The Escape Pod: AC installed 07/25/2011 Pg 4

[Synthesis]

Synthesis,

Your camper is sharp. Love how the sides turned out.

BTW, I was looking at the trim pics. Where did you get the screws? How much were they?

Those are "Lathe Screws" for holding metal lathe to studs before applying plaster.

They were something like 6 bucks for a box. And thank you for the kind words.

[Woodstramp]

Thanks for the info. Learn something new every day.

BTW, sharp looking Fiero. From the pics I've seen it looks new. You restore it? Does it tow your camper OK?

[Synthesis]

Thanks for the info. Learn something new every day.

BTW, sharp looking Fiero. From the pics I've seen it looks new. You restore it? Does it tow your camper OK?

Thank you.

Actually, it is quite rough if I say so myself. It looks great from 75-100 feet, but up close, the hood, roof and decklid are primered black, the roof has chunks of paint and fiberglass missing (it came off a parts car that way, I wanted a sunroof, and only had a hardtop).

I have 283,000 miles on the body and chassis, and it gets daily driven summer and winter.

I am working on it, it is a perpetual project and nothing about it is considered "stock" anymore. I used to road rally and autocross with it, so the entire suspension system is polyurethane and has beefed up sway bars on both front and back, upgraded brakes from a Grand Am, Monroe suspension to keep it streetable.
Poly engine mounts, poly cradle to chassis mounts. Leather interior, 11 speaker sound system with 1800 watts of juice behind it, battery relocation, and Hella DOT racing headlamps with 6000k HIDs.

The car is my baby, even if she is a bit rough.

It tows the camper fine. Long steep hills slow me down a bit, as the engine is getting a bit worn (fifth engine), and I tend to warm up if the outside temp is above 85 and I stay at 70mph too long. Time to upgrade the radiator.

[Woodstramp]

Well, glad to see you actually using an old car. One thing that always griped me was when folks have an antique vehicle, restore it to pristine, then lock it in a crypt. Never or seldom driven. That is a tragedy.

A couple of guys in my neighborhood are buddies and they're building "rat rods". Just hopped up beaters they continually modify and have fun actually using. Awefull paint (actually a good deal of polished rust), but they have more fun with these things.

[Synthesis]

So, I got my battery tray cut into the floor. It looks good.

It looks crooked and off center, but it isn't. Measurements were taken several times prior to the first cut.


The "below decks" view.


Slightly angled to show you the trailer axle height in relation to the bottom of the battery box. If the trailer axle can clear it, so can the battery box.


One battery inserted to see how it fits and looks.


The plywood piece that came out of the hole that was cut will be trimmed down to fit inside the battery box opening. I have picked up several pieces of 1/8" thick by 1.5" wide bar stock, and will be attaching these to the plywood plug. This will provide a flange all the way around the edge that I can gasket and seal the box from the cabin.

The sections below the floor of the battery box will have polycarbonate mounted to them and sealed with silicone. This will provide a bullet proof shield to protect the batteries from rocks, etc, and help enclose and protect the batteries and keep dirt/water, etc from getting in and gunking things up.

The floor does tend to flex the tiniest bit with the tray sitting in there. I will be mounting another piece of angle iron underneath the floor against the box and the bottom of the floor. Bolts will run through the flange on the battery box, through the floor and through the angle iron under the floor. When tightened, this will sandwich the floor, stiffen the support, and provide a surface that I can seal to prevent water from splashing up into the cut edges around the box.


In the meantime: White EPDM Rubber Roofing gets dirty FAST...
I have a tire cleaning product called Bleche White. It works fantastic for cleaning white wall tires, or raised lettering, or just scrubbing a tire clean before protectant is applied.

In this odd angle photo of my hatch, you can see the dirt and scuzz built up on the EPDM from when I installed it.


10 minutes later and that same hatch looks like this (albeit, still wet).


Bleche white, sparingly applied to JUST the epdm roof, then scrubbed using a scotch brite pad, then rinsed thoroughly just makes it gleam. The white roof looks brand new (cause technically it is....) and really catches the eye.

[Synthesis]

Well, the AC is mounted to the tongue of the trailer, and ducted inside.

There is no return to the front of the unit, as I had to mount the AC "cold" side forward on the tongue. Something I hope to be able to remedy this week by relocating the support bars I mounted on the tongue further forward towards the hitch.

The Flexible exhaust pipe works great for the AC line into the cabin, but does not provide enough flexibility to mount the AC close to the cabin without flipping it backwards...

I have it running right now in a test to see how cold the cabin can get. I have the AC set to 64 degrees. I'll go back outside and check on it in about 30 minutes. See if the windows have begin frosting up. lol

Photos incoming later.

[Synthesis]

Here is what the AC currently looks like. The two ducts will be hidden inside a tongue box to cover everything nice and neat... But for now, it is weather tight, and perfectly towable just like this...





The control panel will be extended into the cabin via a weather tight wire connection. The panel will be mounted into the wall flush and able to be controlled from inside. I will have to move the AC further toward the hitch so I can flip it around and then provide an air return from the cabin.

