I'm Glad I'm Not An Electrician All The Time...

I spent a couple of days crawling around under both the car and the trailer.  I spent an hour on the phone over the course of a couple of days debating different approaches to wiring the Civic for the trailer and the charger. 

I was directed to find a circuit that was 'only on' when the ignition was keyed.  I didn't even know that there was a fuse box under the hood, but it turns out there are two fuse boxes.  I tested each of the circuits under the hood to see if one of them was 'switchable.'  No dice.  So, I learned that I was going to have to tap into the interior fuse box and drill a hole through the firewall.  I was very anxious about doing that.  So, I decided on another approach.

 I was going to use a fuse tap to avoid having to splice into the actual wiring in the car.  This was a pretty cool device that I had never seen before.  You just insert the pulled fuse with another fuse of the same amperage.  The wire that went out of the tap was your 'hot' wire.  This wire would then go out to the teardrop in order to 'charge' the battery when on the road.  The only problem would be that the 'always on' circuit has the potential to draw down the battery of the tow vehicle when the trailer is connected.

 Here was my solution for getting into the watertight fuse box.  I was going to drill a tiny hole and insert a rubber grommet which would secure the hole and allow the hot wire to pass through.

Here is the wire and the rubber grommet.  This worked pretty well.

I learned that there are at least three different size fuses of the same amperage.  All three of these fuses are 15 amp fuses.  However, only the middle one would fit in the fuse tap so I needed to run to the hardware store and get some extras.

Here is the fuse tap with the two 15 amp fuses in place. I pulled the wire through the grommet and then snapped the fuse box lid into place.  Next I ran 12 gauge wire down past the engine and back along the bottom of the vehicle and out to the hitch.  That was all I could do today

Lots of Paint

I had no idea when I first thought of painting the inside of my teardrop how much paint I would use.  I decided to use paint to seal the door and window frames and I thought I would use the same paint to give the interior of the cabin a fresh look.  (It was originally painted a pale turquoise that reminded me of a trip I took to Florida in 1979 when just about everything was that color!)  I think I've gone through 8 or 9 cans of Rustoleum gloss gray paint!

However, I am very happy with the result.  The inside is looking terrific.
Along with the screen windows, which are painted black, I painted the sliding doors on the bulkhead black.  I like the effect of the accent color on the interior.  The biggest lesson I learned from painting the interior is to be patient and to use a mask and gloves!  Thank goodness I had a mask with a nice respirator on it because the outside of the mask was nearly completely gray by the time I finished painting the inside.

I also ended up making another set of screen window frames; I'm such a perfectionist that the first set of  frames did not meet my standards.  That took less time than I thought because I bought the finest toothed saw blade I could.  It cut smoothly and with very little splintering.  That made finishing a breeze.  So, with new screen window fixtures, I began considering a couple other design issues.

The original hinge on the hatch was missing the hinge on both sides.  I had started to replace the hinge with a 1" hinge I found at the hardware store.  This worked okay, but the previous owner decided to drill new holes for the hinge they installed.  So, even with the new hinge, there were still holes in the hatch and the area above the hatch.  I had attempted to fill these holes with rivets, but the rivet holes were too large and they don't make a rivet large enough that will work in my rivet tool. That's when I thought about using a larger hinge.

I picked up a 2.5 inch from the hardware store.  This hinge would cover the holes from both of the previous hinges and would be a bit 'beefier.'  I hope to give this a try soon.  My only concern is whether the hinge holes will leak.  I'll caulk the hinge and the holes when I put them on.  This way, it will be both cosmetically and structurally sound.  One issue that creeps up by choosing these larger hinges is how to fasten them.  I might be able to rivet them, if I use a hole that my rivet gun can fill.  I will try that first.  If it does not work, I have purchased bolts that I could use and then I'll need to route out a channel in the screen window frame to make up for the additional space on the interior that the bolt requires.

With the interior nearly finished, at least at this stage, the cabin is close to being water tight.  The only other cabin related item I have planned is to build the storage boxes into the floor.  I have to investigate how the frame connects to the plywood subfloor.  If its possible, I am excited to build some storage space into the floor.  This will open up the bulkhead for more storage too.  I like how Joanne used aluminum to cover the edges of the hatch and the lids.  I plan to use a similar design.

I'm waiting on my hatch hinge, door and hatch locks and body trim to arrive.  While I wait for those items, I am planning to remove the aluminum cabinets from the hatch as well as the hatch cover.  By removing the hatch, I will be able to paint and rivet the non-essential holes in it much more easily. Once all of the cabinets are removed, I can start designing the galley and treating both the floor inside the galley and the cabin.

There are several pieces of metal, I believe they are aluminum, that are critical to the structural integrity of the teardrop.  These pieces fit on the floor of the galley and on the actual galley hatch. Thankfully, these pieces were kept by the previous owner, but they are in terrible condition.  (I found them when I was cleaning out the teardrop).  I hope to be able to hammer them back into shape and re-use them.  I doubt that it would be possible to find replacements for them, they are strange angles and shapes.  I discovered yesterday at Lowes that there is a spray for galvanized metal that 'restores' it to its original finish.  I may give that a shot on this trim once I've gotten it back to its original shape.


Quick note on the electrical design.  I want to remember to use 'connectors' for both the tail lights and galley light fixture.  This will make it simpler for me to remove the hatch, if I ever had to do so, without cutting all of my electrical wires.

I found this DC electrical panel from West Marine.  I like that it has LED's that light up and that it has two 12 volt receptacles built into it.  I'm thinking that if I used this panel in the galley, I could just use those two receptacles for the galley.  This would save me a bit of work wiring the two additional outlets.  Then, I would only have to put the two in the cabin.  This would also allow me to use the four circuit panel because I would only have four additional circuits.

 

I will add a tiny volt meter to my electrical box in the galley.  I have seen several that would fit the bill.  Will probably go with a red one to match the LED's on the breaker panel.  

The weekend can't come soon enough!