eatSleepWoof gets a Winnie
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Tex68w
Beach Bum
Cancelled this weekend's camping plans due to very bad weather. Instead, I got a ton of chores done, including installing a MaxxAir (5100k) fan in place of one of the original fans. This is the same fan I previously used on my cargo conversion, and it's fantastic. The OEM fan is simply inadequate. It barely moves any air, and won't do in hot, summer boondocking (ie. no a/c).
Butyl tape underneath the mounting flanges, and 4"-wide Eternabond tape overtop.
The trim that came with the fan didn't even need any adjustments - worked perfect right out of the box.
On lowest (of 10) speeds, the fan is completely silent and easily holds up a piece of shop towel.
One thing that surprised me was just how loud the "beep" was from every button press. I must have had the same noise on my last fan, but don't remember it at all. I took apart the fan (from inside the trailer) after installation and put a dab of hot glue on the speaker, which made a huge, immediate difference. Now the beep is nice and quiet (how it should have been from the get go)!
Our Casita has the same fan and while it works well the beeps are insane. Where exactly is the speaker hole that you put glue in, I'd like to do the same?! Also, beware that there are many reports of those with lithium batteries destroying these fans, somehow the higher float charge can cause the fan to run the up/down motor in the locked position and it will subsequently chew up the gears. I have no verifiable proof of this myself but I have read it about it happening numerous times on the forums/reddit.
eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
I didn't have any issues with the same fan and same batteries in my last trailer, but I'll keep an eye out for that - thanks. On second thought, you mention the up/down motor, and that's only present on the higher-versions of these fans. My up/down is manual, via the black knob.
Here is what you need to do:
1. Take off the bug net - you'll have to turn those four plastic tabs about 90-180 degrees, and the but net will come out freely. My tabs were very tight and I actually used pliers to turn them.
2. Once the bug net is off, you'll find four phillips screws. Remove those, plus the one inside the knob that opens/closes the fan.
3. At this point the main unit of the fan will be free to drop down and expose the circuit board in one corner. That circuit board will have the speaker. The speaker is a black cylinder, about 1/2" in diameter, with a small hole in the middle of it (on top). If in doubt, press a button (to hear the beep) while covering/uncovering that hole with your finger, and you'll know you're in the right spot. Put a dab of hot glue right on that hole. Electrical tape could work too, but I think hot glue will last (ie. not peel) longer, and will have more density to it, thus block more sound.
Tip: when you remove all of the above, you'll find a loose, plastic tube (figure... about 1" in diameter and 2" in length) which originally sat around the knob hardware (which you removed). It can be tough to re-assemble this piece (since it's loose). I hot-glued mine in place, which made re-assembly 10x easier.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
Thanks for the detailed reply on how to do this, much appreciated. And yes, your fan would need to have the electric/auto up/down for it to be at risk of that damage, unfortunately mine does.
eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
If the issue is too much voltage, I suspect a $2, 12v voltage regulator wired inline with the fan power would be of help.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
Indeed. Not an issue for me until I make the move to lithium but I will certainly wire one in when the time comes.
eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
Built and mounted a container organizer. This keeps items in reach, and ensures they don't spill in transit. Re-used some original materials for a matching facia.
Photos with the stove on are from when I was testing how the stove flame/heat affect this unit. Ran the burners on max flame for 10 minutes and the storage unit didn't even get warm. My largest pot is also about 2.5-3" from contact with this unit when used on the closest burners, so lots of clearance there. Of course, still worth keeping an eye on, but I don't foresee any issues here.
The wall only has a single accessible stud (and even that's not really a stud, but rather some sort of aluminium backing plate), so mounting this was tricky. Considered many options, and ended up installing six M6 rivnuts into the wall, and bolting the unit to them. I exerted a bit too much force on one of them and stripped the thread during install, but luckily I was able to re-tap it for standard 1/4-20 thread (which is ever so slightly larger than M6), and it holds well.
Photos with the stove on are from when I was testing how the stove flame/heat affect this unit. Ran the burners on max flame for 10 minutes and the storage unit didn't even get warm. My largest pot is also about 2.5-3" from contact with this unit when used on the closest burners, so lots of clearance there. Of course, still worth keeping an eye on, but I don't foresee any issues here.
The wall only has a single accessible stud (and even that's not really a stud, but rather some sort of aluminium backing plate), so mounting this was tricky. Considered many options, and ended up installing six M6 rivnuts into the wall, and bolting the unit to them. I exerted a bit too much force on one of them and stripped the thread during install, but luckily I was able to re-tap it for standard 1/4-20 thread (which is ever so slightly larger than M6), and it holds well.
eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
All of the kitchen drawers are assembled with staples, and I always thought it was a matter of time before I'd need to start rebuilding them. What I didn't expect was that time to be 3-4 trips.
