The New Truck (It's a Sensible Truck)

Just after our 5,000 mile, six-week trip to the Canadian Rockies, our 2005 Pathfinder, the beloved Canyonero, hit a hundred thousand miles and started to have "maintenance issues," to put it politely.  It was time to move up to a truck -- a 2013 Toyota Tacoma double cab, short bed, v6 4 liter, off-road 4x4/towing package.  Not a monster truck -- a mid-size sensible truck, with more than enough muscle to handle our little trailer:

   
As this video clip shows, I am excited:

We are planning to add a camper shell, a roof rack, and maybe running boards.  (And thanks to Kate for helping us decide on a Tacoma TRD!!)

"All-Terrain Tires" for My Metal Stabilizer Pads

Not too long ago, we were boondocking, and our campsite was rocky.  One of the four metal stabilizer pads came down on a fairly slick piece of granite.  I noticed that the metal pad sitting on the rock jiggled and slipped a little bit, unlike the other three metal pads that were all sitting on dirt.  So it occurred to me that if the metal pad had had a rubber coating, it wouldn't have jiggled on the slick rock.

When I got home, I unscrewed one of the metal stabilizer pads and realized that it isn't flat – there is a flange or rim around the outside edge roughly an inch wide, with a cutout in the middle.  So only the rim makes contact with the ground.  I figured that I could add a piece of rubber to that rim as an "all-terrain tire" for the pads.  

I remembered that I had a piece of hard rubber sheeting stashed away in the rafters in my garage – it's less than a quarter inch thick, but more than an eighth of an inch.  (And it's blue, for some unknown reason.)  I traced the outline of the metal pad onto the rubber and then sketched in the inside curvature of the rim.  I cut out the rim pads in two separate pieces for each unit and then glued them onto the rims with gorilla glue.

In the photo below, you can see the bare metal rim, the two semicircles, and the final product:

I have no idea if these pads will really make much of a difference, but I don't think they'll do any harm, and it was an easy project. 

Storage Above the Fridge (& Mini-"Nightstand")

Because our trailer is so small, storage space is at a premium. I have tried to exploit every cubbyhole, converting it to storage whenever possible. I've always coveted the "headspace" above the fridge, but I just assumed that this area was necessary for ventilation and couldn't be used for storage.  Fairly recently, I installed a "heat shield" deflector to guide the flue gases (and the heat) out the top vent; here's a link to that project:  Deflector

After doing some careful reading, I determined that there's no reason for any wasted space. In fact, the fridge actually works better if that area is blocked off, so that the air moving up from the bottom of the fridge vent flows across the back of the fridge and directly past the coils and out the top vent – the draft is critical to the cooling of the coils, since there isn't a compressor (unlike an ordinary house fridge).  Here is a picture of the raw wasted space above the fridge, taken from the outside of the trailer -- the unused space measures 10" wide, 6" high, and 24" long (across the width of the fridge):

I first measured carefully and cut a square 10 x 6 hole in the luan paneling on the side of the fridge, using my keyhole saw. (I first drilled holes in the corners.) I had to support the luan carefully so that it would not break under the pressure of the saw:

And here is the completed "socket:"

I then built a box to fit into the hole – the box is 10 x 6, by 24 inches long, using thin three-quarter by three-quarter pine stringers to support the quarter inch Baltic Birch plywood. Here is the completed box:

In addition to providing a storage place for our bulky extra paper goods, the front several inches of the storage box will serve as a "cubby" or nightstand for our glasses and nightlights, since it is right next to our bed.  Here you can see the interior of the box; about 7 inches in from the front, I have installed a little removable barrier with Velcro tabs. It will be sufficient to hold in the paper goods while we're traveling, but it will be easy to remove when we want to get access to the paper goods:

After I assembled the box, I sealed the outside edges with heavy packing tape, in order to seal out any fumes that might emerge from the refrigerator burner flue, which is in the same compartment. (Admittedly, the manufacturer of the trailer hadn't sealed the compartment at all, so my guess is that there's really no need to worry about the fumes. But tape is cheap, and peace of mind is valuable.) 

