This weekend, we worked on getting the brakes wired! Poor Mike had to crawl under the trailer again, but we're fairly certain this is one of the last times at least! He'll still need to get under there when we go to do the plumbing and the valves for the holding tanks. That'll be a fun job ;)

We ran the wire from the brakes through a protective conduit (the grey tubing).

The brake lines meet up with the rest of the external lights in the 7-wire trailer controller (the black box) at the front of the trailer.

And here's how the trailer will plug into an outlet on the tow vehicle so that the brakes and lights will be controlled by the truck!  The little black box with the silver wire coming out of it is an emergency brake. The little wire gets attached to the tow vehicle. If the trailer were to break loose from the tow vehicle, that little wire pulls out of the box, triggering the trailer brakes to engage which stops the trailer from running wild and free! (Sorry, Maude, no solo-adventuring for you!)

Until next time! <3 Becca

This weekend we got the external lighting all wired up! We're talking brake lights, turn signals, running lights and even the little light for the license plate!  We can't test that the brake lights and turn signals work in conjunction with the tow vehicle until we get the 7-wire trailer harness installed (which is our next project!), but we know the wiring is good! The trailer harness is what connects to the tow vehicle and controls the lights and brakes.

Wiring is super boring, photographically, so this is a super short blog post, but please enjoy the photos we took of the lights in action! <3

​Until Next Time! <3 Becca

Now that we got the end caps completed, we've been able to move forward! This weekend felt like a HUGE win in the moving-forward department!

We got all of the interior (and a little of the exterior!) lighting wired up!

The little puck lights are temporarily being held in place with tape. This allows us to make sure that everything works before we have to disconnect the pucks to install the interior skins. It also allowed us to test that the lighting is bright enough (particularly in the rear treatment room!)

They work!!! And I'm fairly certain these little guys are bright enough! I'm not going to say FOR SURE they're bright enough, since we don't have the inner skin installed and painted yet. I'm sure the light will reflect differently, but I think it'll be great :) I'm most excited about the dimmer switch that we installed for the treatment room lights so that I can turn the lights down while you guys rest :)

LOOK AT THE ADORABLE PORCH LIGHT! Eeeeeeee! So cute :)

This is the bathroom light fixture. This sucker is SUPER bright! Y'all will have NO problems seeing to wash your hands properly LOL

And then we had to make sure to check the brightness once it got dark! Well.... it wasn't all that dark, but I just couldn't wait any longer to get nighttime photos!

It feels really nice to have a project go smoothly and end with such a visible win!

Next up is wiring the external lights - the brake lights and running lights!

​Until next time! <3 Becca

These end caps have been a real trial. We've been working on them for almost a year at this point! We've certainly taken on some side projects during this time, but the end caps have been our main focus.
​Here's where we started this weekend:

One. Panel. Left.

If you'll recall, last weekend we had to cut our own new panel, because the one we ordered was about an inch shy width-wise. Here it is being installed! Last panel held into place with Clecos!

ALL. DONE!!!!!! It was a quick last panel (we've gotten PRETTY efficient with our panel installing skills! ;) ), this one took right about an hour. It turned out so beautifully!

I just love the way the panels curve and angle in the end caps :)

I'm very excited to move onto the next project(s). We need to finish up the 12-volt wiring, installing the purple insulation and then we're ready to replace the inner skins! Once the inner skins are installed, then it's time to build out the interior!

Here's to finally moving past the end caps LOL!
Until Next Time! <3 Becca

Time to get back to working on the rear endcap!
​Here's where we started:

You can see the copper-colored Clecos in place still. Our rivet gun wasn't working correctly the last time we worked on Maude, so we got a new one. HOLY COW what a difference! We don't think the old one ever worked properly. This one does rivets with just one pull of the trigger, as opposed to the old one which always took at least 2! So we started by getting caught up on the rivets.

Tada! Super pretty!

Time to add more panels!

And another!

And another! But oh no! You see that central gap? Turns out it's wider than our last sheet of aluminum. #&@^$%!&!&^%$&^@$!  Somewhere we miscalculated <sigh>. Again.

