Roundin' Third???

As of my last post I was making slow but steady progress.  Effort since then has continued to be serious, and progress has become more visible.  Weekly trips up to my dad's, battling bicycle traffic in the Republic and monsoon rains to log 14 hour days in an unusually soggy mountain summer is finally starting to pay off.  September camping is right around the corner, but things appear on track.  Over the last month, I learned I need at least 3 trips to the DMV and a certified VIN inspection (after assembly) to title the trailer, so no time to waste.  If you recall as of last time, I was embroiled in wiring and paneling, and I can proudly say those tasks are now substantively done.  Woohoo!!!  Moving forward, focus is shifting toward kitchen door hardware and exterior skin.  Here are the details.

To mount some of the LED fixtures at downward angles, my dad fabricated wedge blocks from CPVC to serve as an angled base:

 Mounted, they make for a clean looking fixture:

Coupled with another light, they provided pretty good kitchen lighting for the current draw:

Moving from the LED fixtures to the strip lighting, if you recall from last time, I purchased an awesome 21 color LED strip light from Home Depot.  Made by Armacost, this light features a wall mounted controller, preset modes, adjustable brightness, and an IR remote control.  Splitting the strip in half (using a pair of scissors), fabricating a wiring extension from a pair of phone cords, and mounting using a pair of u-shaped clear plastic channels and 3M backing tape, the lights came out awesome:

To finish it off, my dad made a nice backing plate for the light controller:

Complementing the strip lights on the inside are a couple of swiveling wall reading lights from Camping World:

Shown in some of the pictures above, is the further finish of the paneling, using the Braden Cherry and lath screws from Home Depot.  Also show is PVC quarter round molding to finish off the edges of the paneling.  Finishing the paneling also included fitting paneling inside the cabinets, which proved a little trickier and more time consuming than expected:

 

Along the way of finishing the paneling, a measuring miscue resulted in an otherwise very nice looking two part interior door paneling on the kitchen door:

Beyond paneling, work on the kitchen door also included installing gas struts and latch hardware.  After some shopping contemplation, combined with brain wracking over installation, at set of RV Designer gas props from Camping World go on:

Also on the kitchen door, a locking T-handle latch and a pair of chain bolts go on, joined with wire rope and turnbuckles:

Strike plates will go on next to finish the door latches.  Details in the next post.

Changing gears again, remember the wiring?  In addition to the lighting, a couple of 12 volt outlets seemed a good idea- something handy to have.  Combining outlets from Camping World with 110V-120V using a custom wall plate looks pretty good:

In the kitchen, two plates do the job:

 

With this wiring complete (along with an under cabinet light, some battery wiring, and ground wiring details to follow), the electric raceway and 12V block are looking full:

Ok...I'm running out of gas for this post.  A couple of other details for now- a trip to a truck repair center buys 22' of aluminum roofing coil for the exterior finish, and a used memory foam mattress moves out of my garage to be cut with an electric carving knife (i.e. Thanksgiving).  That's it for now, more later...

Wiring...Paneling, Paneling...Wiring: What's Next?

So with windows and doors roughed-in and AC wiring done, focus shifts to finishing the interior of the camper.  This primarily involves insulation, wiring, and paneling.  To arrive at that order of things though, plans went back and forth on the exterior/interior finish sequence, while progress was start-stop on paneling and wiring over the following several work sessions.  The gory details are explained below.

First I feel like sharing my views on overall project progress.  Being hopefully near 75% done with the project, I think think I've experienced enough on this project to have a sense of how it's gone.  To be clear, the following isn't meant to sound regretful.  So far, progress has been good, and the project has been great fun.  But a constant on this project has proven that progress has been slower than hoped, with build sessions coming up short on mini goals, and sessions bleeding one into another (and even another).  This, even as work sessions have stretched in length, having spent almost 12 hours at my dad's this past Sunday.  This post is a good case in point on slow progress, where I'll explain the back and forth of completing (not actually at the time of this writing, see) the insulation, wiring, and interior paneling.  To be sure, none of this is a terrible concern for what is after all a hobby project, but for this being the third summer under construction, with an increasing financial and time investment in an unusable (and likely unsellable if I had to for any desperate reason) asset, it would be nice to get the thing done.  And maybe most importantly, I've now set a deadline for myself.  Coming up in September, I've committed to a shakedown camping weekend that should also be a whole bunch of fun too.  So, clock's ticking- time to get to it I guess.

