Bits and Pieces

The camper has been at Koops’ for a few weeks, and we are definitely at the point where the devil is in the details, and while a lot is getting done, not a lot of it is visible.  But, here’s where we are.

The top rail is done, on the front and the back.  It hides the solar panels mounted on the roof, and provides a place to mount running lights, which is the solid panel with the holes.  On the back (not pictured) it will also be used to mount the wide angle reverse camera.

Our water ports have a door!  And, Koops’ got to use their C&C (etching) machine to machine to make this nifty sign on the door.

The entrance door can be latched open!  I’m sure this was done in part for the crew working inside the camper, because it was really annoying to be whacked by the door every time you carried something in or out.

The back doors also have latches to hold them open.  I don’t think I would ever get anything done in a machine shop because I would always want to be making some new gadget that would be super useful…like this.

The bathroom now has a door, which feels surprisingly substantial.  It doesn’t have a handle inside yet, so we were having fun talking about locking each other in there.  With the composting toilet.

This is a hole which goes from the electrical cabinet to the roof, inside the rail.  Cables from the solar panels will come into the cabinet from the roof, and any cables having to go from the inside out will also fit.  It doesn’t look like a big deal, but this took a lot of discussion since we didn’t want it any bigger than it needed to be because we were worried about leaks, but wanted it big enough that we wouldn’t be limited on what could go through it.  Deciding to put it in the rail reduced some of the worry about leaks and allowed us to make it a little bigger.

All Pieces in Place for the Electrical System

We’ve had almost all of the electrical components for quite some time, but just this week Koops’ made the braces and brackets and installed the solar panels and batteries.  As soon as Jon from Sunselectric gets back from the US with a few small pieces we couldn’t get here in Belize, we will be ready get the electrical system going.

The three solar panels mounted on the roof total 1120 watts.

These are two 200ah lithium iron batteries.  We have room in the box for one more if needed, although as it stands, the three solar panels are going to have trouble keeping these filled.  We also plan to mount a battery charger in this box so if we plug in to shore power, we will be charging the batteries rather than running off straight shore power.

One More Worry Alleviated

Since the beginning stages of planning the camper, we have had a designated spot for carrying the motorcycles.  However, since the beginning stages of planning, the actual motorcycles which will be going with us have changed a few times.  I settled on a Honda Wave scooter a while ago, but Tom was undecided until last week, when he took the plunge and bought a Honda Tornado.  Today, we finally have the camper and the two motos in the same place, and decided to make sure both motos will fit.

Lucky for us, they do!

Room to spare!

Also lucky for us, we’re both pretty happy with this configuration.  We will have to do some adjusting to figure out the easiest way to load them, and then to figure out how to anchor them when we move, but we’ll both sleep better tonight after this proof of concept test.

The finished cabinets will look like this -

 

Nicer cabinets than in my house…

This is what we’ve been hearing every time we show anyone either photos, or the cabinets in real life.  Well, newsflash:  THEY’RE FAR NICER CABINETS  THAN WE’VE EVER HAD IN ANY OF OUR HOUSES TOO!

The wood is old growth mahogany which was harvested over 10 years ago.  It dried outside in large square cut pieces for three or four years, and was then milled into boards and dried inside for another six or seven years.  Friends have had it sitting in their garage for all this time, and when they saw what we were doing with our camper project, offered it to us, and we jumped on it.  Our Moonracer neighbors, Todd Klippenstein of Kliffstone Creations, along with his right and left hands Angel Alvarado and William Godoy, have produced a number of beautiful kitchens, so we didn’t have to look far to see where we could get this excellent work done.

These cabinets are not done; they still need to be finished, and more hardware needs to be put in place. But what we see so far is stunning, and we can’t wait to see the finished product.  

Cabinets over the stove, looking into the bedroom cabinets in the cabover. 

The cabinet over the dinette window, which will contain electrical system components, looking into the other side of the bedroom cabover. 

Side view of the bedroom cabinets. 

All doors on bedroom cabinets open towards the windows.  Flush door pulls will be added, as well as latches on the vertical doors so they don’t fall open when we are moving.  These hinges snap shut, but aren’t strong enough to hold the doors shut if something inside falls against them.

