Tote-n-Tarry Lemon Chiffon Rehab

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

On my Class C, which has "zero" counterspace, after my last trip I got rid of this useless, finger--pincher metal fold-up stove cover which, even though it's not that old, had started rusting and paint flakes would fall from underneath it requiring stove-cleaning...so I just kept it up and folded away. So I made a little cutting board which fits snug over the top of the stove and won't slide around and gives me room for the coffee maker, cutting up veggies, etc.; this might be of use in a trailer too since counter-space is minimal. I think it will be quieter when driving around too, than clang-y metal. The interior is "golden oak" but I couldn't stain or put varnish or lacquer on this to protect the wood because those finishes are toxic to use on a cutting board in contact with food. I read up on this and most woodworkers melt nontoxic paraffin into mineral oil and paint it on, but this remains a bit sticky and has to be reapplied and raises the grain. So I thought I would try to just melt the paraffin directly into the freshly sanded pine cutting board, and it seemed to work pretty good using a heat gun. I started with a brush trying to brush around the melted wax but soon found that holding the paraffin block narrow side down and dragging it while holding the heat gun on it, along with the forced air, moved wax around quite readily, plus it just soaked into the wood nicely. Then I took a sharp scraper and scraped off the excess, gave it a 150 sand to take off even more, then buffed it with a towel. I think it will be useful, as you can see I hadn't even a place to make a PBJ. I will be doing this in the Totie, too...sometime in 2037 when I'm up to the counter-top part.
I'd replace the metal if I ever sold this RV, but I don't think this is a real "safety issue", can't see the stove lighting itself and I'd just remove it when cooking.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

Haven't "turned the corner" on this Totie yet, persevering and little by little the thousand-item to-do-list gets shorter.
I did make an oak counter top...now that IS getting way ahead of things...



...and an oak dinette table



I put in one exterior plug-in. As I go, I try to insulate as long as the expansion foam has a place to go and I'm done wiring in that area (though I suppose I could use a bendy long drill and make a new cavity if need be). It's not too pretty but it's going to be inside walls/cabinets; this shows how much gap I have to work with. The exterior I've chalked off into sections as it's so bad and needs mucho-prep work before painting. I've also taken the paint off the belly band and the silicon off the top at least. I think I can get the aluminum all shiny again.


I finished wiring all the trailer lights for a 7 prong and attaching them neatly in junction box for all four lights, bagged them...I guess I'll suspend them outward with strings when it gets painted ultimately, sometime in 2041.




Well you can see how bad things are, the crispy flaking gel coat needs lots of help, only about a hundred holes to fill, but really that's not as onerous as the minutiae of wiring, gas, water etc. It's getting better (I keep telling myself that).

I also framed in for the power center, put in a 110 outlet and light. It's a fun puzzle, a hobby that's at least better than playing freecell or majong.

[Filbert V.]

Wow, I thought we owned the last TNT survivor! I'm glad ours has a little sister/brother out there. Ours was originally white and yellow as well, with a blue and green tweed interior. I'd LOVE to see more photos of the outside to see how much ours has in common. Ours is a 1972 built in Petaluma, California. Good luck with your rehab, and may you have many many enjoyable years with it!

[Filbert V.]

Thank you for saving another TNT, and looking forward to seeing the progress. It will all be worth it in the end, as ours has been trouble free for over 40 years now!

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

Originally Posted by Filbert V.

Thank you for saving another TNT, and looking forward to seeing the progress. It will all be worth it in the end, as ours has been trouble free for over 40 years now!

Hi! Nice rig! I want to put the brand name by stencil on this later after it's painted. I'm curious to see your interior and service-side close up. Mine was just a shell and they'd taken out all vents, inlets/outlets/wires/plugs/lights/heat, so if you have some free time to load pictures or a link I'd love to see how it once was to try to duplicate as much as possible.

I think I'm really liking this double hull, I can feed wires and insulate in it; at first I was all worried about insulation coverings but I can probably put in a dozen cans of foam just between the hulls all hidden which will also lend rigidity.

