I'm spending way too much time playing Minecraft. Played all morning and into the late afternoon. After I dragged myself away, I finished up the floor framing. The 1x4 over the axle can't go the the 1x4s on the edges, so
this is what was suggested to do for that. Basically an H-shape piece between the two other crossbeams. To start, I cut out the 1x4s pointing forward, and screwed them in place. I then cut the 1x4 that points sideways, and screwed it into place. I then unscrewed the whole H-shaped piece and removed it.
H-Shape Piece Before Gluing by
jseyfert3, on Flickr
I unscrewed it, then glued it together as I glued the previous 1x4s, doing one side at a time.
H-Shape Piece After Gluing by
jseyfert3, on Flickr
I then thought: "This was not the best order to glue everything back together", as I now had to glue and screw all four joints of the H-piece. Despite my initial concerns, it went in okay and I didn't drip
too much glue on the ground. Installing this finished up the floor framing.
1x4 Framing Complete (1) by
jseyfert3, on Flickr
1x4 Framing Complete (2) by
jseyfert3, on Flickr
A better view of the AC unit, located approximately where it will be mounted. The supports for the AC will attach to the top and bottom 1x4s, and I can attach to the left one if needed and run a 1x2 on the right side of the AC between the 1x4s. Still thinking of it, but soon I'll just be going out there and whipping up something that "looks right". I want to get the mount gluing tonight so I can start coating the frame with the mix tomorrow.
As planned, I believe the AC mounting box will extend 14 3/4" below the bottom of the floor. This is about 1/2" below the bottom of the axle where the axle currently rests, and the front of the box would be about 16" forward of the axle. This means 16" forward of the axle I'd have about 9 1/4" ground clearance. Since my car has only around 7" of ground clearance I think I'll be fine with this. Even if the hitch is resting on the ground there would still be 6" of ground clearance at the front of the box.
Rough AC Location by
jseyfert3, on Flickr
I'll be also installing a battery box on the right side of the camper. It'll be sized to hold a group 27 deep cycle battery. A
Trojan 27TMX deep cycle battery has 105 Ah at a 20 hour discharge rate (5 A). At most I'd be using around 4 A for lighting and the vent fan on high, so this capacity should be valid for me. At medium, the vent fan pulls 2.3 A, so for low lighting usage, fan on medium, I would get 36 hours of runtime to 80% discharge and 23 hours to a battery friendly 50% discharge level. Simply put, 4 nights for max battery usage, 3 nights for long battery life. This could easily be extended by the future addition of a solar panel and solar charger (future plans, if needed, which is doubtful at this time). Of course, the battery will not even be used on nights I'm using the AC, since the AC requires camping at a campground with electricity. The battery just adds flexibility to allow camping in areas that do not have electricity when the AC is not required to get a good nights sleep.
The boxes will be constructed of 1x2s with a piece of the 1/2" OSB resting on the bottom for the AC/battery to sit on. I will use foam walls, either 1/2" or 1" thick, and cover them in canvas, similar to how the TD is constructed, but they won't provide much if any structural support in this case. The condenser coils on the AC will probably face forward, and there will be a hinged panel on that side that opens up to let cool air in when the AC is running. I was thinking of facing this panel backwards, but the picture made me realize that airflow to the condenser coils will be limited in that regard due to the tire, as well as the fact that it would make access to open the panel more difficult then it needs to be. If forward, this panel will be made of 1/2" OSB as well, for rock resistance. The front of the battery box will be hard plastic or thin OSB/ply for the same reason. They will take a beating front flying rocks that my car tires kick up.
KCStudly wrote:I'm curious about the wooden side frame rails. They appear to run long at the front. Will those get trimmed off later or does something else go there?
Here's a better view of them. They run as long as the trailer does. I'm using the gap between the front 1x4 and the trailer crossbeam to run AC and outside air vents. The side rails continue to go to the front so the bottom edge is the same height the whole length of the side.
Side 1x4s at Front of Trailer by
jseyfert3, on Flickr