Monday, January 29, 2018

Getting there.... and we have planned a trip for early March!

Since my last post, we have completed major systems as well as minor projects.  Susan and I both agree that this portion of the build is more fun, smaller projects with less chance for disaster.  Here is what we have done.

Plumbing - we wanted to keep this pretty simple with the capability of "boondocking", that means camping without water and electrical connections.

This first picture is of a simple faucet, you just pump it and you get a small amount of water.





This next picture shows the sink drain on the right.  On the left is the hose to two five gallon fresh water containers.




This second image drains the water from the sink to either two small containers when it is not okay to drain out and a hose to the outside of the trailer.



This last image shows the outlet that we will be able to use to drain when we can.  On the left is a double plug for cooking and other things on the outside.  That was a bit tough.




Electricity -- also kept simple.  I could not have done this without my friend Bob.  He is a great helper and teacher and explains the theory and how things work and lets me hook everything up.



30 amp system with four outlets on the inside and the outside outlets.  That large black line is the connection to the external power.  Everything came up without incident the first time, thanks Bob!

Here is the outside electrical connection.



We got an incredible deal on an air conditioner, open box and then it went on sale for 20% off of that.  Seems to work very well.  The unit requires an outlet to the outside with a four inch hose -- more holes!  :-(   It is very heavy, about fifty pounds and at first we had it on a shelf.  That seemed dangerous and I could just imagine it falling through the floor.  So we moved it and it seems quite stable, we will restrain it further.



In order to vent the air conditioner, I had to make a six inch whole.  Found a very expensive hole saw and it went well.  Here is a picture of that.  It has a spring that closes when there is no air passing through but we will have to really watch it.



We also refurbished and attached the screen door.  Originally there was another piece of metal in the middle of the door.  We have made a cover out of no-see-um material so we can reach the handle and keep the bugs out.  Note the Scotty ID tag that we got when we visited Chattanooga.



It took a while to figure out how we were doing to shut the baggage door.  It is somewhat damaged and so we selected some boat closers and put a drip cap on top.  Hopefully, it will not leak.



We also refurbished and replaced the bumper.



So, at this point, we had to deal with some legal issues, getting a title, Ugh!  In some states it is impossible to get a title but we had no major problems. You have to take the camper to DMV and they have to look at the VIN, then you have to explain where you bought the camper and why there is nottitle.

You have to get a title to get a license plate and get insurance.  These things are tough to insure for anything over the purchase price.  It appears that there is one primary insurer in the US.

Magically, it arrived!  No problems.




So, at this point, Susan went to work on the inside.  She had already made curtains and pillows and other items, she is also in the process of buying kitchen stuff we will need.  We bought an induction burner that will not short everything out.

We painted, added some molding, put in switch plates, that kind of stuff.  Now the projects seem ever more fun as we get closer.

So our next step is to get an appraisal so we can get insurance.  Here are pictures of the exterior and interior that I hope the appraiser will be able to use.  It will give you a chance to look at the outside.

First, the exterior.











And finally, here are interior shots.





















That's it!  The plan is take a one or two night practice trip right around here to see what else we might need.  We also want to weigh it to make sure our tires are sufficient.

The next post could be Florida pictures.  We are going to Apalachicola!