Just one question; does the original Totie have a vertical bar support between the countertop and the upper fiberglass cabinet? Thanks.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

This is a photo from a screengrab of a video of a guy using this unit in his mini-home.
I'm trying to read the instructions and getting a bit of a headache!

So what I think is this...the DC is pretty straightforward, all those prongs are for stab auto-fuses, the corresponding numbered wires in the back are for each DC circuit, the whites go to the neutral buss, the reds are for 30A 12V, the blacks for 15/20A 12V...OK

As far as AC: Now the 30A main AC comes in through the back, the whites/grounds go to their busses, the black goes to the 30A main shut-off breaker on the left, this energizes the bar.

There'd be 2 or more other breakers to the right of the main shut-off.

So what then would you do to say an example romex 12/2 from a 110 outlet coming through the back...the outlet needs power so the black would go to the _________ ?

Thanks Bob Miller in advance.

[Filbert V.]

Well the interior is pretty stock, but we had to remove the rusty fridge and stove top. We use the fridge area for a porta potty, and replaced the stove top with a velcro strapped wooden cutting board. We can put a portable electric or gas cook top on top as needed. The cabinets are all original particle board and built into the shell. There was no decorative wrought iron divider between the kitchen and the bedroom We're taking it out on March 6th, at which time I'll be able to take more detailed photos for you. Just remind me with an email at eurojet@juno.com, and I'll send you iPhone photos of whatever bits you need to see. Filbert

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

Originally Posted by Filbert V.

Well the interior is pretty stock, but we had to remove the rusty fridge and stove top. We use the fridge area for a porta potty, and replaced the stove top with a velcro strapped wooden cutting board. We can put a portable electric or gas cook top on top as needed. The cabinets are all original particle board and built into the shell. There was no decorative wrought iron divider between the kitchen and the bedroom We're taking it out on March 6th, at which time I'll be able to take more detailed photos for you. Just remind me with an email at eurojet@juno.com, and I'll send you iPhone photos of whatever bits you need to see. Filbert

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to support the top cabinet ultimately. I like that you adapted yours to your needs, I guess with an older rig you feel more freedom to do what you want with it. Some people here cut their older rigs up for dinettes and queen size beds and such, they'd probably not do that with a nice undamaged new rig!

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

the circled buss is what I don't "get"...it reads "120 V HOT"

so the circuit breaker bar is energized

you need power to say a 12/2 outlet, so the line comes in the back
the black would have to be connected to the non-main circuit breaker

but the 120VHOT circled buss...what is done with that?

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

OK I hear from a valued senior member that that 4 screw vertical 120V HOT bar is not needed in US versions of wiring, it is for Canadian standards.
Thank you
ugh and argh!

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

I called Progressive Dynamics and that vertical buss bar IS required, IT IS THE CONVERTER BUSS BAR. Without energizing that, you will not charge your battery. Here's what you do to wire this thing:

DC-s wire to back red and black wires, whites to neutral buss, for up to 15A
Battery wires to top big screws (+ and -)
AC-s run like this:
30A inlet shore power comes in through round hole in back, black goes directly to the 30A main shut-off breaker on the left to energize the bar, white/ground to their busses
Then you can use up to 2 15A or 1 30A breaker to the right of the 30A main breaker for your systems (that is to say your romex from your plugs/lights etc. coming through the pinch holes in the back, blacks to nonmain breakers and grounds/neutrals to their busses).

But you must use another 15A breaker for your CONVERTER. So you will have a black wire running from this converter 15A to the converter buss bar which reads 120V HOT (this is the important part).

If this is not done the battery will go dead.

If this deviates from the wisdom pool please let me know. Thanks.

[Pineapple Man]

Originally Posted by Ian G.

