Addition of Brakes to Utility TrailerOK, so this isn't a modification to my camper. But it is a common modification that others attempt on their campers, and I thought these pictures would help, even though the brake addition was to my Utility Trailer. First if your axle has this square backing plate behind the round hub, then you can easily add brakes. Next, the assembly in the lower right of this picture show the back of the brake assembly and the four bolts that will attach to said square backing plate. That picture also shows the inside and outside of the brake hub, as well as the inside of the brake assembly. Last, here is the mounted brake assembly. For those astute viewers you will notice that the bearings have not yet been re-installed. So, if you plan on doing this project, also plan on repacking your bearings, as they have to be removed anyway. Finally, the wiring is pretty easy. There are two green wires coming out of each assembly. Either one can be the "power" wire, and the other is the ground wire. The only caveat you must really know is that the brake assemblies MUST be wired in PARALLEL, not series, per the manufacturer's instructions. Here is another link to Dexter Axle's FAQ's regarding brakes and axles.
My dear in-laws (brand new, too) gave me and Holly a 110volt window unit of theirs that wasn't being used. He also gave me some ideas of how I could mount it on the camper. I wanted the shelf to be independent of the ground, meaning it had to mount wholly on the camper, one way or another. First I mounted a square piece of steel with multiple holes to the camper's frame. That piece is hollow, 1" square, with 1/4" holes, about 3' long. I then placed 1/4" solid steel rods a few inches long, thru predetermined (shelf-width) holes (and camper frame). I then bent these rods so that they would point upward for the legs, but wouldn't come out during travel.
The shelf itself is made of 3/4" chipboard. Overkill, maybe, but those AC units are heavy! It is 2 feet by 2 feet, but could be made slightly smaller. The larger size keeps me from having to "sharpshoot" the unit when lifting it onto the shelf. The legs are square hollow steel, 1/2" square, and about 40 inches long. This size of legs fit perfectly over the 1/4" rods, in a male/female fashion. The hinges are the common triangular kind, 8" total length.
I had to make something for the "front" (nearest the camper) of the shelf to rest on, so that the weight of the AC wouldn't collapse the shelf. I solved this by making a 1"x4" board that would run between the scissor arms of the camper's roof and the camper itself. This way, its weight would rest on those arms and not pull away from the camper. It is long enough to go behind BOTH front AND back roof supports. At one end of the board, there is a 10" wide piece of the 3/4" chipboard attached to it, cut so the shelf would rest level. It is attached with screws so it won't work its way apart. I used a screen door hinge in the middle so that it folds up tight for transport in the back of my truck. Careful, though! If you put the hinge on the wrong side, it might fold up when you put the AC unit on the shelf! The shelf itself also has some extra pieces screwed to it, so that it "bites" the 10" wide piece, and doesn't move. You can see those pieces here.
On our unit, once we have the long (horizontal) board in place, the canvas comes neatly down over it to hide most of it. It is already waterproof, as this is just a flap that comes over it, and it is already attached to the camper behind the board.
Someone was kind enough to forward me their pictures/site when they finished a mod like this, based on my idea. His pictures are rather neat, because he modded his screen AND plastic to accept the face of the AC. It appears to be a good setup, even in the rain! See Jeremy's pics at http://community.webshots.com/user/slatherd
All of these parts can be obtained at Lowe's (and I assume Home Depot). I know this was rather wordy and maybe complicated, and the pictures also lacked a little bit, but if you have questions, email me at larrycrockett@comcast.net
This is becoming a fairly common mod to popups, or at least to those campers at PopupTimes.com's message board. It's an easy but useful modification. Mine started out as simply some good storage for the outdoor carpet we use under the awning, but I had four feet of the six inch PVC leftover. The rear PVC is open, and is used for the outdoor carpet ONLY. It really isn't mounted to anything. It just happens to be the exact size of the space between the camper and the spare tire mount, so it is very secure. In fact, I can't get it out!
I HAD to use the remaining four feet of PVC. Just couldn't throw it away. The way my camper's body is built, it almost invites the extra PVC to be mounted on the tongue of the camper, behind the propane tank. It is mounted simply with pipe strapping, that you can see in the picture. I have the screw caps (cleanout plugs) on this piece, so it is a secure system for small things. I was surprised at what I could fit it the thing: 2 camp forks, work gloves, foldup table, extension cord, stabilizer handle, a 3' level, mallet, camp axe, and a flashlight. Who would have thought I could get ALL that in there! It gives me that much more storage space in my truck/toolbox, and the camper!
