When I bought Brunnhilde I would not have imagine that one day I would tow a car trailer. She served me well over the the years for my silent water sport. Now that I am really into performance driving on race tracks I managed to equip her with an open car trailer that is a marriage in heaven for this wonderful compact motorhome. Something that I nearly dismissed not being impractical given the 8,000 lb nominal weight of the James Cook plus circa 4,500 lb of car and trailer weight, all to be towed by a engine with 154HP/243 lb-ft.
Additionally finding a car trailer that I can keep on-premise was an insurmountable challenge but it all worked out. It is now a reality and live on the race track is great. It is a new season so the step-wise refinements continue.
I have meant to get to mounting this CO detector a very long time. I refuse to drill new holes for this kind of things that last a few year and the next replacement would require holes at different locations. The solution is to make an adapter plate.
I used a piece of paper to transfer the existing hole locations
I didn't feel like spending a lot of effort so this is what I did.
a passible appearance
I secured this indoors/outdoors thermometer with 3M VHB tape. I use the outdoors channel to monitor the temperature inside the refrigerator. I mount it where it is in case the VHB tape lets go and the thermometer would fall into the pocket rather than onto the fragile surface of he fridge.
in retrospect I would relocate it to the fence of that ledge for more accurate indoor reading
I finally got around to replace the noisy cooling fan for the refrigerator.
the 12V brushless fan has been noisy since day one
it draws 133mA at 13.5V
I found a NMB computer fan in my electronics pile an it draws 121mA, being quieter, and has higher CFM
the replacement NMB fan to the right
the NMB fan installed and the wiring tidied up
It is so much quieter now with the NMB fan that I regret not doing this sooner. Now you can mainly hear the not-unpleasant hum of the compressor motor.
Next I tackle the project of making the rearview camera usable without the need to turn on the ignition nor insert the key. I want it for the ability to monitor the car trailer when camping or parked.
I pre-made this switch harness for the Sprinter switch blanks
all the switch blanks were broken when I first acquired Brunnhilde and I bought a bunch of replacement blanks to sort these out
I had this switch that perform similar function for the audio system so now there will be one for the audio system, and one for the rearview cameras.
The multiplexer for the rearview camera system has a monitor out but for some pervert reason it is only for cam 3, and not selectable for cam 1 or cam 2.
I replaced all the broken switch blanks with new ones that I bought.
no more broken switch blanks; the left hand side switch (arrow) is for the rearview cameras and the other is for the audio system
While tinkling around the motorhome brainstorming I discovered that the wood cleats I made for the auxiliary water tank can be used to secure this tote box.
My custom automatic ventilation has served to keep the interior cool while parking in the sun and unoccupied. One may wonder since it is an extractor fan where does the air enter? The air enters via the cooling air input duct of the now defunct switching power supplies of the Kerstner DC air conditioning system.
Something that I recently started doing is to prepare steamed dishes while camping like this steamed dim sum dish. I wonder why I haven't cooking with this method sooner. It is efficient and makes very little mess and easy to clean. I marinate the ingredients at home ahead of the trip, and put them in a big Ziploc bag. The bag make storage in the refrigerator easy and space efficient.
I also wonder why I didn't equip the camper kitchen with chopstick rests too. I made this improvised one out of wine cork for the time being.
Update May 7, 2019:
I was unhappy with the mounting location of the indoors/outdoors digital thermometer. While it would serve well to monitor the actual temperature of the refrigerator the mounting location will give inflated cabin temperature of the camper because of solar gain of the outer skins. I chose the location in case the VHD tape adhesion fails and the thermometer will not land on the fragile surface of the refrigerator. VHD tape is very good if used correctly as intended. The problem is the back of the thermometer is curve as opposed to being flat and parallel to the fiberglass wall of the camper which is flat for all practical purposes.
the compromised location which gives inflated cabin temperature due to solar gain; this thermometer came with Brunnhilde when I bought it but I recently repurpose its uses; I like its gentle in battery life
I came up with a solution to this dilemma. The solution is a fall arrest that consists of a cable tie anchor and a cable tie.
the solution lies in this cable tie and anchor
the cable tie and anchor will arrest the thermometer from falling and damage the fragile surface for the refrigerator/counter top below
the revised mounting location away from the hot exterior wall all tidied up
Oh. I am now so used to having the DSI water heater. I can turn it on and off in the cabin at will. That alone save a lot of unnecessary waste of propane and extra heat in hot days.
the thermistor is located to monitor the coldest part of the refrigerator
the reflective tape that I planned on putting on the side of the trailer
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