[pete_79]

Christmas has come early for me.




Now I can finally build the storage system in the trailer that I've been hanging out for.

First rough in of the alloy tube frame and fridge space.




There's 3 equal sized compartments in the front half that will have individual lids and be divided with some 5mm ply, the table and bench seats go on top of that section.
Then the cooking corner beside the fridge that will have drawers for utensils and camp oven/fry pans, with the gas cooker strapped on top. There will be a flip over bench to move the gas cooker outside the trailer.

Anyway you'll get the idea.


Even sorted a spot for the tarp poles, just a little trimming needed to let the thumb screws go all the way in.


Still heaps more to be done, but I'm pretty happy with how it all looks so far.

[killazook]

Very nicely packed trailer and dont forget to leave that fridge some airflow or it won't cool nicely and chew a fair bit of power

[pete_79]

Cheers mate.

I'm totally green to touring with fridges. But I did a heap of research on running fridges in trailers before I made the final decision to step into the modern world. And the air flow thing comes up a lot, surprisingly more then comments about the fridge being destroyed while bouncing around in a trailer.

With no rubber seals on the front or rear doors the trailer isn't exactly air tight, but I'll keep a good eye on it for the first few trips.

It will be easy to install a vent with filter in the lid, under the pod somewhere if needed.

I've also been looking into options for solar to try and make the trailer self sufficient.

[got_bar_work]

Flexible sunpower panel glued on top of the pod

[atari4x4]

i don't know how, but it just keeps getting cooler, top work once again pete.

[pete_79]

got_bar_work wrote:

Flexible sunpower panel glued on top of the pod

[pete_79]

Cheers Gus, working hard to get this all done for our Christmas trip.


The cooking corner design is sorted, I've started on the drawers and flip over kitchen bench.
But we moved house recently and the shed at the new place hasn't been set up as good as the old place was. I've been struggling without a decent work space.

So I got started on knocking up a new work bench this arvo.



Today was a good day for deliveries too.
I ordered the gas struts for the lid off eBay at 8am this morning and they where at my door by 4pm this arvo.

And a big thanks to boob man for the new bling.

[pete_79]

Finished the new work bench.
This house is only a rental and we only plan on being here for about 12 months, so no point building anything too serious, but this should do what I need for now.



More importantly I got a fair bit done on the new storage setup.


Made a solid timber drawer for all the plates/cutlery/utensils.
Put some handles in the sides too.


Flip over bench top is in.
It fits the gas stove nicely and gives us double the bench space when not cooking.


The hinges on the flip over bench work as a lock to hold it up on it's own without a support under the end.

[zukenutter]

were you ever a boat builder? Great inclusions.

[pete_79]

Thanks mate, I would have loved to learnt a true boat builder's trade.
Maybe if I had then my timber work wouldn't look like a Boilermaker had slapped it together..

[atari4x4]

pete_79 wrote:

Thanks mate, I would have loved to learnt a true boat builder's trade.
Maybe if I had then my timber work wouldn't look like a Boilermaker had slapped it together..

looking good as usual.

worst thing about wood work, is you can just weld another bit on if you cut it short.

[pete_79]

Packed the timber working tools away today and dragged out the grinder and welder.

The gas strut is in.

This first mounting cleat failed.




If I had some decent thickness plate it probably would have been better, but I don't have many decent off cuts to choose from these days.
I tried shortening it but there's a fair bit of force is those rams and it just wanted to twist.

In the end I just made this simple bracket that will do the job.


I bought a pair of struts 1100mm long with 600n pressure and fitted one to test the angles.
With the pod empty it was a struggle to close the lid with just with 1 ram. So I had another go at a flatter angle to make the ram work harder.

Now it's perfect when the pod is fully loaded there's just enough assistance/resistance, but with only 1 ram fitted.
If I add the second ram I don't think I could close the lid.
I'm thinking to call the gas strut man to see if I can get these ones gassed down to only 300n so I can fit both.

The pins in the hinges are 10mm bar and will be plenty strong enough for the forces that they will get from using 1 ram.

Anyway, it opens and closes.

[pete_79]

We have power!!!



It's a 100w panel and I'm looking at 2 x 60-80 Amp hour batteries to mount in the trailer, just for running the fridge and a couple of small LED lights.


I cut some short lengths of fuel hose to make rubber bushes between the panel and the pod.


