Thursday, May 30, 2013

Rain Test

The battery meter I had ordered was defective.  I ordered a new one and it arrived today.  So, I decided that I would test it out.  It worked perfectly, so I decided to go ahead and install it.


Just as I started screwing it into its place, the sky unleashed with a torrential downpour.  Once again I was reminded of the genius of the teardrop design; I was completely dry as the rain fell hard all around me.  

As the rain continued to fall, it seemed to come sideways for a few minutes.  Rain splashed the countertop  and the doors.  Luckily for me, the polyurethane did its job!  Minutes before the rain had come, I had lightly sanded the surface.  I'll add another coat or two to all of the surfaces this weekend.  It's nice to see something working the way it is supposed to!

One thing I am unsure of is the health of my battery.  I have only had it for about a year.  I purchased it last spring to use on our canoe with a trolling motor.  I kept it on a battery tender over the winter.  I noticed that the red light stayed on continually a lot during the winter.  Turns out, it might not be okay.  As the image shows, the maximum voltage I can get on it is 11.8 volts.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  I've posted a question on the TTNT website and look forward to the insight of those on the board.


The gasket over the hinge is working perfectly.  I had adjusted the end pieces so that the water would run off the edge.  So far, no problems with the gasket at all.


We have a little moisture coming in through the carriage bolts near the lock.  I am going to use rubber washers to hopefully keep the water out.


I want to use rubber washers on the bolts for the tail lights too.  Additionally, I'll caulk around the top of the lights to keep the water from penetrating under the plastic and entering the hatch.


It's a little hard to tell from this image, but I kept the vent slightly ajar today.  It was another hot day.  The temperature inside rose to over 100 degrees again; outside it was 90+ degrees.  I think the real test will be when I'm able to keep the window screens open too.  


Another item arrived in the mail today; the teardrop's mattress.  We ended up finding a nearly perfect mattress at Wal Mart.  We weren't too sure about it, but after opening the box and letting it expand, we are positive that this will be phenomenal!  It's exactly the right width: 58".  We'll need to trim the feet portion of it to fit the teardrop's bed area, but that should be fairly simple with an electric knife.  The whole family gave it a once over and we really like it.  I'm a side sleeper so I knew that I would need something that would support me; this mattress is perfect.  Throw in a couple of body pillows and we are in sleep heaven!

Tomorrow I'm taking a half day.  I can't wait to get home and get to work.  My first job will be to re-test the trailer wiring.  I'm planning to solder all the connections and test each and every one of them.  My main goal for the weekend is to get the insulation installed and possibly the headliner in place.  It's ambitious, but I'm optimistic.

I found out today that I'm going to have surgery on my left wrist early this summer.  I had the same surgery on my right hand a couple of years ago for carpal tunnel.  Ideally I would like to have the teardrop 'done' enough to camp in it by the time I have that surgery.  I'll have my work cut out for me for sure!

Polyurethane


It was a beautiful sunny evening, so I put a good coat of polyurethane on the countertops, drawers and doors. They look really nice, and that extra layer of protection will be helpful for any spills and hopefully protect from any water that does make it onto the surfaces.


You can see in this picture that I was able to cover all of the wiring for both the tail lights and galley light in the small black tubing.  My only wish is that it was a little less 'curly.'  Maybe it will 'uncurl' after it's been in place for a while.

I'm still wondering about pulling up the headliner on the floor and putting in a piece of linoleum.  I know it would be easier to clean, but I had the headliner and I didn't have the linoleum.  I suppose it is pretty easy to pull it out and replace it at some point in the future.

The coat of poyurethane should add a little more protection from spills, etc.  I may end up sanding lightly and applying another coat to give it a super nice finish.


On a side note. The thermometer inside the teardrop said that the maximum temperature inside it today was 113 degrees!


I cracked the roof vent, and will leave it open during the day today. We'll see if that makes any difference.  It was a  sunny cloudless afternoon. I guess I expected it to heat up, but I had no idea it would get that hot.  The new thermometer worked great though.  It told me what the highest outdoor temperature was too:  only 83.






