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Old 01-16-2016, 09:33 AM   #401
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1972 31' Sovereign
Lexington , Minnesota
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You are wise about location of deadbolt. Chris accidently installed ours on the door and we can't lock it from the inside because of the screen door interference. OOPS! He's still trying to figure out how to redo it 2 years later. I think we'll just have to bite the bullet and redo it correctly where you located yours. We were going to redo the door skins anyways....

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Old 01-16-2016, 09:38 AM   #402
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1980 20' Caravelle
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Rear stabilizers

So I did this last spring, but am just getting around to posting

I made a rear stabilizer system modeled after the Valterra system RV Stabilizer, 14"-28" Universal, Boxed - Valterra.com | Valterra.com

I think this is simpler. I installed a mounting point on each side of the main frame with some 3/8" stainless bolts, lock washers, nuts, and a big washer to get the fender washers about 1/2" away from the frame. This gave a nice handle for an angled piece of 1" square tube to dig into. I bought 1" and 3/4" square tube with holes in it and that provides an adjustable length leg that can be secured with simple pin hardware from the big blue or orange store. I bolted on feet made from 1 1/2" aluminum angle and drilled a hole big enough for an S hook on a regular old cam strap. In a minute or so, I can grab the two pieces from the back of the car, put them in place, tighten the strap and the trailer is very stable. My front stabilizers are the original ones, but the back ones were in really bad shape and I didn't like where they were mounted. Anyway, here are some pics that hopefully show what I did.
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Old 01-16-2016, 11:39 AM   #403
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1980 20' Caravelle
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Table and bench

I wanted a table and bench that could move forward and aft depending on what we wanted. So I mounted two cherry support runners, one at bench height and one at table height. I set up a jig on the drill press that allowed me to drill holes every 6" and that let me make a series of holes 6" apart on each rail. The hole was big enough for a 1/4"bolt. On the back of the runner, I drilled holes big enough for a T-nut that I hammered in from the back. The runners were mounted to the interior skin with 3/16" x 1/2" pop rivets. When possible, I attached them to the frame, but the skin attachment seemed really strong. The idea is that the table and bench will rest on top of the runners and can then be attached to the runner with the 1/4" bolts. The table can also be attached by the same method to the front of the bench to make a bed platform.
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The main supports of the bench were assembled with lap joints reinforced with some short carriage bolts. I had some figured maple for the vertical pieces, used poplar for the lower slats and cherry for the back slats. I attached the slats with pocket screws. I bought some pocket screw plugs in cherry to fill the holes in the cherry slats. After sanding and polyurethane, it came out pretty well. It has just enough clearance to slide over the lower bunk bed to make more hanging out room.

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The table was made with a piece of 1/2" oak veneer plywood. I rounded the edges and finished it with epoxy and polyurethane. The edges aren't very attractive, but they are OK. I used a 1x2" cherry apron for extra support and also to attach to the runners. Since I used the same jig to drill holes for the table apron as the runners, the table can move in 6" increments along the runner.
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The table leg attaches with the same screws and can be removed for storage or when the table is used for the bed.
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Old 01-16-2016, 11:44 AM   #404
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image of interior deadbolt installation

Here is the interior picture of the deadbolt showing the latch and the plate that is pop riveted to the interior skin.
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Old 01-16-2016, 12:43 PM   #405
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Looks like a good lock solution. The old ones suck
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Old 01-22-2016, 10:55 AM   #406
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TruckFridge TF130 with Danfoss compressor

Just received my new fridge. The exterior box arrived in excellent shape with only minor nicks and cuts, but the internal box was not impacted at all. It is from Truckfridge. It is a TF130. It looks just like the CR130 from Isotherm (But is several hundred dollars less) and has a Danfoss compressor and low amp draw. Max is 6 amps. It has 4.2 cu ft total with a small freezer. They estimate 40 amps in 24 hours. I'm going to add extra insulation and try to maximize air flow to the compressor to see if I can reduce the daily load. I will also upgrade to 2 6V golf cart batteries and may add one more solar panel to get up to 300 watts of solar. I'm thinking about adding even more solar, but am not sure about that yet. It opens to the right and it is on the left side of my kitchen so I may switch it to open to the left. It would be easier to load and add a cold drink coming from outside the way it is, but would be easier to access from the kitchen if it opens on the left.
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Old 01-22-2016, 01:25 PM   #407
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Very nice... looking forward to seeing it find its niche... My cheap 'lost freight' scratch and dent Danfoss fridge arrived with a plastic hinge shattered that I wired and epoxied back into shape.