Fun project. Looks like it was the same original color as my Boler.
You call it Lemon Chiffon, I call it Buttercup yellow

I really like the gravel shield. Where those factory ? What kind of material is the black stuff ? kinda looks woven.. So neat that it was already two-tone, wish mine was, (but can't imagine what's involved in painting one

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

A: These are 8 LED toggle switches which control 4 exterior porch lights, the pump, fridge and undercabinet LED string lights + 1 extra for "what-if" and symmetry.
B: This is the USB/12V "cigarette lighter" charging center. The respective 12V wires for switches, charger and all appliances/lights are ready to be wired to the PD4045 later.
C: These are wires to the LED undercab lighting (nightlights).
D: This is the (dusty) junction box for all of the 7 prong trailer wires. There will be a cabinet door over this ultimately.
E: Lots of "back and forth" between construction of dinette, bondo-ing, and fine tune spackling, painting, sanding, re-do-s etc. It's not done yet, but getting smoother. I decided to stay with flat paint and then varnish over it once it's perfectly painted/smooth, at least on the cabinets. This totie had been flat interior painted and I couldn't really remove it and it was adhering good so the rest will just be sanded/painted over flat too; it cleans up easily.
F: I hacked apart the fiberglass to make couch into a dinette configuration but every force vector angle was reinforced with pressure treated 2X4s and screwed back together, then covered with clean plywood, bondo-d etc.
G: This is the cut-out for where the PD4045 power control center will go (on the front not the top). The battery will go in the right compartment in a box with a hydrogen gas vent to the outside because it wouldn't be easily accessible behind the PD4045. I haven't received my 30A inlet yet so haven't wired it all up.
H: Been painting with a dense sponge roller, seems to evade bristle marks.
The plywood is dry and intact just not pretty, in the end a new floor will go over all. The white part is fiberglass floor.

My goal is to stick with electrical aside from preliminaries to its install. Once that's done I'm taking a break!

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

Originally Posted by Pineapple Man

I really like the gravel shield. Where those factory ? What kind of material is the black stuff ? kinda looks woven.. So neat that it was already two-tone, wish mine was, (but can't imagine what's involved in painting one

The interior of their rehab is amazing.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

This is the idea I camd up with for my Class C, thought it may be of use in a fiberglass trailer perhaps.
I took 2 chain link fence pipes cut to length, supported by an articulating bracket arm, horizontal board with cutouts and a vertical support, covered with a sewn canvas/tarp (to prevent sagging) cot. I need to get better rubber covers for the pipe ends because they're sharp. To stow, I just pop it out and roll it up and it goes in the nose of the top bunk, weighs all of 6 pounds for a 35" bed. Yes I tested it, it's sturdy! I had to put a stop screw on the outer pole to prevent collapsing interior-ly, and this works well, it's static and kinda cool! (the last picture is fuzzy from a dusty lens) When it's all taken apart there's no real impositions or obstacles; it's for extra sleep capacity if needed.



The bracket locks when extended horizontally.








The couch also folds flat for the bottom of the "bunk".

[Ian G.]

Originally Posted by Pineapple Man

I really like the gravel shield. Where those factory ? What kind of material is the black stuff ? kinda looks woven.. So neat that it was already two-tone, wish mine was, (but can't imagine what's involved in painting one

Yes the gravel gaurd was factory, made from rubber floor runner and attached with what looked like carpet adhesive. The edge was finished in an aluminum moulding screwed into the fiberglass.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

