This, That, and the Other...

In my last post cabinet door assembly was the goal.  Having installed the hinges, latches, and catches, the next logical step figured to be to finish the doors (and much of the rest of the interior). So, off the door come.  Because of the peculiarity of the door assembly (specifically hinge alignment), the safe/smart move was to tag each piece of hardware so that it could be returned to its original installation location.  While this didn't take a ton of time, it did prove an impressive collection of shiny stuff when organized in zip lock bags.

With the hardware tagged and bagged, the doors, cabinet faces, and exposed wall surfaces of the camper interior and galley are sealed, stained, and varnished.

Relying on my dad's woodworking knowledge, skill, and sweat-equity (as with many other aspects of this project), the end result is a rich and smooth semi-gloss finish that brings out the subtlety of the wood grain while showing a fine craftsman touch.

Switching gears a bit, it's time to start the electrical wiring of the trailer.  Before investing much in electrical hardware, some electric design was in order.  Working with a few objectives in mind, an electrical schematic diagram was really needed to guide this next phase.  Fortunately, my dad came to the rescue again, sketching up what the camper electrical system would look like:

While this diagram looks complicated, it's really not that bad.  As I mentioned, this schematic incorporates several design objectives.  They include (in no particular order):

• Provide 120V AC from park power at campgrounds.
• Provide 12V DC to lights, vent fan, a water pump, electronic accessories, etc.
• Access 12V DC from automotive battery while camping (before buying a deep cycle battery).
• Access 12V DC from a deep cycle battery onboard the trailer.
• Recharge deep cycle battery from car alternator.
• Provide continuous power to 12V DC circuits via a power supply/charger while on park power.
• Recharge the deep cycle battery from the 12V power supply/while on park power.   

I'll explain how each of these objectives is met, including the electrical components involved, in the sections and posts to follow.  Needless to say, to accomplish the wiring and other tasks described here some shopping was in order.

First up is a camp extension cord and inlet.  Before I could buy, I realized I didn't know what I needed. Doing some limited research, I learned that campgrounds vary according to electrical service provided.  Typically, electrical service is provided and communicated according to a couple of parameters, including amperage and voltage.  In the interest of avoiding a lesson in electric distribution and power (in part, because I don't know it that well), I'll keep it short here.  Park power is usually provided as one (or two via, separate receptacles at the pedestal) of three options:

• 120V, 15A
• 120V, 30A
• 240V, 50A (two legs)

15A service is provided via the typical, three prong outlets common in homes.  The other two services have their own plug style(s).  I also learned that there is no one standard, and campgrounds will vary in terms of service provided.  Fortunately, there is general interchangeability between services via pigtail adapters, used with a bit of common sense.  That is mostly to do with not overloading a particular service.  In my case, I determined that my camper could safely use 30A service without overloading.  So, what I found was a nice cord and inlet combination with a fault sensor (for the park power side) from the a company called Furrion on the Campingworld website at: Cord and Inlet.  A nice feature of this system is that the cord has an integrated thread ring that mates to the inlet making a secure, weather-proof fit.

Installation involved drilling a hole through the side of the camper, wiring the receptacle back side of the inlet, screwing the inlet base in, and voila:

With the inlet installed, the next task is to continue the AC wiring.  From the back side of the inlet inside the electrical raceway, components are installed accordinging to the picture below.

First up (from right to left), is a master switch to control power to everything in the camper.  This is easily accomplished with a standard wall switch in its own box.  Next in line is a double gang box containing two outlets, one of which provides GFCI, and the other provides surge protection.  These babies are of the 20A line of Decora outlets from Leviton.  Finally, a junction box is wired to enclose wire nut connections for the two additional outlets, one on the interior cabinet face, and the other on the galley cabinet face.  All of these items are wired with 12/2 Romex.

The other interesting item in the picture above is the DC power supply.  This beauty is a NOCO Genius 7200, and represents a transition of sorts between the AC and DC systems.  The NOCO has many nice features including switchable modes and trickle/maintenance/fast charging, but almost most importantly, a 13.6V, 5A supply mode enabling continuous use of DC loads while on AC park power.  Proving that this stuff all works, I couldn't help but wire it up temporarily to the vent fan for a test run:

With the power supply as the start of the DC system and end of the wiring to-date, it's time to switch gears again- more electrical details to follow.  So in addition to the electrical shopping recently, I also did some shopping for doors and window.  Having purchased a truck topper door some time ago, I realized I had a bit of a ventilation issue (as the video above might suggest)!  I considered several options including building a door or buying a door with a screen, but both options would waste the investment made in the topper door, and building the door would prove a real challenge.  A compromise option I arrived at was to add a small window to the driver side of the trailer, forward of the door.  The window should prove useful in a number of ways, providing face level ventilation on the trailer's driver side and providing a portal for an external air conditioner installation (as a later add-on enhancement).

So the window addition first requires an opening.  Taking some measurements and drawing an opening using the trim ring included with the window, I cut an opening in the side of the trailer with the jigsaw.

With the opening cut, the trim ring needs to be shimmed on the back side to full wall thickness, which we have established as 1 5/8".  Cutting, gluing, and nailing 1" wide shims along with adding 1/8" temporary paneling shims, the window framing takes shape.

Pairing the window on the outside with the trim ring on the inside completes the installation.

Installing the driver's door is done in a similar manner in terms of using an internal trim ring, with differences in screw length and the size/dimensions of the trim ring.

With both the door and window installed, the driver's side is starting to look finished.

Shifting to the passenger side, construction becomes a bit more complicated.  Originally, I had planned to purchase two topper doors, one for each side, and as such I cut openings in the trailer accordingly.  When I realized my ventilation issues, I reconsidered the topper door approach.  Instead, I decided on an integrated door and screened window option from Frank Bear at Vintage Technologies/TeardropTrailerParts.com.  While this door was expensive, I think it was the right choice for a clean, professional, and most importantly, dry fit and finish.  Right off the bat though, I ran into a significant issue with this door- it is shorter and wider than the opening I had previously cut.  Fortunately, fixing this wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Luckily, I hung onto the door blank that was cut out of the passenger opening.  Cutting an approximate length off the top of this opening, we routed a groove around the door opening and the blank to enable gluing and buscuiting of the blank in place.  With a few minutes of wood clamping, the opening was shrunk.

A few minutes for the glue to dry, and the opening is no longer too big.  Now to make it large enough. Using the door as a stencil and aligning the lower rear corner to the existing opening, we traced the new opening, and cut with a jigsaw.  A re-sized backing board helped ensure the patch stayed put, and a little bit of sanding and fitting for the trim ring, and it's installed.

 Not too shabby, eh?

 

 Whew.  Ok, I'm done blogging for a few days, at least! Up next, more wiring, insulation, and paneling...