Preparing a 1991 Scamp 16

[honda03842]

Carol,

I actually have 2 small boxes on that side. I simply screw the box covers to the floor with 1/2 inch, broad head screws (called modified truss screws #8 x 1/2" available from Lowes). The screws do not go thru the floor.

I believe I put 6 screws in each cover. The screws are about an 1 1/2 " in from the edges of the cover. I did not drill pilot holes, simply screwed thru the plastic into the wood. I'll post a picture in the morning.

Also I'm not storing lead blocks in them. The one on the non water tank side is the heaviest with a 50' extension cord and some other electrical parts.

[honda03842]

Carol,

These are the screws that hold the cover to the bottom of the trailer. I do not put the screws to the edges because it makes it easier to open and close the handles.

This is the heaviest box, the one with the 50' construction extension cord. After 400 tow miles there has been no apparant loosening of the box.

[Carol H]

Thanks Norm, was thinking of just doing one small one to hold all my electrical adapters.

[John_M]

The sliders make them even more useful because of the easier access, nice!

[honda03842]

Added a second large box on sliders coming out the other side.

Each box now has a chain from an eyehoof to each slider keeping them from hitting the ground when the box is released. As well the eye hook that holds one end of the chain is positioned to prevent the front end of the box from moving ffrom side to side while traveling.

The end of the box that slides down and out has a locking hook that keeps it in place. Turning this hook a quarter turn releases the box.

If anyone wants to repeat this installation I can provide closeups of the installation.

The second picture shows a box on slides before I installed the second box.

[John McDonald]

Going way back in this great thread, you added some sort of electric heating rod to your hot water tank. Can you please give me more info on this item?

Thanks John

[honda03842]

John,

I bought my hotwater electric heating element on ebay. It is also available from camping world and other parts suppliers.

Here's a link to one source on ebay, there may be others.

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

It is very easy to install. They come in various wattages. I believe mine is in the 400 to 600 watt range. I installed an outlet near the water heater to plug it in though it could be wired directly into the breaker box.

As well I installed an on off switch behind the cover of the hot water heater so I can shut it off should I decide to empty the hot water tank.

If you need more details on the installation let me know. It's an easy installation, maybe a half hour.

[Spanke]

Those boxes are a great idea, thanks for the pictures and tutorial. Continued happy traveling to both of you!

Spanke

[John McDonald]

Thanks Norm and Ginny, I'll probably get one of these when the weather warms up a bit here in Duluth so I can test it out and not freeze the water in the lines etc.

The Camping World site has a 6 gal and a 10 gal model, but the ebay site does not mention this, nor any info on wattage. Any idea how to find out this info on ebay...never bought anything on ebay before, but this may be the time to start.

Also, how does the thermostat part attach/fasten/stick to the water heater?

Cheers John

[honda03842]

If you schroll down the page they do mention wattage for the 6 gallong and 10 gallon units. I believe it's 425 watts for 6 and 600 for 10 gallon. If you can not see it PM me and I'll send you the info directly. Also their are usually a few sellers of these things on ebay.

[honda03842]

John - electric hot water kits - Amazon also sells them

Amazon.com: Camco 11673 6 Gallon RV Hot Water Hybrid Heater: Automotive

[John McDonald]

Thanks for everything. I missed the extra info on my first visit to the ebay site.
Cheers john

[honda03842]

Preparing a Scamp 16.


I have made a lot of modifications to the Scamp 16, most worked well, some need improvement and others simply do not work well. I'm going to break this into a number of posts because it's going to be a little long. In the process one can get an overview of the things we carry.


Tow Vehicle Modifications.


Tyre Dog TD 1000 Tire Pressure Sensor.
I have two sensors on the trailer and two on the Honda's rear tires. It has worked well since installed, reporting temperature and pressure. I have not had a tire situation that required attention though it did report low pressure on one tire on a cold morning; it was down only a half pound.


Ultragauge Tow Vehicle Monitor.
Many new cars have this and tire information displayed, but my 2004 doesn't. It provides all kind of information about the Honda that I never knew before. It quickly became obvious that towing in 4th gear was better than 5th gear in terms of mpg. Watching Instantaneous MPG modifies your driving behavior.