The box is not installed into its socket with my usual "15 screws plus gorilla glue," because I wanted to be able to remove the entire box easily, if we ever had to service the fridge. So it simply rests on top of the fridge and is screwed into the cross-member of the frame on the side of the fridge, on top of the box, with countersunk screws:

After forcing strips of foam weather-stripping around the front of the box (for more protection against possible fumes and heat), I covered the edges of the opening with very thin pieces of mahogany (not plywood), finished with a couple of coats of polyurethane:

And here is a picture of the box with some paper goods inside of it, leaving the front open for use as a small nightstand:

When the box was in place, I packed fireproof fiberglass insulation around the top, back, and sides, hoping to make the fridge even more energy-efficient; I then reinstalled my metal deflector shield.

Fridge Flue Deflector and Insulation

The shelf on top of the fridge would get hot when we ran it on propane -- it turns out that the flue vent is under that shelf, and there is no tube conducting the heat and exhaust to the roof.  (Apparently, this is how many RV fridges are designed -- it seems odd.)  I spoke to a tech, who said that I could create my own deflector to channel the heat and exhaust out to the vent panel on the side of the RV.  He also suggested that I add insulation.

It was easy.  Here is the area above the fridge, taken from the side of the trailer with the vent cover removed.  The top of the flue would be on the right side of the picture, but it is recessed below the opening and is not visible. You can see that there is some insulation on the sides, but none on top -- the yellow insulation on the left was factory-installed, and I added the pink insulation on the right.  I sprayed the side wall with spray adhesive and stuck the insulation right onto the wall:

I then stuck insulation to the underside of the shelf.  (And yes, the insulation is fireproof -- I tested a scrap and it slowly melted when exposed to direct flame.)

Next, I formed a curved deflector out of a piece of galvanized steel -- I bent it to shape over the edge of my workbench:

Using three small sheet metal screws, I then attached the top edge to the metal plate underneath the shelf.  I used double-sided adhesive tape to attach the bottom edge of the deflector to the top of the fridge.  The tech told me that I could screw directly into the solid foam insulation atop the fridge, but I did not want to take the risk of puncturing the body of the fridge.  Here is the completed installation:

Note that I left a gap of three inches on the left side of the deflector for air circulation around the fridge. I am not sure that this was necessary, but the original installation had quite a bit of air space around the fridge, so I figured that this was probably required.  As a result of the deflector and the insulation, the shelf on top of the fridge is now at room temperature when the fridge is operating, and the flue exhaust streams out of the vent on the side of the trailer.  The output from the side vent area is noticeably warmer than it was before, not surprisingly.  

“Tongue Deck” for Wood Blocks and Other Cargo

The good news is that our new trailer has lots of ground clearance. The bad news is that I need a lot of wood blocks to support the stabilizer jacks -- without blocks, the jack pads barely reach the ground when fully extended! But where to carry all of those blocks? We used to carry some blocks in heavy-duty plastic baskets that went inside the trailer when we traveled -- but it was a hassle to put the baskets into the trailer and then take them out again, every time we stopped. Plus, the blocks can be wet or dirty, depending on conditions at the campsite.

So my older son came up with a clever idea -- he noticed that I had some sheets of heavy wire deck in my garage. He cut them to fit the underside of the tongue of the trailer and then anchored them into the underside of the trailer, using self-tapping sheet metal screws and some pipe strap.

Here is the underside of the deck -- you can click on the picture to enlarge it, and click back to get back:



And here is a view from the top -- my propane tanks are at the bottom of this picture, my battery boxes are on the sides, and the front wall of the trailer is at the top of the shot:



Better yet, in addition to my wood blocks, the deck can also store rolled-up tarps, collapsible camp chairs, or whatever, all well-secured with several trusty bungee cords.

"Armored" Wheel Well

Long ago, we had a blowout -- the flapping steel belts tore out the trailer’s thin sheet metal wheel well. (I rebuilt it eventually, but the trailer was pretty well-ventilated until then.) My new trailer came equipped with thin plastic wheel wells, which looked similarly vulnerable. I understand that the trailer was designed to be lightweight, but I wanted more protection from blowouts and road debris.

