Great Idea. Funny how that stuff is cheaper than buying the material. When I did my solar panels I bought a set of heavy jumper cables for the wiring. It was much cheaper than buying similar wire off the spool plus they were colored coded and connected together.

 

I'll never buy 1 gauge solid wire again. It's stranded from now on. The solid was just too difficult to work with. I did buy off the spool at Home Depot.

 

I watch for sales on heavy jumper cables....... Great source of heavy wire.

 

If you are using the wire in a DC ckt..... The more strands the more efficient. Plus, easy to work with.

 

Today I completed my switch upgrade by adding a backing plate behind the new switches. I had considered doing the backing plate just behind the new switches but it was a bit more aesthetically pleasing to me to put a new backing plate behind all the switches. The **** on the speaker switch decided to break off. Getting that switch back into place was a pain in the butt. It wasn't a simple switch. There are like eight wires going into the back of the switch.

 

Another tip for sheet metal type goods is door kick plates. Many finishes available, usually priced decently.

 

I have been trying to get the new-to-us toyhauler cleaned up and other projects done before the cold cold weather hits. I did get it winterized first thing, so that part was done. K-Z must have had a really had a good group of engineers when they built this trailer. They designed everything easy to do maintenance-wise. Winterizing took all of 30 minutes. The rest has just been cleaning, replacing vent covers that were sun-rotted....that sort of thing. The rig is in fantastic shape, but it has needed the normal age related stuff replaced. I have also been cleaning it to my specifications, such as screens, windows, etc. I am enjoying it though. It is coming together nicely! I put LED taillights on it, but I am trying to decide if I want to do all of the running lights in LED as well. Not sure on that one yet. I did get all new lenses, so the lights are nice and bright. I also removed two of the bigger decals. They were black, so they were destroyed by the sun as well .I don't recommend it for the faint of heart. That was NOT an easy job. It look OK, but maybe I'll get some new ones made to cover the ghosting they left behind.

 

Pretty much finished my interior overhaul. New flooring, molding, backsplash, painted cabinets, new awning material, painted the graphics since they weren't coming off, solar, and my wife did an amazing job with the upholstery. All in I spent about $1,000.... but most importantly, happy wife happy life. I also got all my TorkLift stuff installed. New 30k lbs hitch, their Everest WDH system, and their glow steps. I can't recommend their stuff enough, its so ridiculously overbuilt and overkill for what I need. But its top notch quality everywhere you look. The steps are so much better than the OEM ones.


Pretty amazing turn around for $1k, I think at least.


Before, the day we bought it used.









BEEFY.

 

Tricon,
Wow! I have almost the exact same layout that you have. You have a bed up front where my generator, closet and bathroom are. Looking good!

What did you use to paint the graphics? Also, can you take a few closeups of the "awning" just inside the cargo door? I think I have the same one but I can't figure out how it goes together. I may be missing a part or two.

I'm considering the Glow Step. Did you get their hand rail? I don't see a good way of mounting it on a trailer like we have.

 

Thanks! Super happy with how everything turned out. We went sort of cheap since I wasn't sure if my wife was going to be into boondocking, but I knew I was going to use this 10-15 times a year for dirtbike trips. Bought the trailer and the F250 within a couple months of each other, all said I've got $10k in the trailer...I think its a steal for what I get out of it, and it turns out my wife absolutely loves camping in it...win win!

For the graphics I used an engine enamel paint with a UV modifier, have a buddy that's a baja truck painter by trade and he said he's used just the engine enamel paint before on his trailer and its held up perfectly for about 5 years now. Stays out in the CA sun 365. He mixed me some with a UV modifier just to try it out and see how it holds up. It was pretty easy to do, the prep was the bitch though. I sprayed the whole thing down with 303 degreaser and scrubbed it with a brush...the fiberglass looked brand new after that, really blew me away. Then spent hours taping it all off. Had to do 1 color at a time. Took me about a week of working on it after work. Not bad at all, just labor intensive.

Not sure what you mean about the awning inside the cargo door. Do you mean the mesh netting in the back of the trailer? Happy to take pics, but the trailer is in storage, Ill grab some the next time I have it at the house.

Glow step is awesome, highly highly reccomend it. Its super sturdy and really easy to deploy and retract. I didn't get the handle, I was planning on getting one like pictured here in this thread. The full length handle just seemed a little much to lug around for me.

 

Yep, that's what I'm talking about. I couldn't figure out where it was supposed to go or how to put it together. I called Carefree of Colorado (their name is on it) but the weren't helpful at all.

 

I'll take some pics. Its just a mesh curtain that drops down and zips together/snaps to the walls. Nothing really special about it, I think I've used it once. Don't have many bugs where we boondock most times, unless I head up to Mammoth or Yosemite in spring time.

 

Yesterday I restained the cabinets. I had a can of stain that was a close enough match. The cabinets were really dry in places and soaked up a lot of stain. Today I'll put on a layer of polyurethane or maybe just wax.

 

Wax..... Looks better and easier to care for in my humble opinion......

 

Yep, I went with wax. I don't recall any of my wood wax ever going bad. Polyurethane? Yeah, that'll go bad.

It looks better. If my wife notices it, I'll call that a success.