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Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2018 7:55 am
by coyote
with the a.c. unit in "fridge spot", are you using the Dometic in it's place? dave

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2018 2:57 pm
by absolutsnwbrdr
coyote wrote:with the a.c. unit in "fridge spot", are you using the Dometic in it's place? dave


Yup, the portability of the Dometic is nice, as we can use it in either the teardrop or the Scotty, or just for tailgating at music festivals. It does take up quite a bit of room under the dinette, but there's still enough room for us to sit there and eat, if we really need to.

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:58 am
by dmb90260
Have you tested the a/c? You have taken care of the condensation but temperature would be my concern. They do generate a lot of heat. I had one in my teardrop that had three doors to open and get rid of the heat. I was lucky that the guys who made it took that into consideration, I hope it works, I have had my standie in 100+ heat and it is not fun then.

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:11 am
by absolutsnwbrdr
I've had it running for the past couple days (in the lower 80's here right now), and it's doing well so far. The true test will come when mid-summer gets here. When I was messing with the AC in my teardrop, I found that two things were absolutely key: separating fresh air and exhaust, and creating a direct path for the exhaust to exit so heat doesn't have a chance to build up. I'm pretty confident that what I came up with will work. I'm sure it isn't nearly as efficient as if it were hanging out a window, but for the purpose it should do its job. On a 90+ degree day, even a 75 degree camper is super comfortable.

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Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 1:40 pm
by working on it
absolutsnwbrdr wrote:... When I was messing with the AC in my teardrop, I found that two things were absolutely key: separating fresh air and exhaust, and creating a direct path for the exhaust to exit so heat doesn't have a chance to build up....
  • That's a very good point you make; one that I found to be very critical in my A/C installation (especially the exhaust part). I already knew to separate the three airflow regions: 1) the input/output of conditioned air, in the cabin, 2) the ambient air that cools the working parts, around the A/C chassis, and 3) the exhaust, exiting the rear, not mixing with air in the other zones. I carefully sealed-off all three areas with insulation and foil tape, and even provided the chassis with an ambient air vent of its' own, and a computer case fan (a high volume, 115vac model) to ensure cooling in the confines of my galley.
  • The stumbling block I encountered was my imperfectly-designed right-angle, ducted exhaust, which I had to remake 3 or 4 times, until the exhaust was finally removed from the closed ducting efficiently and quickly enough, to avoid thermal shutdown (at about 140 degrees). I enlarged the exhaust vent (on the curbside wall of the galley) three times, and finally made it into an open hole, with the metal vent acting as a rain shield (no matter, because the exhaust ducting has an internal drain, anyway), straightened the ducting for smoother flow, and finally installed a high flow/high temperature axial duct fan inside the ducting (which is 6" diameter, insulated with foil-wrapped fiberglass).
  • A lot of time was spent making it work as I wanted, http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=54945&hilit=a%2Fc+problem to be able to run it with the galley closed, and also not venting exhaust under the trailer (where it would heat the floor), as I had seen on other "A/C-inside" mounts. But, by insisting on my right angle exhaust scheme, when I had to use more galley space for the ducting than I had planned for, I resigned myself for using it as just a storage area, and not for food prep at all. Eventually it would hold no food items at all, except for what's stored in one cooler. I think that your more "direct to the outside" exhaust will work fine, better than my initial design did, for sure.
  • 103366103367104347104348106947106949106950107575110651110653
  • 125895 the galley area ended up dominated by the ducting, enlarged to function efficiently; generator w/ fuel system takes up much of the remaining space

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 1:45 pm
by absolutsnwbrdr
Yeah, my problem in the teardrop was trying to collect the hot air, rather than just get rid of it right away. So far so good, and very little wasted space. :thumbsup:

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 1:48 pm
by absolutsnwbrdr
One of the last big projects for the Scotty are the sliding doors for the front and rear overhead storage compartments. I originally came up with this idea for the headboard in the teardrop camper and it turned out so well I decided to use it again here.

The tracks are two pieces of aluminum channel, epoxied together, and the door panels get faced with a layer of fleece for padding, then wrapped with black denim.

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Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:05 pm
by Homebrewer25
Beautiful work, Zach. Those doors look really good.

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:43 am
by absolutsnwbrdr
Thanks Steve!

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:22 pm
by REIGNSS
Fantastic job!

The more I think about it the more I want to build this style of trailer as my next project!

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:00 pm
by absolutsnwbrdr
Thank you! It was a lot of fun! I was lucky to find an old camper with all the right parts still in good shape.

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 1:44 pm
by coyote
Looks very nice, Mine is the shorter version. I only have room for a cabinet over the "sink" area. It came with and I copied the slider doors. Do you have any issue with your door's sliding open when traveling? Mine do, so we have to be careful of what is left up there. Dave

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:36 am
by absolutsnwbrdr
coyote wrote:Looks very nice, Mine is the shorter version. I only have room for a cabinet over the "sink" area. It came with and I copied the slider doors. Do you have any issue with your door's sliding open when traveling? Mine do, so we have to be careful of what is left up there. Dave


Thanks Dave! My buddy has a shorter model too, and its surprising how much space the little bit of extra height adds. No, these doors don't slide on their own. When I wrapped them with the fabric, I was sure to make sure the panels were the right thickness at the edge so that they were a snug fit into the tracks.

Re: 1976 Scotty 13' Gaucho - Ground-up Rebuild - "The X-76"

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:10 pm
by absolutsnwbrdr
I got a question about solar and noticed I never put up any pictures of our setup. We have two 120W Solar Cynergy flexible panels hooked to a Victron SmartSolar MPPT Controller. Cant even tell that they are on the roof! We'll be adding a third 'portable' panel that we can move into direct sunlight if we really need to. I lean towards the permanently mounted panels because we can leave them on the camper 24/7/365 without worrying about them disappearing. The downside is you don't get the full benefit if you're parked in shade. Because the panels are large and we have two batteries, we havent had any problems with that, but a third portable panel will be the icing on the cake.

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And the bluetooth capabilities of the Victron controller are awesome to keep track of everything!

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