After our shopping trip last weekend it was time to tidy up the trailer and put our new dishes, flatware, cooking utensils, and etc. away. This is the way the trailer looked before I started tidying:
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I began having problems with my vision -- I just couldn't see putting our stuff in those awful drawers. Drawer liner could hide the Gorilla Glue drips from previous repairs, but the real problem was that the backs were particle board, which at some time had become soaked and now was so soft that cardboard would be an improvement. One consequence of the structural unsoundness of the particle board was that each time a drawer was pulled out, it left a dusting of particle board particles on the contents of the drawer below.
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OK, I'll build new drawers, and, while I'm at it, use side-mounted drawer slides so I can get rid of the horizontal stick between the drawers, thus making the bottom one much deeper -- great for pots!
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But another problem was the particle board "supporting" the countertop had also turned to mush and there was a huge gap between the swaybacked countertop and the sink on one side, and the cooktop on the other. Any liquid that got on the countertop immediately dripped into the top drawer. I had better replace the countertop too.
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I knew the back support for the countertop had dropped down because the bottom of the frame had rotted. My initial plan was to shore it up so it would be good enough for this season. These photos shows the amount of subsidence:
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The countertop is attached to the bottom of the fiberglass cooking hood with a bunch of nails and screws to keep the joint tight and inflexible. This makes it possible to caulk the joint, for otherwise with the hood bouncing around as the trailer is traveling down the road the caulk joint would tear. So I needed to remove the hood too so I could attach it properly to the new countertop.
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The new countertop turned out to be easy and cheap. I found a local Formica shop that had an old butcherblock pattern countertop on 3/4" plywood that they had removed from a laundromat and would cut to my pattern for $40. Not only that, it would be ready the next day. Done!! And here it is:
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I wish everything went so well...

Dana thanks for recording the changes you are making, we are facing similar issues. I have considered side mounted drawer rails as you have but I was wondering how you addressed getting the drawers to stay closed. The people I talked to suggested the center mount rail, with plastic fitting, allow some flexibility to allow the drawer to be lift up out of the recess that keeps the drawer from sliding on an even plane. How did you address this? I also have the particle board backs to the drawers but it is the pine sides that are wearing. I am exploring adding insulation which you already have.

The cooking hood had been riveted to the trailer top in seven places. Six of the rivets drilled out easily, but the one nearest the door couldn't be drilled out from the inside. Because I could reach both ends of the skirt bolt centered over the door, I started there and worked my way around to the offending rivet. Who says it takes two to work on the poptop skirt? Well, yes, it did take two in our case: me doing the bolts and my wife taking the pictures.
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Our plan is to mainly dry camp, aka boondocking, so 110V service will not likely be available. I really didn't like the look of the 110V power cord, and I didn't like how it was implemented -- I would prefer a socket on the trailer to the permanently attached cord.

My wife and I had discussed how we wanted the trailer set up, and the result was that lighting would be 12V, cooking and refrigeration would be by propane, and if we had 110V available we would like an easy way of bringing it into the trailer for running our battery chargers for the cameras, phones, and whatnot. Thus the 110V light over the streetside bunk and the outlet under the table were superfluous.

I also wasn't too keen on depending on a 36 yearold circuit breaker, especially after seeing how the 12V to 110V inverter had been repaired by stuffing aluminum foil into the fuse holder.

So I took it all out: power cord, breaker, light, and outlet. The really startling thing was that when I opened the junction box and pulled on the wire crimp on the neutral (white) lines, it pulled right off! Great -- just what we need, a bad connection on the neutral line. And it had been that way ever since the trailer was built.

Our plan is to carry a standard extension cord, and when 110V is available run it through the grommet in the floor that the original power cable went through. The rest of the time the grommet will be plugged with a sink stopper or something.

Sure tidies up things when that 100V cable is gone:
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The next item was the heater. I needed to recaulk the seat around the vent, but everything was frozen in place. I managed to pry the inner vent out far enough that I could slip a 2x4 about 20" long into the angled hood of the vent, and use that to rotate the inner vent back and forth and break loose all the mud wasp nests and rust. The picture shows the largest of the 5 paper wasp nests...
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Once the heater was out, I could remove the rear cabinet frame and get rid of the rotted wood.
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I had hoped all day that I would begin building the new stuff, but so far I had only been tearing out stuff to get to something I could build from. Now I was ready!

