1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

Killed it tonight in the shop!


I turned a long piece of this into two smaller pieces...by myself! Using tools!!

 

I laugh as you are not there first to say that. I use bold to help me find my messages after I post them or someone else quotes them. Bad eyesight and old age are a b!tch.

Anyhow, thanks for keeping us coming back for more tidbits.

 

That a boy. Keep making massive steps like this and you'll be shitting in your pants before you are complete with this project.

And you probably thought, while doing it, how stoked I would be when you posted this glorious bit of progress.

 

What is the old saying? "Measure once, cut twice..."

 

SawStop!

 

Yes indeed. Safer and just a damn nice saw anyway.

 

Stuff got in the way for a bit but I got back to it tonight.


Pulled the ol fridge mount out of the truck


Got to drilling and tapping


Basic mounts...


Transferred the holes from the Redarc Manager 30 to the mounts then did more drilling and tapping. I'm usually a nut and bolt guy but for some reason I felt like tapping a bunch of holes I guess.


Not too shabby



Yes, this should do nicely. I'll go back in and clean them all up: round corners, trim excess, stuff like that.

I'm likely going to mount a 12v socket in one of the legs for the fridge. I could hardwire it but the 12v plug has a "special" thermal fuse in it. Plus, it's easy since I don't have to do any additional wiring or hacking up of the wiring I have or ordering a new wire.

 

I would swap to an Anderson connector for your fridge. More reliable connection than the cigar plug.

 

which model sawstop do you have?
I’ve been starting to think I should get one.

 

Not a chance!

 

I had to look that up. Looks good. If I'm going to get into the wiring at all, I'd just hard mount it. There is a connector on the back of the fridge so it would still be easy to remove for cleaning

 

I have a PCS31230. It's way overkill for my needs but whatever. It's a great saw. I originally went in looking at the foldable contractor saw and kept talking myself up. It's dangerous when you see them all in person

 

A small collection of fun stuff arrived today:


Left to right:
4.8amp dual USB fast charger
Panel mount flange (probably won't use)
12V power plug (locks into 12v socket)
12V power socket

All from blue sea systems. I got the 12V outlet and plug for the fridge. I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to safely use the fuse from the Engle fridge plug with the locking portion of the blue sea plug. If not, no biggie. The blue sea 12V sockets seem to hold well with standard plugs too. Basically, this is for experimenting.

Update: after examining both plugs, I'm going to keep the Engle plug as is. Testing it in the twist lock blue sea socket proved that it still locks in place pretty securely even though it's not optimized for it. I'm happy because that's the easiest this could have been!

Oh, circuit breakers should be here in the next few days. I need to source a group 35 battery then I can start really laying out the electrical. My wife and I usually take a big road trip over Thanksgiving. Would be awesome to have fully functioning electrical to test out!

 

Engel makes a locking connector for their fridge power.

You need to get the female hard-mounted piece (similar to the Blue Sea socket) and wire it to +12. The front part of the Engel plug unscrews (you lose the fuse) and plugs into the socket. The lock ring on the plug then screws to the socket.

On mine, I switched from a 12V socket to the Engel socket - it works great.

I don' t have the part number with me, and I can't find it on their site. Let me know if you are interested, and I will find it.

 

I figured they would make something like that but didn't see it anywhere. I'll probably just run with what I have for now but I'll remember that you know of another option!! Thanks!

 

Done! They aren't jewelry quality but I'm happy to have them riding around in the back of the truck...mostly covered by electronics.

I really need to get my aux battery mounted so I can start laying out all the wiring and fuses and whatnot. Probably won't happen until next week. But I still have a bunch of other stuff to work on this weekend.

 

Lame (no photos) but important update:

Ordered my aux battery today. Odyssey PC1400T Group 35. Pretty critical to get my electrical up and running!

Also have a second Blue Sea 6 fuse block. That will be mounted in the kitchen box for camper box specific stuff (USB charger, fan, lights at some point). I'll leave the 6 fuse block that I already have in the engine bay for truck bound stuff (refrigerator outlet, aux 12v socket, air compressor and aux lights if I add them).

My 40amp circuit breaker arrived yesterday

And I ordered a fantastic vent fan cover with screen. It's a big ugly ass shroud that goes over my vent fan so I can open it up and run it even in the rain. I wasn't going to bother but I think it'll be necessary. I could have bought a Maxx air fan that does the same thing in a much lower profile way but I've got what I've got and I'm not pulling out my fan until it doesn't work anymore. Hoping to get the shroud installed this weekend...should show up on Friday I think. It's going to look like crap and be way up in harm's way from tree branches and stuff...we'll see how it goes! If it gets trashed, I'll look at swapping out to a Maxx air fan next summer.

 

A couple of quick updates for the evening:


Put the decorative fan trim ring on...finally! I knew this was a five minute job I just never took the time. Makes a big difference to me to see a finish piece in place.


I also bought this step ladder to get in and out of the camper and had never tried it nor made sure it fit in the back box where I was hoping it would live. It fits! Cool ladder because it has a 300lb rating and folds to 2" thick. Wasn't very expensive either.


All the way against the wall


Down in the bottom of the box

I'm hoping to fit our portable toilet and toilet tent back here too so we'll have to see how that works. I don't want to have to unload the toilet every time we need the ladder but I'm not sure I can get the ladder in and out with anything else behind it. Ladder (or toilet and tent) may need to find a new home. This will work for all the times where we don't need the toilet though.