This is really cool and looks great so far!

 

Chris, I never even noticed the toilet in that photo. The reason it is there (still to this day) is unclear to me. Only excuse I have is that we live in the forest and I here that's what forest people do.

It new, I just didn't like it because it has a hairline crack. I guess since its been sitting out there for 3-4 years I should at least plant something in it.

 

We've spent the past 3 weekends working on the running lights. First weekend was spent drilling all the holes, putting the lights in and running the wires thru the floor. Also, planning the layout of all the wires.

Second and Third were running all the wires underneath and wiring up the electric brakes. I don't have any photo's of the underside yet and not sure I'm gonna take any since you really don't see anything but wire loom.

I felt bad for Steve having to lay under there all those days with this "feels like" 105+ days so I didn't bother him about taking pictures. My job with the underside was to fetch whatever he needed and put all the wires in the wire loom - he hates doing that part.

These photo's are of the front running lights.







These are of the rear, duh. Don't know where our heads were, but we only got chrome bezels for the 6 tail lights. Have to pick up 2 more for the reverse lights.




I think anyone coming up behind us should be able to see us.



I'll get back to the inside later, but right now I'm gathering everything to take to the DMV this afternoon to get this bad boy registered. Wish me luck.

Oh Yeah, we took it to get it weighed Sunday - its at 2,560 lbs.

 

What sort of abrasion resistance do you have each time a wire runs through a hole in metal?

When using the aluminum frame as a ground, the use of NoAlOx or Penetrox is a good idea, along with "star" washers.

Pop

Pop

 

My pop had a few in the back yard with plants in 'em when I was a young lad. Everyone loved it.

Stewart

 

My mom insists that hers is planted with Petunias.

A pretty sight out in her back yard! Indeed!

Pop

 

We used nylon bushings where we ran the wires thru the metal studs and wire loom everywhere else.

We had an electrician friend that was going to help us but he bailed on us. He cut all the wires from the breaker box and converter that was in the donor camper. Had we known he was gonna bail on helping us, we would have torn everything apart in the donor before getting rid of it and taken a lot of photos of how the wiring was ran. We're winging it ourselves so its taking much longer than it probably should. The planning of what we want where, what wiring is needed, etc. takes time. Luckily the cut wires are still attached to each unit so we were able to map out where the wiring goes. The 110 isn't a big deal, Steve knows how to run that, the 12v got a bit confusing but I think we've got it.

I found 1-1/4" plastic gang boxes with side mounts at Lowes which turned out to be perfect since our walls are only 1-1/2" deep. I put small 3/8" wood blocks behind them so when we plug into the outlet its not pushing it in. I also rounded the edges so that any 12v wires I ran behind the gang box doesn't get damaged by sharp edges.

Here's a photo of the right side of the trailer showing how we ran the 110. BTW, I actually hooked up 3 outlets myself. Of course they were the easy ones at the end of a run.



This one is of the left side which show the beginnings of my 12v wire runs.



Next we have the roof run for the AC Unit. Most of the colored 12 ga wires go from the AC to the thermostat. Pop, you can see the nylon bushings pretty good in this photo.

 

Ok guys, after over 2 months of running wires (weekends only), its time to put the styrofoam in. I'm doing all the foaming myself mainly because I have the patience for this kind of thing. Steve gave me this handy-dandy tape measurer that has 1/8th on it. We also have a heating bar thing that I'm using to cut out what I need for working around the wires. Edit: Its called a Hot Knife with a depth sled attachment. Great for foam.

Here's what the back side of my foaming-in-progress looks like.


Most of the panels just needed to be notched out for the straight wire runs with an outlet or two. The foam is 1-1/2" so I'd just notch out about an inch and they fit great and with the 110 outlets being hung on the stud, it was just a matter of cutting it out.

This wall here was one of my two more complicated ones. This is by the front door and has the stove top / microwave cabinet and cable all right there, oh, and the front outside light.



This photo shows how I cleaned up the wire runs and put wire loom where the wires need to come thru the foam.



This is what it looks like now. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

This is the left side of the trailer where the kitchen will be with the water heater, water pump, fridge and some lighting. This one took me 2 days to figure out where I need the wires to run. Also, we're putting switches on the WH, WP and under cabinet light so I had to figure that into the mix. What a mess............



I love that wire loom. It sure makes it easier to measure for the foam cutouts.



And this is with the foam on. Not only does it look good, but it should make it much easier to measure the cutouts for the wall boards.



I still have to cut in the roof foam panels then paint the wall boards.