Umm, you know, the only thing left was the cabinet face frame, and I needed to cut some parts out of it for the new drawers, and it really looked pretty shabby. So it came out too.

Now I'm down to bare fiberglass -- I guess I can build now!

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Does anyone know how to recaulk the Gentec sink drain fitting?

I can't find anything like it in modern catalogs, so I haven't found out how to take it apart and reseal the joint between the outside of the trailer body and the fitting.

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks!

The short answer is that I haven't even built the drawers plus retainers yet, much less tested them under real-world conditions.

However, the plan is to have a flat bar that slips into a socket on the floor and hooks to a catch on the countertop. The right side of the bar presses against the left side of the drawers and the left side of the bar presses against the right side of the two cabinet doors. Thus the one bar locks everything on the kitchen cabinet. The advantage is that there's only one thing to do to lock everything on that side of the trailer. The disadvantage, of course, is what happens if I forget to do that one thing...

I had thought of using hardware that always positively locks the doors and drawers each time they are closed, but it's a pain to use. The one that I really like is a knob that when you pull it both unlatches the door/drawer and doubles as a pull handle. I haven't seen any of these in the US though.

I hate banging my knees or other thinly-padded body parts against handles and knobs, so I'll be undercutting both sides of the drawer faces so they can be finger-pulls.

Dana
Great job on your trailer. Be glad you did not use that 36 year old electric box. I tried to get another breaker for my box and the sales person said that the company that made the box went out of business, seems that their product was causing to many fires and they kept getting sued. I got a new box and breakers.

Really enjoyed your story of your Compact purchase-am looking at a Compact Jr. also so will post info if I buy it.
Don`t think it will be near as interesting as yours.

The breaker wasn't my only concern -- there was no ground fault interrupter (a relatively new-fangled invention but something I believe in), and the Romex was the old style that had a very lightweight bare earth ground line. I prefer the current code, which requires all three wires (hot, neutral, and earth) to be the same gauge.

Gray Water

My knowledge of campground rules is woefully out-of-date -- what is the customary rule for graywater? Yes, I intend to catch it and dispose of it properly at a dump or when we get back home, but I suspect connecting a hose from the 1973 Compact Jr's outside drain outlet to an open bucket won't pass muster. Not that I would do it that way, but just how codified and corporate are campgrounds these days?

May I set up the sink drain to go directly to an internal "tank" consisting of a several gallon plastic jug, which I remove and carry to a toilet or dump station if it fills up before we get home? I'm thinking of a jug of 2 1/2 to 3 gallons because that's about what I can easily carry. I would have several of these jugs so I wouldn't have to head home as soon as we generate 2 gallons of gray water. I am anticipating generating 2-3 gallons of gray water a day for the two of us -- does that sound about right?

I tried to look up what's required at Lake Casitas and didn't find anything. I want whatever I do to be acceptable at most campgrounds as well as at Lake Casitas because we plan to go there for the October rally.

Thanks!

Hi Richard, thank you for the kind words.

I look forward to seeing your posts about your new acquisition if and when you get it.

Up until about 9:30pm last night I had plans for today -- plans which included having dinner with a good friend my wife and I haven't seen for some time.

Then I came across this craigslist ad:

I had been haunting craigslist for weeks looking for a fridge small enough for my trailer. I had almost snagged two different fridges from VW Westfalia campers, but they sold before I could get to them. In some ways I was concerned about the fussy snout that is used for both the intake and exhaust on them, which makes them harder to light and challenges their cooling capacity.

But I hadn't seen anything else that was shallow enough.

Was this the ONE?

It was too late to call so I waited as rapidly as possible for 9am (it is a Sunday, after all, and some people like to sleep in). I made the call but only got the recording so I left a message. Because the ad hadn't said anything about the size or model number I asked for the dimensions.

And waited.

I had the windows open so I could hear the phone while I worked on the kitchen refurb, but I would check the answering machine from time to time in case I hasn't heard the phone.