So I went to a nearby truck stop and bought a big sheet of mud flap material, very thick and heavy. It was less than $4 for a 36 x 30 inch sheet! Using tin snips, I cut it to fit the top arch of my wheel. I then cut a semicircle to fit the vertical inside wall of the wheel well. I used Gorilla glue to fasten the “armor” to the plastic surfaces. Since Gorilla glue has to be clamped, I used spreader clamps to push up on the “armor,” using the tire itself as the base for the clamps.

Here are two shots of the armored wheel wells -- you can click on the picture to enlarge it, and click back to get back:





I was not sure if the glue would hold, but so far, so good -- we took a trip of almost 800 miles to Yosemite and back, through some snow and slush, with no problems.

Meet the New LMIC

Sadly, the time finally came when we outgrew the old LMIC – it was a wonderful trailer, but its lack of ground clearance limited us when we traveled on rough rocky roads, and the small black and gray holding tanks were also a constraint. So we bit the bullet and purchased a new 2012 Shadow Cruiser Fund Finder X–139, with a virtually identical floor plan to our old trailer. We ordered a heavy-duty axle and had the axle "flipped," i.e., the axle placed under the leaf spring rather than over it. We also added shock absorbers and had the plumbing re-routed, in order to create extra storage room under the sink.

It was a sad day when we sold the old LMIC, but it went to a good home – Felice waved to it as it went off down the street toward new adventures:



The new LMIC is an upgrade in some ways, but not in others. The fiberglass exterior is somewhat more durable, but it will show scratches more than the aluminum exterior did on the old unit. (And we do get scratches when we drag it down dirt roads overgrown by bushes and trees on the sides.) The bathroom is much bigger, which is not really a plus, since the bathroom encroaches on the storage space in the cabin. (However, I can now stand up in the bathroom, which can be very handy when taking a shower.)

Surprisingly, even with the much higher center of gravity, we discovered that it was very easy to tow, probably due to the upgraded springs and shock absorbers. The new LMIC is very nimble on potholes and rough pavement, and we have tremendous clearance on driveways at gas stations:



The bad news is that the trailer is so high off the ground that we have to tote around extra wooden blocks for the stabilizer jacks and the tongue jack wheel. During our first camping trip, even though the weather was pretty chilly (into the mid-to-high 30s every night), we were amazingly comfortable – this new unit has terrific insulation on all four sides, the roof, and the underbelly.

We really enjoyed the upgraded lighting; our older son, Ben, installed 12 volt LED fixtures throughout, instead of the stock incandescent bulbs. The new bulbs burn virtually no electricity. There were a few "maiden voyage" glitches, of course. For example, since the fancy new water heater doesn't have a pilot light, the water cools off during the night and then the water heater kicks on (audibly) once or twice in the middle of the night. We may have to turn it off at night.

Also, the refrigerator was too cold and froze some of the vegetables. Although the brochure for the fridge said that the temperature wasn't adjustable, it turns out that if you move the "thermistor" on the cooling fins, you can adjust the temperature, so that problem was solved.

To compensate for the larger bathroom (which reduces the storage space), I revamped much of the stock cabinetry. The unit came with a very clunky "vanity" across the entire back of the trailer, with rather chopped up storage spaces, all constructed from thick and heavy MDF doors covered by vinyl, with thick plywood shelving.

To begin with, I demolished the entire rear storage unit. I then milled and installed three-quarter inch by three quarter-inch furring strips, fastening them into the luan-and-foam composite wall with plastic spiral molly anchors:



Using quarter-inch Baltic birch plywood, I cut the shelves to fit so that they would "float" on top of the furring strips, at roughly 8 inch intervals – the shelves aren't fastened down, so that we can lift them up slightly if we need to shove our belongings onto the shelves:



In an effort to maximize the storage, there are virtually no interruptions in the shelves – they extend full length across the back:



The doors are also quarter-inch reinforced Baltic birch plywood, reinforced by a double ply inside the exterior perimeter of each door:



That picture shows the storage cabinet in its unfinished state – I'm going to finish it with wipe-on polyurethane, but I doubt that I will add a stain. The goal is to make the interior of the LMIC as light and airy as possible.

We did a lot of other modifications, mostly having to do with increased storage space. We reengineered the under-seat storage areas, removing various partitions by reinforcing the structural members with supports at the edges, rather than in the middle.

The modifications were essentially finished on January 1, 2012, and we celebrated with Starbucks drinks: