The Kitchen
Back to Day 31 - Apr. 29th 2012
The hatch support bar installed. I used a closet hanger road and flanges (I think that's what they are called).
I made a hole through the flange and rod for a safety pin, I don't want the support bar to fall off if wind lifts the hatch a little.
I used safety pins on both sides.
The seal for the hatch. Water you shall not pass! (again)
The faucet is locked open. The red button starts the water flow. I used a 5 second timer I build for the water.
The stove is connected to a propane cylinder.
The submersible water pump.
From the pump, the water goes directly to the faucet.
From the sink, the greywater drains....
... under the trailer in the greywater container.
The electrical panel under the sink. Everything is 12V.
On the left side is the ground bank and the little box with the transparent cover is the fuse box.
The timer I made for the water pump. It's a classic monostable 555 timer tuned for 5 seconds. For each press of the button, the pump is going to pump for 5 seconds.
Here is the schematic (download the Eagle file bellow):
The hatch light is mounted above the sink.
The light can be flipped up like this if you need light farther back.
All the electric needs for the teardrop are provided by a deep cycle battery that I bought from Walmart for $70.
The battery is 110 Amp hour and I suspect it's going to last up to two weeks on one charge. I left everything ON, including the vent's fan, for a whole night and in the morning the battery was over 90% full.
Detail on how I mounted the battery box on the trailer's tongue. I got the battery box also from Walmart for $9.
The power cord coming out from the battery box, it's for the charger.
Post scriptum:
Here are two ways you can charge the battery with the towing vehicle while driving.
First one, the simple one, you just connect a wire to the positive terminal of the car battery, put a 30A fuse on the wire and connect it to the positive terminal of the trailer battery.
The negative from the trailer battery goes to the car ground.
This way both battery are charged while driving the car to your destination.
When you turn off the car, disconnect the trailer battery from the car battery to avoid discharging the car battery when you use the electricity in the trailer.
(click on the images to see them in full size)
The second method, a little more complicated, is to use a continuous duty solenoid. Make the connections like in the schematic bellow.
This way, you don't have to manually disconnect the battery when the towing car is not running. The solenoid will disconnect the battery automatically when you turn off your car.
That's about it for now.
I will post more pictures after our first trip which it's going to be on June 7-11, 2012 in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Lots of teardrop builders/owners are going to meet there and party: "TearJerkers Birthday Bash 2012, celebrating 15 years of TearJerkers"
Who knew that there are Teardrop Gatherings and Teardrop-Friendly Events... here is a list I found:
http://www.teardrops.net/destinations01.html
My wife said that now I proved myself so I should start remodeling the kitchen. :-)
"Let no good deed go unpunished."
Thank you for reading my build log and ... go make some sawdust!
We had our First trip and it was lots of fun.