Reaver's Squaredrop Camper Build!!

[reaver]

Fancy shit with them lights! Nice.

I have spacers on mine. To get the bigger tires away from the walls as well as convert the Timbren lugs to Toyota. My 4Runner spare fits the trailer now.

Mine barely touch, so I ordered 1/2in spacers. Should do fine.

 

[reaver]

Well, the trailer has now been out three times. I absolutely love it.

We took it out to overland expo pnw over the weekend, and I picked up some ideas from other trailers of things I'd like to try.

It was neat that my wife was able to spot where some of the ideas that I incorporated into the trailer came from.

My water system worked great, and moving the awning worked really well. I think I heard the tires make contact with the fenders once, but not again after that. Seems like the spacers work well. I definitely need to extend the tounge. When the trailer is hooked up to the Xterra, I can't open the tire carrier, as it needs about 3-4 inches to clear the fridge box.

My solution for the immediate future is to get a 12 inch hitch extension. I know it's not ideal, and it moves the tow point farther behind the axle, but the springs on my Xterra should be able to handle the weight.

The next project is moving the sensor interface box to the fridge box, so I can hook up my water tank sensor.

 

[reaver]

Whelp, I've had some trips fall through over the summer. I was supposed to go on a week long offroad trip, and that was going to be a MAJOR shakedown run of the trailer, but my wife severely broke her foot the weekend before, and has been down for 5 weeks now. Hopefully, we get to find out when the pins get to come out at her appointment next week.

In the meantime, I've been trying to get the water tank sensor working, and I'm not having any luck whatsoever. I've tried a safiery ultrasonic sensor, and can't get it to work. I then bought a converter board for my drop in pressure sensor, and can't get that to read at the sensor module either. I have one more ultrasonic sensor to try, and if that doesn't work, I'm going to give up on tank monitoring for a while.

I've pretty much got the entire entertainment setup installed and running. It's all USB powered, and draws less than 2A while in use. I really love this setup, and so glad I went the USB-C portable monitor route, and USB powered google tv route.

The speakers are a usb rechargable PC soundbar with bluetooth functionality, so we can remove it from the cabin, and put it outside for music, if we want. I also have an HDMI cable that runs from the media player to the back of the trailer, so that I can plug in a projector, and control it using the media player box.

I did notice that without a way to turn off the power to the google tv, I had about a .6A draw that never went away. So, I added an inline power switch. I also took the opportunity to pre-mount and hook up the controller for the heater.

I realize the panel above looks like garbage. This is a temporary panel until I have everything on there. Then I can have a custom aluminum cut, and mounted up there.

I've also been working on the diesel heater build design, and will have all the parts here to start building that this week.

I also just ordered 400w of solar to put on the trailer. Hopefully, that eliminates having to worry about charging, like....ever.

 

[WYWander]

Very cool!

edit* I have 400w of solar charging and in the sunniest situation, I've only ever seen a max realized wattage of about 320. More often it's ~250-275. For what it's worth... But it's still quick at recharging.

 

[reaver]

Very cool!

edit* I have 400w of solar charging and in the sunniest situation, I've only ever seen a max realized wattage of about 320. More often it's ~250-275. For what it's worth... But it's still quick at recharging.

Yeah, but that'll keep things topped up, without having to worry about it. I don't currently run a fridge in there all the time, but we'll see over the winter how much I get during the day. I think I should get enough to keep one in there full time, and not have to worry.

 

[reaver]

Solar panels came in on Thursday. I managed to set them on the trailer, and was getting about 10-11A in what is basically winter sun. I'm curious to see how it performs during the summer months, but I'm honestly very happy with that. I went from 17% charge to 77% by the time the sun went down. Not bad, I say!

I just need to get some more super strut, so I can make some slightly longer crossbars.

Today, I started building the heater box. Got all the panels cut, and the heater shelf installed.

I had to order a different set of sp21 connectors, as my soldering skills are hawt garbage. The replacement connectors will be here Tuesday, and use screw terminals for creating the connections. This will be a 14-5 wire bundle. It will carry power/ground to the heater, as well as the signal for the controller mounted in the cabin.

 

[reaver]

Got some more work done on the heater box this weekend.
First step, and this was a hard one....was to cut a 1 1/8 in hole in the side of the trailer for the plug connection.

I went with a TY28 aviation style connector, specifically the one linked here:

I next got the wires connected, and the plug mounted to the trailer.

I then worked on getting the box mounted to the side rails of the trailer. My superstrut system is working wonderfully!

