My 2004 Grandby project/ travel thread
- Thread starter eblau
- Start date
eblau
Adventurer
This past weekends humidity from light rain off and on combined with some moderate heat in the paddock drove home the need for an AC unit. Despite the daytime heat, at night it was very comfortable with just the fantastic fan doing its thing (I slept like a rock). With some downtime between now and the next race (June 20th) I am going to make a board to mount a small AC unit in place of the "emergency exit" window to swap out when we reach our destination, not something I would feel comfortable with keeping in place while driving.
eblau
Adventurer
Ended up not staying at the track June 20th/ 21st due to the threat of very severe storms in the area so I used that weekend to build my panel for the window AC unit. I picked up the smallest unit I could find at lowes and made a pattern out of the emergency window using 1/2 birch ply. I used the upper channel of the emergency window to secure the board, I will post pictures after I paint it with some exterior latex paint.
Here's where it sits, the area behind the seat is kind of dead space anyway so I'm not sacrificing any interior room for the unit and best of all its not permanent!
Here's where it sits, the area behind the seat is kind of dead space anyway so I'm not sacrificing any interior room for the unit and best of all its not permanent!
eblau
Adventurer
The 5000 btu unit had no problems keeping the camper cool all weekend in the paddock. My simple board that fits into the emergency exit worked really well although its still a little tricky storing the AC unit somewhere in the truck or on the camper floor when traveling. Certainly takes up a bunch of room and is relatively fragile (cooling fins). I would still love to install a unit permanently in the back wall where the window currently resides.
eblau
Adventurer
I finally installed my wave 3 I have had for at least 9 months sitting in the box in my shed. My plan was to mount it on the backside of the cabinet door under the sink so when it use it was facing the living area and easily stowed when not in use but this would have cut into my cabinet space under the sink. My next plan was to mount it on the outside of the little bumped out section that houses the water heater but that does not point the Heat where I need it. I decided to keep it simple and get a set of wave feet and run the propane line through the bottom of the under sink cabinet and place the heater on the floor. I didn't drill the hole large enough so I have the line temporarily run out of the cabinet door. I found lately that the simple method, while not always the sleekest or most clever usually works out the best in the long run. I will only use this heater when not plugged in so why have it permanently mounted somewhere?
I reused the copper line that previously fed the crappy norcold 2 way fridge but just ran it in the opposite direction. Ended up working perfectly.
I reused the copper line that previously fed the crappy norcold 2 way fridge but just ran it in the opposite direction. Ended up working perfectly.
eblau
Adventurer
The 3 was enough to keep it comfortable on the low setting although I only experienced high 40's at night where I was staying. I think the wave heater is a good compromise whereas it doesn't pump out a tremendous amount of heat like a forced air unit or ceramic heater but it is absolutely silent, sips propane, uses no electricity and can be stowed away when not in use. I am taking the camper out for back to back weekends at the track Oct 2/3/4 and 9/10/11 and a halloween dirtbike trip (offgrid) and I hope we have a cold night or two so I can really see how it performs. I am not planning on doing a lot of extreme cold weather camping off the grid but I think its one of those things that I will thank myself for installing the one or two nights I really need it!
I think I got the quick release coupling from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-F27...476472&sr=8-16&keywords=propane+quick+connect
eblau
Adventurer
The story of how two Grandbys ended up in my driveway is too long to post but let's just say someone's pocket is $4500 lighter after responding to an obscure craigslist ad placed this past week for this 2011 model. This one is going to a buddy of mine that will get some serious use out of it in the coming months.
eblau
Adventurer
A lot has happened since my last post but mostly Just enjoying my Grandby when I can and making little tweaks here and there. I thought I would post my latest AC solution which comes in the form of a Haier 10,000 BTU unit simply placed in the area that used to be occupied by the triangle shaped board that "finished" the sofa. This solves a few problems for me, namely the setup and take down of my window unit and also the direction that the cool air is expelled. The window unit worked well but aimed air sideways and not up into the sleeping bunk. This Haier stand alone unit was almost too perfect, I will use two hooks and a strap to secure the unit while in transit and while stationary I can move the unit around and expel the hot air the unit creates through the hole used for screwing down the camper turnbuckles. I can't wait to use this Setup, not only because I've doubled the BTUs but I don't have to go through the Window unit setup and take down. I can simply run the exhaust tube and plug it in!