I ended up hot gluing the magnet to the bottom of the remote sensor.  Then I put a couple of zip ties on it to hold the battery door in place.  Lastly, I mounted it under the teardrop on a piece of the frame the should protect it from most of the spray/rain.


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Wire Test: Fail

Well, once again, I am eternally grateful to the always helpful Teardrops and Tiny Trailer Web Site.  The site has been so supportive and kind to me as I ask incredibly simple, but important to me, questions.

I had no idea that I could 'test' my trailer wiring without plugging in to my tow vehicle.  Turns out all I have to do is use the 'extra' wire harness, that came with my tail lights, to connect to my battery and I can test the functionality and success of my wiring.


The good news is that I was able to test the wiring without dragging the Carpe Diem out to the road.  The bad news is that my front running lights did not work.



Back running lights lit up.  You can see that the front light is not lit.


Another shot of the back lights. 

 Now, before I go nuts and give up, I need to perform a few more tests.  Remember I noted in my last post that those lights "...Better freaking work?" It 'could be' anything from one bad connection, to a bad ground screw.  I hope to be able to crawl under the teardrop and test things, but it will most likely have to wait.  Even though there are only six days of school left, YES I am counting, the evenings are quite busy for me these next many days.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Lots of Electric Work

Spent a lot of this past weekend working on electrical projects on the Carpe Diem.  I am not a fan of electrical work.  I would say that the stupid butt joint connectors I worked with were the main reason I detest electrical work.  I can't imagine soldering the connections that are above my head as I'm clambering around under the trailer.  I used heat shrink butt joint connectors; let's just say that the percentage of them working as planned was pretty low.

Today I worked exclusively on the trailer lights.  I should say that I worked while waiting for it to stop raining.  Even though the teardrop is jacked up, crawling around on my back on the wet pavement was less than ideal.  Except for the butt joints, everything went as planned.  Unfortunately, I couldn't test the connections today.  I'm hopeful that next weekend will be beautiful and I can pull the Carpe Diem out to the road and give it a proper test.  All I can say is, those trailer lights better freaking work!  I don't want to have to crawl under the teardrop again to make all those connections.  I took my time.  I heat shrunk and taped everything very carefully.

Last night I took some images of the teardrop's lights.  You can see that I didn't get the spare re-mounted as of the images.  I ended up throwing everything in the cabin last night.  But, the lights work!  It wasn't pitch black out, but it was dark enough to see how the light looks.


I like the LED fixture in the galley.  It swivels and throws off a lot of light. 



The porch lights are much brighter than I thought they would be.  


Night vision red dome light.

Regular dome light.


The reading lights are as bright as the the dome light; but I really like the warm iridescent bulbs in the fixtures.

Here we go.  Short week.  Already looking forward to working on the insulation of the cabin.  Happy Memorial Day!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Black Freckles and Electrical Frustration

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  I was able to spray the undercoating to the bottom of trailer.  That was quite messy, but I'm glad that I got it applied.  Jacked up the Carpe Diem to make it easier to work under it.  I'm loving my 3 ton jack stands from Harbor Freight!




I ended up using two cans of the cheap stuff; one can of the expensive stuff.  Then I found a third kind of undercoating at Lowes.  It was about half the price between the cheap and the expensive stuff.  I used four cans of it.  Purchased one of the inexpensive 'spray triggers.'  That made the whole process a lot easier.

 

I was really happy to have the glasses and mask on.  However, I ended up with some serious over spray on my face.  Took a long time to clean those glasses too!



I've given up on the idea of having four LED lights the teardrop.  My plan was for them to be on each corner of the teardrop and that they would go on when I turned on the porch lights.  The LED's had teeny tiny wires and I think somehow there must have been a bad connection in one of the many connections.  I spent a couple of days pulling wires again.  I had originally used some wire that I had on hand.  It was way too thick and made it close to impossible to join with three or four pieces like I had to.  I used automotive wire and waterproof connections, but I could not get them to work properly.  I couldn't get them to work and after spending so much time on it, I just clipped the wires and moved on.  No LED's on the corners. 