Getting closer to having the box be usable. I just need to figure out why the fuel pump doesn't want to prime. I've got another harness on order, as well as a magnetic duct coupling. Want to wait until I have the heater fully working before I close up the box though. Once I get the box closed up, I'll run the router around the edges to even everything out. I might even try to round the corners to make wrapping the canvas for the PMF a bit easier. I'll have to think a little more about that one though.

 

[WYWander]

I like that box... Thinking of the same to hold a diesel heater and a hot water heater.

Why do you keep adding to my project list? :)

 

[reaver]

I like that box... Thinking of the same to hold a diesel heater and a hot water heater.

Why do you keep adding to my project list? :)

I plan on building a similar box for a water heater, which will only go on long trips.

 

[reaver]

Whelp....looks like the trailer battery is getting upgraded to 300Ah. I was only planning on going up to 200Ah, and not until spring time, but I stumbled across a 300Ah battery, with low temp protection, for under $500.....that was too good to pass up.

 

[reaver]

OK, so after spending much of the afternoon futzing with the diesel heater, I think I've determined that the control board is bad. It keeps trying and failing to spin up the fan (even when off), and won't fire up the fuel pump or glow plug. It's not the harness (as I've swapped the harness), and I'm getting 14.2 v on the main leads for the board.

At this point, I've ordered another heater that I'll swap in (from Amazon this time, which was more expensive, but easier to return if there's an issue). I'll swap in the body when it arrives, and fire it up.

Because of the heater, wasn't able to swap in the new battery. I did however, make longer crossbars for the roof, so that I have room to mount the solar panels. I also cut some brackets for mounting them.

I also scored a mega deal on a 270 awning with 2 walls. So, the 6 foot awning will be going back on the Xterra. I'll have to figure out where my privacy room is going to go...

Ill finish up the solar panels tomorrow, and get the new 300Ah battery in. Maybe I can get Relays put in for triggering the battery heater and the water tank heating pad to keep things from freezing.

 

[jolia1450]

Well, the trailer has now been out three times. I absolutely love it.

We took it out to overland expo pnw over the weekend, and I picked up some ideas from other trailers of things I'd like to try.

It was neat that my wife was able to spot where some of the ideas that I incorporated into the trailer came from.

My water system worked great, and moving the awning worked really well. I think I heard the tires make contact with the fenders once, but not again after that. Seems like the spacers work well. I definitely need to extend the tounge. When the trailer is hooked up to the Xterra, I can't open the tire carrier, as it needs about 3-4 inches to clear the fridge box.

My solution for the immediate future is to get a 12 inch hitch extension. I know it's not ideal, and it moves the tow point farther behind the axle, but the springs on my Xterra should be able to handle the weight.

The next project is moving the sensor interface box to the fridge box, Snapchat solar system so I can hook up my water tank sensor.

Great

 

[reaver]

New heater should be here wed, so if that one works fine, I'll need to figure out what to do with other one.

I also managed to get the new battery in, and hooked up. I'm likely going to move the solar charger to be above the DC-DC, but we'll see. I currently have to take it out to take the battery out, which is required to access the components on the panel behind it.

I also got the new crossbars made, and the solar panels mounted.

 

[reaver]

Just finished testing the new heater to confirm it's working. I'll put it in the box, and test out the wiring and plug in the trailer to make sure everything there is working. Then I'll glue and close up the box. Then I can start wrapping it.

 

[reaver]

Last night, I was ablt to confirm that all the wiring for the heater is good to go. I'm still having issues getting it to pull fuel through the stand pipe, but it pulls through the fuel line just fine. I'm comfortable enough, that I can close the box up, and start the pmf process.

My buddy is gonna help me get some sheet rock today, so I can replace the ceiling in my wife's craft room next weekend, then we'll put the new 270 awning on the trailer.

I'm also going to start working on getting the battery and water tank heating pads wired up. I'll be running them through a relay, which will be tripped by the built in relays on the simarine system. These will use individual temperature sensors to determine when to turn them on.

I'll also be running the output of each relay through a switch, so that I can turn it off as well.

 

[reaver]

Got the battery heater all wired up yesterday. I didn't turn it on though, since it wasn't really cold enough to need it last night.

I also got the canvas glued to the outside of heater box. I'm waiting on a paint try to get here tomorrow, then I can start layering it with paint. I'll be done, and ready to go by the end of the week.

 

[reaver]

Finished the heater box, and got it mounted to the trailer. Tested it out, and it's given me no issues yet. I ran it for a while yesterday, and again for a few hours today, while I did some work on the inside. It was on low, and still got super toasty!

I'm really excited to try this out in a couple weeks. The last mod I need to get done before we go is getting the heating pad for the water tank installed. Should be dry next weekend, so I think I can get that done.