Homemade screen door for A128

[thehamguy1]

I bought some screen material, some small magnets, and fender washers at a hardware store and made a screen door for the upper part of the doorway in our A128. Total cost about $15 US. Once I cut the screen to size to overlap the opening, I reinforced the edges with The Handyman's Secret Weapon (duct tape). I hot-glued 11 fender washers in places along the sides and bottom edges, then epoxied the small magnets around the door frame in such a way that the washers are pulled onto the magnets when you let the screen down. I just roll it up when we don't need it and secure it to the padded area over the door with Velcro strips.

To go through the door with the screen in place, I just walk through. The screen flows up over my head and falls back into place behind me, like those instant screen doors advertised on TV. It makes a snap as the magnets and washers find each other again, so I don't have to look to see if it closed.

Warning: this kind of door WILL muss up your hair!

[D-mo]

got to love it ... got any pics?

d-mo

[thehamguy1]

I was thinking of doing a YouTube video about the screen door, maybe I'll do that after I mow the lawn today. Stay tuned.

[thehamguy1]

Ok, the vidoe's up on YouTube. Search for "Screen door and other ideas for a-frame camper".

[BigDTx]

[thehamguy1]

Originally Posted by Danielflading

Great use of emoticons! I'll have to try that sometime. Sorry about posting no still pictures, but a photo by itself wouldn't show much, so that's why I went with a video instead. It's up on YouTube right now; feel free to check it out; use the search string in my earlier post.

[BigDTx]

looks good in the video, well done!

[Herk7769]

Screen Door And Other Ideas For A-frame Camper - YouTube

This should be it.

[rawlus]

Nice job.

[thehamguy1]

Thanks, Lou. The YouTube app on my iPad doesn't show the URL of whatever video I'm watching, so I resort to just giving the search string. I'm sure many find that frustrating. Sorry, out there in Forum Land!

[rawlus]

On iPad. Click the share button at top of vid. Then cut&paste the link out of the email that pops up.

[thehamguy1]

Originally Posted by rawlus

On iPad. Click the share button at top of vid. Then cut&paste the link out of the email that pops up.

Very helpful. Thanks!

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by rawlus

On iPad. Click the share button at top of vid. Then cut&paste the link out of the email that pops up.

Ditto! Awesome tip!

[gsocamper]

Hamguy, I really like your ideas. I also have the A128 and so far am loving it. Although I would be nervous to make any permanent changes to mine, we may have to use some of your ideas. I love the screen door. I hate that heavy front table and am looking for ideas for a replacement. We are even thinking tv trays. Now, you need to come up with an easy attached awning. Please keep posting any other mods you do.

[D-mo]

Cudos to your mods and sharing ideas Hamguy ... great stuff.
I just have question or two about your solar panel system that shows in your screen door video. I too run solar in my unit .. using an 80 watt panel/charge controller and a dual battery setup. I however run my panel directly to the charge controller which inturn is connected directly to my dual batteries on the tongue. I notice your wiring is channeled directly into the converter area of your trailer. Is there a specific reason for this ...or have you just mounted your charge controller permanently next to the converter and wired it out to the battery.
My A122 is up in the driveway now .. so I can post pics of the battery box holder that i installed ... and the solar setup i have now ... as it takes a few minutes to install and maybe helpfull for those others who wish to use this trailer to its fullest extent.

cheers .. d-mo

[thehamguy1]

We'd love to see pictures of your arrangement. Where did you get the 80 watt panel(s)? Ours are 45 watt units, so at full sun they only supply between 3 and 4 amps to the charge controller. The controller, BTW, is installed in the new storage unit I built, and the wire from the panels to the controller just runs through the outside shore power port for convenience sake--I didn't want to make any more penetrations of the floor or walls than the factory made.

I'm interested in your dual battery setup, so any info you can shoot me on that will be appreciated. My wife just read your message over my shoulder and said I should tell you to write an entire chapter on it! She's subject to fits of enthusiasm, bless her.

[thehamguy1]

Originally Posted by gsocamper

Hamguy, I really like your ideas. I also have the A128 and so far am loving it. Although I would be nervous to make any permanent changes to mine, we may have to use some of your ideas. I love the screen door. I hate that heavy front table and am looking for ideas for a replacement. We are even thinking tv trays. Now, you need to come up with an easy attached awning. Please keep posting any other mods you do.

Thanks, gsocamper. I guess all those years of shop classes did some good. Most of the things I've made so far are based on someone else's ideas I adapted. So here's a suggestion for the table replacement you can adapt. One thing we were considering doing before we settled on cutting our table in half and changing the table base was making a replacement plywood table that would fold in half lengthwise, then the folded table would fold down against the forward wall. I had a table like that on a sailboat once.

One problem to solve would be how to attach hinges securely to a wall as thin as the front one. It might be that if you took out the front speaker you could get access to the space between the front wall and the steel diamond plate "bow" of the camper. If so, you could through-bolt a cleat to the wall that you could attach hinges to.

I hope this gives you a springboard for some creative scribbling.

[D-mo]

I purchased the solar panel from a company in Monreal Quebec, called Solar Power Canada. The kit I purchased came with 20 ft. 12 AWG cables, with the MC4 connectors and a 7 ft. set of separate cables and clamps that come off of the charge controller. - and ofcourse the panel itself and the charge controller.
We had just come back from Shenandoah National Park where i used the system for 7 full days. We had 5 full hours of sun each day and i was able to charge both batteries back up to 100 % each day. We ran the lights/sterio without any thought, along with the waterpump and fantastic cieling fan along with an Endless Breeze (fantastic fan) for the queen bed end.
Im thinking the maximum total draws for each night were about 20 amps, which the solar panel, which pumps out around 6 amps per hour in full sun easily replentished in about 4 hours.
Previous to this purchase we were using a 30 watt folding panel, which did the job quite well, however we were conserving power. We lasted 10 full days on a dual battery setup with the 30 watt panel at Acadia National Park ..last year.

will post pics tomorrow ... if i can figure out how too .. lol ..

D-mo

[D-mo]

heres a pic of the dual battery setup on my camper ... the paint will be coming out tomorrow to touchup the cut edging ...




I'll start a separate thread tonight or tomorrow about the solar.


Cheers .. d-mo

[thehamguy1]

Great pic to show how you've adapted the tongue area for dual batteries. Some more questions popped up here...
What is the little grey box showing beneath the battery holder? Is it an isolator switch or do you even use one of those?
Second, our camper came with about a 400AH battery, so the most economical thing for us would be to get a second one of the same size--is that what you did? (I'm going by the recommendation that multiple battery systems should have all equivalent age and capacity batteries).
Finally, are your batteries parallel connected, or do you use just one at a time while charging the other?