Those Danfoss compressors have a inverter module that boosts 12/24VDC to 300VDC and then pulses the compressor with the high voltage to make it do its magic. They'll easily do 5 or more years constant duty but are spendy to replace or have rebuilt.

Ensure the module remains clean and in a free air stream to stay as cool as possible, none of that foam insulation touching it, and keep chimney-effect air drafts slipping across the working bits to allow cool air to reach the coils even when the fan is not running, even if that might mean making mouse runs for cool floor-level air to slip through and exhaust at counter top level somehow. 1/4" galvanized mesh would be your friend there.
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Old 01-30-2016, 06:37 PM   #408
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I was able to dig through the snow to do some work on the fridge today. I put a 5/8" piece of rigid foam on the floor and then surrounded the fridge sides and back with a combination of foam and reflectix. There was limited space on the right side so it only got reflectix. The back and top got 1" foam plus a slightly poofy piece of reflectix for an air gap. The left side just got 5/8" rigid foam since there is limited clearance there too. Click image for larger version

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The airflow path will be in from the left back and out through the 3" gap between the top of the unit and the counter. I bought some aluminum grating that looks nice but haven't installed that yet. Click image for larger version

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I've wired it with 10awg stranded wire in about a 5' run straight to a 15A dc 12v circuit.


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Old 01-30-2016, 07:23 PM   #409
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Powered up. Runs quiet. Blue light when door is open. Click image for larger version

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Old 02-07-2016, 08:39 PM   #410
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1980 Caravelle Shell Off Renovation

I have installed 200 more watts of flexible solar panels on the roof. I bought 2 100w HQST panels. They look just like the Renogy panels I've had for a year.
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I attached then with 3M VHB tape all around the perimeter of the panel.
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It was warm enough yesterday that the skin of the trailer was about 70°F so I felt like it should work. I prepped the aluminum with isopropyl alcohol and scuffed up the panel bottom edges with 200 grit sandpaper.
I peeled off the adhesive backing on the roof and just used moderate pressure to attach the panels. These are the two locations for the new panels before I applied the tape.
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I don't have pictures of the rest yet since I was running out of light and time. I hooked up the panels using commercial MC4 cables. I used 3' 10awg cables to connect the two panels together in parallel with standard branch connectors. I cut a 20' 8awg connector in half to make the plus and minus cables for the home run back to the blue sea pass throughs. I bought some marine grade #8 5/16" ring terminal connectors and crimped then on the end and triple sealed the ends with marine grade adhesive heat shrink tubing. These were added to the existing terminals from the other two panels with dielectric grease and tightened and covered with the insulating terminal caps. I did all the branch wiring first and connected the MC4 connectors at the panel last to avoid any danger of a short. I checked at the sunsaver panel and it was getting 2 amps at 5:00 P.M.


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Old 02-07-2016, 08:48 PM   #411
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1980 Caravelle Shell Off Renovation

I also installed my two new batteries although I done have any pics yet. They are 6v golf cart deep cycle batteries from Costco. I removed the single 12v battery after shutting off the big switch. I bought a cheap battery lifter strap and managed to get both batteries in the battery bay. They are very heavy so I regret making it such a reach to lift them in since it will take a couple Advils to get over that. I connected them in series with an 8" long 1awg cable and hooked up the negative and positive leads. I sprayed the terminals with corrosion resistant spray and turned it back on. From Costco the batteries were at 12.32 v so we'll see how they look after a day with solar panels charging them.


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Old 02-07-2016, 11:03 PM   #412
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1980 Caravelle Shell Off Renovation

Here is a pic of the battery installation. Click image for larger version

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The big cable on top connects the - of the left battery to the + of the right. The bottom right terminal is the ground and the bottom left terminal is the positive. The positive has a blue sea fuse holder and a 100 amp fuse with a #6awg wire to the main switch.
After solar charging for one day with moderate sun, the batteries were up to 12.83V.

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Old 02-07-2016, 11:06 PM   #413
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1980 Caravelle Shell Off Renovation

Best guess on the battery charging for one day was that it started at 60-70% and was getting close to 100%. That is based on the voltage going from 12.3 to 12.8 v. If that is true, we got about 30% of 220 ah which may be about 60 ah.


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Old 02-08-2016, 07:26 PM   #414
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You appear to be a RE maven! I've missed what charge controller may be involved but I suspect playing with battery electrolyte is NOT on your ten favorite things list...

Yet I suggest you beg borrow or steal a good specific gravity tester and take some readings using manual calculated temperature compensation to divine the true state of charge versus what electronic readout may taunt you with.

http://www.batteriesnorthwest.com/ba...hool.cfm?TID=5 <-- conservative state-of-charge chart, 12.7V is happy battery after it has sat a day or lightly loaded.