No messages.

Then at 12:37 I got the call.

It is a Dometic RM2190 and is 20 1/2" deep, 21 1/2" high, and 17 3/4" wide.

It will fit!!

So I tell the seller that I am coming right down, but I will need to rent a small trailer from U-Haul first, which usually takes about half an hour, and that I expect to arrive between 3 and 4pm. I also ask him to call the cell phone if he sells the fridge before I get there so I don't have to travel all the way.

He tells me he will not sell the fridge out from under me if I am really coming.

I am! I am!

My wife and I jump in the car and head to U-Haul. Well, U-Haul is hopping with students returning trucks, renting trucks, buying boxes, and the line is almost out the door. Umm, this will take a while....

It only took 48 minutes, but now we were stuck in the everybody is driving home to LA at the end of the weekend traffic, or as a friend likes to call it, the linear parking lot.

So we call and tell the seller that the ETA has shifted to no earlier than 4:30. He seems fine with that.

We drive and drive, then drive some more. We call to say that we're about 15 minutes away from his house -- no answer. But he had said he was working around the yard and to leave a message, so we did.

He called back just as I came to an intersection that redirected traffic differently than what I had planned as my route. He guided us through the maze and we got to his house.

Guess what we saw? A really nice guy with a Trillium 4500 in his driveway, and beyond it a Scamp!

Hey, this is looking good!

We toured the Trill, then looked at the fridge which he had hooked up to propane and had running to show that it really worked. Then he showed me how to light it. So I bought it -- what else could I do?

It turns out James and his friend rebuild and customize "canned ham" trailers, but for themselves prefer the much lighter and easier to tow molded fiberglass trailers.

I'll be asking him for a price for making a new popup skirt and a few other things. Further details will be posted as they become available.

And dinner with our dear friend? Upstaged by the refrigerator!

Oh dear, I had forgotten to include the pictures with the craigslist ad -- pretend this post is part of the ad.

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1. Small world, to purchase from a fiberglass person.

2. Good things happen to those who wait.

3. Things happen for a reason.

4. CONGRATULATIONS on the find!!

Thank you, Donna. I thought you would enjoy it.

Hi Dana,
I've been reading your posts with much interest. Your trailer is getting better all the time!
Nice fridge you found, that's for sure. Good hunting.

That drain piece you mentioned, the Gentec. I just cut it out, which was not easy. I am just going to route the sink drain out the same opening, but without that gizmo. What is it supposed to do, anyway?

I intend to drain gray water into a portable tank; I've seen rolling tanks others use. I don't have a tank yet, though. I know the water can be dumped at dumping stations. I don't recall any limits on amounts, from my camping experience.

Your photo of the kitchen counter rip-out looks like what I've been working on; it took a while to figure out how to approach the rebuild. I ended up reusing the piece in the back ( it's painted gray in my photo) as a starting point and going on from there with a new structural wood frame.

I originally thought I'd attach the fiberglass 'hood' to the new countertop with nails first, but when I test-fit just the fiberglass surround, I realized I better fasten that in first, by itself. To fit both at once would have been too difficult for me to maneuver. The right side of the fiberglass piece does not nail to the countertop anyway; it nails to a frame member. I didn't realize this till I noticed the nail holes were lower than the others. At least on mine they are.

I cut out a new counter and glued laminate on it today; tomorrow I'll cut out the openings, and install the counter.

Good luck on your project; it's looking great.

HI Fran, it's really nice to hear from you again and see what you've been up to.

I finally realized the outer ring on the Gentec drain/air gap combo on the outside screws off, and managed to do so. Like you, I decided that it would not be useful to me in the future and removed it. The unit is designed to provide an air vent/gap to the hookup so you can have a sewer hose connected to the drain. I didn't like the idea of having the vent at that low a level, where the sewer stink could come in through the windows. It certainly does not meet modern plumbing code.

My current plan is to replumb the sink without the trap in the cabinet area. I'll route the drain to the wall, then through the floor. When I use the sink there will be a jug or bucket underneath outlet. The rest of the time there will be a stopper in the sink.

