Camper Work

Or rather replaced. The pressurized gas cylinder on the starboard side of the camper failed. It spit out its oil through the bottom seal. So, I ordered a replacement and replaced it Friday.

Yesterday, Saturday, was spent on camper repairs. When I arrived at the Walker River Paiute Tribe research station a couple of weeks ago, I discovered two problems with the camper. The bracket/brace that the front portion of the shower was affixed to had released from the front bulkhead of the camper’s hull. That meant it could not be raised. Because I was at the research station, I was going (and did) use the shower and head in the main trailer. So, this was not a fatal problem.

The second was that the bracket/retainer of the rear bulkhead of the camper’s hull had parted from the camper’s floor and side panel. I did not want to lose the bracket, so I “borrowed” some zip ties from a colleague and attached the bracket to the rear bumper bracket. That way I figured it would not readily depart from the camper on my way home.

I also noticed oil leakage from the pressurized gas cylinder (lift) I use to make raising/lowering the roof tractable by hand. Yes, I press it up from the ground. The linear actuator was a bad design and after two of them failed, I chose to move to a different solution.

I ordered replacement cylinders and replaced the starboard unit. The port unit is fine (for now).

So I hooked up the camper to the 4Runner yesterday and hauled it over to my buddy’s place. We surveyed the shower panel problem and came up with a solution. One of the screws had sheared, so we replaced it with a bit stouter screw (same size; better quality) and added one screw to each half of the bracket. Coupled with a little construction glue, I think that problem is solved.

Then we attended to the rear bulkhead. The manufacturer had affixed the bracket/molding that retains the entire rear bulkhead of the camper to the unit with four screws. The port-side pair had separated although the starboard pair held.

When I discovered this, I just shook my head in disgust. Clearly, this was insufficient strength to hold the entire rear bulkhead of the hull together. There was insufficient shear strength and the flexing of the system when underway finally broke the weakest link on the port side.

We talked about the solution for a few minutes, then started the repair. We added a handful of screws to the bracket and it was pretty easy to slide the panel into the bracket slot and get it reassembled.

That was after I spent a half-hour cleaning the old caulking from the back panel and bracket. All it took was a little elbow grease and a bit of acetone.

I still need to caulk the rear panel. But, I backed the camper in a little too close to the garage door to do it today. I will do it before I head out to camp on Friday. It will take only a few minutes and I can do the final job while filling the potable tank or over a beer.

In all, the work required a bit more than six hours of labor. I would not be able to do this without the help and knowledge of my buddy. As a result, I bought supper at El Charro Avitia. I had a very good Carne Asada Burrito and a couple of Margaritas in celebration of a job done.

The camper gets better each time we do one of these jobs. We repair a weakness in the design/construction of the unit. I cannot believe how poorly they are designed and assembled.

I sat down on the sofa with The Girl when I got home. However, I immediately crashed. I think I put something on Netflix to stream, but I have no idea what it was. When I woke about 2100h, I had a black screen facing me and The Girl had gone to her mat to sleep. So, I shut down the house and wandered off to bed myself. I was whupped.

It was a good day. Good work was done. Fellowship was enjoyed with good friends. Life is good.