8x18 Toy Hauler / Camper

[PigTrail]

Sure. Here are a few photos of the well used hot water on demand system.

The red hose hanging down in the foreground is placed inside a 7 gallon blue cube like the ones sold at Wal-Mart. The power cable is also wound up here, but can be unwound to get to a 12v power source. The switch on the top controls the pump.



Here is a close-up of the pump. It's mounted to two vertical supports.



The shower head is on a flexible hose.

[PigTrail]

I use the chop saw to make straight and angled cuts to piece together the frame. Next step is to touch up the ends, so they're ready for welding.



Here are the pieces for the seat. A few more cross-braces will be added. Don't worry.



Using 90 degree vises and magnetic blocks I tack together the pieces.



Once that was welded together I turned my attention to the frame ends to hold the fold-up seat. Here are the pieces trimmed and ready to be welded. The set on the right will be towards the back of the trailer, but in front of the murphy bed. It will be on top of the fender-well, so doesn't go all the way to the same level as the front bracket (left).

[PigTrail]

Finally made some more headway on the fold-down bench seat. When you have a hammer, every problem seems like a nail. I have a welder, so seem to enjoy making everything out of metal.

Is 14ga steel the right material to construct a bench seat in a trailer? What have you used? I like working with it, so seem to make everything out of it...bed frame, shower tote, bench, spare tire holder, etc. What other ideas should I be thinking about?


Here's a mock up of the bench with the two ends loosely connected. The back support sits on the trailer fender, so is shorter than the front.




...and here is what the connections look like. I plan to both gusset and sleeve the connections, so they'll be sure to hold up to two large adults (400+ lbs). A 3/8 bolt will be run through each hole that will allow the bench to pivot up and down. Those welds don't look the best, but each is done all the way around and I only grind where I'll be attaching wood, so most should be pretty solid.




Any guidance on what to use for upholstery of the seat and back-rest?

[McDave]

I wouldn't call this "guidance" per se, but I did upulster the walls and ceiling of my 6 x 12 with this material. It is sturdy stuff and it was in my budget. My cargo area is 8 ft x 6 x 6 so these fit the bill nicely. I used granite for walls and taupe for ceilings. Hose it down and shop vac, looks brand new.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Foss-Hobnail ... /202042701
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Foss-Hobnail ... /202042703

Shipped em' free, so $65.00 made for a nice finish for the walls and headliner.

McDave

[RandyH]

McDave, what did you use to glue the rugs to the wall/ceiling?

Thanks,
Randy

[McDave]

@ RandyH,
Mine are not glued. Stapled along the bottom to wood strips, and pulled tight and held with a batten across the top. Then I have a "handrail" that runs down the center that has LED strip lights up and down to light the wall and floor/ ceiling indirectly. I think it works pretty well. I get a pic. for you.

McDave

[PigTrail]

That is a smoking deal on the rugs. I might have to pick up a few of those and upgrade my "floor".

Has anyone used one of these mini wood stoves?
http://cubicminiwoodstoves.com/collections/grizzly-cb-1210



The design looks pretty slick and I like the fact that it removes humidity and won't kill me in my sleep. Any experience here?

[hankaye]

PigTrail, Howdy;

Not with the one you use as an example. However I used wood stoves as primary heat source
for about 18 years when I lived in a "regular" type of home. They will kill ya just as quick and
just as dead as a propane stove if not properly hooked up. Stove pipe joints need to be
tight enough to keep from leaking. Door seal needs to be kept in good shape to keep from leaking.
See the trend here? Also there is the ash that contains hot embers that needs removed periodically
or you just end up with a cold box full of ashes. That requires a metal can with a lid that can be
secured, something like this; https://www.amazon.com/Uniflame-C-1726B ... 2T74RT5KCM

Yep they do look nice, but ya gotta treat'em like small children ya gotta feed them critters then clean up
behind them too. The extra $'s spent for a Dickenson Newport http://www.boatownersworld.com/dickinso ... eater.html
would (IMO), be more enjoyable in the long run. Even has the window to watch the flames ... and sucks
in outside air to breath instead of using inside air.

hank

PS. I don't have anything to do with the Dickenson co. But I'd like to get one of their stoves one day ...

[PigTrail]

Made some more headway on the sleeve and gusseting of the connections. I used 3/8 ID tube and 12 gauge flat bar to reinforce the mounting points. The bolt is a grade 8 3/8 bolt. I will probably put a few washers in between the mount and seat to encourage smooth up-down action.

Now I need to figure out a folding leg plan. Those wood blocks just aren't going to cut it!






I was reading in another thread (Thanks roadinspector!) about http://www.foambymail.com. Has anybody used their custom cut option? They even have one for L shaped cushions. Hmmm.

[Padilen]

Usually the cushions serve dual duty. Like for a dinette that converts to bed, they become the mattress. So most are not using one cushion. But that's the neat thing about building your own, however you want it.
Foam by mail has a good rep so I'd be confident they'd do a good job.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PigTrail]

A trip to Hobby Lobby yielded most of the items for the cushion and covers.

This fabric had the vinyl-leather look, so it was the winner. Here's a scrap for color:




Next was padding. I ended up going with 2, 76" rolls of 2". In hindsight I might have gone with 3" if I was ordering it custom, but they only had 2" rolls at the store and I had some great help on hand for the holidays.



We re-did our kitchen last year and the scraps and leftover wood product continues to be a good source of building materials for trailer and house projects. The bases for these seats used to be cabinet doors. I think they're made of 3'4 plywood circa 1980. It's solid stuff.

Lastly we utilized gray speaker box fabric to pre-cover the cushions. This provides a smooth edge to each cushion and allows the fabric to have a more finished look. I think I ordered it on amazon for $25 for a 25' roll that is 3' wide. I had a 3/4 roll left over from covering the bed on this trailer.

We started by cutting the foam with a serrated bread knife and cutting the gray fabric to wrap around the edge. We cut the fabric ~4" wider than the wood panel all around. Having fabric scissors make it easy to achieve smooth cuts. The pictured orange scissors are not them. The nice scissors only came out later when my wife realized what i was working on. She hides the good tools for fear I'll use them on something other than fabric. If I were her I'd probably hide them too.



Next, we used a staple gun to attach the gray fabric after tightening it down on the cushion.




The cushion ready for final exterior fabric:

[PigTrail]

Now those are the good scissors!


Before attaching the fabric, be sure to trim any excess gray material.

Here we're attaching the brown covering.




And here is the top-side of one finished cushion. You can see the scraps at the top where we cut material from the corners as we folded them and stapled.

[PigTrail]

We had some weather in the 70's after Christmas, so we installed the bench. After adding a few more mounting tabs for the cushions and painting it black we were ready to bolt'er in.

This is mid-install with the two bottom back cushions installed. I guess they're not really "cushions". Should I be calling them padded seats? The position of the bench is on the street side of the trailer just forward of the murphy-bed. The fender is what sticks into the rear of the bench. Hence the shorty leg on the back.



A few more shots with all the pads installed.








And in the up position:

[McDave]

Now that is an excellent example of engineering and custom fabrication. Very well done. Should last forever. Very impressive.

McDave

[PigTrail]

Here is our setup in action this past week in Mena, AR.




Now on to more overhead storage and additional lighting.