What with 8 switches I used block terminals or I'd have had a ball of spaghetti. I had to enlarge one compartment for the battery in a sealed box with a vent hose, but I can stow it such that most of the compartment is available. So the driver side nose compartment is tied up but still have the right one. I'll re-glass the enlarged compartment "depression" for the lid and cut a new lid.
So that's 7 switches for lights, fridge, pump and one big red switch for main battery shut-off, a feature I like since one can shut off any future meters etc. if it sits, or to make it easier to change out a fixture. I built a box over the block terminal configuration -- all of these are 12 V not 120 V -- to dissuade from use as a storage area. The connections are very tight and also sandwiched down with plexiglass tops since they're hot. It's easy to diagnose problems visually. Yes I used some leftover Romex 12/2 for some DC circuits, having read the "big debate" over multistrand I decided that Airstreams with 12/2 40+ years old are stable, and the real issue is metal fatigue, any twisted connections are prone to snapping...maybe in 42 years or so, so there are no twisted connections used with the 12/2 either. In my case since I had to physically shove the wires through the double hull, and I had 12/2 anyway, it just made sense to use it up.
One important note I got from PD is never to use the inverter when plugged to alternating current, which nobody would do anyway since the whole point of the inverter is to make AC from DC, but just in case one "got curious" it's not good for the converter as the charge would loop through it.
Other than that, it's next hooking up the juice and take a break.
Afterwards, tackling the roof vent, cabinet supports, gas stove/heater, then water/drain/tank/toilet? As weather improves I'm bondo-ing the zillions of holes and I've drilled many holes into the interior hull to pump in foam insulation...gradually, don't want "cellulite walls". Then I'll bondo over the holes sand and paint.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

I love the allure flooring but what with working and working on the Totie I don't have time to install it yet in my Class C, but I hated the cheap factory vinyl and I'd spilled some solvent on it (yellow splotch under can), white floor shows every pine needle...I was also surprised how much it had faded, it used to be kind of pink (under the threshold).
So I used TSP to wash it, then a Deglossing liquid from Home Depot, then rinsed it and painted it with Behr Porch Paint. I think this will hold for some time. I dried it at 68F inside the RV for a few days.
Just an idea in case you need a tie-over or you may just love the simple fix. Some people tape off and do fancy designs.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