The electrical cabinet has doors on the front as well as the side for easy access to the electrical components.  There will be a small lower door on either side for storage easily accessible from the main living space of the camper.

Measuring Time

We picked up the camper from Koops' a little over three weeks ago.  We were supposed to have it for about a week and a half, but due to all the usual delays, we've had it longer than expected, and still have it.  This has turned out to be a good thing, since in twice the time we've accomplished about half of what we wanted to do with it before Koops' gets it back.

We have mostly used the time to measure things while the camper is close to figure out how much wood we need for cabinets, and how much wire for the electrical system, and how much tubing for the plumbing and the gas.  We also measured, ordered, and picked up our mattress and cushions for the bench.  The cushions are dropped off at an upholstery place to be covered, and I have the mattress so I can sew some belt loops to it for the belt which will hold the two pieces together.  We've run all over everywhere getting parts...buckles for the mattress belt, connectors for the electrical system, the beautiful mahogany for the cabinets, as well as hinges and pulls, and I don't even know what other bits and pieces.  

The camper is currently with the cabinet maker, but should be going back to Koops' for the last pieces in the next week or so.  Then, the electrician will be back in mid-December, and we will get the solar system hooked up, after Koops' mounts the solar panels on the roof.  Tom is pretty sure he has what he needs for the plumbing and the gas, but it's all taking more time than we expected, even though we thought we built in a pretty good cushion.

It now looks like we won't be leaving until sometime in the beginning of 2022...but we are going to get this done right, and stop stressing about how long everything is taking.

We don't have photos of everything being measured since those photos wouldn't be very exciting, but we've taken lots of photos of the cabinets being built since that is very visible progress, and we are really pleased and excited about them.

Cabinets are framed under the sink...

...as well as over the sink, over the stove, and in the cabover bedroom.

Bedroom cabinets are framed on both sides, along with the cabinet where all of the electrical equipment will be installed.

The closets utilizing the space in the moto garage had aluminum doors, but since this wood is so beautiful, we are having them replaced with mahogany doors to match the rest of the cabinets.

Cabinet door frames are lined up and ready to go be installed!  Now we just have to get the hinges and handles we just bought to the shop.

Things to stop losing sleep over

Without having the camper here to touch and feel, there have been a few things that Tom and I will suddenly start discussing in the middle of the night when one of us realizes the other is also awake worrying about camper details.  We took an hour or so this afternoon the alleviate some of those worries.

In the bathroom:

The washer AND the toilet fit as designed, and we don’t have to do major construction to empty either part of the composting toilet.  We also both tested it, and we don’t have to curl into the fetal position to use the toilet.

In general:

We have a closet deep enough for hangers!

We bought a refrigerator with a lock to keep the door from opening when we move, but had Koops’ replace the plastic guard with a metal one with a smaller hole so the door couldn’t even crack open.

We drove home with the lock locked, and it worked!

In the kitchen:

My favorite baking sheet fits in the oven.

My pizza pans will also fit.

The two-sided cast iron griddle is a perfect fit.

And the Dutch oven’s legs straddle the burner tops.

My favorite cutting board can either cover the sink…

…or fit over the drainboard.

And the spice rack can hold a small bottle of Marie Sharp’s, regular and tall normal spice jars and pepper grinders, and a medium spice jar.

Now we get to work

 We picked up the camper from Koops’ yesterday, and it is sitting in our driveway!  It isn’t done, but it’s ready for us to get some of the things we need to do going, and we’re really excited.

The bed platform and slide extension is done.  A queen mattress would have fit in the cabover with an east/west orientation, but by turning it 90 degrees and creating a slide, we created a lot of space for storage.  Now that we have the exact dimensions, we are going to order a mattress in two parts which can be belted together, so we can pull out the slide and have a queen sized bed at night, but fold it up and slide in the drawer during the day.    The mattress is on the list to be ordered when we go to Belize City on Monday, along with cushions and seat backs for the bench.

The bathroom sink is in!  One of the things Tom is going to do while we have the camper here is to get it plumbed.

We were a little worried that it wouldn’t sit square in the corner, but  with a bit of caulk, the sink fits perfectly.

