You could always get a 12V ice chest type refrigerators. They work pretty good and you can take it into the house when you you get home. For my trailer, I'm considering rubber tile from Lowes. A little pricey but oil resistant and nonslip. You think just one deep cycle battery would be enough for a weekend of flying and powering chargers? I was thinking two in parallel since I fly electrics too.

You right Ran68, two deep cycle batteries will be twice as good as one. But paperairplanes mentioned installing a roof air conditioner and using a deep cycle battery or two or even three batteries will not work. As far a a refrigerator, well a cooler with a $1.29 bag of ice works just fine with me.

Next time at Lowes, I'll look at those rubber tiles. Still up in the air as far as what to use on the floor and ramp?

I agree, batteries would not power AC. The rubber tiles come in different colors too if I remmeber correctly. Would work well on the ramp also or could skateboard style grip tape to make traction treads.

I'm having the fabricator cut 4 ft by 1 1/2 in. strips of leftover aluminum plate to use as traction threads for the ramp. These strips would be screwed in over what ever I use to cover the ramp. Since the ramp is approx. 6'x6', I'll need at least 12 strips. By my calculations that will be about 6 inches between traction threads -- 18 or 24 strips would look better. Hopefully I'll have enough plate leftover to make it look nice.

Russ,

The only thing that won't be slippery will be indoor/outdoor carpet. I have those tread tiles in my entrance way at my office . Let me tell you they still get slippery and they are not on an incline. Home depot sells
I/O Carpet that is not top grade but affordable. I got green that doesn't show dirt and can be vacuumed easily. Just think of early mornings at the field when the grass is wet. After a few trips in and out of the trailer to set up and those tiles will get pretty slippery. I looked at all of the options and this I think was the best. I only stapled it in place so if it does get ruined it can be replaced.

John

Nice job rcguy1, but I have only one concern, atnd that is I did some insulating in my garage workshop and then sheetrocked it. I also ran some electrical outlets and basically finished it off. Well what I didnt know was the use of insulation that has the vapor barrier wrapped around it already, like the stuff your using, with romex. Apparently there is a possible fire hazard with that insulation cause if the romex heats up with enough use then it could melt the plastic and cause a possible fire. Sorry I didnt catch you sooner, but just food for thought. Dont want you to lose your planes!!!

Thanks for your concern but I don't believe there is a problem. The Romax is coming from one electrical box to another and the electrical boxes on the inside of the trailer are on the outside of the plywood wall. I have electrical boxes and Romax running inside the outside walls of my home that has insulation and no problem. The circuit has to be wired properly. I'm not an electrician so I'm not 100%sure. Are there any electricians out there?

RCGuy,
Just a quick question. Are you going to put some kind of circuit protector/breaker in your trailer? I have a 30amp breaker in mine just in case I get some kind of power surge while charging or something.

Patrick.

Patrick, the Briggs & Stratton generator has two 20 amp circuit breakers and a 30 amp, built in. Also, I'm going to install, on the inside wall of the trailer, a computer like surge protector with about six outlets to charge my plane's batteries. My home's circuit breaker will protect the trailer's circuit when powered from the house.

RCGUY1:

Yup, ianober is right. But it takes quite a bit of current to heat it up and melt it. I don't think your going to be pulling 20 amps through the trailer wiring for any extended period of time. Maybe a surge or two and even then I doubt your going to pull that many amps. Unless you plan on having all the club members plugged into your trailer at once with a refrigerator or two running, plus AC to keep things cool....(Hey, you never know)...Then there maybe that fire hazard. Pulling 15 to 20 amps through the circuit for 10-15 minutes would heat things up real good..but by that time the breaker should pop (but might not if under rated load) but the heat would be there. (In fact a steady 20 amp draw at 5 minutes would heat things up well.)