Man, have I made some bumbles and had to do so many re-do-s I've lost count! But I persist and progress is being made.
Here's some of my adaptations and status report:
1. I put the electrical up front due to weight distribution, then realized the 30A cord won't fit in the compartment along with the electrical. Besides I like the idea of using front compartments for storage and worried about some pot of spaghetti water sloshing onto the circuits so I started to move it to the back.
2. When I started moving things to the back, I saw that the former owners had duct taped over the fender fiberglass, under which I now see there was a big hole... plus they'd neatly sawed off the edge of the outer fiberglass on the curb side by a few inches. So before electrical I had to take off the old duct tape which took a heat gun and acetone, then sand then vacuum then fiberglass the hole then make a cardboard backer to somehow reconstruct the sawed off part on the outside edge along the whole driver's side. I'm monkeying around with that now, realizing it's going to take a whole bunch of fiberglass fabric and resin to reconstruct. But oh well, it's started. I guess someone ran over a boulder or something and instead of repairing fiberglass, which is easily done, they mauled it off completely. When my relative was purchasing it this went unnoticed because you have to compare the two sides simultaneously, and it was kinda sneaky what they did.
Thank God fiberglass is so maleable.
3. I thought I could sand (wearing breathing protection of course at all times and an oompaloompa hooded suit too) fiberglass...well you can but it's slow even with 50 grit. So we got an angle die grinder with 80 grit and if you're not careful you'll gnaw right through everything (again thank God fiberglass is so workable), meaning it's fast and effective with the proper "touch". This is a good thing, it means I can put on all the bondo (both pink and green kind with strands) and resin I need to fill in all the pocks, holes, dings etc. and build out the port edge and it literally can be sculpted back to where it needs to be.
4. I had my electrical all laid out neatly in block terminals with plexiglass tops, everything worked (yay!) even my Star Trek LED switch board which looks cool all lit up, but when I decided to move it all, I decided I'm going to turn the hot block terminal attachment boards vertically thus lessening any possibility of water condensation under the plexiglass, plus lessening the amount of space required for my layout with the PD4045 under the bed. So we'll have a big drawer under the bed, and to get to the PD the drawer will have to be removed but that's OK since the lit LED main battery shut-off switch (*my absolute favorite feature!) will be on the diagonal forward portion and easily accessible and if you need to cut off the AC you can just unplug it first, then get to the panel (can't do that to a house!). On the Totie there's only room for the PD under the bed or in the dinette up front, which didn't work.
5. I put in a bigger 14" 12V fan/vent so I had to cut a hole for it...but this Totie had been converted to a tent shell so they'd bondo'd a huge chunk of some kind of cement board over the top anyway so that got cut out. Then I realized there was an opportunity for more insulating with Great Stuff when the sandwich layers of the double hull were revealed. The roof is curved/slanted and so I had to build up a ridge on the outside, but this took a lot of design since it was all angle cuts out of composite plastic decking material, which I then bondo'd around the rim so it could all fit in and the top would be horizontal. Next I'll use butyl tape and ... can't decide whether to bolt it though and through or just screw on the flange to the composite. Anyway, what a job!
6. My insulation idea via GreatStuff foam between the 2 hulls seems to work pretty good. The first try, though it looked fine when I was done, the next day it showed lumps which I was able to even out by pumping more in to the depressions. In order not to do that again, I drilled a zillion chickenpox holes for the gap/crack level filler and put in smaller uniform amounts into each hole. I can't see, but I can knock and hear, where it's been filled, and there's no lumps this way. Here's a trick: Use a plastic ABS 1/2" chunk and tape it to the lever so you can finger activate with leverage it to avoid hand fatigue, also just use "really warm" but not hot water in a coffee can to warm up the can as you get to the last 25% of the can out faster (otherwise it takes a looong time) -- but don't do this at first or it just comes out too fast to move it hole to hole without a mess (and always wear gloves since GreatStuff never comes off your skin until you shed!).
7. I am excited to get beyond this fiberglass mess and reinstall electrical because the next things are gas hookups, heater installation, water tank/water line/drain hookups, and I'm going to put in a black tank underneath.
8. I sanded, resanded, repaired the door, primed with tinted fiberglass primer then painted with some teal blue marine paint but it just scratches too easily and so I'm sanding the paint back off and I ordered fiberglass paint close to the original manilla color. That way if it scratches it's unlikely to show up as much. Next I get to put up the door again with new hinges and latch using new hardware. I wanted to get these flush depressed Allen machine bolts ("Stainless Steel Countersunk Flat Head Hex Socket Cap Screw Bolts"), I only found metric ones on eBay, but I like the look of these for the front door, with lock nuts on the back. I still have no door and a big hole in the roof!
9. The windows, I was going to repair the plexiglass since I'd read an article that they do this all of the time with small airplanes but it takes a whole bunch of sandpaper grits, a lot of patience, you have to drill a hole at the end of cracks and backfill with a cut-off rod of plexiglass and glue it all back. So I'm going to research whether Scamp windows will fit, to see if I can just put new ones in.
So anyway I'm learning a lot and now I know I can wire up a whole RV even with fancy switches!
The only thing I hate is fiberglassing, even with an OSHA mask and suit, you have to shower immediately as the smell just gets everywhere.

[Tote-n-Tarry No.2]

This rig has a double hull so after going through dozens of insulation options that I'd apply to the surface, I found that closed cell foam is awesome, non-flammable insulation, and provides extra structural integrity while being lightweight. So I started putting it between the hulls. I found that steady equal amounts in many holes result in no bulges, using the small gap foam. For the wall surface area in this one picture, at least 1.5 cans of foam was pumped in, quite a bit, and this is going all over the rig. Totie's interior walls were quite in need of lots of bondo work anyway, so what's a few hundred more chickenpox holes to bondo over? It will all "go away" once bondo-d, sanded and painted...as it was all latex painted anyway.

Looks a bit weird and trust me, you all fret over putting a single hole in your fiberglass and here I am putting in about 500 -- but it will all work I believe, as it comes smooth after the bondo and the yellow paint looks nice. If I do get a bulge, I just go back and drill around it and pump in enough to smooth it out. In any case, this insulation is not going anywhere now and I like that even if it got moist it wouldn't mush down like fluff insulation; I think the fact that it takes up the shell cavity will prevent moisture too.