Koops’ put in a hatch over where the washer will be so that we can reach through and turn the gas lines off and on without having to exit the camper.  This hatch is also likely to double as a cat door so our cat who thinks she is a dog can travel with us, and we don’t have to have a litter box in the camper proper.

The vent tube for the composting toilet has been installed, and goes into the vented rail on the top of the camper so water can’t run into the tube.

Speaking of drilling holes, these holes have been drilled in the top of the battery box so wires can run up to the cabinet where all of the solar components will be installed…

…in this cabinet over the dinette window.

The first thing Tom did when we took the camper was to drive it to Reimers to be weighed.  We were delighted to discover that the total dry weight is a little less than 2000 pounds.  This weight doesn’t include us or our personal gear, and about 150 pounds will be added when the solar panels are installed on the roof, but we are definitely breathing sighs of relief that we’re coming in at a weight that will be easy for this truck to handle.  We also sticked it front to back and for total height, and found that the nose to tail length is slightly under 24’, and the height to the top of the rails is 11’8”.  It could be slightly taller if we pump up the air ride shocks under the bed, but it will definitely come in at under 12’.

Almost there!

We found lots of visible progress at this week’s camper check, which will be explained with the photos below.  However, the best news is that they have another big project coming in next week, so we MUST bring the camper home on Wednesday of the coming week.  There will be a punch list of things that aren’t yet done which will be completed when we take it back sometime during the last two weeks of November, but this will give us a couple of weeks of having constant access to it so we can get done with some of the non-Koops’ jobs, like electric/water/gas, wood facing for the cabinets, and ordering of the mattress and bench cushions.  

The first thing we noticed as we walked into the bay was that the top rail has been installed on the passenger side, and the driver side is on the roof and ready to be installed.  The rail adds about 5” of height to the rig, but it will provide both visible and physical protection for the solar panels and the skylights/vents.

This is a closeup of the installed rail on the roof.  The rectangular panels are removable because the inside needs to be accessible for solar panel wires, the vent from the composting toilet, and running lights which will be installed on the outside, along with the wiring for those lights which will run through the rail.

The front of the rail, where it tapers down on the nose of the camper.  

The back door, which is covered with the heavy duty aluminum on the inside, just like the outside skin.  We will be installing racks inside this door, so it needs a little extra strength.  You can also see how the back of the rail is vented.

The slats for the shower stall have been made, but are not yet fixed in place.  This photo is looking into the bathroom from the kitchen.

Closeup of the bathroom floor slats, not yet fixed in place.  The drain pan is under the slats.

With the installation of the battery box in the foreground, the bench is now complete.  We will put a table in the corner of the bench.  We had been thinking about making it convertible for a extra bed if needed, but after seeing it, sitting on it, and trying to stretch out, we don’t think there’s enough room for a bed for a normal sized adult.

This box will hold the two lithium iron batteries (each 200ah) which will provide off-grid power.  The box is big enough that we could add a third battery if it is necessary, as well as a battery charger if we are charging from shore power.  Because the batteries are heavy and we want to be able to slide them into the box on the floor, rather than dropping them in, the lid is hinged to open both the front and the top of the box.

Water tanks are completed and installed.  Each is about 35 gallons.  The bracket in the middle will keep them from sliding, and the handles on the sides allow them to be lifted out.  Despite being stainless steel, they’re light enough that I don’t have any trouble moving them by myself.

The bedroom closets are finished on both sides.  These will be faced with wood.  The two uprights will have vertical doors which open near the window, and the longer cabinet on the bottom will have a top door so it will open like a trunk.  We are keeping the sides near the bed smooth so we don’t have any interference when we fold the mattress when we aren’t using the bed.

The cabinets are mirror images of each other.  The back plate on this one has a hole to allow access to the cabinet/“headboard” which will be in the rounded nose, and which obviously has yet to be built.  This will be done after the bed slides are installed on the floor of the cabover, which should be done by Wednesday.  The cabinet in the next picture will be installed along the roofline next to the tall cabinet.

This small cabinet will be installed near the ceiling in the corner between the entry door and the passenger side bedroom cabinets, over the dining area window.  It will be used for the components of the electrical system.  The metal bar on the top is made to serve as a center pole for the doors, but will be removable with a few bolts so there will be room to work in the closet.