Rebuild of 1988 Casita 16 - Page 12 - Fiberglass RV
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Old 08-24-2018, 11:10 PM   #221
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Name: Eric
Trailer: 1987 Casita 16
Illinois
Posts: 503
Thanks for the ideas -- they sound like a lot of fun.



Can't pull a camper here ....



... but this is a great place. Whale watching in Alaska.
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Old 08-25-2018, 06:26 PM   #222
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Name: Kelly
Trailer: Trails West
Oregon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EricAllyn View Post
Thanks for the ideas -- they sound like a lot of fun.



Can't pull a camper here ....



... but this is a great place. Whale watching in Alaska.
If you want photos to post here and be visible you need to use a lower resolution setting either when taking the shots or in a photo editing app.
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Old 08-31-2018, 08:07 AM   #223
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Name: Jamie
Trailer: Casita
Texas
Posts: 48
Really enjoying this thread, keep up the good work!
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Old 04-23-2019, 04:23 PM   #224
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Name: Eric
Trailer: 1987 Casita 16
Illinois
Posts: 503
I noticed a small crack in the front -- looks like I missed a small spot in the repair. After a couple of trips and a very hard winter, it showed up. Good thing about working on FG is mistakes can be sanded out and worked over again. So sanded down, put in new glass and epoxy sanded down. Will put on the gel coat when I get back from the trip in June. For now it solid and will see how it holds up in Utah and the area around there. Looking forward to getting on the road tomorrow. I think when I get back going to also rework the belly band area. The metal is just for show, so think I will fill in the little bit of gap and then sand it out and cover with gel coat. I am thinking this summer I will go over the whole outside again and then pick paint colors. time to work on it again.
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Old 04-29-2019, 09:13 AM   #225
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Name: Michael
Trailer: Casita 16ft.
California
Posts: 338
Eric,
If you get a chance to check your computer while away, Enjoy your trip!
Mike
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Old 05-25-2019, 08:43 PM   #226
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Name: Eric
Trailer: 1987 Casita 16
Illinois
Posts: 503
We just got back from our trip through the national parks in Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Great trip, and now there are a few things to work on. The water pump does not stay tight, so leaks a little. I am going to try something else. I will replace the pumped system, with several blue water jugs in that space, and see if I get along without the pump. We haven't used the stove at all, so will make some storage in that area. Need to check the batteries to make sure they are still good. They did not seem to hold a charge well, several times running down with just the CPAP going. The solar panels worked well giving lots of power when we were able to leave them in the sun all day.
Also want to do something with the bed, we aren't using the table so maybe will get a queen mattress that we fit in. Also likely will build a pull out drawer for storage under the bed.

I will document those as I go along, but will also check over the build to see if anything broke loose. Noticed another place on the front that could use a little touch up. Tomorrow I'll do a complete check and see what else comes up.
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Old 05-26-2019, 10:20 AM   #227
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Name: Michael
Trailer: Casita 16ft.
California
Posts: 338
Welcome home Eric. We are currently in New Mexico ourselves. Not in the Casita though. We are doing a 3 week house sitting for friends in Llano which is in the mountains 30 miles south of Taos. We pulled our little teardrop out here behind the Subaru for economy's sake and because we have a nice solar adobe house to stay in while we are here. Will return to the Casita for the summer after we get back from this trip.

Forget if we discussed this earlier. If so, ignore the question. Are you using the humidifier with your CPAP? If so that is what might be using up all of your juice. I am running mine directly on 12v from a little lithium-ion batter power station that I got from Amazon. It will run the cpap 4 or 5 days according to what I have read. I haven't used it more than 3 days without charge myself but it was still going strong.
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Old 05-28-2019, 10:00 PM   #228
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Name: Eric
Trailer: 1987 Casita 16
Illinois
Posts: 503
No humidifier just the CPAP. I think I have a bad cell in one of the batteries. If it ever stops raining here, I'm going to pull them out and see how they charge separately. We enjoyed Taos and camped at Mesa Verde for a couple of days, then did the 5 parks in Utah. Was a great trip. Going to set up the bed to stay up, and a pull out drawer for storage.
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Old 08-31-2019, 01:14 PM   #229
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Name: Eric
Trailer: 1987 Casita 16
Illinois
Posts: 503
We have now camped in the Casita for 2 longer trips, and a couple of summers of little stuff. Racked up about 12,000 miles and discovered how we generally camped. Some observations -- we shower in camp showers, occasionally get motel rooms for variety when trying to make more mileage and get across the country, eat in restaurants as we go from place to place, and have only used the awning a couple of times. Crawling over each other at night to go the the bathroom is a hassle, and the A/C is not as effective back inside a cabinet. So now it is time to fix a few things and reshape the inside to fit how we camp.