Doing this gives me much more room in the cabinet area under the sink. I resized the cabinets so fresh water jugs (either 1 gal or 2.5 gal) can be stored on the floor, and a drawer or two can be put in between the sink and the jug storage area.

I'm just barely ahead of what you posted -- yesterday I got the hood, countertop, and faceframe in, today I finished off the back supports, built the box for the drawers under the cooktop, and made the drawers except for their faces. Tomorrow I plan to make the drawer faces and install the drawers. I was able to squeeze in drawers that are 20" from front to back! The top drawer is nominally 5" high, 20" wide, and 20"deep, while the bottom drawer is 8"x20"x20". These sizes are nominal -- after accounting for the thickness of the side rails and back the interior dimensions are 18 5/8" wide and 19" front to back.

Backing up for a moment, I made the lower cabinet 35 1/2" high, and that was just perfect for positioning the hood where it belonged. I installed the lower cabinet first, attached the countertop to the hood through the old nail holes (but used screws), then carried in the hood-countertop unit and jiggled, wiggled, uttered a few magic incantations that I hope no one overheard, wiggled some more and got it all into place.

I'll post pictures tomorrow ---

Francene: in your pictures, is that a vapour barrier or foam in the kitchen redo, and if foam what kind of foam and how easy was it to install and are you happy with it?

If you want to start another thread, so as to not hijack Dana's that might help.

Hi Kent, I don't mind if Fran decides to answer your question here.

If you prefer that that your question be answered the thread she already started about her own trailer you can post your query there. Here's the link:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.php?showtopic=34918

It's time for more pictures!

I am rebuilding the kitchen area of my trailer, and I wanted to know what I should do with the sink water. So I went to a local California State Park to see how people dealt with graywater on trailers that have no holding tanks, which mostly meant I looked at what tent trailers were doing. I felt that California would be as persnickety as anybody, so what I saw there would be OK most places.

The result of my little study is that people drain into almost any kind of container. I talked to the campground host and was told that people emptied the containers at either the deep sinks outside the toilet buildings, or in the flush toilets themselves. The camp host watered her plants (she had flower boxes at her site) with her sink water. I was both relieved and surprised at how laid-back the whole issue was.

The major surprise was that open tubs could be used. I would have thought they would attract squirrels and other wildlife.

Some examples:
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With my new-found confidence that I didn't need no stinking sewer hose, I didn't need a trap either. Thus I could reclaim a large amount of the space under the sink that was taken up with the long drain tailpiece and the trap -- Yeaaa!

I also wanted to see if the old furnace was still usable. If not, a new furnace would be shaped differently and I would need to take that into account as I rebuilt the kitchen area.

First I wanted to test the combustion chamber for leaks, because if it leaked then the furnace was unusable. I noted that the inner vent pipe was the exhaust, while the outer was the air intake. So I tested for leaks by taking a garbage bag and wrapping it tightly around the outer ventpipe, while leaving plenty of air in the bag. When the seal was complete, I tried to collapse the bag -- that gave me an idea of how large any leaks were. The bag deflated very slowly, so at least the combustion chamber had no large leaks.

The manual says that at least once a year the burner should be removed and cleaned, and to also remove any mud wasp and paper wasp nests that were found. So I removed the burner and it looked pretty much OK, but some of the openings were partially closed with debris. This is what it looked like after I cleaned it up:
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Do you remember the earlier pictures showing the wasp nests in the vent? Well, here's what I found in the firebox:
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So I cleaned out all the debris and reassembled the furnace. Today I tested it and it lit and ran fine. So it will be going back into the trailer.

I had built a new face frame for the kitchen cabinet, but also needed to make a rear frame as well. The original design had used a board that was fiberglassed to the side of the trailer at floor level as an anchor point for the rear frame, but that board had rotted out. So I needed a new anchor point.

I decided to extend the plywood floor all the way to the side of the trailer. I did this both to provide an anchor point for the new rear cabinet frame and also to allow me to use a little trolley to roll the water jugs into the storage area under the sink. The wheels needed a relatively flat floor -- thus the extension.

