Inside Cabinet 1

I've managed to complete one of the cabin cabinets after many hours of toil. Fairly pleased with the result as it actually scrubbed up quite good. I used a couple of coats of wood oil on the marine ply and it came up quite well - better than staining it I think.

Next on the to-do-list is construct the other cabinet at the front of the cabin which will include the electrics panel and solar regulator. Now that I've completed one, this will be finished in no time (that would make a great Tui billboard).

So here's the first completed cabinet including the reading lights underneath.

Exterior Aluminium Extrusions

Well the weekend has been and gone and I tried getting all the exterior extrusions completed but came up short. A lot of time was spent playing back yard cricket with the kids which I don't mind in the least. In between times I did get the front and the right hand side completed so it's just the left had side to complete for now which I'll do during the week after the kids have gone to bed. The back corners will have to wait until I've completed the tailgate.

I also began cutting up a sheet of marine ply for one of the cabinets in the main cabin. My woodworking skills are almost non-existent so I may need extensive instruction from my un-paid consultant (ie: dad).

 

I'll re-post when I've done something a little more constructive.

Intro, Construction of Trailer and Frame, Lining and Windows

After a family camping trip in February 2014, I decided that packing the ute with all the gear we needed took a considerable amount of time and figured that there must be a better way. There was very little room left available in the back of the ute and the rear canopy door had to be closed very carefully for fear of damaging the glass. Also, once the bike rack and bikes were loaded, we could not get into the back of the truck without taking them off again which proved to be an added incentive to come up with something better.

Setting up the tent once we arrived at our destination also took up valuable beer drinking time (and spending time with the kids of course). So once the tent site was set up, we took a casual stroll with the kids around the camp site and checked out a number of camping trailers.

After building a mental list of all the things I liked about the trailers we had seen, I decided to build a trailer that met all our needs. The main focus was that it had to be packed easily and rapidly without needing a 2 hour window before leaving home, while keeping everything dry and provided room for the bikes. It also needed to be small and light weight enough to tow comfortably behind any vehicle. My original concept was basically a trailer with slide out drawers for the cooker and kitchen bench with room in the top for all our gear.

A short time after, I read an article in the April/May 2014 Shed Magazine about a home built camper trailer. I was impressed by the design and the completed product so I set about planning and designing a similar one of my own.

The image above was a basic SketchUp design I did after pricing the parts and materials for the build - loosely based on the one I read about but with a few amendments.

The build started in earnest in June 2014 and I ordered many of the materials which were delivered a week or so later. I purchased a few sheets of Aluminium Composite Panel for the exterior cladding, a TransTex plywood trailer deck and 3mm caravan plywood for the internal walls from Plywood City in Auckland. I purchased a set of 4 Holden Commodore wheels and a set of galvanised mudguards off Trade Me, and the trailer components from a local supplier. After a little while I ordered a rotational moulded plastic storage box that would sit on the drawbar and contain the battery.

I purchased all the steel I thought I'd need from a local supplier and they delivered it for free. The trailer frame I decided to use 40mm x 40mm x 3mm RHS with 40mm x 40mm x 3mm angle iron for bracing. The draw bar steel was 65mm x 35mm x 3mm and the axle was 50mm x 50mm x 6mm RHS. The axle wall thickness allowed the wheel stubs to be located within the boxed section with a neat fit and they were welded in place by a professional.

The first step was to weld up the trailer. I had never welded before, so had a few welding lessons from my brother-in-law which went reasonably well. Welding ended up being quite good fun and I enjoyed melting metal late into the night. After a few weeks practice, I purchased a welder and chop saw and got down to business.

I have a day job, so the camper build would have to be left for weekends and after work. In a moment of pure madness, I allowed myself until Christmas to get the trailer on the road and complete a couple of road trips before getting back to work in the New Year. 

After a wee bit it began looking like a trailer

After a few weeks, and with a bit of help from my dad, we managed to knock up something that resembled a trailer and then sent it off to get Thermal Arced Galvanised. I would much rather have had it hot dipped galvanised, but that meant getting it transported to Christchurch which was a return trip of 700km = $$$$. I decided to get it Thermal Arced galvanised at a local engineering firm and was pleased with the results as it was a considerable saving in time and dollars. Here's the result:

With some more help from my dad (he would end up spending quite a bit of time out at my house during this build), we put it together and then trotted off down to the testing station to get a warrant of fitness and get it registered. It passed with flying colours.

So now that the trailer part of it was completed, thoughts moved on to knocking up the cabin frame which was constructed out of 19mm x 19mm x 1.6mm galvanised steel. Welding the thin walled galvanised steel with my arc welder proved problematic and so I borrowed my dad's brand new MIG welder which I "broke" in for him and has been at my house ever since. So a new welding skill was learnt on the fly and things again progressed well but slowly.

I laid and clamped the steel for the left hand side wall onto the deck of the trailer as I knew the deck was square and tack welded the frame together. For the other side wall, I basically clamped the steel to the already welded together left hand side frame and tack welded it. Once it was tack welded, I removed the clamps and completed welding the joints properly

I took a week off work and hammered out the rest of the frame. It was about this time that I seriously wondered whether I would make my self imposed Christmas deadline but persevered never-the-less. My initial enthusiasm for welding waned about this point too as I had welding coming out my ears and was getting a little bit over it. However, I completed the frame in my week off and began thinking about the next stage of the build.

