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?

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...

Cabinet Doors and More

With the cabinet door openings cut, it was time to close them back in by hanging doors- quite of a few of them actually, 10 to be exact.  Shopping door hardware online, I decided on satin nickel hinges and latches like these available from Home Depot:

and:

The hinges are a self closing style, and feature a 3/8" offset to fit to a lip edge style door edge, as depicted in this picture:

 To get to to this point, door face measurements and some woodworking was required.  Each cabinet door was measured about 3/8" larger per side than the door opening to allow for the lip.  Several passes through the table saw, at least two per edge, were required to cut the lip.  With the lip cut around each door face, the hinges could be drilled and mounted.  Attached to the doors, the offset hinges look like this:

With some careful placement, using a punch to set the drill bit center for a pilot hole, each door can be hung on the cabinet face:

and:

To hang the lower rear cabinet doors, some finish work was required on the cabinet edge.  Thinking ahead too, we decided to dry fit the Aquatainer in the lower cabinet space beneath the countertop. If you recall from an earlier post, the goal is to piano hinge the lower cabinet face to enable rear removal of the mattress.  Upon taking a measurement, we realized we had left the cabinet too shallow to accommodate to Aquatainer.  We are realized that the the front edge of the countertop lacked support and rigidity, so we decided to extend and strengthen the countertop with a piece of walnut trim.  Measuring about 3/4" x 1", the walnut was biscuited and glued to the face of the countertop.  In profile, a diagram of this arrangement looks like this:

Attaching the walnut trim, we used a number of clamps to ensure a good, tight fit:

And when assembled, with piano hinge and cabinet doors hung, the lower rear cabinet face looks like this:

Next up, latches.  The latches we selected are a matchbox style, and required a relatively square edge to the cabinet face to allow the latch and the catch faces to butt close enough to each other to allow the latch tongue to engage the catch.  Because of the lip style of the cabinets, the catches need to be raised from the face to meet the face of the doors.  Using some walnut patches, wood glue, and screws, the mounted latches and catches look like this:

and:

and this:

That's it for now.  Next up, cabinet staining, and soon after: electrical, insulation, and doors...