After coming back from the last trip I discovered that the bottom of the main drawer under the stove was coming loose.
Last night I rebuilt it from my usual 1/2" red oak plywood, and installed it with the original face.
Other drawers are smaller, thus hold less weight, and will hopefully last longer before needing attention.
After coming back from the last trip I discovered that the bottom of the main drawer under the stove was coming loose.
Last night I rebuilt it from my usual 1/2" red oak plywood, and installed it with the original face.
Other drawers are smaller, thus hold less weight, and will hopefully last longer before needing attention.
jgaz
Adventurer
Ironically, I just did a similar drawer reconstruction for a neighbor on their toy hauler.All of the kitchen drawers are assembled with staples, and I always thought it was a matter of time before I'd need to start rebuilding them. What I didn't expect was that time to be 3-4 trips.
After coming back from the last trip I discovered that the bottom of the main drawer under the stove was coming loose.
Last night I rebuilt it from my usual 1/2" red oak plywood, and installed it with the original face.
Other drawers are smaller, thus hold less weight, and will hopefully last longer before needing attention.
These RV manufactures should be ashamed of their build quality, but they aren’t.
Nice work!
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eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
A few weeks ago we went for a week-long camping trip. On the second night out, the furnace stops working; turns on, blows cold air for 20 seconds, shuts off. I tried everything the manual suggested about 30 times over - no change. Overnight temperatures were 4-5C, so we spent two freezing, sleepless nights, packed up camp and drove out to the nearest town in search of reception.
Once I had signal I found a bunch of online videos suggesting that the furnace's sail-switch may be the problem, and it needs to be removed and cleaned. Looking at the furnace, it seemed like the opening under the fridge was too small to pull the furnace out, and I'd have to remove the fridge to get access to the furnace. This seemed like a nightmare that I'd have to do at home, so I picked up some additional blankets and a portable propane heater, and we went to camp in our second (planned) location.
In camp, after a few bravery beers, I decided to give it a shot and see if I can pull out the furnace through the interior opening. As it happened, it came out with literally a millimetre of room to spare. I pulled off the propane line, both ducts, loosened electrical, removed mounting brackets, and out it came. Got access to the sail switch, and sure enough, it had the tiniest fluff of dog fur on it. Cleaned it off, re-assembled, furnace fired right up. This is what that process looked like in camp:
Winnebago cut a corner and didn't provide an exterior access panel to the furnace. Since I have zero interest in ever pulling out this furnace again, especially in camp, I decided to fix that. Ordered the "DOMETIC 33044 Small Furnace Access Door" and got to work this morning.
Made a template for my router (with the flush trim bit) to do the cut:
Ran into an unexpected stud towards the back of the trailer. I thought the studs here were 16" OC, but it looks like they're closer to 12". This stud wouldn't allow me to fit the flange of the inner trim piece that comes with the access panel, and since I'm not about to go cutting studs, I trimmed the flange, instead:
Hole fully cut. Note the random gaps in insulation. Clowns at Winnebago doing what they do!
Applied butyl tape and Sikaflex 291 to the inner flange, screwed it in, then installed the exterior panel door with the original exhaust.
Total 3 hours of work, but I'll never again have to pull out the furnace, so it's time well spent. I've also picked up a few spare sail switches should I ever need one in camp.
As a separate mini-project, I installed two ducts in the panel that hides the fridge. These are installed exactly where the fridge's own ventilation ducts are, and I think this should help overall fridge performance.
I removed the panel for this, and since it was originally nailed-in from the inside of the trailer (and I could no longer do that without pulling out the fridge), I installed a few rivnuts into the panel and screwed it in from the outside with those stainless, recessed bolts in the photo. Liberal use of Sikaflex 291 all over.
Once I had signal I found a bunch of online videos suggesting that the furnace's sail-switch may be the problem, and it needs to be removed and cleaned. Looking at the furnace, it seemed like the opening under the fridge was too small to pull the furnace out, and I'd have to remove the fridge to get access to the furnace. This seemed like a nightmare that I'd have to do at home, so I picked up some additional blankets and a portable propane heater, and we went to camp in our second (planned) location.