The kids were a great help during my week off

During this week, I considered (after dad's suggestion) installing a permanent fibreglass gas locker as gas cylinders should not be stored in the same storage box as batteries which I had initially planned on. Eventually I purchased a fibreglass gas locker from a manufacturer in Nelson that would fit a 9kg gas bottle. The next day I checked the dimensions of the gas locker and thought that maybe a smaller locker would be better. It was then that my wife offered up that she wanted 240 volts available instead of just the 12 volts I had envisaged. Luckily the gas locker manufacturer also produced locker boxes for power supply and were large enough to hold a wound up 15 metre length outdoor cable. I knew then that this would only cause me some financial hardship (ie: the cost of an electrician) but a happy wife is a happy life. Fortunately, they hadn't started making the gas locker when I phoned them the next day and I was able to order a smaller gas locker and a power locker. Unfortunately the colour match wasn't spot on so I'm considering getting them painted black at some point. We'll see...

The sexy looking wheels are so that the trailer could fit through the garage door once the frame was mounted to the trailer. The plywood inserts at the back in the galley were to mount the electrical sockets, switch board and battery charger. I decided to hard wire in a C-Tek battery charger so that when we connected to mains power at a camp site, the charger would kick in and top up the battery. I purchased a 110 Ah house battery which would normally last a week or so, but I've  also made provision to connect a solar panel up if I ever decide to go down that track later.

My electrician is a busy man and he only had a small window to install the 240 volt cable, switch board and sockets. So I ended up gluing the right hand side exterior Aluminium Composite Panel (ACM) with the power box cut out. I also lined the galley area with ACM with the white side showing - not the silver as is the colour outside. The ACM panels come pre-coloured so there is no painting and each side has a protective plastic coating which is easily peeled off when required. I used a really grunty glue purchased from the Glue Guru and the glue adheres to a broad range of materials and can withstand vibration which is ideal for this job.

Here's the side sheet shortly after being glued on:

And after the glue dried:

Plenty of propping was required:

Once the side was glued on and the galley was lined, the sparky came in and did what he needed to do:

 

The black vents below the power locker are for the fridge.



 

I had pre-booked an electrical inspection on the afternoon the sparky finished to provide an Electrical Warrant of Fitness which is needed if I want to connect in to most camp sites. A 10 minute visit to run a few tests and $80 later, I had my electrical WoF sticker and paperwork.

I was quite pleased with the 240 volt install results in the end (apart from the colour match with the locker box) after my initial hesitation.

Once the 240 volt was installed, I ran a few 12 volt cables to where they needed to go. The intention was to have a patch panel located just inside the cabin door which would house the switch board, solar regulator, bus bars, 12 volt sockets and USB ports. I bought the solar regulator as it has a digital read out of the battery health and all it's statistics as opposed to a single volt meter. Also, when and if I decide to get a solar panel, the feed from the panel needs to go through the regulator for it to charge the battery so it seemed appropriate I put it in first so there wouldn't be a job of installing one later.

After installing 18mm thick polystyrene insulation in the wall cavity, attention then turned to lining out the rest of the interior with 3mm caravan ply. This required even more props:

I had already glued the ceiling ply when I had the frame turned upside down on the shed floor to make life easier. Perhaps I should have done the 45° sloped ceiling at the front of the camper at the same time as it proved quite difficult once the frame was fastened to the trailer. We got there in the end.

I used an aluminium extrusion from Ullrich Aluminium to create a nice neat corner. Unfortunately they did not have 135° extrusions for along the edge of the ceiling so I had to cut the corner ones downs so only the milled front face was left. These were then carefully glued along the edges of the ceiling and while its not perfect, it should do the trick.

You can see the corner extrusions and the cut down ceiling edges in the photo above. A 240 volt double wall socket is located in the top left and a 12 volt cable on the right side for reading lights. I also installed a roof vent with fly screen to keep the cabin cool on those stinking hot days. Along the back wall will be a shelf/cabinet that will be installed soon which will hide the horizontal plywood join and wall socket. A couple of reading lights will be mounted under the cabinet too.

Here's some SketchUp drawings of the cabinets:

Rear cabin wall

 

 

Front cabin wall and floor storage cabinets

 

 

These cabinets will be constructed from 9mm marine ply and stained. There will be a cabinet in the galley too which will be tricky, as it will need to cover the back of the power locker box which protrudes into the galley space. I will add a SketchUp drawing of the galley cabinet when its finished.

 

Any thought of getting this finished and on the road for the Christmas holidays were dashed when Christmas came and went and next thing it was 2015. However, we did go camping at Quinneys Bush near Nelson and arrived to pouring rain. As we sat under the gazebo deciding when to set up the tent the rain kept getting heavier. We bit the bullet about 9pm and everything got soaked while we battled rain and darkness setting up the tent - a few cheeky comments from my lovely wife about not having the camper ready went down well.

 

So now its March and I've attached the draw bar box and installed the battery.

 

 

Isolation switch mounted on plywood base

 

I have also installed only one of the side windows after recently discovering that the guy I bought the windows off  early on in the build sent me two of the same window. This is very frustrating as I waited 8 months for the internal window trims I  originally ordered to arrive. When the package of windows originally arrived, I pulled out one of the windows to make sure it was the one I ordered and assumed the other one was for the other side - rookie mistake!! I used one of the windows as a template for the hole size in the frames and after that they both sat in their packaging for about 10 months. When I went to install the second window my heart sank and had to order another one for the right hand side. I was told they did not have any in stock and would have to come from USA (same story as the window trims!!). Also, apparently they are having wharfie strikes in the States so the window could be 2-3 months away. Aaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

 

 

Currently I'm attaching exterior trims around the edges of the camper with zincilum flashings for the 135° edges and a simple aluminium angle for the 90° corners. Hopefully that job will be completed this weekend and I can stop procrastinating and get on to fabricating the side door and then the tail gate.