ADDENDUM: I ran into a problem on our first trip with the front mounted PVC. The cleanout plugs "locked" on the way home from our first camping trip. They got road grit/grime in them because it was raining. We got home and wanted to take out some things, and couldn't open it to save our lives! I couldn't afford a big monkey wrench, so I fashioned a wrench just for this purpose. It was a simply a 1"x6" board with a square cut out of the end of it, exactly the size of the cleanout plug's square. Worked like a charm to open a grit-stuck screw cap!
Not really a modification, but I don't see too many of them, so I thought I'd post it here. I also had a hard time finding an affordable one too. This is a bike rack from Acar, bought at Camping World, for less than $100. Unfortunately, I had to buy a longer drawbar for it to work, because mine was too short by 1/2". This bike rack is unique in that you can mount the bikes on the rack, using your existing Class III hitch, and still tow your trailer. I needed the truck's cargo space for other things. There is a little "sleeve" that mounts over the existing drawbar, and that piece can be taken off, but it is made so that only the rest of the rack has to be removed when not in use. It tightens with a screw onto the drawbar. The rest of the bike rack just sits inside this part, and VOILA! you have a bike rack. Simple concept. I even made mine a little taller to give more clearance to the camper by drilling more holes in the long shaft of the rack.
This is less of a modification, and more of a repair. Somehow over the winter, I had bent the arm on our camper. Can't remember how, but it looked like the metal was weakened. If you are not familiar with this type of camper and roof-raising method, the roof raises with spring-loaded arms, instead of the more popular crank-type method. A replacement arm is around $75.00, but I had some scrap aluminum right angles lying around, so I used hose clamps and attached it to the arm. No, it isn't pretty, but we haven't had any problems with the arm or the roof. Here is a regular, unbent arm, and here is the repaired arm.
Thermoelectric Cooler Install
We found out on our first trip with any kind of warm weather that the built-in cooler in our Palomino was fairly inefficient. It needed at least one or two bags of ice every day, and the only thing we kept in it was pre-chilled drinks. It didn't bother us too much, until we saw how well Coleman's Powerchill works. It is a thermoelectric cooler that we bought over a year ago. We put food in it, and kept drinks in the inefficient cooler. After doing a little measuring, we decided we could remove the old cooler, and install a thermoelectric cooler in its place. I only had to do a little cutting; the wiring is what took so long. For the wiring, I ran flexible conduit under the trailer, and then the wiring through it, of course. This made for much less drilling, and much less wire needed. Here is a final picture, with the cooler open. Now we have TWO coolers!
Camper Graphics
We were jealous of other people that had stickers/names for their campers, so we put our brains hard to work. We had several names, but both being ICU nurses, we were able to came up with this pretty cool vinyl graphic with EKG ("heartbeat") for the side of our Palomino.
12 Volt Extension
I don't have a big air compressor, and I was tired of pumping the tires on the camper (and ATV trailer), and sometimes it wasn't handy to get the truck's cab near the camper's tires. So, I made a 12 Volt extension cord out of some fairly heavy speaker wire and an old male plug. I only had to buy the female end of the cord. I know they sell it commercially, but this was cheaper, and I made it the length I wanted!
Camper Mop!!
OK, so it might not be a "camper mod", but I did have to modify a mop to put it in the camper. I just cut the handle down and Voila! a Camper Mop! It is smaller, obviously, easier to store, and since the floor space in a Palomino is small, it doesn't break your back for the short amount of time you use it. We spray some floor cleaner or something and just mop it up and rinse!
Drain Vent
We had problems getting the sink to drain properly, and after consulting fellow PUT'ers' websites, I copied their solution. It really works well. The parts were bought at the local Lowe's, and made to fit my garden hose, which drains to a 5 gallon water container for disposal. Here is a second picture of the drain vent.
Air Conditioner Addition (window unit)
This is one of my proudest accomplishments on our camper. We wanted to add air conditioning, but we couldn't go the conventional top-mounted route, because our camper has the scissor-arm type lift that won't tolerate the weight of an AC unit on it. So, this modification will help those of you who have this type lift, or, otherwise don't want to cut a hole in your roof. This unit simply blows thru the screen where we have strategically unzipped the plastic and curtains to allow circulation to and from the window unit. It might help to see the finished product, so that you will know what direction you are going as you read this building and assembly.
Six Inch (6") PVC pipe for Carpet and Tools
Towable Bike Rack