I had some real problems today too with the switch I planned to use for the porch lights.  I am not sure if I've messed something up with it or if the switch is bad.  Each time I connect the switch, the fuse blows.  I'm going to have to research that a bit.

I am anxious to get the inside insulated, but I'm going to slow down and focus on the electrical; it's not only the part of the project that makes me the most anxious; it's probably the most important part.  I won't be able to easily work on it once i cover the inside with insulation and carpet.

Lastly, I trimmed the cooler tray so that I could easily use the two 12 volt outlets.  I had made the cooler tray an inch too tall and it impeded the entry of the second 12 volt outlet.


 The battery meter is still not functioning properly.  I may have to purchase a new meter if I can't figure out what's going on with the one I have presently.

Now its time to do a little research on trailer wiring and how to fix the switch.

I ended the day with touching up all the paint and tidying up the wires a bit.  Tomorrow I hope to complete the trailer wiring and figure out the switch.  If I can get those two things done, I will install the Marinco power inlet 120 volt system.

On a side note, my wife crawled into the teardrop for the first time yesterday.  She was pretty psyched.  She's been investigating the body pillows and the mattress situation for me.  We planned to use our futon mattress, but we've decided not to do that.  It seems we can find some decent alternatives relatively inexpensively.  We are researching a bit more and we'll see where we come out.  I'm glad she's taking an interest in the project.  I cannot wait for our maiden voyage; whenever that may come!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Undercoating and Re-wiring the Underside of the Trailer

Well, I can't wait any longer.  I need to get the bottom of my teardrop protected.  I've been thinking that I would take it to a place that does underbody spraying, like Line-X.  Unfortunately that has proven to be a lot more expensive than anticipated.  I've also read a lot of conflicting information on whether or not I even need to do anything to the pressure treated plywood bottom.  Personally, I'm all about over-engineering when and if I can.  It seems pretty easy to apply the spray on undercoating.

I purchased two different types of Rustoleum spray; one cost $4 and one cost $11.


 I'll give each a try and see which seems to work best.  The area I'm mostly concerned about is the wheel well; I replaced the aluminum wheel wells, when I replaced the galley, with plywood.  I treated the plywood with Thompson's Water Sealer and then painted over that, however, I think adding the undercoating on top of that will be a little bit of extra protection for very little investment.


I also want to cover the storage boxes.  Even though those are also treated and painted, the rubber coating will add additional weather resistance.

I will jack the teardrop up and then put it on the jack stands to allow me a bit more access underneath.

In addition to applying the undercoating, I'll re-do the marker lights and LED fixture wiring.  I tried using some wiring that I had and it turned out to be WAY TOO thick.  This was great for getting through my improvised conduit, but it made it very tough to pull through the holes I added for connections.  I purchased some auto wire that will work perfectly for these two applications.  Additionally, I purchased some water tight connectors for the wiring that will be under the trailer.  This will make the connections last a lot longer.  I don't want to have to climb under the teardrop more than I have to!

In addition to using the conduit for under the teardrop, I'm thinking that I can improvise a water tight connection through the wheel well; the wheel wells are super 'tall' on this model.  If I were to use a small junction box in the 'hidden' bottom part of the interior teardrop shelf, I could safely bring in the wires and then use plumber's caulk or a rubber washer or two to 'close up' the opening both in the well and in the hidden shelf area.  I think this will work well.



Monday, May 20, 2013

Teardrop Trailer Radio Show


Brooke Folk has started an internet radio show all about teardrops.  His first show, which premiered on May 18th, featured the president of Go Little Guy Trailers,  Joe Kicos.  I've listened to the first broadcast and am looking forward to hearing more.  Brooke is also working on an e-book on the history of teardrop trailers.  I am very intrigued about that concept and look forward to reading more about it.

Best of luck Brooke!

He will broadcast each Saturday at 11 a.m. EST.

You can listen to the first episode here:

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Frustration.



Today was less than excellent.  I met with a lot of frustration today.


It started out pretty good; I got my new fish eye lens for my iPhone and I had a lot of fun making interesting images with it.  Here you can see that I was filling the holes and then re-painting the drawers and the counter trip piece.


One of the only things that did go well today is that I was able to wire up the fuse panel and all of the electrical fixtures, even the galley light, worked perfectly.


