Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Now that the camper made it home I could do little projects during the week and actually make some progress.

Cut down some old screens


I trimmed the kitchen cabinet so the front would be flush(ish) and then skinned the cabinets. Highly recommend skinning things with gravity helping you the bottoms of these where terrible


I started on my kitchen counter.
First failed countertop idea (shelf from lowes) didn't like the fit wife didn't like the finish.

Then I found leftover piece of drylok plywood from another project and the wife liked the "stain" on it, so I bought a Stainless steel salad bowl and a faucet and made the appropriate holes using a paddle bit and a jigsaw.


Some left over polyurethane from "the mix" and the counter was ready to be glued down. (GG CA used to glue bowl to counter and counter to supports)

The sink is just a stainless steel salad bowl from walmart with a hole drilled/dremeled through the bottom and a drain installed. I've been thinking about removing the bowl and using a press to make a deep spot for the drain to sit in since it leaves some water in the bowl.

Sometime in here a whole bunch of interior painting happened.

Small "aluminum paint" job on my new steel parts on the windows so they would stop rusting.


Then work began on my swiveling table.


A bunch of sanding and some polyurethane later

Then I added my "floor flange" to it and it was ready to be a table.


My mattress arrived and we slept a night on the floor with it. After deeming it acceptable I...

....promptly I made it unreturnable

Mattress covered in various sized mattress and pillow protectors.

Meanwhile... I had been working on plumbing for the sink, electrical (lights, outlets, pump for sink), trimmed the windows (notice the crank which gets removed when lowering), and installed a catch all on top of the "closet".


Switchplate with switch is for outside light, dimmer knob/switch for inside light strip, and 6 Amp quick charge dual usb outlet. (Camper in down position checking clearances)

Battery and fuse box under the front bench


I also have a finicky battery monitor that I still haven't gotten to calibrate correctly (It's low on the list)

Also part of the electrical project was installing a 5KW cheap chinese diesel heater. All I had to buy outside the kit was some stove pipe for my floor pass through, some high temp RTV, and some hardware for the fuel tank mount.
Custom made floor pass through using a 5" stove pipe end cap and a short section of 5" stove pipe. Necessary parts trimmed out with a drill.

Mounting plate on floor.

Heater in place

Floor pass through and everything hooked up.


Fuel line from pump to fuel filter and fuel tank.

Fuel tank installation on the tongue jack brackets(also notice the spare tire and the auxiliary dog heater)


Thermostat installed under kitchen counter.

Small update on the Camper

I originally had a problem with the front lift pulleys crushing the foam. Most of the failure came from me being a 200lb guerrilla but it did need to be addressed.

As I've mentioned before if I were to rebuild the camper I would have had the supports be integrated into the design but my basic math told me that 25 psi foam lifting a 200 lbs roof would only need 8 square inches of support. My setup had around 8 square inches at each lift point so I thought I had a factor of 4. Turns out the forces are higher especially when the top jams and the guerrilla doesn't realize it.

Anyway....

Here is the original problem of the pulleys crushing the foam




I attached the pulley to the back of some pretty sturdy plywood. I had to do it over the cable.


I attached an L bracket to the bottom to hold it in place


And here it is


The new supports cover the crushed area and provide the support needed so I guess it is a win.

Nice!