Trillium 4500 in Michigan Journal

[John in Michigan]

Hello again Doctor Harold. I definitely plan to use a cartridge filter mask and apply the paint in a garage with the overhead door wide open.

Its difficult finding matching (tintable) paint that's relatively safe and easy to use. I believe most marine paints are relatively safe and easy to use, but I haven't found any of them that I can get matched at a local retail shop. And I don't have a "paint chip" that I can mail to the manufacturer to match the paint. Automotive paints can be color matched, however they must generally be sprayed on in a sealed paint booth wearing a ventilated suit, etc.

So I finally settled on a PPG industrial paint (ALK-200) that is an alkyd paint (no isocyanate) and can be color matched (I removed the door and took it to the paint shop) and can be brushed or rolled reasonably well.

-John

[Doctor Harold]

Hi John,

Some thoughts:

I used to work in an auto shop about 40 years ago that had a body man. He had a mask (not full face) that had a line that he hooked compressed air to. It had a valve to reduce the pressure, I don't remember if he even had driers and oil-water separators. His system was pretty primitive and I don't know if it would get past OSHA today. You definitely don't want to breathe unfiltered compressor air.

I see some positive pressure full-face masks on ebay for around $70. I did some painting on a firearm not too long ago with a cartridge respirator and won't do that again. With the alkyd paint I think a cartridge respirator might do fine.

Also about 40 years ago I had a darkroom. Most hobby darkrooms had an exhaust the to clear the air, but after reading everything I could get my hands on I found an article on positive pressure for darkrooms. You blow filtered air in and create positive pressure and if there is dust, it blows out. If you blow the air in, every crack sucks dust into your darkroom. Paint booths are similar.

About a year ago I needed to paint the hood on my Jaguar. Instead to trying to seal every crack in my garage, I put an extra-fine filter over the swamp cooler inlet and ran it without the water pump running. Then I blew pretty much everything in the garage with compressed air and raised a huge amount of dust with the garage door open. I closed the door and let the filtered air blow in all night and by morning had pretty much a dust free environment in which to paint. I was surprised at how well it worked.

Of course if you're using a roller, as Emily Litella said: never mind.

[John in Michigan]

I decided to archive my closet shelf project which was actually completed about 2 1/2 years ago. Added shelves to the closet. No holes were needed in the fiberglass or ensolite. The shelves are snug fit between the side panels. The side panels are not glued, screwed or fastened in any other way to the sides of the cabinet. Instead, they are held in place by the shelves.

[Doctor Harold]

Nice! I'm going to have to figure out something for the closet in my Scamp. Seeing yours is helpful.

[John in Michigan]

Doctor Harold, I neglected to identify the hardware used: Everbilt 1/4 in. Nickel Plated Angled Shelf Support (8-Pack) #802884

[Doctor Harold]

Thanks, looks like a good way to get the shelves mounted in a stable way.

[John in Michigan]

Well we finally finished our Spring projects and then last week had another shakedown cruise (550 mile round trip) to northern Michigan. Here are the Spring projects completed:

- Center band permanently patched and painted with matching PPG ALK-200 topcoat (still needs wet sanding and additional coat)
- Rear window removed, cleaned, polished, seals replaced, torque operator replaced, window re-installed in butyl tape using stainless pan head screws
- Herculiner with 95% of the rubber bits filtered out was applied to lower front of camper exterior as chip guard protection after sanding and patching the old pitted gel coat surface
- 2"x8" hole in the bottom of the camper body (in the fresh water tank compartment directly below the dinette) was patched with fiberglass mat and polyurethane resin, also, two relatively small cracks in other parts of the camper body were patched with the same material
- Began addressing door sag by installing 3 threaded inserts into the body behind the upper hinge, then attaching the hinge with ss machine screws

So far (fingers crossed) after experiencing several rainstorms and garden hose tests, the center band permanent patch AND rear window are completely dry. All of the other windows are dry as well. Our foam and bedding have stayed dry (phew!). Thanks to DW, the rear window turned out beautiful and operates like new. Also, the threaded inserts in the upper hinge of the door held well, and the machine screws held in tight, although I'll be appiying thread-lock. So, in summary, great results.

Here are some pics:

[Doctor Harold]

Wow, congratulations! Looks like it just came off the showroom floor.

Harold

[John in Michigan]

Thanks Doctor Harold! Well it did draw a lot of attention last week at Fisherman's Island State Park. This is a very nice rustic campground (pit toilets only, no floodlights, etc) on Lake Michigan just south of Charlevoix. One day we saw two adult bald eagles flying along the beach, then in the middle of a VERY dark night we heard the great horned owls calling. But back to the camper, four different groups wandered by and asked about the camper. And they were all middle aged and camping in tents (as were 80% of the campers in this campground). But these middle aged folks all shared that at this point they might be interested in a small camper.

[Doctor Harold]

Hi John,

I envy your trip... I bought my Scamp a year ago and have plans for a bunch of upgrades, but I hadn't taken it out or done hardly anything to it until then end of last month when I got evacuated for the Carr fire here.

When I evacuated Thursday July 26th the fire was about a mile from my house. I loaded up some stuff and left with the Scamp behind my truck. It was well over 100 degrees that day and it was too hot to sleep in the Scamp, so the first night I slept in the truck with my dog, running the AC every couple of hours to keep reasonably cool.