The junction box and wiring on the panel is obviously made to build a full array of panels, not just wrapping a single one over a luggage pod.
Just need to put a bit of thought into making a tidy run with this wiring to get it into the trailer.



Now for some study on Auto electrics.....

[christover1]

Each bit of comfort or convenience added makes you that little bit softer, which increases the desire for more niceties Excellent work.

[Joe]

Looking good mate
Pretty sure with gas struts they can only put gas in not let it out

[pete_79]

I think you might be right Joe.
There's a mobile strut guy based near work I'll give him a call and see what he can do for me.

It works perfectly with one and the hinges are strong enough that I don't need to put both in.

Still a bit undecided about putting both in because with no strut on one side there's plenty of room to get into the boxes.
And up till now I've only used a bar on one corner to hold the lid open. That has been working well so far.

[zukenutter]

The original struts that I bought for mine were 900n, just one almost pushed through the floor. No idea what 900n could be used for.

[pete_79]

zukenutter wrote:

The original struts that I bought for mine were 900n, just one almost pushed through the floor. No idea what 900n could be used for.

So you just bought new ones with less pressure then?
They are so cheap these days it's not a big deal to get another pair, but then I would have 2 brand new struts floating around the shed.


With regards to the force;
If you mount the struts very close to the pivot point and start them on a very flat angle you can make them work really hard to lift a light load if you need to use the higher force.

But I wanted my strut to follow the lines on the mud guard when the lid is closed. And I wanted it to leave as much room as possible to get into the boxes in the front of the trailer.
If I mount these struts that I have now on the front I could most likely get them to work, but then I'd loose the access I need to the front boxes. I'd rather just get a pair with the right pressure to do the job I need.

[zukenutter]

Yeah I have a pair of brand new 900n struts on a shelf… I just bought new ones. Mine need to be repositioned though as they are not giving enough lift when the tent is packed up.

[pete_79]

Looks like I'm buying 2 new struts...

Just spoke with the strut man down the road and apparently you can reduce the pressure, BUT it depends on the brand and how the make the end plate on the cylinder.
In most cases they have to totally remove the end, redo the valves, solder the end plate back on and then re-gas to correct pressure.

My local eBay seller did same day delivery last time and for less then $50 for the pair it's not worth all that work to re-gas them.

[zukenutter]

That's the conclusion I came to after stuffing around for months.

[got_bar_work]

That panel fits like a glove . Good idea

[pete_79]

Installed the tie-down points for the fridge last night.

I had a few of these bracket's floating around in my spares box and I figure if they can hold down a flying kid, then they'll be strong enough for the fridge.

[zukenutter]

pete_79 wrote:

I figure if they can hold down a flying kid, then they'll be strong enough for the fridge.

Seems like reasonable thinking to me

[BRiteBak]

Really enjoyed the thread, very tidy trailer!

[pete_79]

Thanks mate.

I'm planning on doing all of the electrical work this weekend.
I've been working on my wiring diagrams with a couple of sparkys at work this morning and just have a couple more small things to pickup this afternoon on my way home.

[jonno_racing]

with your fridge, keep in mind it will get the hell shaken out of it...
i had to put mine on the draw bar of my trailer once on my trip away and regretted it alot!
trashed all my beers and stuff! and that was on the hume highway so not exactly rough going.

Phil

[pete_79]

Yeah I know it's going to be rough for it in there, but it's the only option for us.
The beers will be in the small blue esky in the drawers behind the Jimny back seats, the fridge should only have food in there for travel most of the time and then we'll load it up with beers when we set up camp.

The beers travelled pretty well in the esky in the trailer on the big trip we did last Easter, there was some pretty rough stuff on that trip and the trailer got a bit airborne a couple of times.
To be honest I'm more worried about the compressor getting bounced around in there and I'm thinking about fitting the standard front shocks from the Jimny on to the trailer.

But for the moment I'm just aiming to finished off everything that I've already started this weekend.
We're going for an easy drive (bitumen all the way) to go camping next weekend and give the new setup a test run. I'll have a couple of weeks to fix up any issues or problems we find before we do another decent trip at Christmas.

[jonno_racing]

Yeah no worries, just something to be aware of and keep in mind when packing!

[killazook]

Sounds like you got it under control with the shocks in, wheels balanced and some weight should make for a smooth ride for the fridge