I sleep on the couch, so I converted the bedroom

[Gina D.]

I have spent all weekend getting the personal touches done on the 17 before his maiden (?!) BACHELOR voyage next weekend.

Besides adding all the low current draw lighting, I also installed a new flat screen TV with DVD/MP3/CD player, cursed my convertor for the noise, and started the really fun stuff (For a girl).. decorating!

The big bed/dinette in back is a perfect seperate bedroom, but I wanted more living space in the trailer. The bathroom sits smack dab in the middle, and all that open area I had in the 13 seems to have gone away. So, I made it a living room instead. I sleep on the pretty wide front dinette/ghaucho, made the bed permanent

I resurrected the spider legs collapsing table, which sits nicely against the useless back bench, and gives me and 2 others some eating space (When a folding chiar is brought in) as well as a place for the comp. An old friend that came out of storage (I knew there was a reason I kept it!)

The trailer still has a Fender theme, but I dredged out an old box from my attic with knick knacks and things I haven't seen in years (Those are up front.. pictures later) and had a ball remembering what I had!

Here is the "entertainment" side. You can see the TV from either bench, so two can have thier own space and watch/listen.

[Gina D.]

The TV is 10.2" and is 12v. Another eBay find! (Audiovox 1020, great set with tons of extra accessories) I disabled the cheesy speakers and wired in these 8 ohm jobs. Amazingly enough they are cheapy outdoor speaks from Circuit City and much to my suprise, they sound great! I expected.. $30 speakers.. and was pleasantly suprised.

Here is the old friend, my spider legs table.

[Gina D.]

And here is the wider wall. It's big, and screamed for decorations.. I have had these signs for awhile, just waiting for the right thing to do with them.

Note the little shelf with the little red jeep towing the BIG white trailer. (Yeah, I couldn't resist!)

The wheels are glued to the shelf.. hopefully it won't try to travel on its own

[Gina D.]

Per.. just for you..

I have a frame with nothing in it too!

I just liked the frame.. I have no intention of putting anything in it. (It's a dream catcher, slightly modified.. I removed the dream! )





I have ordered covers for the upper cushions. Those will be (I am sure you will be shocked) red. They should be here this weeks sometime, and they will match a little better than the blue does.

[Per Walthinsen]

The bed in front arrangement makes a lot of sense, I'd do it too if we didn't need to sleep two. As you have proven before, you have a flair for decorating, but the blue cushions probably cannot be dumped any too soon.
I thought of putting a set of draw-back curtains to cover the empty frame, kind of like in a movie theater, but maybe not.
The noisy converter is a pain. I couldn't handle it, besides it does damage to the batteries. My final setup is really good, so if you need ideas.....
I'm now looking for a good way to mount our mascot, which is a little stuffed Burro we bought at Grand Canyon. My son also surprised me with a shirt with an embroidered Burro on it (13-footer, but it looks good and quite accurate).
The way yours is set up you could probably have committee meetings in there, which I just know is what you planned all along.
Looking good.........

[Duane Fowler]

Gina sure did not take long for you to make it your own. Glad you got all the not so fun work done and could have time to decorate it. Looks very nice.
Duane

[Gina D.]

Per, I forgot who gave me this idea, but they have stuff stuck on horizontal surfaces everywhere.. and they tow like that.

I used little dabs of butyl! That junk sticks to everything you DON'T want it to, so I figured it would stick to anything. It seems to. The little edge shelf thingy in front is now covered in little "things". They don't seem to budge. It takes quite a bit of force to get them unstuck, but the putty is also easy to clean off.

We'll see if it takes as long to dry out inside as it does under your windows.

[Gina D.]

Thanks Duane.

I have unfun stuff left, like potentially ripping out the convertor. I see no real purpose for them other than to cause headaches.

I had noise and low gain in my power amps, as well as on my portable DVD player. Went thru all the basic troubleshooting (I felt like I was at work) and all chaos stopped when I flipped the breaker for the convertor off and ran straight from the battery. Sometimes it would wotk fine, other times it would act up. The only difinative thing I did was switch the convertor off.. gotta be in there somewhere.