Also though my Honda's temperature gauge never seems to move, the Engine Temperature does increase on hills. I also like knowing the distance driven since the last oil change and the miles left in my gas tank based upon my mpg.


Mileage.
From those who haven't read my posts on mileage, we've averaged 22.7 mpg over this year's 5-6 months of towing. We have crossed into CA, driven plenty of mountain passes and our share of dirt roads. We have never felt under powered towing our 2400 lb 1991 Scamp 16. We have on a couple occasions had to down shift to third, gone of those was going over the 'hump' to Pahrump from Vegas a 7 mile 6-7% grade.


Honda Rear Shelf.
We built a rear shelf the behind the rear seats of the Honda. We use this shelf to hold our four light aluminum chairs. Below the shelf are three plastic bins. One bin holds various liquids, another holds cleaning materials and the third holds blankets and the like. In addition we carry a 6 ton bottle jack, a small compressor and a satellite dish under the dish. It has worked well.


Honda Rear Seat.
We have two bins on the rear seat. One bin contains Ginny's maps and campground books. The other bins contain our rain jackets and a couple of sweaters. There is also a case of water on the seat. On the floor is , our small hiking backpack and two walking sticks, and our tripod for the satellite dish.


Between the seats we carry a small shoe box sized bin where we keep a 100 watt cigarette lighter inverter.

[honda03842]

Preparing a Scamp 16.



Electrical Modifications.


LED Lights.
We purchased our LEDs from a Hong Kong source, I recall for about $3 a piece. They certainly draw a lot less current but I'd certainly like them to be brighter than they are. I will probably look further for brighter LEDs. Ours are bright white which I do like. LED intensity seems to be an area of continual improvement.


1200 Watt Inverter.
The 1200 watt Inverter seems to work well. We have run all the non-heavy duty portions of the trailer with it. As has been mentioned, I need to install a safer method of interfacing between the Inverter and the AC system of the trailer.


AC Power Cord.
Our power cord pulls out thru the side of the trailer from under the door side dinette seat. I want to replace this with a quick disconnect and eliminate the use of the under dinette space for cord storage. The quick disconnect cord will be stored in the rear bumper box.


AC Hot Water Heater Modification.
The addition of an AC heating element has worked well. Occasionally I can hear the heating element at night. I would like to move the AC switch for this element to a place inside the trailer instead of it's present location behind the heater door.


Outside Entry Light.
I replaced the bulb with an LED. Next I want to replace the whole fixture with a proximity light that comes on as you approach.


Rear Tail Lights.
I would like to replace the tail lights with LED fixtures. I have ordered them and will replace them in Seattle.


Battery.
We have a single type 24 battery. I will add an additional type 24 battery in Seattle. . This requires making a wider battery storage shelf on the front of the trailer. When I do this I will replace our steel propane tank with a lighter fiberglass propane tank. I'll probably install our second solar charger so the two batteries can be charged independently off the same panels


Water Pump.
I'm going to research water pumps versus current draw and go with the pump that has the lowest current draw. Right now it seams the water pump draws more power than anything except the 1200 watt Inverter.


12 Volt outlets.
We have three but could used one near our satellite receiver and a permanent one near our wi-fi hot spot. It appears that we can run the satellite receiver and TV off a single 100 watt cigarette lighter Inverter and not turn on the 1200 watt Inverter. I have one 12 volt outlet behind the outside refrigerator vent to allow me to plug in the compressor for filling the trailer tires.


AC Outlets.
We have 10 now and they have worked well. The only issue we've had is one of the Scamp installed outlets became intermittent. Their outlets seem to use the push connections in the back of the outlets instead of the more secure screw connections.


Air Conditioner.
The AC unit has worked well keeping us cool in both dry AZ and humid FL. Though our 5000 BTU AC worked well, we recognize it was not mid summer in either place. Actually we used the AC only a few times, typically when it was hot and we were cooking a significant supper. We have learned that we don;t need to get to 70F to feel cool. In dry AZ the mid 80s felt comfortable and similarly in FL where simply pumping out some humidity made it comfortable. We do use a small fan to blow the cooling air around the trailer. We are quite happy that the AC draws about 5 amps.


