Friday, August 18, 2017

Flying cabinet upgrade - my closet

I ordered my Ocelot with no refrigerator as I opt'd for a truck fridge portable unit.  Originally was going to put in the space where the factory refrigerators are installed, but decided to put on the floor below the front window.  The ATC camper folks gave me the top cabinet board in case I later wanted to enclose that space.  I decided to go with a bench top hinge setup.  These hinges allow the geometry of flush back, pull out and swing up to work.  The one's I got are similar to these: http://tinyurl.com/y6wt2e4o


Framed in the space, attached hinges, attached top.





The top sits flush with side of camper, but will swing out and up to open.



I use Mountainsmith modular 3 cube system in the space.   http://mountainsmith.com/products/storage-systems/modular-hauler-3.html


Works great and with the swing open counter top, I can easily access the cube system without pulling it out of this space.   I put small cargo mesh across opening to keep the cube system in place.  Originally, I was going to put a "hidden compartment" under the counter, but liked the topside access to my storage cubes.



Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Solar upgrade.

I added a 120W flexible solar panel to the roof. This will provide the power to keep my camper battery charged and the 12v refrigerator running - that is good thing. Some folk will just glue or VHB tape this type of panel to the roof, but I did not want to go that route. If it fails for I want to change the configuration, I wanted a different setup which could easily be removed. Polycarbonate sheet to the rescue.

I reinforced the sides with aluminum C channel and then bolted the ends to some aluminum L brackets that I mounted to the roof.


VHB'd the panel to the polycarbonate panel


All bolted down and ready to do


Panel fending off attack from flying lawnmower.


Now it is ready for the ultimate test - the highway - will it blow off the roof?