Old Fat Man Details

Comfort Castle Batteries

2010-02-28T21:44:00.007-06:00

Comfort Castle has two Continental 6 volt "golf cart" batteries wired in series. That is all the batteries than can fit on the tongue of the Castle. This gives about 225 amp hours total for the batts and 130 usable amp hours. My normal usage is under 40 a/h per day. That means that without a recharge the Castle is good for three days of boondocking. The installation is covered in the 2-14-2011 entry of the main blog. http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/2011/02/golf-cart-batts-now.html

Solar Panels

2010-02-28T21:40:00.004-06:00

The two solar panels on Comfort Castle are from AMSolar. They are 100 watt at 21 volts each. The AMSolar charge controller HPV-22B is mounted at the inside front of the trailer. Wiring from the panel junction box through the controller to the batteries is 6 gage. With decent morning sun, the batteries will be back at full charge by noon after a night of use.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: AMSolar stopped marketing these panels. They now market a lower voltage panel they say will work with these. My engineer friends say it will not work PROPERLY with these due to the lower output voltage of the new panel. In the future I will recommend everyone go with the standard 17 volt panels instead of any speciality panels. Then you can add a panel if you find you need another or replace one if it gets disabled.

Bicycle

2010-02-01T21:09:00.008-06:00

Sightseer
Sightseer is a Surly Long Haul Trucker bicycle.
A beautiful blue is its dynamic color.
Size is 50.
Factory standard gearing, chainrings and cogs, has proven very satisfactory.
These parts have been changed out or added.
The brakes are direct pull cantilever style with the appropriate brake levers.
The handlebar is a small rise, slightly swept back style, 25.4mm at the mounting point.
The original barcon rear shifter was moved onto the handlebar by use of a Pauls Thumbies adapter.
The rear rack is one that has been on several bikes and is still going strong.
A Delta stem extender was added to improve my posture for sight seeing.
The saddle is an extremely comfortable Brooks B-17.
The pedals are cheap platform that can be used with whatever is on my feet at any time, including bare feet if needed.
An old blue Nashbar trunk rides the rear rack.
An old blue Nashbar pannier bag rides the side of the rear rack when needed.
Two matching blue bottle cages ride the down tube and seat post.
The rims were drilled out to accept Schrader stems.
The factory tubes were replaced with Slime brand tubes with Schrader valves.
The chain ring derailleur and shifter were removed. The Sightseer is run on the middle chain ring only.

Sturdy Steed
Sturdy Steed was my previous bicycle, a Trek that served me well for years. Sightseer has replaced it.

Air Card Antenna

2009-11-09T21:33:00.001-06:00

Sinton, Texas

Good or lucky is what you get to decide today.

The weather seemed good enough to tackle the antenna installation. Did you know that going up and down the roof ladder is serious exercise? And doing it a BUNCH is even more serious. Everything was gathered and taken to the roof to begin.
First get the clamps tried on the roof rack for fit. OOOPS it does not fit. The bolts are too short. Figure out what to do next is next on the chore list. Go to the hardware store in town and get longer bolts. Maybe not since part of the bracket is designed for smaller diameter rods to clamp to. Hmmmm Maybe a couple of u-bolts will do the job. Down the ladder and into town we go.

The Ace hardware store here in Sinton is a very nice store and well supplied. Two u-bolts were chosen for the solution to mounting. They worked out perfectly as you can see.

Note the sewer vent in the first picture above. It is about to be a critical player in this adventure. However about now while on the roof is when the rain drops start to pester you. In the rain on the roof is wrong for me. After chunking the end of the cable off the roof, it was dismount this roof time. Once down the cable was run into a window and TOFM went in to wait for better conditions. It was about an hour wait.

In the next picture is where the vent comes into the Castle in the clothes closet.
The plan is to go under the roof vent cover and run down inside the vent pipe to a hole drilled in the vent pipe. How in the world will TOFM manage to get a wire down a pipe from on the roof and into a ½” hole drilled in the pipe. Especially since he will not be able to see inside the pipe.

The vent pipe is drilled at an upward slant. When the rain cleared it was back on the roof time. A strong kink was put in the connection end of the cable. The cable was then threaded under the rain cap and down the vent pipe by feel. When it had the proper feeling, the effort ceased. Down the ladder to check out what has happened. WOW I AM GOOD (or lucky). The connection is pointed right at the hole in the pipe. A little messing with it and a pair of tweezers resulted in getting the cable end pulled into the cabinet.
Now it was pull the slack from the cable. Go up on the roof and feed another foot or so into the vent. Get off the roof and back inside. Pull the slack into the Castle. Repeat until the cable is pulled in to the desired point. The next picture was taken on the final trip to the roof for today. Some slack was left so that a couple of hold down clamps can be applied when the roof dries off. That way the caulk will stick on the clamps/roof and seal the screw holes from leaking.
Some careful measurements were taken. The cabinets were unpacked. The first hole was drilled through the clothes closet shelf. WOW I AM GOOD (or lucky). The second hole had to be drilled from the dining room cabinet through the wall to just under the clothes closet shelf. It came out almost perfect. The cable was routed through the shelf and then through the wall.

