Conduit considerations when first building/modifying chasis

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Conduit considerations when first building/modifying chasis

Postby IraRat » Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:06 pm

I drove some folks crazy in another forum here about modifying my Harbor Freight chassis for a Cubby, so now I figure it's your turn:

As you know, for first-timers like me, building a teardrop is an evolutionary process. You THINK you know what you want to do, until you do it, until you learn more, and then realize you DIDN'T want that after all. So here's my Cubby question:

I might be going solar/photovoltaic for certain applications. (I'm in sunny Florida.) Or simply use one of those super-quiet but costly Honda generators. Or maybe just a deep cycle battery on the tongue that I charge with a charger.

At this point, JUST starting to modify the chassis, do I have to be concerned with running any kind of conduit and/or drilling holes in the floor cross members/undersection to go through with conduit (whatever definition of conduit we're discussing) and up and into the interior and galley sections?

I know many people treat the underside of the deck/chassis/floor with asphalt coating material for protection, and I don't even know if I'm going to do THAT.

Just need a little info on whether I can worry about all of this later, as opposed to missing out on something I should be doing NOW. I plan on using solid plywood sides.

Thanks for your input.

--Ira

P.S. I'm not an eletrician. I'm not a carpenter. I'm not a metal worker. So why am I building a teardrop? I'm nuts.
--Ira

"My HD and Wal-Mart have been out of Titebond for weeks, and I think it's a communist conspiracy."
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Re: Conduit considerations when first building/modifying cha

Postby exminnesotaboy » Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:50 pm

IraRat wrote:I know many people treat the underside of the deck/chassis/floor with asphalt coating material for protection, and I don't even know if I'm going to do THAT.


Far be in for me to advise anyone anything here - I am clearly not a teardrop construction pro like many on here. But, you are going to want to treat the bottom with some sort of protectant from the elements. This is one thing you are not going to want to do later on your back underneath the trailer - and it is cheap to do.
A gallon of fibered roof coating at the local Home Depot cost me 6$ and a big cheap brush cost about the same.
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Postby IraRat » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:22 pm

I planned on doing that anyway. And since I posted this I learned to not do anything at all to structurally compromise the deck. So any wiring/conduit I'm going to need, trailer lights included, is going to be installed later.

By the way, I loved your pictures, and I bookmarked it for reference. You might not call yourself a pro, but it looks like you're doing a darn clean job there.

When you were coating the deck with the roof coating, did you then paint the frame black? Just trying to figure out that color change in your photos!
--Ira

"My HD and Wal-Mart have been out of Titebond for weeks, and I think it's a communist conspiracy."
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Postby exminnesotaboy » Mon Apr 11, 2005 2:02 pm

Originally, I didn't mind the red trailer frame. But as I worked on it, it began to annoy me. So.... I used the Rustoleum "Hammered" effect black paint and I am really happy on how it turned out. If I did it again, I would have painted it before assembly.
thanks for the compliments on the pics - glad they are helpful to you. I did ALOT of planning since my experience level was very low and I am taking it slow - and, luckily, so far no big mistakes!
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Postby IraRat » Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:35 pm

What's amazing about building a TD is how you can change your mind a hundred times before you get to the finish line, if there really IS a finish line at all.

And you probably did the right thing by painting it later anyway. If you're sort of skills-deprived like me, we would just wind up scratching that paint anyway, requiring major touch up.
--Ira

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Postby roger-c » Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:38 pm

IraRat
I used PVC conduit and just ran under the frame screwing to the frame at the cross members with conduit hangers. It's far enough up to be out of the way. We tend to over build. :lol:

Good luck
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Postby Geron » Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:55 pm

I used flexable conduit with two pull boxes. One for the front running lights and one that terminates at the rear to branch off the Tail lights/running lights brakes/turnsignals and battery leads to the fuse panel.

Very similar to Kuffel Creek.

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