Dreaming and Planning

So this weekend, I worked very hard on our basement.  It, thankfully, is going to require much of my physical and mental energy through the winter.  When I finally get the Carpe Diem, I should be able to spend my time working on her.  One thing I've learned from the basement project is that no matter what you 'think' you can do, it will take twice as long to do it 'right.'   You might as well embrace that and find joy in the process. 

I didn't have a lot of time to dream about her, but I did find a few things that I thought were pretty exciting.  I found a couple of images of a completely restored 1947 Tourette.   Whoever owned this must have stripped it down to the bare bones and re-skinned the whole thing.  It was a random post on Pintrest that mentioned a hot rod 'hotel' they saw at a car show.

As you can see, the aluminum is perfect, as is the galley.  I wonder if that fridge is still an ice box or if they up-cycled it and made it a real fridge?  It is gorgeous nonetheless.  I also like how they have put a solar panel on top.  I want to add a solar panel to my rig eventually so that it can charge up the battery when we are off the grid.  I like that this system seems to be able to be put up on demand and is not permanently anchored to the roof. I don't know anything about solar power, so I am looking forward to researching it.  Harbor Freight has a 45 watt solar panel for less than $200 that includes a converter for 12 v and other voltages.  It seems like a decent deal.  Again, something to research.

While I don't like the specific 'pin up' found on the side of the Teardrop, the side of the trailer does provide a nice canvas to express yourself.  I'm not sure exactly what I might put on there, but it's fun to imagine.  For sure, as I said in the last post, I'll put the name CARPE DIEM, on her somewhere.  Right now I'm leaning toward the hatch.

The Dream Binder

Above:  I love the color of the fender and the rims with the half moon hub cap.  This is one of my favorite images from my Dream Binder.

So what do you do when you can't actually work on your Teardrop? Well, if you're me, you start by dreaming about all the fun you will get to have. I have been collecting images for months of Teardrops through Pintrest and the Teardrop forum, so I printed them out, hole punched them and put them into a huge binder in their various categories.

Then, I started going through them making notes of things I like and dislike. Things I want to add to our Teardrop and things that I might want to add in the future.

Working through the images it becomes pretty clear; I want reading lights, porch lights, ventilation fans and a variety of power outlets. Some designs include both 12v and 120v power. Initially, I'm not so sure I want to add this, but the more I read and learn it seems to make sense on many levels. By having both, you can run an inverter which will allow you to run traditional appliances, chargers, etc either in the cabin or in the galley. Initially I thought I'd go with the simplest system, only 12v but now I see the value of a diverse system. Another piece of the system is the ability to plug in to 'shore power.' You can plug in to a power source while camping in 'powered' sites, or when you get to you destination and you can find a power source. I'm thinking that I will eventually add a solar panel to the system which will allow us to charge up while traveling and when in camp too.

Right now, I'm mostly thinking about how I'll Insulate and add the wood to the interior. As I said earlier, that should be much simpler when I remove the cabin from the chassis.

I asked Hans to send me some more photographs of the Teardrop, especially inside the cabin, galley and the hatch.

Those images will help placate me a bit longer. For now, it's. back to my dream binder.