This is 'mid-wiring.'  I like how the steel box worked out as a cover for the two 12 volt outlets.


I took the fish eye inside and I could finally capture how huge the teardrop is inside!  That was meant to be funny; but it really is pretty spacious.  Here you can see what it looks like when I am leaning up against the bulkhead; which is where you'll find me reading when it's raining out.


Here you can see the full span of the interior.  


About the only thing that did go well today was that I figured out how to get the wires from the marker lights and the LED lights on each corner, to the back of the teardrop.  I ended up being able to use the PVC pipe I had from another project.  I used insulated pipe clamps to anchor the pipe to the frame.  Pulling the wires through it was a cinch.

I need to figure out a water tight way of bringing in the marker lights and the LED leads.  I'm thinking of putting a piece of threaded conduit in the wheel well in such a way that no moisture will make its way into the electrical area.  I'm going to need to think about that some more.  

One reader, Emmett, noted that the floor is bare wood.  It's actually marine plywood that has been treated, but I am planning to take the teardrop to have an undercoating applied to it; or possibly do it myself once I compare costs.  I appreciate the head's up.  I had it on my radar, but sure do appreciate the reminder.  I'll remove the spare tire, etc. before the undercoating is applied.  

Thinking back on the day and realizing that what frustrated me so much was not having all the supplies I needed to do the job.  I had to go to the hardware store four times today for various bits and pieces.  That always frustrates me.  I also ran out of wire; another thing I obviously needed.  Oh well, this is a short week and a long weekend.  I'm hopeful that next weekend I'll be able to finish the electrical and begin insulating the cabin. 

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Finally, Some Progress I Can See!

My day started bright and early.  Went for a coffee and then dug right in.  Got the rest of the galley that had not been finished painted.


My second project was finding a way to mount the spare tire under the galley.  You can see the three bolts just in front of my drill.  I used rubber washers to hopefully keep any water from penetrating through the floor of the galley.


Three of the five bolts; should be plenty of support.


Next, I painted all the drawers and doors.  I started by painting them all blue.  I immediately regretted that decision.  I waited for them to dry and then painted them brown; which was my original plan.


The next project was to cut the hole for the Marinco power port entry.  I was very anxious about cutting the hole in the side of the wall.

There's the hole.  The problem I had to solve next was how to trim the wood on the inside so I could use the washer/nut that goes on the inside.  The walls were a little too thick.  I ended up using one of my sanding cylinders; that worked perfectly.

The port installed.


What it looked like from the inside.


Next project, install the gasket over the hinge. I taped it in place to get a feel for how large the gasket would be.


The sun was hot and it ended up helping me a lot because the gasket and the butyl tape heated up and made it easy to 'stick' in the right place.


I ended up adjusting the edges of the gasket a bit.  I bent the aluminum over the edge so that any rain would run off the drip edge.


I'm really happy with how this turned out.


Cabinets, drawers and doors, take two.


Not a good photo, but you can see how I mounted one of the four LED lights that will come on when the porch lights are lit.  Hopefully this will keep me from banging my shin into the corner at night.


Was able to install the galley light.  I really like that it is on a swivel.  That way you can aim it where you need it.


Was able to put in all the power receptacles and fixtures.  They are not connected yet; that's my big goal for tomorrow.


Close up of the spare tire mount.


The last major problem I solved today was one that had been causing me a lot of trouble.  I could not get the latch on the teardrop to connect.  I also could not figure out how to make the new handle work with the old fixture.  The first part, getting it to fit ended up being easy; I just bolted it in place.  The second part, getting it to work, not so much.  Because the latch is a blind connection (you can't see what's going on because the hatch is in the way) I could not figure out how to get the 'catch' to connect.  Then I had an idea:


I needed someone small enough to fit in the cooler slot so that when I closed the hatch they could see what was happening with the latch.  Jack just so happened to come out and ask if I needed any help.  Within twenty minutes, we had it fixed!  Now, the latch is installed and works perfectly!

As I mentioned before, tomorrow's goal is to get the electric completely done.  I'm going to go set my alarm.