on. I'm really liking the panel bond stuff, no warpage:

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Amber got some time to work on some of the soft parts for the trailer today, the plan is to have a privacy tarp that covers the area under the tent so we can set up the toilet and have an area to change in the mornings.

5 days until we're planning on leaving, although at this point I'll say we'll be lucky to leave on Saturday...
 
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I'm having a couple people swing by tonight to help me put the roof on and get the tent mounted. It will be cool to finally see the tent on this thing.

I've got air leaks somewhere though, neither one of my bags will stay inflated...
 
We didn't get much time in the garage tonight, but we did have a friend come over and help us put all the pieces back together. Here's a good shot with the trailer behind the truck with the roof on and the tent on the roof:

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There's still quite a bit to do, but it's nice seeing it come together.
 
r3dd0g said:
We didn't get much time in the garage tonight, but we did have a friend come over and help us put all the pieces back together. Here's a good shot with the trailer behind the truck with the roof on and the tent on the roof:

IMG_20160822_175100604.jpg


There's still quite a bit to do, but it's nice seeing it come together.
Click to expand...

I'd rather have yours...

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It's just my DD.

As soon as I saw your pic with your trailer it reminded me so much of my pic. Front wheels are even turned the same way. The pic I posted is from atleast a year and a half ago, the day that I bought that little trailer.
 
Amber "worked from home" today and worked on all the soft parts. In addition to the privacy room under the tent, she's making a few covers to keep rain out if it rains. We'll get some pictures of that stuff once she's done, she's "working from home" again tomorrow, so she should be able to finish that up then and she's going to start prepping some of our meals.

I came home a bit early and jumped into finishing the top. The legs were pretty much just sitting there so I bolted everything down, then we worked on all the wiring for the top. The control boxes for the legs were mounted and all the wires were tied up so they were out of the way, we also installed the LED rock lights that will light up under the roof and wired those and we mounted and wired up the tail lights too. Everything was run to one point where it was routed through the cable management arm I snagged from work and routed down into the electronics area:

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We also mounted the canopy and ran a bead of camper roof sealer in the crack between the canopy mount and the trailer roof to keep it from raining down on the kitchen area if it rains. Amber picked up some storage boxes that fit in the area between the roof and the main storage compartment. We'll have 4 of these for lighter things like dry food and clothing. They'll be trapped between the roof and the trailer so they can't move around:

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Hopefully I'll be able to get out of work early tomorrow (1 or 2) and knock out a few more things and get some paint on it. I'll have Thursday off to finish off anything else I have time for and to finish the last few things that need to be done on the S-10, then load up on Friday and head out... Sounds good in theory anyways.
 
Well, apparently my hosting site is having some issues and I don't really have time to screw with it right now. Hopefully it starts working again later, but if not, sorry.

Some of it is going to get some rust prevention, but the interior will most likely stay bare for now. I have today after work, all day tomorrow and Friday to get everything finished and loaded up. I also need to do some last minute fixes on the S-10.

I should be able to get everything done so I can head out Friday afternoon and camp somewhere between home and Page, but if not that gives me another 24 hours to get everything finished up.
 
If you decide to paint, then get a small can of Japan Drier from Lowes or Home Depot. You only add a small amount of the stuff to oil based paint, and it dries really (really) quick. I've painted several projects and the drying time was only 5 hours.
 
Anything I paint will just get sprayed, so that's not an option.
 
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