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.