I got new longer frame bolts and ran them through the new floor extension. I also needed to tie the old floor and the new extension together somehow, so for now I am using a nail strap.
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I installed the faceframe of the cabinet. Then I screwed the new countertop to the hood, and installed the hood-countertop unit on top of the faceframe. You can see I used a scissor jack and length of 2x4 to hold the rear of the countertop in position while I took measurements and built the rear frame.
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Instead of using pop rivets like Hunter did when they originally built the trailer, I used 10-24 screws with washers and nylock nuts to bolt the hood to the trailer roof.
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I took out the old external sink drain and the city water hookup and used chrome hole covers to plug the holes in the trailer wall -- I wanted to get it sealed up but making it pretty and unblemished is pretty far down the list right now...
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Now for the good stuff!

I was just able to squeak in 20" drawer slides under the cooktop -- so much more room than the original drawers!

After cleaning out all the stuff that had leapt out of the old drawers and fallen under the heater, I was determined that anything that was in a drawer was going to stay in that drawer as the trailer bounced down the road. So even though the slides I am using do not require a full cabinet box, I built one anyway just to keep stuff from flying out.

I also built the drawer back as tall as I could so stuff wouldn't leap out the back either. I will have to add a bit of a wall at the back of the cabinet that extends from the countertop down past the back of the drawer to completely close off that avenue of escape.
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I had planned on making drawer faces out of some maple cabinet doors I got at the local ReStore, but when I held up the maple to the poplar face frame, it just didn't work. I never thought of maple as being particularly red, but compared to the yellow-greenish poplar it's definitely red. So the current plan is to make the drawer faces out of Baltic birch.

Beautiful work, Dana! You are accomplishing a lot, compared to my snail's pace, but my level of carpentry is not up to yours.

Great research on the gray water issue. So most were just hooking up a garden hose, it looked like?

Chuck Hagen, who redid a compact II beautifully, also routed his waste pipe to the floor. I've got the holw in the side, so I'll just use that opening but rig it to accept a garden hose, I suppose.

Aren't you going to use your 'city water inlet'? I recall you will be boondocking, but sometimes you might be where there are water hook-ups. There's a very nice public campground in Big Bear Lake, Serrano, that has full hook-ups, tho this is not typical of state parks, etc.

It's looking beautiful, Dana. Nice woodwork on the drawers. You must be a pretty experienced woodworker.

p.s. Here's photos of Chuck Hagen's kitchen drain for you, Dana~

Best,
Fran

Kent, it's basically styrefoam with skin on both sides, from Home Depot, 1" thick, with Locktite Powergrab use to adhere it to the walls. Messy when you cut it up, but it vacuums up.

Fran

What a nice job of woodworking!

I don't recognize your drawer slides, but they look interesting; where did you get them? Do they include any feature to keep the drawers closed during travel?

Hi Fran, thanks for the kind words and the pictures of Chuck Hagen's drain modifications.

Yes, everybody just connected a short hose to reach from the side drain outlet down to a tub, bucket, or container. One of the pictures shows the hose going under the trailer but no container was visible -- I don't know where it eventually drained to.

As for the city water inlet my current feeling is to not have one. The main reason is that I expect few occasions where I could use it, and the real biggie is that I would have to monitor the drain container much more closely. With the handpump supply being individual jugs of no more than 2.5 gallons, I know that if I empty the drain bucket every time I change the fresh water jug, I'll be fine. But with the city water hookup there is no easy way of knowing when to check the drain bucket.

The pictures hide a lot of flaws -- when you see the stuff I've done "for real" it is obvious I am no woodworker. But I am getting better at it. Thank goodness it's only a camping trailer and not the kitchen of our house!

Hi Steve, thank you for the encouraging words. As I told Fran, the pictures hide a lot of flaws. But my woodworking skills are improving!

I bought the drawer slides at Home Depot. They are "self-closing" in that the ends are ramped so the drawer drops nearly a quarter inch when it's closed. That's nice for everyday use but insufficient to keep the drawers closed while travelling -- for that I will have a bar that runs from the floor to the countertop and blocks all the drawers from opening.

