Buggeee's 1973 Playpac Build Thread

[John in Michigan]

Buggeee I'm catching up on reading after taking a 10 day vacation... You are making great progress!

[Buggeee]

Hey thank you John, welcome home. Thank you Bob.

Here is a picture of the finished battery rack. It's been slathered in epoxy resin, painted, and screens installed over the lower vents. I also cut strips of a waterproof dense foam anti-fatige mat and glued them to the rack to dampen vibration from the road.

[Buggeee]

Edit: This was a post about installing a portable airconditioner. I have deleted it because a super cool Egger on another thread informed me that this particular model of roll around portable room air conditioner was subject to a recall for catching on fire. You can look up LG portable air conditioner recall and hunt that down if you have one of those. I'll get back to this part of the build once I find a suitable replacement unit. Once again, the internet has proven to be an incredibly useful tool!!!

[k0wtz]

buggee what is the white thing?

bob

[Buggeee]

Hey all, here are some pictures of how I am securing the chest freezer (and, ultimately, the air conditioner). In the first picture, I installed some aluminum angle on the floor to square it up and some stainless eyebolts to lash it secure. (The holes and vents to the left are for the air conditioner project, which is on hold for a less hazerdous unit!)

The chest freezer is installed in the second picture, secured by a couple of kayak straps. The metal ring in front of the freezer lets me have access to the drain plug.

[Buggeee]

As hinted at in the prior post, I am putting in an air conditioner for the Missus.

The roof won't support one, and there really isn't room fore or aft to poke one out. So I'm putting in a portable roll around unit, which is an idea triggered by a question posted by a fellow Egger in another thread.

It's about a foot wide, a foot deep, and 30 inches tall, so it will slip into the "kitchen" next to the chest freezer on the front wall. It is a single tube model, blowing exhaust out a dryer hose through an attachment that was designed to sit in a casement window. I cut a hole in the shell for it. I used Fuze-it adhesive to attach the window aperatus to the wall.

On the outsite, I am covering the exhaust with a standard RV louvered vent. I put screen in it first with 3M VHB double sided tape.

Back inside, the unit works by drawing interior air, and using some of it to cool the unit, blowing it outside. The remaining cooled air is returned to the cabin. Because some is blown out, that creates negative pressure in the cabin (the air has to come from somewhere). Rather than cracking a window, I drilled a couple vents in the floor under the unit to help relieve the negative pressure and screened them in. Otherwise I'm afraid it would be encouraging the infiltration of gasses from the waste tank (yuch).

Also, I've dropped a drain tube conveniently down one of the lower vent holes.

To keep the roll around air conditioner from rolling around, I've glued some foam mat to the floor and lashed the AC down to the stainless eyebolts in the floor with kayak straps.

I've opened up the wall next to the AC so it can breath through that side as well.

Since the exhaust vent is on the front of the shell, I was thinking air would be blowing in there when I was towing it. To help reduce that I've installed a 5 inch round draft damper that is for kitchens and bathrooms exhaust fans. It has very very light springs that keep it closed but if you blow on it from the inside (even with your lungs), it opens right up.

I've got my Keurig sitting on top of it now and will fasten it to the AC with some 3M outdoor Velcro strips. This AC unit also runs as a heater and, although it's 55 outside the picture shows it's 72 in the egg.

It works GREAT. This unit may be a small fish in a big pond in a house, but in this tiny egg - it's a big fish in a small pond!

Here's a buch of pics attached....

[Borrego Dave]

Looks good but just a thought for you. Would it be a benefit to you to take the wheels off the unit and have it sitting on the floor for less chance of moving around....even with the straps? Don't know the units design so the drain hose may be a problem with that .

[EricAllyn]

Looks good. Fits well, and a nice job on the outside. These little things work great! Had one in an office and vented it to a hallway. The floor under the office had all the steam pipes, so would get into the 90's, and it really did the job.

[Buggeee]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

Looks good but just a thought for you. Would it be a benefit to you to take the wheels off the unit and have it sitting on the floor for less chance of moving around....even with the straps? Don't know the units design so the drain hose may be a problem with that .

That is a very practical idea Dave. I would like to do that. The bottom of the unit is odd shaped though. I was going to put a caster cup under each wheel but am trying the mat because it's easier to drop in place. Maybe I'll look into whether there are rubber feet that can pop into the holes for the caster wheels.

Edit - I looked into it and, sure enough, there are rubber feet made to pop right in to replace caster wheels on furniture. SinI have some on the way and that will increase stability even more. Here's a link to the product -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001MS70K2...924&th=1&psc=1

Thank you for the input

[Sharon W]

This look fantastic! Please let us know how the AC works when the temp gets hot enough to try it out. We just had 68 deg. sunny weather here today, so I may be installing mine sooner than I thought. I'm now trying to decide whether to install the one I have similar to this, or install window ac under the front bunk storage compartment. Pros and cons to both... Like you, I would have to cut a large portion of the side of a closet out for one option, or the whole front out of the storage bin. Decisions, Decisions...

[Buggeee]

Well the rubber feet for the AC didn't really pan out, as the casters on the AC are screwed into place and are not removable. So I squeezed a bunch of Fuze-It adhesive into the wheels, which promptly became feet!!! It doesn't roll around at all and straps down more securely than it did with the rubber mat under it.

I've been working on the electrical as sunny days permit and have attached some pictures showing the following:

Complete 400 amp hour battery bank installed with copper bus bars (I wrapped the copper with electrical tape between the posts as I have a habit of dropping things like tools).

A relay that opens, disconnecting the tow vehicle feed from the battery bank when the voltage drops below a charging situation (TBCM-40A Trailer Battery Charging Module 40Amp - Atkinson Electronics). This keeps the bank from depleting the tow vehicle if I leave it hooked up while boon-docking. When the tow vehicle alternator starts up, or when the solar provides a charging mode, the relay closes connecting the tow vehicle to the battery bank again.