The complication of interior/exterior sequence mentioned above mostly centers on connecting exterior electrical connections through the walls, and deciding whether to rough-in interior wiring with permanent paneling installation leaving wire ends loose on the exterior, or planning for removable interior paneling allowing for late exterior wiring that makes connections and leaves wire slack behind temporarily removed paneling.  It turns out that after a bunch of back and forth, the answer to this dilemma turns out to be: Yes.  All of the above.  I'll explain shortly.  But first, the low hanging fruit of this phase seems to be insulation.  It can be easily installed without concern for the interior/exterior paneling/wiring dilemmae?  A little higher on the tree was a determination that the ceiling paneling would be a semi-permanent installation, while the wall paneling would be semi-removable.  Details to follow.

Back to the insulation. With varying wall thicknesses and the need to arrive at a consistent wall depth to achieve a smooth, paneled wall surface, a shopping trip to Home Depot buys styrofoam and Extruded Poly Styrene insulation in .5", .75", and 1.5" thicknesses (along with paneling and some other items explained later).

Working the curved surface of the front wall of the trailer and using a utility knife for all cuts, horizontally spanning panels of 1.5" styrofoam are cut to dimension and relief kerfed to allow them to bend along the inside of the curve.  Panels are glued in place using Loctite PL300 Foamboard Adhesive.  See:

Working the irregular wall edges, heavy construction paper proved helpful in creating templates that can be used to trace insulation cuts.

The driver's side window proved tricky to work around:

Also at this step, I decide to add a support bracket for the forward exterior light.  This is one of the first opportunity to consider the inside outside wiring situation.

Moving on from the insulation for now, focus shifts to wiring.  I'm now remembering that this topic may require a lot of explanation.  Working on the DC side of NOCO charger/supply, a three way Amico switch direct from China is employed to manage wire switching between charging source, battery source, and battery charging.  This is all performed on the positive red leads through a six circuit ATC/Buss automotive fuse block from NAPA Auto Part, with negative wires coming back to a common ground bus, as shown below.

Using 14 ga. spools of red and black braided copper, wiring extends outward from the raceway through channels carved in the insulation and holes drilled through the cabinet face and stringer to various locations throughout the trailer.  Circuits are wired with crimped spade connections and soldered splices for:

• Exterior Area Lights
• Interior Area Lights
• Interior Strip Lights
• Reading Lamps
• Vent Fan
• Water Pump/12V Cigarette Outlets

See below:

Cable clamps are used to secure wires around corners:

So part way through the wiring, we decide to switch gears to paneling.  In hindsight, I guess there is no particular reason for the timing of this.  I had decided to go with the Braden Cherry 1/4" MDF paneling from Home Depot before the last shopping trip.  This paneling has a nice faux wood finish that is reasonably close to the color of the cabinet stain, and the 1/4" MDF construction makes it pliable enough to finish the inside curves of the trailer roof.  Going with the idea that the ceiling be semi-permanent, it goes up first.  Bending a big to fit through the door:

 it looks pretty good installed:

Using a measuring stick sets a consistent offset for the truss head lath screws, which work well as a finish screw.  With the ceiling installed, attention turns to the walls where we revert back to the paper template for the wall panel lines, specifically following the curved roof line.  Further complicating the wall panels, are the holes needed for the door and window openings.  In this case, tracing from the outside and using the trim rings, combined with progressively finished cuts closing in on final dimensions provides for a good fit.  1/4 round trim to be installed at the next build should provide a good, final finish for the paneling.

So that's it for now.  I guess this phase wasn't so difficult.  Then again, it isn't quite done yet.  Whenever it is done, I anticipate finish the kitchen door, running the strip lighting, buying and hanging the reading lights, re-hanging the cabinet doors, and finishing the counter top.  Oh yeah, and buying and finishing the aluminum exterior.  Piece of cake, right?