As opposed to ordering a new cut sheet from the metal shop, we decided to try our hand at cutting a new sheet ourselves. Luckily, we have all the cut-offs from having the shop cut the panel pieces for us, and a couple of them were large enough. In the past we'd had terrible luck at getting smooth edges with both the electric shears and the manual ones. Both made really ugly/raw-looking edges.

​So, Mike came up with a different plan:

Above is the sheet we were going to cut, with a scrap piece of aluminum being used as a straight edge.

Mike used a razor knife to "cut" the sheet. Cut and cut and cut and cut. I'm not sure how many passes he made, but it was a LOT. 

But it WORKED! We were finally able to bend the aluminum along the cut and snap off our sheet! Some sanding along the cut edge and it's ready to be installed! I can't believe that worked LOL! I'm REALLY glad we didn't have to do them ALL this way, but SUPER glad it worked for this one sheet!

We had hoped to finish the endcap this round, but Maude just never cooperates, does she? LOL The number of curse words that flew out of my mouth (and I'm GENERALLY a potty mouth!) was fairly substantial. I may have also crazy-cackled because of the absurdity that has been working on these stupid end caps. I swear, if I never have to do an endcap again, I'll be a REALLLLLLLY Happy Camper!

Until next time, <3 Becca

We're feeling fairly encouraged by the finishing of the front end cap! This past weekend we got some more work done on the rear end cap <3

​Here's where we started:

Unfortunately, our rivet gun seems to be struggling (taking wayyyyyy too long for each rivet), so some of our work time was spent running to the local hardware store to see if they had a new one. They didn't. We continued on, leaving more Cleco holders than we were wanting (we're enjoying seeing the more-finished product as we go along!). You can see that we did get SOME rivets done - those were mostly done by me with the human-powered rivet gun. My hands HURRRRRRT from using it! We'll find a new riveter soon ;)

By now, you're all very aware of what a giant pain in the butt the end caps have been. We futzed around with the original fiberglass end caps for wayyyyyy longer than we probably should have. We never got them to fit properly. Then, we decided to recreate our own out of aluminum, but we didn't order all of the correctly-sized pieces that we would need. We made some LONG-awaited progress this weekend!!
​Here's where we started:

We got this far in the end cap (months ago) then realized we'd need to order a larger final sheet. The new sheet arrived and we got the chance this weekend to install it finally <3

Isn't it beautiful?! With the final sheet in place, we were also able to finish the rivets around the window and along the rib! Just that one sheet took us 2 hours to install. NOTHING in this trailer moves quickly LOL

It's been..... trying. But this end cap turned out amazing, and it felt REALLLLY good to get it completed!
Next up: finish the rear end cap ;)

Until next time! <3 Becca

We got started on the 12-volt electrical system this weekend!

In a travel trailer, there are 2 electrical systems :
1. Things that are powered when the trailer is plugged in
     - Outlets, the Air Conditioners
2. Things that are powered by the battery and will receive power whether the trailer is plugged in or not
     - Lighting

There are other things that are powered by each of these systems, but these are the ones you guys might notice someday when you visit Maude ;)

Getting the battery hooked up to the electrical panel!

We got the sconces in the front of the trailer hooked up in order to test the circuit. This will eventually be the "Reception/Waiting Room!"

It worked! And the sconces are super cute! 

It was fun to work on a different project for a little bit. Don't worry, we'll finish up those end caps before you know it ;)

​Until next time! <3 Becca

It's not huge progress, but it's progress all the same! I'm going to celebrate every step forward, that's for sure! LOL

We got two more panels installed this past weekend! I also got the extra aluminum sheets ordered (in the correct size this time!). 

Baby steps, Becca, baby steps ;)  Until next time! <3 Becca

We got a little more work done on Maude this weekend!

We got two more panels installed! This is as far as we could progress on the left side with the sizes of aluminum sheets we have. What's really nice is - we have enough sheets to do the same amount on the right side!

WHICH MEANS!

In order to fix our ordering mistake (totally took YouTube advice on sheet sizes when we shouldn't have ;) ), we only have 4 sheets total to reorder! We need the center panel for the front end cap plus 3 panels for the rear! That's WAY better than I had imagined :)

Super excited to be moving forward again, even if it IS at a turtle's pace ;)
​Until Next Time! <3 Becca