In the background of that TBCM picture you can see the bus bar (Blue Sea Systems Common 150A BusBar, 10 Gang with Cover) where I have collected all of the negative leads before sending them over in a #2 welding cable to the shunt for my battery monitor gizmo.

The shunt for my battery monitor gizmo is pictured, and in another you'll see the gizmo itself laying on the battery bank (Victron BMV 700 Battery Monitor). It waits patiently to be mounted in the cabinet. This also has a Bluetooth dongle that sends all the usage information to an app on my smartphone so I can nerd-out in front of my friends at the campfire. It tells me how many amp hours have been used since the last full charge, how many have been harvested from the sun, how many are left, etc, etc. It's measuring the flow of electrons to a Keurig cup in the picture attached. At 2 amp hours total per cup I can serve hundreds of coffees from this bank!!! Hazelnut anyone?

Outside the shell, I have installed a trolling motor plug and receptacle (MinnKota MKR-18 12V Plug & Receptacle) that is waterproof, locks when you twist it, and handles heavy gauge wire. I'm feeding the solar controller with 8 awg wire, fused at 30 amps. From the controller there is a short run of 10 awg to the batteries, also fused at 30 amps. The controller is, you guessed it, 30 amps. More later on that I guess because that is not pictured. Here in this picture, you see the DC disconnect switch that will shut off the feed from the solar panels when I plug, and unplug, from the shell (PV DC Isolator Switch, 32A 1,000V, IP66 UV-resistant PC Enclosure, with MC4).

This week's arrival is pictured... four 100 watt flexible solar panels (400 watt total) straight from China!!! Weighing in at only 4 and a half pounds each, they will travel easily and deploy at camp to feed the hungry batteries. In the last picture, Trusty Companion is testing them for structural integrity.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Sensational build Buggeee! Entertaining thread sir.

[Buggeee]

The season has arrived, the snow is melted and spring is in the air. Time to pick up on the PlayPac!

This weekend she got her new bench sleeper seats. I used the old wood bases as templates and cut some fresh, clean smelling, new wood. Then I threw some primer/sealer/paint on there to keep them fresh for years to come.

Ordered some high density foam blocks off of Amazon, set the wood on them and cut to fit. Drawing a utility knive across it and the material would tear rather than cut. I watched some YouTube videos about cutting foam and learned that using a serrated knive is the way to go. And it is! A light sawing motion and it buzzes through just fine. It felt like sawing balsa wood.

The fabric is from Joanne Fabrics and you'll have all kinds of coupons e-mailed to you if you sign up for the spam. Its outdoor furniture fabric. I watched some more YouTube videos about upholstering chairs and my take away from it is there is no wrong way to do it. I wrapped these benches with folds like Christmas presents and stapled, stapled, stapled. (electric stapler with 1/4 inch staples worked great).

Looking forward to the first outing. Look out bass, here we come!

[Tony O]

Outstanding!



BTW: Can you say where or who you obtained the solar panels from? They look like the ones I attempted to buy (also from CN) but fell victim to a scammer who never sent them. I got my $$$ back via eBay, thankfully.

[Buggeee]

Originally Posted by Tony O

Outstanding!

Thank you!!!

Originally Posted by Tony O

BTW: Can you say where or who you obtained the solar panels from? They look like the ones I attempted to buy (also from CN) but fell victim to a scammer who never sent them. I got my $$$ back via eBay, thankfully.

Thems the ones. But I think I paid about $110 each for them (Seller : ranyunia_0), rather than the $30 scammer copycat ad (Which I also bit on but eventually got my money back via eBay too for that one).

[Nor Cal Mike]

Outstanding! And you do upholstery too!!!

[Tony O]

Originally Posted by Buggeee

Thank you!!!



Thems the ones. But I think I paid about $110 each for them (Seller : ranyunia_0), rather than the $30 scammer copycat ad (Which I also bit on but eventually got my money back via eBay too for that one).

Great! Thanks! I saw that ad for the same panels and bookmarked it. I got nervous after the scammer hijacked(?) the same lead picture from the legit seller. I presume the panels tested to specs?

[Buggeee]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Mike

Outstanding! And you do upholstery too!!!

I do now Mike Thanks! Not bad for a first timer... This is a lot of fun when stuff starts poppin on a project. All that epoxy was the heavy lifting.

[Buggeee]

Originally Posted by Tony O

Great! Thanks! I saw that ad for the same panels and bookmarked it. I got nervous after the scammer hijacked(?) the same lead picture from the legit seller. I presume the panels tested to specs?

Dunno! Lol. I'll bring them with me and might be under the trees. If I can find a spot of sun I'll fire em up and see what I can see. I've never bothered to test my panels before and just use them to soak up whatever I can. Figure I can't send em back to China now LMAO. I've got a pretty cool battery monitor on this build and I'm eager to play with it so I'll try to snap some readings for you. Pray for sun!

[Buggeee]

Hello there peeps I'm just relaxing in a hammock here enjoying another camp out with the PlayPac and thought you might like a picture of the awning that I had built by some Amish people here in New York who are really good with making things out of fabric. I brought him the old drab beat down leaky olive green awning that seemed to be original and he made this beautiful awning out of Sunbrella fabric. This might not be the best display of it as the campsite I'm on is packed full of tents and I've got the poles harnessed to whichever tree was in roughly acceptable direction. When it's pulled taut it looks even prettier. It did great withstanding a thunderstorm yesterday with no leaks at all. The missus says we should be selling cotton candy out of this thing now. I got the posts off Amazon and they just happened to be this gold color that matches. Happy camping. Pictures attached.