Here it is going through the dining room cabinet. It is the black one coming from the wall on the right and going down through the bottom of the cabinet.
And finally here is the cable in all it’s glory into the dining area where all the computer work happens.
Doesn’t everyone think that installing an antenna by yourself is a great way to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Extra Insulation

2009-07-24T11:15:00.003-05:00

For information on the insulation that was added inside the cabinets, in the skylights and a lot of other spots in the Castle go to blog entries of 12-29-07 and 12-17-08. This will provide you with my concept of adding insulation where possible without having to do major renovation. Fundamentally Every surface between the outside and the inside was evaluated for adding insulation in some fashion. The cut to fit and press into place ease of the foam insulation is ideal for a lot of locations in the Castle. This has been done to my previous RVs and always makes a lot of difference in comfort and cost.

Camera Details

2009-05-06T21:56:00.005-05:00

The camera used in this blog starting on 4-3-2010 is a Canon, Power Shot SD1200 IS. It is small and compact. With arthritic hands that sometimes makes it hard to hold. We will see how it does in my shaky arms.

The Truck

2009-02-28T10:45:00.003-06:00

The Truck is a standard 2004 Chevy short bed extended cab 2500HD with a diesel engine. The color is white plus accent scratches from adventures. The original purchaser had it for 56000 miles. According to the information from the VIN, the original owner ordered it with everything available for towing on it. Since he was from Wyoming, the truck naturally had four wheel drive on it. According to some papers left in the truck by the dealer, the truck spent a good bit of time hauling cattle and horses from Wyoming down into Nevada near Las Vegas. There is evidence that a fifth wheel or gooseneck hitch was at one time installed. The rear axle ratio is 3.73.

Typical fuel mileage not towing is around twenty miles per gallon. Towing the 22H the fuel mileage usually is a bit over twelve. Since the truck has a towing capacity of over 15,000 pounds and Comfort Castle has a towing weight of under 6,000 pounds, power is never a problem.

The camper shell is a standard Leer cab high with no special features.

There has been no need for special modifications.

Repairs so far have been new front wheel bearings, power steering main hose and main drive line u-joints. As of 10-18-09 there is 185000 miles on the odometer. The original brakes are still on the truck and in very good shape according to the mechanic when replacing the front wheel bearings.

This is my second diesel. The first was a Ford 7.3 in 2000. My opinion on diesels is that I love them. When towing, they are by far the best way to go. When not towing, gas does fine. Diesels do cost more to maintain than the gas engines. So diesels are not the cheapest way to go if you are not towing, but the low end power is addictive.

The hitch for Comfort Castle is a 6000 pound draw bar with a 600 pound rated 2 5/16" ball. The Truck is so stiffly sprung that the tongue weight of Comfort castle only sinks the rear end 1/2”. Of course my trailers are always set up properly for balance and control so sway control has not been needed..

Comfort Castle

2009-02-26T16:14:00.005-06:00

Comfort Castle is a 2005 Arctic Fox model 22H. The Foxes are manufactured by Northwood Manufacturing of La Grande Oregon. http://www.northwoodmfg.com/ This is my second Fox. The first was the 30U model that was my home for almost three years in Washington state.

Once when bicycle riding in the Idaho Bitterroot Mountains, it struck me odd that the only trailers of the hundreds in the mountains that were not falling apart were the Arctic Fox brand. That put me in research mode. Foxes are built tough but not light. The Foxes are built for following your 4X4 off road. A word of caution--your cabinet contents may not stand up to what the trailer will. My kind of equipment. Here are some of the specs that are important.

2005 Arctic Fox 22H
Gross Dry Weight--5000#
Net Carry Capacity--2600#
Total Length as measured by me--24'-6"
Nominal Width--8'
Tire Size--Load Range C ST205-75R15

Now some very important holding tank info. If you plan to get out from utilities like Padre Island Seashore, Lake Amistad Recreation Area and places like those this is critical info. Compare to other trailers this size.

Fresh Water---40 gallons plus the water heater
Gray Water---41 gallons
Black Water---35 gallons

The longest that Comfort Castle has been used without dumping even the gray water has been nine days. It was not full then, but the team was moving on and a dump station was available.

Propane -- Dual 30# tanks.
So far the propane usage has been one tank in the last year.

Insulation started out as R-7 in walls and floor and R-18 in the ceiling.

More insulation has been added to help even more. Note that these trailers were designed to survive the Bitterroot Mountains winters where the railroad had to run electric engines in the winter because it was too cold for steam engines to generate steam to move the train. My guess was that that good insulation would really pay off in hot weather to help the Air Conditioning.

Solar--200 watts of 44 cell from AM Solar with the HP-22B controller. This is taking care of my 12 volt needs easily when some sun shows up.

Batteries--Two deep cycle GC-2 batteries wired in series

The 12volt system may need tweaking in the future, but maybe not. We will see.

Double pane windows--None. There has been too many times I have seen them leak and get moisture between the panes. The R value for RV double pane windows is not worth the cost and trouble to me.

A permanent interior modification is the removal of the mirror above the dinette to make room for the LCD television. The next modification was the removal of the dinette seat next to the door to open the interior up a lot. It is proving to be a great modification.