Solar Panels.
We have 80 watts of panels taped to the roof with very high bond strength, exterior tape made by Scotch (3M). It has held the flexible panels to the roof. The panels weigh about 2 lbs each (2 – 40 watt panels) and are about a 1/10th of an inch thick.


Typically the panels charge the battery by noon though we do not seem to discharge them very much using the lights, water pump, TV and satellite dish. One day we also used the Inverter to run the electric blanket before getting in bed.


Brake Disconnect Switch.
We added a Brake disconnect switch to the tongue that activates the trailer brakes should the trailer become disconnected from the tow vehicle. We tested it by pulling the pin and it does work though we're hoping it never has to serve it's purpose.


Wi-Fi Hotspot Antenna Booster.
We have a booster for our 3G wi-fi hotspot. It has an external antenna. In low signal strength areas we like to mount this antenna outside. The antenna is magnetic and needs to sit on a small steel plate for optimum reception. I'm planning to mount a small steel plate on the roof for this purpose.

[honda03842]

Utilities.


Water Tank.
We have dry camped for three days, filling our 12 gallon water tank before parking the trailer. Our goal is to replace the 12 gallon tank with a 20 gallon tank. When we replace the tank we will add the ability to fill this tank from the city water connection as well as the pour in connection.


Water Filter and Pressure Regulator.
The Water Filter and Pressure regulator will be mounted on the bottom of the trailer and filter the water before entering the tank or plumbing system of the trailer. This area will be insulated to protect them from freezing weather.


Water Pump.
As stated earlier we plan to replace the pump with one that draws less current, suggestions invited.


Propane Tank.
As Single Propane Tank seems adequate for us. If we have hookups it lasts at least 3 months since it's only used for cooking. If we're running the fridge continuously it lasts between 10 – 15 days depending on the temperature. With a fiberglass tank we can clearly see the propane level and refill it as necessary. In any case the Propane tank lasts longer than the food in the refrigerator. We also learned on this trip that the fridge does not like strong winds when running on Propane. Until we figured out how to keep the fridge running in strong winds, we filled a couple of small food containers with ice. This adequately kept the fridge cool enough.


Grey Tank and Black Tank.
Though I've often considered increasing the capacity of these, they seem to be adequate for our needs. Of the two the black tank could use more capacity.


I do plan to change the black tank's vent to allow it to be used to back flush the black tank.

[honda03842]

I have added a Bumper Storage Box to my son's 1977 Scamp 13.

Compared to the one on my 1991 Scamp 16, it uses two 5x5" pieces of 4 foot fence posts. The 98" plastic fence post came from Lowes and the Box from Walmarts.

These are attached to the bumper and supported by three pieces of steel strapping set up in a suspension mode. The steel is attached to the bumper and wraps around the front of the plastic.

On his trailer I have offset the box slightly to provide room for another item on the fence post surface.

One of the posts contains a clothes line identical to the one used on our trailer.

As well we have added LED tail lights and 8 coats of Red Max Pro 3.

We are waiting for a 70 Watt flexible solar panel for the roof of his trailer. This will be taped to the roof like my solar panel.

[John McDonald]

What kind of air conditioner do you have that only draws 5 amps?

[honda03842]

John,

I took an old Frigidaire AC unit out of our bedroom. It is a 5000 BTU unit and draws 5 amps. In addition we draw a bit of 12 volt current for two computer muffin fans used to exhaust the hot air thru the floor of the closet.

If you go to Walmarts.com and look at their 5000 btu Frigidaire AC units you can download the spec sheet. I looked at one 5000 BTU unit and the current was 4.8 Amps.

It is more than adequate to cool our rig, though we don't spend summrs in Yuma or TX. We've used it about 3 or 4 times this year in Yuma and FL when cooking a 'heavy' dinner on a warm evening. Cooking on hot days can quickly drive the temp into the 90's. Turning on the AC quickly siucks out the humidity and cools the trailer down, quickly making it comfortable.

A couple of years ago we had a Casita with a floor venting AC unit. I think it was 6-8,000 btus and also easily cooled the rig and was not too large a current draw.

Hope that helps

[John_M]

Welcome back Norm.

[John McDonald]

Sorry, I had a serious senior moment (or a brain fart) because I thought those small units were 5000 watts not 5000 btus. Big difference.