In camp, after a few bravery beers, I decided to give it a shot and see if I can pull out the furnace through the interior opening. As it happened, it came out with literally a millimetre of room to spare. I pulled off the propane line, both ducts, loosened electrical, removed mounting brackets, and out it came. Got access to the sail switch, and sure enough, it had the tiniest fluff of dog fur on it. Cleaned it off, re-assembled, furnace fired right up. This is what that process looked like in camp:
Winnebago cut a corner and didn't provide an exterior access panel to the furnace. Since I have zero interest in ever pulling out this furnace again, especially in camp, I decided to fix that. Ordered the "DOMETIC 33044 Small Furnace Access Door" and got to work this morning.
Made a template for my router (with the flush trim bit) to do the cut:
Ran into an unexpected stud towards the back of the trailer. I thought the studs here were 16" OC, but it looks like they're closer to 12". This stud wouldn't allow me to fit the flange of the inner trim piece that comes with the access panel, and since I'm not about to go cutting studs, I trimmed the flange, instead:
Hole fully cut. Note the random gaps in insulation. Clowns at Winnebago doing what they do!
Applied butyl tape and Sikaflex 291 to the inner flange, screwed it in, then installed the exterior panel door with the original exhaust.
Total 3 hours of work, but I'll never again have to pull out the furnace, so it's time well spent. I've also picked up a few spare sail switches should I ever need one in camp.
As a separate mini-project, I installed two ducts in the panel that hides the fridge. These are installed exactly where the fridge's own ventilation ducts are, and I think this should help overall fridge performance.
I removed the panel for this, and since it was originally nailed-in from the inside of the trailer (and I could no longer do that without pulling out the fridge), I installed a few rivnuts into the panel and screwed it in from the outside with those stainless, recessed bolts in the photo. Liberal use of Sikaflex 291 all over.
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eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
So long as people keep buying, manufacturers won't lift a finger to improve things.
IMO these trailers should come from the factory with the majority of the mods I've done!And yup, the GSD will be 12 years old in a month. She's definitely slowed down, gets up slower, has visible cataracts, and has worse hearing (or pretends to), but is still going pretty strong. I figure she's got a few years left in her yet.
We also have a Micro Minnie, I fell into the trap of the FLX and bought it, in hindsight, if doing all over again I'd buy non FLX model and add the lithium like you did, my trailer is literately totally rewired for it up to spec.
on a side note, make sure you put steel wool on the water pump opening above the wheel well, as well as the black tank vent, it's on the driver's side beside the toilet, mice/squirrels can easily get in there, I had interesting encounter staring at a squirrel when I hear noise.
on a side note, make sure you put steel wool on the water pump opening above the wheel well, as well as the black tank vent, it's on the driver's side beside the toilet, mice/squirrels can easily get in there, I had interesting encounter staring at a squirrel when I hear noise.
Todd780
OverCamper
Nicely done! I'd love to see how you built those drawers. I can see this in my future as well...All of the kitchen drawers are assembled with staples, and I always thought it was a matter of time before I'd need to start rebuilding them. What I didn't expect was that time to be 3-4 trips.
After coming back from the last trip I discovered that the bottom of the main drawer under the stove was coming loose.
Last night I rebuilt it from my usual 1/2" red oak plywood, and installed it with the original face.
Other drawers are smaller, thus hold less weight, and will hopefully last longer before needing attention.
eatSleepWoof
Do it for the 'gram
Nice FLX!We also have a Micro Minnie, I fell into the trap of the FLX and bought it, in hindsight, if doing all over again I'd buy non FLX model and add the lithium like you did, my trailer is literately totally rewired for it up to spec.
on a side note, make sure you put steel wool on the water pump opening above the wheel well, as well as the black tank vent, it's on the driver's side beside the toilet, mice/squirrels can easily get in there, I had interesting encounter staring at a squirrel when I hear noise.
How are the Truma appliances treating you? That's a major upside the FLX upgrade carries, which unfortunately can't be retrofitted (within reason) to non-FLX minnies.
I had a Thuma propane air/water heater in a previous trailer and really liked it. Would love to have one again, along with their 12v A/C!
Nicely done! I'd love to see how you built those drawers. I can see this in my future as well...
I didn't take photos during the build, but I typically do rabbet joints in the corners as well as walls to floor. Then it's carpenter's glue on all matching surfaces, join them together, brad nails to hold them in place, clamp them down for 30 minutes. When dry, clean off any glue, give every surface a quick sand, and apply edge banding tape to the top edges. Protruding edge banding gets removed with a flush-trim router bit and sharp chisel (for inner corners that the router can't get), another light sand on the edge band edges, then stain/finish/mount.