These drawer slides have the advantage of making the drawers easier to construct and give greater interior width as compared to the traditional method of making a complete drawer and attaching slides. Unfortunately, the local Hope Depot carries these only in the 20" length. HD charged $10 a set for these.

Blum makes the MetaBox series which are better quality and are available in more sizes, but they are not available locally and are more expensive. They can be ordered, but usually when I finally figure out what I can squeeze into a spot I want to go get it right now!

Dana, if you ever are at a campground with 'hook-ups', if there is city water, there usually is a sewer drain at the site as well, so you could use as much fresh water as you liked since the gray would be going down a drain, not your gray tanks.
Just a thought; so few state parks and recreational areas have such hook-ups. The one at Big Bear I mentioned is an exception.

(We used to live in Valley Center, CA for 18 years and had a vacation home in Big Bear for 10 years. After that, we camped there a few times in the summer.)

Now I'm in WA state, missing SoCal. Possibly will return.

Best,
Fran

Thank you for this info -- I hadn't realised that sewer connections came along with pressurized water -- this is good to know.

My wife and I were looking at the water and sink drain situation today and have a tentative plan. First I need to explain that the cupboard under the sink can hold three 2.5 gal and three 1 gal water bottles. We will designate one of the 2.5 gal containers as the gray water "tank", will place it in the corner nearest the door so it is easy to remove, dump, and replace. We will route the drain to that container in such a way as to preserve as much drawer space as we can.

The reason I want to use these small containers instead of the big freshwater tank that came with the trailer is that it is easy to carry and refill 1 gal and 2.5 gal containers without moving the trailer. But refilling the bigger tank is not so easy. Also, the big tank is not necessarily clean because the filler lid has a tendency to open while the trailer is being towed. Yeah, I could replace the filler with a latching/locking one, but the tank itself chops up the under-bench storage/stowage area so badly and inefficiently that I really want to rip it out. Vee haf plans...

Yes, I will be careful to preserve adequate tongue weight while making these alterations!

Drain detail -- I decided I would just have the sink drain into a 1 gallon or 2 1/2 gallon jug, so all the piping is inside. I carried the drain straight to the outside wall then across to the rear of the trailer so that would allow me as much room in the drawers as possible.
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There is a small section of pipe that extends into the jug which helps hold the jug in place. When I want to empty the jug I just tilt it a little bit and slide it out from the end of the pipe.
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Here's a photo with the drawers installed. I was really happy that I got so much more drawer space -- all I had to do was utilize the space more efficiently.
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After reinstalling the heater and checking it out, it was time to load up the kitchen stuff and check it out. We made dinner and slept overnight in the back yard and discovered only one gotcha -- the middle drawer cannot be opened when the door is closed because it hits the twist-lock in the doorknob. I had never noticed that because when I was working on the drawers I always had the door open!

Anyway, dinner was a success, and we slept well, so it was time to go camping!

Here's the trailer in one of its preferred habitats:
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The views from our windows
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And the kitchen now that it's all together -- that's half a loaf of homemade bread sitting in the dish drainer:
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My wife and I had a wonderful time. We really enjoyed the fact that we could see the blue sky and trees through the popup's windows even when the other window shades were drawn for privacy.

Dana, great job so far. I love the way you did the drain on the sink. I was lookinf for another way to rout mine to get some more room and I think I just found it. I think I will maybe run mine out the original hole and just eliminate the trap. It already leaks and the other half want me to fix it b-4 the lake Erie rally in sept. I just wish I caould get more done before that. Only 2 trips left for this year then maybe a resore in my compacts future. Thanks for all the pics and step by step you have provided. They will be handy for my project.

Thank you, Heath. The hardest part was finding a shallow drain basket and a tailstock with an elbow that made an immediate 90 degree turn without extending down into the cabinet area any further than absolutely necessary. I tried several stores and found the drain basket at Home Depot and the most appropriate tailstock at Orchard. Each had baskets and tailstocks, but the tailstock at HD didn't fit as snugly to the underside of the sink, and the drain basket at Orchard was not as well made and also didn't fit as snugly to the underside of the sink. Man, all this shopping for less than an inch, but it makes a huge difference to the amount of storage in the top drawer!

