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Old 02-06-2011, 03:19 PM   #181
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Congradulations

Hurrah Daniel. I'm very happy for you. You now are a graduate of the Air Forums Full Monte College. Your cap and gown are in the mail.
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Old 02-06-2011, 03:53 PM   #182
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That is a nice TV! Where there's a will, there's a way! Congratulations on the re-uniting.
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Old 02-06-2011, 04:11 PM   #183
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Thanks guys. What a load off.. literally and figuratively.

I never could have gotten this far if it weren't for the inspiration, encouragement, and comrade-ship that I have gotten here. Thanks so much.
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Old 02-06-2011, 04:58 PM   #184
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Trailer's looking good, Daniel, way to go!

Any plans yet for the interior re-do yet?
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Old 02-06-2011, 05:30 PM   #185
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Thanks, Aage.

I got some red and green commercial vinyl tile for the floor. The Chinese lady down at the coin laundry approved of the colors.

On the interior Ima go minimal to begin with. Just absolute necessities, which aren't much for me.. then just live it and build the interior slowly as I'm living it.

The fun part begins!
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Old 02-06-2011, 07:42 PM   #186
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On the interior Ima go minimal to begin with. Just absolute necessities, which aren't much for me.. then just live it and build the interior slowly as I'm living it.

The fun part begins!
Yes, easy does it, as the old saying goes. Good plan!
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Old 02-08-2011, 05:48 PM   #187
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Ok after a little unwinding from the tribulations of frame/axle/floor work, the next area of attention is electrical.
There are still other things to do with the shell.
- Need to replace/repair the bottom of the rearmost skin where it meets the floor.
- When I put the axles on, the bolts that came with it were 15/16 and I didn't have a big enough bit to drill them out (I got one but the shaft was too big for my drill), so I bolted them on with the 3/4" bolts that were on there.
- The shell is fitting in the channels ok but it is off center somewhat. Need to rack it around to get it fitting exactly right. I think it was out of shape somewhat when I got it.
- Need to fit the last floor piece. I left it a little long and didn't attach it because I didn't have a pattern from the old floor and didn't want to screw up the measurement and make it too short.
- I have enough 1/2" pex to do the main fresh water lines and I bit the bullet and got a pex crimping tool. Somehow I think that it is going to come in handy down the road, and I really don't want to trust the plastic connectors. Those rings are tight!
- Black and gray tanks are in and good to go. I just need the one connection for the stink hose to attach to the tank drain pipe.
- I have the main drain pipe assembly from before so that will just be doing the connections under the sink and shower drains.

So I'm going to diddle around with that stuff - it is great to be able to work on more than one thing at a time now - and set the main focus on electrical, of which I know Jack Squat.

I'll post updates as I figure stuff out.

Dude at work is like "how's it going?", I say "well, it's hard work", he says "It should be fun", I'm like "some of it is, some of it isn't."

It is definitely getting more fun now.
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Old 02-11-2011, 06:25 PM   #188
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Attaching rear lights

I'm looking at this monster assembly for tail lights and such and don't know how to attach it. It has a lot of holes all around, but they seem shallow and without threads.
Is this thing riveted on or screwed on or what?

Thanks..
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Old 02-11-2011, 07:05 PM   #189
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Daniel if it is the same as mine it is riveted on from inside the shell into the taillight casing.
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Old 02-11-2011, 07:12 PM   #190
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Thanks, Chris, and what is good to seal these between the casing and the shell?
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Old 02-11-2011, 07:18 PM   #191
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Daniel I would use a good bead of Vulkem applied to the casing. Butyl tape will not compress to conform to the compound curve because the rivets will not be able to pull hard enough to compress the butyl. The mothership uses nothing and seals the plastic inner casing against the inside of the shell. Do you have the plastic inner?
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Old 02-11-2011, 07:28 PM   #192
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I doubt it. I have a pile of junk that came with the trailer. I'll have to try to sort through it this weekend.
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Old 02-13-2011, 11:04 AM   #193
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This is getting more interesting and more fun all of the time.
The last of the nasty teardown/removal is done. Yesterday and today I got the inside gutted.

The hardest part were the upper side panels. On the top they had rivets every 3-4" overhead.
The easiest part were the end caps. Just a few rivets holding them on.

I had some wire laying around from I don't know when. I strung it up along the walls longwise to hold the wires back and pieces crossways in the overhead to hold the wires up.

Time to go eat Mexican with my son.
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Old 02-13-2011, 11:34 AM   #194
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Daniel I noticed something in a couple of the pics. Pices 2 and 3 numbered 117 and 118. Just aft of the entry door I don't see a cut out in the floor for your battery box. Am I missing something or have you not done that yet?
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Old 02-13-2011, 03:31 PM   #195
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I swear you don't miss much, do you?
Haven't done it yet. Still haven't decided whether I want a battery box there or not, and it not, what to do with the hole there.
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Old 02-13-2011, 03:42 PM   #196
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Daniel I've always got your 6 when it comes to this trailer. Although at the rate your'e progressing I'll need to watch what you've done once I get started on my insides.
If you move the battery are you thinking about a tongue mounted one. You will need larger battery cables to get back to the converter if you mount it in the same spot under the kitchen counter.
I'm toying with the idea of adding two more batteries on the tongue to give me a total of three. I'm going to build my trailer to cover all possible senarios. # batteries for long boondockings, propane generator and solar array for recharging. Factory TV antenna, rrof mounted satellite dish and park cable hookup. BTW your unit originally came with a phone cable mounted in the power cord/water hose reel area,ther is a phone jack mounted in the wall in front of the roadsde bulhead just forward of the fridge.
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Old 02-13-2011, 05:19 PM   #197
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I patched the shell over the old battery box - fabricated an extension and anchor for the rib left hanging - and have just kept going. Now I am wishing I had held out for obtaining 2024 sheet stock, I just used what was handy...
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Old 02-13-2011, 06:41 PM   #198
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Chris,

I was wondering about the battery cables. They need to be bigger in diameter because of the distance, right? Will the trailer draw more power (waste power) because of this?

I was thinking of nixing the battery under the sink and maybe putting two up front. The extra weight up front doesn't seem to be enough to make an issue.

Besides the that the batteries give off gas and what-not, the existing battery box only holds one battery and I'm def. leaning toward having at least 2.

The front seems the logical place to put them, but I'm not sure if there is enough room on top of the Aframe. I was thinking build a hangar box under the Aframe near the front of the shell might be the trick.

Solar seems almost a necessity if you plan on spending any time "off the reservation"
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Old 02-13-2011, 06:44 PM   #199
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I patched the shell over the old battery box - fabricated an extension and anchor for the rib left hanging - and have just kept going. Now I am wishing I had held out for obtaining 2024 sheet stock, I just used what was handy...
That is a neat job.
Did you ever think of making a cat door there? I have a small dog, but it seems a bit shallow of a hole even for him.
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Old 02-13-2011, 06:47 PM   #200
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Daniel,
You could use AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries. They are sealed and require no venting. They are about three times the price as a wet cell battery, but can be put anywhere in the trailer and are supposed to last twice as long. Just an option to consider.
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