I'd think Advil would do well to cameo your story for a television advert
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Old 02-08-2016, 09:02 PM   #415
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electrolyte

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wabbiteer View Post
You appear to be a RE maven! I've missed what charge controller may be involved but I suspect playing with battery electrolyte is NOT on your ten favorite things list...

Yet I suggest you beg borrow or steal a good specific gravity tester and take some readings using manual calculated temperature compensation to divine the true state of charge versus what electronic readout may taunt you with.

http://www.batteriesnorthwest.com/ba...hool.cfm?TID=5 <-- conservative state-of-charge chart, 12.7V is happy battery after it has sat a day or lightly loaded.

I'd think Advil would do well to cameo your story for a television advert
I have a MorningStar Sunsaver Duo. I know that you are right that I should test the electrolyte to know the actual state of charge, but for now I am not too worried about it since I just doubled my solar array and more than doubled the battery bank. We are headed to southern UT in a couple of weeks for some red rock boondocking so I need to get everything else set up. When I have time this summer, I will plan to get an actual baseline for the extent of charge, but without an actual battery monitor that measures current, I fear that actual usage will just be degrees of guessing. In the southwestern US with 400 watts of solar up there, I bet that I'll stay pretty close to full capacity most of the time and will be prepared to deal with a few days of clouds without hurting the batteries too badly.
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Old 02-08-2016, 09:15 PM   #416
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Sunsaver Duo

I've had the Sunsaver Duo controller for a year now and only now realized that I can zero out the meter to measure the amount of charge that occurs in a day. It lists Amp-hours and maximum amps. I zeroed it out tonight so I'll see what I get over the day tomorrow. It was sunny all day today and should be sunny tomorrow as well so I can see. I am guessing that it will only tell me what is actually added to the battery so if the batteries are full, it probably won't tell me what the system is capable of doing.
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Old 07-23-2016, 01:36 PM   #417
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Reflectix work continues. Got about 3/4 of the way through installation of the Reflectix. It was a typically sunny May day in UT today and the uninsulated skins were way hotter than the Reflectix covered ones. By the end of the day, the Reflectix (and me too) were pretty hot inside. I need to rig up some 12V power so I can unleash my fantastic fans!! Does anybody know an easy way to do that before I buy a new converter. I still have the original Univolt but no fuse block. On the Reflectix, so far I've used 2 1/2 rolls of 48" x 25' and 1 roll of 16" x 25' and 2 1/2 cans of 3M 77 adhesive. The adhesive holds pretty well. I also bought 8 4'x8' sheets of 1" thick RMax polyisocyanurate foam board with aluminum foil on each side. It was about $22 a sheet at Home Depot. Here's a pic of my progress so far:


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Hey timzog thanks for the detailed info. I am slowly making my way through this thread so I apologize if it is already answered, but with your reflectix did you use the double sided or single sided reflective and did you use with or without thermal breaks? 3 years have gone by since you posted have you been satisfied with it? would you have done it again or chosen something else? thank you for your time and wisdom!!
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Old 07-25-2016, 10:58 PM   #418
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I used double sided reflectix that I bought at the big box stores. I also used a polyisocyanurate foam so I can't address the reflectix alone. I did have a small air break between the two but there is only so much space there so I am not sure it mattered. My sense is that there is very little heat flow through the walls. There is a ton of heat flow through the ribs and through the windows and I would say that is the biggest problem and I don't have a solution for how to address the ribs at all. That being said I have a 9000 btu heater and I can get the temperature to 65 degrees and keep it there when it is 10 degrees outside. However, the interior skin where it hits the ribs and also the windows condense tons of water under those conditions. My gut tells me that a single layer of reflectix with an air gap on both sides may be actually all you need. I do feel like the foam gives me better sound insulation but the weight and installation costs may be higher than it is worth.
The honest answer is I don't know but I am really happy with my trailer. I just got back from a 2000 mile trip through California and it was fabulous. The only bummer is I forgot to lock my deadbolt and sprung my outer door halfway through. Not a big deal just more work for the winter.


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Old 09-24-2016, 07:57 PM   #419
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Had a large tree branch come down on the back of my Airstream in a major storm on Thursday. Finally had a break in the rain and got to it today. The top rear panel is bent in almost a foot. It didn't break the window but it may have messed up my bathroom. I am very sad. I spent most of the day getting the branch down and cleaning up so now it is on to the Airstream post mortem.


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Old 09-24-2016, 08:21 PM   #420
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Gravity happens.
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