When I picked up the trailer in the Central Valley I also acquired a mascot -- a very colorful jumping spider. Actually, we have several, and I'm hoping we have enough to establish a small colony here.

Does anyone know anything about this specific spider?

Here's her picture -- she's on the fiberglass poptop and I had to use the flash, so all those white spots are just specular reflections from the fiberglass. Also, the color is a little off -- the light-colored banding on the body and hairy pom-poms are more of a creamy yellow than stark white.
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My wife and I had noticed that the original dinette cushions were too soft for sitting -- we'd bottom out. For sleeping they were OK but marginal because we could just feel the hard foundation with our hips if we laid on our sides.

So the other day I bought two "Hide-A-Mats" from Costco. They are 3 3/4" thick, 77" long and 36" wide. They are made up of four panels, two of which are 25" x 36", and the last two together make another 25" x 36" pad. My original thought was that the two complete mats would make a firm, but not hard, cushion or foundation for our bed.

When I got them home I took the "stuffing" out of one of the panels, and discovered that instead of foam it is a polyester batt. I like this because it doesn't soak up water like open-celled foam does, and it's quite light. We tried the batt by itself (no foam cushion) and it was OK for sitting, but much too firm to sleep on. We then tried that batt under the foam cushion on the seat and it met the bill as far as preventing bottoming out even while sitting. Thus we decided to use the batt under the foam we already had.

I could have lowered the supports for the seats/bed by nearly 4" to allow for the thickness of the batt, but we decided to slice the batts in half because we noticed that we were sinking only about 1/3 the way into the batt. Yesterday I borrowed a hot-wire foam cutting rig from a friend and a little later I had custom batts that are 1 7/8" thick, 23" wide, and 36" long for the seats, and 1 7/8" thick, 11 1/2" wide and 36" long for the backrests. The 23" is because the width of our Compact Jr is 69" (at the front) to 69 1/2" (in the middle). As an added benefit, I have some 1 7/8" x 2" x 36" remainders that will be handy for extending my side of the bed from the original 72" to 75".

All told, it took only one Hide-A-Mat to make our dinette seat cushions very comfortable for both sitting and sleeping.

Oh yeah, the Hide-A-Mat cost $50. That's less than the cost of even shipping that size polyester batt from any seller to my house!

Hi Dana,
Your modifications look great and you are getting to use the trailer - good show!

What kind of window shades are those?

Did you make a new table?

Best,
Fran

Hi Fran, nice to hear from you.

The shades are the $7 fanfold paper shades. I got both the "light control" and the translucent shades. I put them together with the dark "light control" ones on top and the translucent ones on the bottom. The idea was that if we wanted privacy we'd just pull down the bottom shade, and if we wanted to block the light we'd pull down everything. Great idea, or so I thought.

The problem is that the paper is really affected by humidity -- when it's dry the pleats are crisp and it's hard to get the shade to cover the whole window because the pleats want to roll it right back up again. When it's humid the pleats disappear and the shade is about 2 times too long and it's impossible (well, difficult at least) to pull the shade up. And if it gets dry before you repleat the shade it's no fun at all trying to get the paper properly repleated.

So I am replacing them with a new combo -- miniblinds and a pull-up light-blocking cloth shade. Here's the thinking: We want to do different things with the window
1. Transparent: We want to see through it or let air through.
2. Light Control: We want to block direct sunlight but still see through it and/or let air through.
3. We want privacy.
4. We want to insulate the window and are willing to block the view, and no way we want air flow!

The miniblinds will hang from above, can be retracted for Transparent, let down and angled for Light Control, or closed for Privacy.

The thick cloth curtains will normally be below the window and can be pulled up between the miniblinds and the window for insulation when it gets cold.

Lying with my head under the front window (which doesn't leak air because it's a solid pane) I sure felt the cool air flowing down from it even though the shades were pulled. I want to make a thermal trap that blocks that flow when I find it annoying instead of pleasant. Hence the thick cloth shade that pulls up from below.

Re the table, I had made that early on from a $11 48"x34"x3/4" birch plywood scrap that I got at the local ReStore. I had shown a picture of it at the bottom of this post: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=326194