That's it for now. Nite guys.

 

If you don't already have one, get one of these when you're done wiring the A/C:
Electrical Receptacle Tester with GFCI Diagnosis

Lowes has them, too. They're a real time saver when checking new 120-volt wiring.

You guys sure do nice work!!!

Pop

 

Thanks Pop. Steve already has one of those. Come to think of it, I can't think of many tools he doesn't have. The guys at my work think he's spoiled.

We tested each outlet inside & out as we went. Definitely a handy little tool.

We also tested the 12v wiring using his jump box and a meter to see what the volts were at the end of the runs and they're all good.

I have the cabinet shop building the upper cabinets that will go on the back wall. We're going to need those up once we get the wall boards up so we can install and hook up the power.

 

I don't know how I could have forgotten to tell y'all but "We Have Tags" ..........

It was much easier getting this trailer registered than we thought it would be. If you recall, we (Steve) were hoping for under 2000 lbs because then we would have just had to bring receipts for the materials to the tag office and get a tag. I'm glad that we're over that weight because not only do we get tags, but we get a title and vin # that Steve stamped into the frame in many places.

So if any of you are interested, here's the process, here in Florida anyway:

1. I went to the DMV and picked up a homemade trailer packet which included an Application for Title and an affidavit of how it was built.

2. I pulled the App for Title offline so I could type our info in. My handwriting is atrocious. The Affidavit is just a quick summary of "we built it using....." and a separate part detailing the building of the frame since we didn't use an existing one. Make sure you put the type and rating of axle and how the axle is mounted and if you have electric brakes or not. This is what the guy was really interested in.

3. Receipts, receipts and more receipts. I typed all of our receipts for materials and the donor trailer into an Excel spreadsheet and had the ones we didn't pay sales tax on in a separate column.

4. We took the trailer to the truck stop and got our weight ticket, which also goes with the receipts.

5. I made a copy of all the paperwork and receipts. Good thing because the DMV keeps the originals.
Edit: Almost forgot - They want 4 photo's, one of each side plus since we built our frame, he wanted one of that too. I emailed them to the guy at the DMV the night before I took the packet back to him.

6. I took my completed packet to the DMV along with $40 processing fee and they gave me the vin # right there on the spot. He set us up with an appointment to bring the trailer in so he could inspect it after Steve stamps the vin # into the frame.

7. We took the trailer to the DMV for inspection and paid the tag & title fee along with the Sales Tax due that was outlined on my spreadsheet and went out and screwed the tag on. Done.

I should also note that we transferred our tag from the pop-up camper we sold to this one. It saves a lot of money for transferring vs getting a new tag.

BTW, everyone at the Fla. DMV that I came in contact with was extremely nice and helpful.

 

That foam-job looks great. Very professional and clean. It's nice to see someone "paying attention" to how things are built.

 

When you finish everything, I would be happy to do the QC on it for about a week to ensure everything works as required. I would hate for you to take it out and find a problem. I'm such a good guy, I won't even charge you!!

 

Thanks Craig. I'm having fun doing it and I like learning new things.

I snapped a couple photos of my back wall cabinets in the making.

This one is the center, double cabinet that will be above the bed.



and this is one of the two side upper cabinets. This is the main one I need for now because its going to house our power. I had them make the shelves fixed so there is no chance of them moving around. The top shelf will have the breaker box in it and the 2nd shelf will house the converter. The other side cabinet and the short cabinets will have adjustable shelves with locking clips.



Here's the finished upper side cabinets. I was worried about how the color was gonna look because I picked it from a 2x3" laminate chip........ I love it. The color is called "Crackle Crunch" and its one of the newer textured laminates. The pulls (handles) are from our donor camper. I planned on painting the vent grommet to match the laminate but after seeing it all together, the colors look so nice together I'm just going to leave it as is.



and here are all 3 cabinets together. They're upside down because the top side isn't laminate so it can sit on the floor in our shop until we get the wall boards up.



I did all the measurements for these cabinets allowing for 1/2" filler on both sides. Hopefully I got it right.

The cabinets are made of a real light product. The core is balsa wood and even though they are 3/4" thick boxes, I had no problem whatsoever picking the tall ones (14.5" x 36") up with one hand. I couldn't do that with the regular cabinets the company I work for makes. BTW, I love working for a cabinet company (in the office).

Next step - weather permitting, Steve is going to do the cutouts and install the roof vents. Once that's done, we'll check for leaks and then hopefully begin putting the ceiling up. I can't wait................