Thursday, July 5, 2012

Three Near Term Goals


I am finding myself getting fragmented.  I decided o focus on three issues.

  1. The Jack Mounts:  I need to get this fixed so I cam mount the camper on my trailer and move it to a flatter location to work on it.  I estimated that I'll need more than one 4'x4' panel of 1/2 fiberglass to beef these areas up at all four corners.  My plan is to glue four pieces together to make it into one 2" thick piece of fiberglass and counter sink the mounting holes, as was done on the original wood supports.  I could save a lot of money using wood, but it would be impossible to getting the wood in, as originally built without taking the skin and framing apart.  I would have to laminate the wood and that seems like a possible failure point in the future.  Also, if I want to update the jacks to modern electric jacks, I'll need to reinforce the side walls as well.  I will have to decide tomorrow.  
  2. The Floor:  Now that I my re-order of clutch bits came in, I can try to remove the floor again. Once again I need to decide whether to us a fiberglass panel or plywood for the new floor.  Plywood is much cheaper and has more deflection.  I lean towards fiberglass because it won't rot, mildew and mold, and it will be easy to clean.  I'll need to find out how strong the 3/8" material is.  I've used this before and it is really strong--that would give me more head room and the option of decking over it with nice flooring.  Also with fiberglass I can cut bevels in the joints and bond them together pefectly smoothly.  I will have to decide soon. A third option is to put  fiberglass stripes between the aluminum framing and fill the middle with a sheet of teak and holly plywood down on the floor in such a manner it can be replaced in the future without tearing up the whole camper. 
  3. The Wiring Plan:  I can start insulating after I finish wiring. I can't do that until I decide where to put the main circuit panels.  I am leaning towards splitting the AC and DC panels and putting the AC on the back wall--inside where the hanging locker will go, and putting the DC panel between the cab over bed and the  dinette area, and mounting my Ham radios there also.  This is something I need to decide rather quickly as I want to start foaming in the voids in the insulation.  I also need to install some conduit for radio antennas and a future upgrades.  And decide if I want electric jacks or not.




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