The next day I went to a refugee center, I mean evacuation center. It was still very hot and the halls where there was AC had signs that said no pets. My dog is pretty small, only 20 pounds and I think they would have let us in, but I'm not big on being cooped up with a lot of strange people, so I drove around town with the Scamp behind me, running the truck's AC, until I decided to go back to the evacuation center. I finally figured out this event wasn't going to be over soon, and it was 108 degrees, so I decided to head for the mountains.

I headed northeast and ended up in a tiny town (population 648) called Fall River Mills. The temperature was 92 degrees, very acceptable, but by that time I had had enough and wanted a shower and air conditioning in the worst way. I rented a motel room for three days before coming home to my house on the 30th.

The Carr fire is over 200,000 acres and is 85% contained. Two other fires have started in the last ten days or so, one is over 2,000 acres and is about 50 miles from here and is 85% contained, the other is about 6,000 acres burned, 18 miles north of here, and is 5% contained.

The air is unpleasantly smoky and ashes are still raining on my cars and everything else. If it gets worse we'll have to change our moniker from the Golden State to the Charcoal State.

I never spent a night in my Scamp, but it sure pulled nice.

Best,

Harold

[John in Michigan]

Wow Harold, you've had a pretty tough couple of weeks! Hopefully you and your dog will get through these fires unharmed, and your house undamaged.

Also, good luck with the Scamp. We started with a Boler 13 about the same vintage (1974), and it was a fine camper.

[Doctor Harold]

No worries, John.

It was a mild inconvenience and an adventure. It is extremely unlikely the fire will come back to burn me out. Funny thing: I have a lot of projects, and tools, and 20 years worth of collecting in my house, and a few collections are worth a bit of money.

As I was driving towards the mountains with my truck and my dog, and a few belongings, I thought: You know, if my house burns to the ground I'm free. I have some cash, and more importantly my dog, and my truck and even the Scamp. I can go where I want, and do what I want.

Sometimes we own stuff, and sometimes stuff owns us.

Sure it would be painful to go back and sift through the ashes, but after you do that you turn around and never look back.

I'm glad my house didn't burn. (My son's house suffered about $15k damage.) I have a lot of stuff that I treasure, but that comes at a cost, at least for a person like me.

I'm sure there are people who would never understand that.

I'm looking forward to fixing up the Scamp, but it's still hot here, 106 degrees today, so it will have to wait until cooler weather.

Thanks so much for the kind words,

Harold

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by Doctor Harold

Sometimes we own stuff, and sometimes stuff owns us.
I'm sure there are people who would never understand that.
Harold

Very true words Harold, I totally understand.

[Doctor Harold]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

Very true words Harold, I totally understand.

Thank You, Dave.

I guess in a legal sense, I own my dog, but I don't think of her as part of the "stuff" that I own. She and I were safe and that's all that really mattered. When it rains enjoy the rain, when it's 108 degrees outside, enjoy the AC!

It's funny how random thoughts run through your head though... while I was evacuated my ear started itching and I thought: "I need a q-tip, oh, maybe all my q-tips burned up, I guess I'll have to buy some."

It appears I have a burst pipe underground between the meter at the street and my house, somewhere under 30 feet of concrete. If my house had burned down I wouldn't have to repair that.

[John in Michigan]

Last year I renovated the original power converter to address worn out circuit breakers, broken mode switch, random loss of DC power, and problems with interior replacement LED bulbs that appeared to be caused by failing transformer or diode or capacitor (don't remember which). The following thread describes how I did it:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ter-79010.html

I replaced the circuit breakers and mode switch. Also replaced the transformer and diode or capacitor with a new power supply. The power supply does not charge the battery, instead a smart charger (CTEK MUS 4.3) is used.

[Karen L.]

WOW!! HELP!! I have a 13 ft Burro & a 2004 Huyndai Santa Fe.. I have a Brake controller but don't know anything about checking it! I just hop in & go, altho not often! What & how should I be checking it for???

[John in Michigan]

Hi Karen L,

Your brake controller should include a set of instructions for installing, adjusting and operating while towing. For example, my Tekonsha Prodigy P3 brake controller has a 12 page set of instructions.

Assuming the brake controller was correctly installed and the brake are working, the brake controller will display whether the brakes are connected and when brakes are engaged. On my brake controller, I can adjust the braking strength and the amount of time delay from when the towing vehicle brakes were engaged. I can also manually engage the trailer brakes at the brake controller to stop trailer swaying.

[ktrappe]

Thanks John

[John in Michigan]

My Trillium 4500 has 3 110 VAC outlets. Also has 8 LED light fixtures that use 1.5 amps DC total. Electrical power updates just completed:

- Progressive Dynamics PD5000 power panel
- permanently installed smart battery charger
- 12 volt AGM battery located inside near the axle

I recently removed the 42 year old 15 amp (?) AC to DC power supply. It didn't actually have capability to charge a battery, just a transformer power / battery power toggle switch. In its place I installed a Progressive Dynamics PD5000 power panel coupled with a smart battery charger. That's what fit in the tight spot where the old power supply was located. The Trillium 1300 power supply could be replaced with an all in one converter, e.g., PD 4135, due to more available space.

To add more DC power capacity in the future I could:

- Replace the smart battery charger with a "deck mount" converter. The PD5000 has a convenient rear AC outlet for this purpose.
- Install a larger 12 volt battery
- Note the PD5000 is 30 amp AC power/35 amp DC power which is plenty for now and future needs