[Synthesis]

I revised the AC ductwork tonight.

Used two of the black rubber couplers and two black rubber 90 degree elbows. Replaced the fittings in the forward wall with the rubber elbows, and used 2" PVC for the ductwork. The two couplers are quick disconnects for the lines so I can remove the AC unit at any time.



Closer shot. The flecks on the black rubber elbow is actually condensation from the AC blowing cold through the ducting.


The beginnings of the pipe wrap. R2.0 rating. Just enough to keep the lines from sweating.



The AC is also now facing the correct direction for the air return. The air return will also be in the front wall, centered below and between the cold air ducts. The duct work will be made from plywood attached to aluminum framework mounted on the front wall. It will seal the air intake to the rectangular hole that will be cut in the wall. The plywood will be coated with fiberglass to weather-ize it. And everything will be caulked and sealed. Eventually, a box will be built over the AC and duct work to hide it.

All of the wiring for the AC unit's control panel will be routed up through the left cold air duct (the one that is currently insulated), and then the panel will be mounted in the wall and a trim plate put around it. The AC will be able to be completely controlled from inside the camper.

A big thank you to Shadow Catcher. His "Hacking an AC" thread inspired my whole design.

[Synthesis]

AC box is done (enough). It will be hidden under a larger tongue box eventually, but is enough to get me up to Frazee this weekend.



The trim still needs to be made for the control panel.


The AC unit iced up on me after about 45 minutes of running at the max setting.

I have one of two things. Either not enough air flow, or the evaporator is dirty. I am leaning towards not enough air flow.

Since I planned to provide an air intake point for the AC to draw outside air, I'll just go ahead and install it before the weekend so that it pulls both outside and inside air. This should keep me from suffocating with the windows closed...
BUT, it blows strong and cold before it ices.

[Synthesis]

The AC on the front isn't pretty, yet... But, the AC unit cools the inside of the camper from 94 degrees ambient to 64 degrees in under 10 minutes.
AND, it dehumidifies as well as cycles normally for an AC unit.
I slept in it with all of the windows and the roof vent completely closed with no ill effects since it brings in fresh air from outside as well as recirculates.

Works great!

More work to be done on the interior, and some trim and finish work on the exterior.

[Woodstramp]

Synthesiss,

Glad it cools the camper down that fast. Especially with the summer we've been having.

If the ducting method you used can't handle the rigors of exposure I'd suggest another method. Some builder here (sorry, can't recall the name) made a couple of TD's with forward mounted AC units like yours. Was a rather slick looking deal. They cut a hole in front, made a frame to hold it up like you'd mount an AC in a window (most of the unit outside), then made a hinged "Hood" (hurricane hinge on top where it connects to the wall). Kind of like a large "nose" with one big nostril under neath. This nose cover was left down and latched for transport and raised slightly for camp use. The raised hood allowed air circulation for the condensor (hot side). The inside was just trimmed with nice looking wood.

Another good thing about it was that you could mount the unit high. This would allow room underneath for a tongue box.

[Synthesis]

Synthesiss,

Glad it cools the camper down that fast. Especially with the summer we've been having.

If the ducting method you used can't handle the rigors of exposure I'd suggest another method. Some builder here (sorry, can't recall the name) made a couple of TD's with forward mounted AC units like yours. Was a rather slick looking deal. They cut a hole in front, made a frame to hold it up like you'd mount an AC in a window (most of the unit outside), then made a hinged "Hood" (hurricane hinge on top where it connects to the wall). Kind of like a large "nose" with one big nostril under neath. This nose cover was left down and latched for transport and raised slightly for camp use. The raised hood allowed air circulation for the condensor (hot side). The inside was just trimmed with nice looking wood.

Another good thing about it was that you could mount the unit high. This would allow room underneath for a tongue box.

Thanks for the input.

I opted to do a straight tongue mount on this one to keep the center of gravity down low, and to avoid having to cut a large hole in the front to fit the entire unit in the opening.
The ducting I built is made of Polyolefin, the heavy white cutting board plastic. I moonlight at a machine shop once in a while, and get scraps for free.
Everything is drilled, tapped, sealed and mounted securely to the camper, and pressure washing has proven it water tight.

I will be building a box to cover the AC unit, and the box should have some additional storage available for small stuff. The weight balance on the camper is perfect at this point, and a tongue box would just give me a reason to throw heavy stuff up in front, throwing the balance off.
I have an advantage over people with a full galley, in that my entire back area is nothing but storage, and I can flip the galley counter up to access the foot well of the bed if I need to slide stuff into the sleeping area.

[Woodstramp]

Hey, forgot I'd PM'd those folks...checked history and thier names were Justin and Katy out of Amarillo, Tx. Looked in thier gallery and found the pic.

[Synthesis]

Hey, forgot I'd PM'd those folks...checked history and thier names were Justin and Katy out of Amarillo, Tx. Looked in thier gallery and found the pic.

Now that is sharp! I like that. My next one will have to do something similar.

[Woodstramp]

Synth,

Must be posting over each other.

I totally understand not having a tongue box. Would be way too tempting to load that sucker down with more heavies. I know I would.