1. Did not have enough support for the walls and the shell has "rounded out" so will change bracing.

2. Will change the bed so we sleep differently.
3. Take out the water system (seemed that the pex was too rigid at the pump and worked lose every so often, with water leaking while we drove)
4. rework the electrical neater work, and change battery location and weight distribution.

5. make a table we can sit at since bed will be more permanent.
6. Finish all the outside, take down to awning.


I'll include pictures for anyone interested, as this has been a real learning experience. As I was thinking this through I realized there were to basic ways to look at it -- replace a tent camping or replace house living. We started thinking we would have a mini house, and realized we were more interested in having a moveable tent with bathroom and electric. Knowing how we use it, will really help the rework.
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Old 08-31-2019, 03:08 PM   #230
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Name: Michael
Trailer: Casita 16ft.
California
Posts: 338
Hi Eric,

It is good to hear from you again. As there are many parallels in our Casita experiences, I for one would be very interested in any updates.

Because our big trips this year has been a month long house sitting gig near Taos NM and that we will depart for England & Wales on Sept. 10th, our use of the Casita this year has been very local. No trips in the Casita longer than 150 miles from home. But there have been many weekends jaunts. The primary improvements I wish to make coming up are a good solar power system with lithium batteries, a 12v compressor fridge, and some plumbing improvements. I can report the plywood bulkhead arrangements I came up with has stabilized the walls of our trailer quite nicely.

Best Regards,
Mike
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Old 08-31-2019, 03:55 PM   #231
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Name: Eric
Trailer: 1987 Casita 16
Illinois
Posts: 503
Thanks. I am going to look your supports over as I near that stage. I realized looking at it, that I don't have support all the way to the floor. Nor do they sit on the frame. That has allowed the edge that hangs over the frame to go down and that draws the sidewalls out further and drops the roof line. I think it may also have effected the door. On the original floor, there were screws all through the floor, which connected it to the frame in many places, but with just using the bolts, it is bowed up in the middle, further creating problems. I will try to solve that by making sure I support at the frame position, or take the whole shell off and welding supports further out to the edge. Likely try the support first since its a lot more work to take the shell off, the supports will be needed either way. The plumbing was a bit of a surprise though, and might have been the rough roads we were on, but not really using it was also a little surprising. We will just flush with a little water from a jug, at least until I can figure something else out, like a gravity flow system.
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Old 08-31-2019, 05:51 PM   #232
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Name: Michael
Trailer: Casita 16ft.
California
Posts: 338
My bulkheads go from floor to ceiling and bear directly to the main chassis rails. There is no movement in them. I bolted them through the floor and ceiling using 5/16" stainless carriage bolts sealed with high grade caulking.

I don't think it is necessary to extend your added mounting brackets out to the edge of the body if whatever support you decide to add bears to the chassis or if trusses the edge of the body enough to make it self supporting as the factory cabinetry does. That said, I am eyeballing a project that will add 1 1/2 sguare steel tubing across my chassis between the body and the chassis. These be approximately the same frequency as the current factory cross members are but will extend to near the outer wall. I will do this not to support my wall but to give me some extra depth in the chassis which will allow me to tuck some waste water holding tanks and plumbing between the chassis rails. I see extending the tubing to the outer edge more as a hard point to tie or jack things from rather than support for the body.

Our trailer originally was a standard which did not come with a bathroom. It did have the customary porta potty that tucked under the forward goucho. My rebuild added a bathroom space but not the head, shower or the plumbing as of yet. We currently only have a nice private space to use our porta potty in. We really only use it for middle of the night bladder relief. Given that we typically stay in primitive BLM or forest service campgrounds equipped with outhouses, we can live without the toilet. What I really want is the shower. Having a shower will allow us to extend our boondocking adventures longer than the 3 days max that we have been doing.
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