Stupid question.. if the breaker at the power panel is off for the converter ONLY, does the battery charger still work?

My dogs ate my meter, or I would just go measure the lines at the battery after disconecting them to see if I still have 12vs or so.

BTW Per, even tho we have the same model power center, including the part #, mine has the standard auto fuse arrngement, not the glass ones.

[Duane Fowler]

My dogs ate my meter, or I would just go measure the lines at the battery after disconecting them to see if I still have 12vs or so.

;-) Some vicious dogs you have there. ;-)

I don't have the answer to your question but it is an interesting one. When I get my trailer I am sure I will be asking you some questions as I like the low power draw setup. The new TV looks nice. Glad you found one to replace the one you liked so well in your other trailer.

Duane

[Kathy Davisson]

Gina, Your decorating looks great! I guess I need to get busy and do some. You've inspired me. Great Job!

[Roger H]

Gina, it's absolutely gorgeous. Fender Mojo oil? Hmmm....

Roger

[james kent]

I think it looks great. I like the personel touch that makes it yours. Please excuse my ignorance. When you talked about "fender" I actually expected guitars hanging all over the place, but you must put something into the empty frame. After all, who are we if you take our dreams away?
Jim

[Christi V.]

Looks awesome!!!

[Taylor Kissinger]

That is nice. I would have been camping earlier, thow in my clothes and my John Wayne coffee pot and off I go in a couple of years I would still be thinking about decorating
LoL

[Gina D.]

I suppose there are advantages to having your rig captive. My service was delayed due to the WDH delivery (It came last friday) so I have not felt safe taking it anywhere until it gets the brakes etc checked. Propane too.

James, guitars are coming

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Good job Gina!! The McMansion interior has been rejuvenated!

Kurt & Ann K.

[Per Walthinsen]

If your 12v fuse holders take the two-prong push-in fuses which are the norm for auto use now, count yourself lucky. I have the block in the picture below and as I have mentioned before, it is serious malfunctions about to happen.

It could be that someone had the same problem as on mine and decided (probably wisely) to change out the fuse block for a modern one. Mine required serious rework using a drill press, taps, etc. but now is solid.

Before I switched out the converter part (money well spent) I had to shut off the converter before using the sound system. It buzzed badly, and the voltage would take sudden and inexplicable spikes which even destroyed a 12v CF bulb I was trying out. That's history now, but it took a bit of work.

I believe you are right that if you just hit the converter breaker you thereby turn off the charger part and can run things off AC plus battery until the battery runs down.

We probably have two different approaches to the converter idea, since my trailer is always plugged in and also used for overflow housing and I wanted the least fuss and mess with the electrical system (my obsession). It also allows me to keep a little electric heat on to keep things dry and unfrozen as well as the batteries always fully charged.. In my experience the original converter was pretty dumb and would eventually boil out the batteries. I am lagging in solar, but that will come.

If I understand you correctly you do not have the fuse block shown below?

[Gina D.]

Per, no. I have the standard auto pushin types.. Completely different block, and it fits perfectly, no signs of modification.

I am going to bypass the charger and hardwire in a shumacher and minder.

One of these days, I will get around to pulling out the power center. It weighs a ton and that space could be better used for storage.

I know lots of folks swear by them, but I just swear AT them!

Charger charges battery, 12v items run off battery.. low current draw items don't take more than what was put in... yada yada yada....

No convertor needed.

[Gina D.]

ps.. I am not in the mood for designing and building a whole new distribution panel.. so that will have to wait until I am REALLY bored!!!

[Per Walthinsen]

Sounds like a good plan to me, and plenty of people endorse that strategy. One difference is that with a converter you can run 12v stuff all the time as long as you are plugged in and not drain the batteries. Don't know if your scheme will work differently.

When I switched out the converter for an IntelliPower unit I saved a whopping 9 lbs in weight even though it is 45 Amps vs 20 Amps for the stock unit. There was a pretty large transformer in there. The distribution panel, on the other hand, seems OK to me as is.

One ongoing concern I have and something I pay attention to when making mods is that my trailer has significantly greater weight on the streetside wheel than on the curbside one. It does influence me when I muck around with changes.