You guys have me concerned, as far as the insulation plastic liner and wiring may cause a fire. Looks like I will postpone the insulation part and just use a fan inside the trailer when it is parked along side my house. I'll put a timer on it so it will operate during the daylight. The trailer came with vents and if I circulate the air inside the trailer it may not be necessary to insulate. Next summer I will monitor the inside temperature of the trailer and then make a decision as whether to insulate or not.

Got the generator box from the fabricator. Here is a picture with one of the fabricators and fellow pilot named Pete Jr. Pete Jr. and his father sure did a fine job!!! Great work guys.

Another picture showing the removable front cover.

Hey Guy...

That looks real good. They did a nice job on the box. Bet your happy! Nice weather, huh? We've got a lot of snow & cold if you need some...

I think you have a good idea too, try it without the insualtion. IMO, I don't think your going to need it. (Then again if you ever bring that trailer up here you'll need it and a heater!)

Happy Holidays...

Just another suggestion here. You might want to put some weather srtripping on the inside top where it comes in contact with the box below. It should seal it from the elements and keep it real dry. You may already have this planned, I just didn't know.

I'm planning on installing weather stripping on the inside top of the box but to keep the box from rattling more so then to keep things dry. The box is dry without the weather stripping.

Any chance you might get condensation inside? A couple of small drain holes in the bottom might be good insurance against standing water and corrosion.

-Ben

Ben, drain holes have been drilled. The box is all aluminum and the hardware is stainless steel. Remember, the guys who fabricated the box are in the boat business. They build custom T-Tops, stands, gas tanks, etc. for boats used on salt water.


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Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to ALL!

Guys, I need some help. I just about ready to paint and will be installing racks and tie downs to l hold the planes and helis. I need some ideas on how to build racks for wings and fuselages. Any and all ideas will be appreciated. I have two helis 50 size and my planes are as follows, 1/4 size 300S, four .46 size planes and two .61/.91 planes. Thanks in advance. Russ

Russ,

Did I ever post photo's of wing rack? Take 2 2x4's and drill holes at an angle. I used 3/4 copper pipe with plumbing insulation over them for protection. I glued mine in place or you can leave them loose to allow for different spacing. Just slide the wings in with servo's facing down and the rod keeps them from moving side to side. My 1/4 scale wings are in wingbags that I lean up against a wall. 40 size planes can be hung by the tail as well as Heli's. Allows more space just use a strap to tie down and the won't go anywhere.

John

This is a great forum and I have just started to customize my new trailer it is a 7x14 Pace. I am going to set up the trailer for both work and play and I am always looking for ideas on how to finish the interior. I have about 8 planes and a heli so I need to Make room for at least 4 planes at one time I will post pics of the start and as I progress. It Looks like you guys have som really good ideas andI may have to steal a couple of them like the generator and that hitch box that is cool. Keep the pics rolling. I will have power to the trailer in both ac and dc and hopefully a spectator platform on the roof

I will build a removable platform to rest on the brackets which will have tie downs for my 1/4 scale and larger planes as well as gear, similar to the trailer in the love my trailer post

I changed the box fixture on the outside of the trailer from female to male. I believe it's a lot safer this way.

hoverVT,

Interesting how you have the shelving along the wall and the brackets attached to the shelves. I've haven't seen it done like that before. I might suggest you paint the inside before you get much more in there. White paint will make it a lot brighter inside. I was surprised how much more light I have in mine after finally painting it .

Hover VT


I had a setup like you did and then when I saw what rcguy had, I went to Home Depot and got brackets like he had.
If you look at the first page of this thread, you'll see them. The nice thing with them is that there is no removable shelf and you can tie the plane directly to the bracket.
I wanted removable brackets too, so what I did was use a threaded rod that had a wood screw on one end and a 1/4-20 thread on the opposite end. The rod stays threaded into the wood panel and a 1/4 - 20 wingnut secures the bracket to the trailer. When I want to remove the brackets, I undo the wingnuts and remove the brackets - takes seconds.
As advised earlier, paint the inside white before you go too far..my trailer looks bigger inside since I did this