Backlogged Projects: Introduction & Reinforcing front wall of camper tub
Well, sorry for the dead month, but there really wasn’t much going on, the KIT and I haven’t really gone anywhere since April of this year. Sure, the truck’s undergone a great dually conversion, but other than towing my neighbor, Joy’s, Komfort-25 travel trailer to the storage yard, she really hasn’t undergone a full camper test.
But, that’s all about to change
. I’ve got work again!
Not only that, but in two short weeks, the Redneck Express, Dawn, Moby, and I plan to hit the road for the
2011 Fall Colors Rally!
Oh, but there’s a slight problem, or two.
Namely, the camper’s in need of some maintenance work that I’ve had to put off for roughly seven months due to a shortage of funds. Oh, God, is there a lot of maintenance….
1.) Charging System needs to be rewired (Again), converter relocated from under the kitchen sink to under the dinette, right next to the batteries (Something I should have done when I rewired the charging system back in 2009, but didn’t). Plus, a new Battery Disconnect needs to be installed, the original 75amp Pollack switch is falling apart.
Also, I need to incorporate my battery voltage meter center that I fashioned into the electrical system so I can actually watch my battery charge.
2.) The two Trojan SCS225 Deep cycles on the camper that I bought for a steal back in 2006 also need replacing, they no longer hold a good charge anymore, odds are one of the batteries is shorted.
3.) New Camper plugs need to be installed, replacing the under-rated RV 7 pin hook up with a 100amp Lift-gate plug for the charging wires and a separate 4-pin round plug for the running lights. Charge wiring coming from the alternator needs to be fully scrapped and replaced with a good 4 gauge run instead of the under-rated 8 gauge system I put in back in 2006.
4.) Front of the Camper’s tub needs to have a bolstering frame built onto it, it has always flexed and moved too much whenever the camper has been lifted for loading and unloading.
5.) The 3 year old Shurflo Extreme Smart Sensor 4.0 water pump needs to be replaced (fortunately, Shurflo replaced this as a “Good Will” warranty exchange, since I bought the pump in ‘09, but it was manufactured in 2007) as it has started leaking water around the body and is pushing pressure back towards the tank.
There’s some other smaller things, like a second smaller mesh cargo net that I ordered from
CargoGear.com to hold the rest of the books on the cabover shelf in place while underway, getting the pivot pieces for my wobbl-stopprs, and physically getting the camper back on the truck without breaking my screen room next to it, but those are the less worrisome projects
.
So, my plan is to run as series of “Backlogged Project” posts to bring everyone up to speed on what I’ve done to the camper and truck to get her Rally ready, starting with the Camper Tub front wall reinforcement project.
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This particular project wasn’t exceedingly complicated, it basically involved sanding off the paint on the front of the camper tub at the points where I planned to glue (w/3M 5200 Marine Adhesive) and screw the reinforcing frame to the existing plywood wall and the expose 1x4 cross member below the siding line.
I used some left over 3/4” pink down insulation board to help bolster the R-value of the water tank since I was framing that area in anyway.
Then, I put down a good coating of 3M 5200 along the framing and glued and screwed a pieces of 1/4” plywood to the new framing members and the expose frame member that ran along below the siding.
Using narrower pieces of the same plywood, I glued and screwed into the side of the existing camper tub and the new bolstering frame to help join it all together from both the sides and front.
Once the glue dried, I installed some new corner flashing to protect the plywood, gave it two coats of Urethane-based primer and paint, and viola! one reinforced front wall
.
The funny part is my camper wall along the front is now actually flush the whole length, something it never was before. Also, since I had more meat to screw into, I moved my rub guards inwards a little to a position similar to the rubber ones you find on a new camper.
One backlogged project down, several to go!
Vanport Flood 
Linear Mode
