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The Moonshine Motel - Enclosed Gooseneck "Crawler Hauler" Build

Mulled it over for a few days and decided that to mount and plumb the shower, I needed this wall to be in its final form. Today was the day.

Furring strips, more insulation, then 5mm ply. This will get primed+painted white, then hopefully some form of metal cladding on the bottom 3' or so to protect from tires.

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Now I get to pick out a plumbing fixture for the shower, build its mount, plumb and leak test, then insulate and ply.

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Been plugging away. Got the plumbing figured out by installing a backer board screwed with wood to metal screws, in pocket holes, in a stud cavity, for the drop ear elbows to screw to nice and solid.

All the wall sheathing up (on this side) and painted with paint/primer in two coats. This one wall soaked up a whole gallon.

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This is the new ramp I'm going to try. A piece of 2 by material cut to match the wheel wells and bolted through the wheel well. I expect it'll work well, and be way less intrusive to the interior.

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That looks great, any concerns about loss of functionality by burying the E-Track in the wall?

Aaron Z

No, because when the truck is in there, I can't use the e-track anyway. The trailer came with a bunch of e-track cleats and stuff but I just recycled it all.

If down the road I decide I want the e-track back, I can change the wall a bit and create an opening to expose it, but for now I'm good.
 
No, because when the truck is in there, I can't use the e-track anyway. The trailer came with a bunch of e-track cleats and stuff but I just recycled it all.

If down the road I decide I want the e-track back, I can change the wall a bit and create an opening to expose it, but for now I'm good.

I wish my current enclosed had half or 1/3 of the e-track yours does. Yours has e-track on top of e-track on top of e-track.

Shower fixture, crude brackets out of aluminum, and the outlaw shower enclosure mounted.

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Looks good. Gonna take a shower in there instead of in the house for a bit?
 
I wish my current enclosed had half or 1/3 of the e-track yours does. Yours has e-track on top of e-track on top of e-track.


Looks good. Gonna take a shower in there instead of in the house for a bit?

How do you use the etrack in your trailer? Your juggy isn't as big as my cruiser but still, it takes up a ton of space.

Also yes, I'm gong to shower in there for a week, lol.
 
How do you use the etrack in your trailer? Your juggy isn't as big as my cruiser but still, it takes up a ton of space.

Also yes, I'm gong to shower in there for a week, lol.
Mine doesn’t have any at all which is unfortunate since I could use some strategically placed here and there but don’t want to take the time to mess with it vs just using more ratchet straps.

Ha sounds about right for the shower and don’t blame ya there.
 
The blackfish outlaw shower is designed to mount on a 7' ceiling, or on a wall with his brackets. I have 8' domed ceilings, and didn't want it on the wall where it would impede me from getting into and out of the truck from the front for loading. That's why I did the ceiling mount brackets in the last post, to get the shower level to the floor and mounted up in the ceiling. That however meant that I needed to come up with a platform for the base of the shower.

Took me a few days, but I finally came up with a concept I liked, and built it this morning. The 3/4" ply platform and step store flat against the wall with a couple of cleats on piano hinge.

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4x4 legs screw into the bottom of the platforms with nutserts and all thread, then the platform and step fold down from the wall. They are very sturdy.

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Finally the shower comes down from the ceiling. It works exceptionally well.

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Some paint to finish it up, and a hole in the floor for the drain, and I'll be gucci.
 
Good grief you've got some work into this thing! If the platform for the base becomes a pain in the ass I wouldn't take me too much effort to come up with a pivoting shower wall mount. If there are you can pull up in swing it up into place and then shower on the floor. But until it's a problem just looks like I should work pretty nicely just don't fall out of the shower!
 
Good grief you've got some work into this thing! If the platform for the base becomes a pain in the ass I wouldn't take me too much effort to come up with a pivoting shower wall mount. If there are you can pull up in swing it up into place and then shower on the floor. But until it's a problem just looks like I should work pretty nicely just don't fall out of the shower!

Thanks! If I had a press brake I'd be able to come up with some fancier metal solutions. I really need to get one.

I hadn't thought of a swing-up shower storage solution though, that's a really good idea.
 
Thanks! If I had a press brake I'd be able to come up with some fancier metal solutions. I really need to get one.

I hadn't thought of a swing-up shower storage solution though, that's a really good idea.
I already have the wall mounts, so would just be a take-off from there. But i see nothing wrong with your setup, just dont shower drunk!
 
Plumbed the vent for the terlet, moved the battery down to my new, larger, sparky cabinet, and tore down the dividing wall to reframe it flat.

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I’m confused. Is the toilet up on top of the gooseneck portion? Thats partially rhetorical since that’s the only place it can go really.

Also, what type of toilet is that?
 
I’m confused. Is the toilet up on top of the gooseneck portion? Thats partially rhetorical since that’s the only place it can go really.

Also, what type of toilet is that?

Yes it is. The pics I took of it were before I pulled down the wall, making it hard to follow.

It's a nature's head composting toilet. Not sure how ill like it, but it'll be better than Porta shitters in 90* heat at windrock next week.
 
Yes it is. The pics I took of it were before I pulled down the wall, making it hard to follow.

It's a nature's head composting toilet. Not sure how ill like it, but it'll be better than Porta shitters in 90* heat at windrock next week.
Domed roofs for the win there to have enough room to place a toilet on top of the gooseneck portion and totally agree there.

Having your own heat/ac, shower, and toilet are pretty nice for sure.
 
This is as far as I'll go for now. I need to convert the AC to ducted and route it through this wall at the top, at which point I'll finish framing this out. Need to put a 12v wire in for the terlet and I'll be good to go.

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This is as far as I'll go for now. I need to convert the AC to ducted and route it through this wall at the top, at which point I'll finish framing this out. Need to put a 12v wire in for the terlet and I'll be good to go.

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Looking good and curious how to convert the standard ac unit to ducted so make sure to document that por favor.
 
Currently the bed is up on the gooseneck.

That said, I’m quite curious what you have up your sleeve.
Mine will also be in the goose, but if im able to stuff an extra bed in there then why the hell not!

Details coming soon. Im sure there will be some overlooked issues...
 
What a fuckin week it was. Had some struggles in the beginning, but got it all sorted out. Notes:

1. Honda 2200i will run the rooftop AC in the upper 90s ambient heat, but it's running full tilt. The inverter has to be adjusted to pull 19.5A out of it for this to work (which it will do 100% of the time)
2. Even though the LiFePO4 BMS is configured for 120a peak current, it won't cut off for 320ms, and for that duration, the inverter will pull over 200a of juice from the battery (BMS short circuit instant cutoff is configured at ~320a). This oversight fried 5 ANL style fuses before I figured it out. I built "Ol Reliable", a strip of 1/8" steel cut in the shape of an ANL fuse, to prevent any future blown fuses. The BMS still does its job of protecting the battery array and cables.
3. LiFePO4 array can charge at 120a constant, but it causes major cell imbalances in the array, which causes BMS protection events. That took a while to figure out. At the moment, I have the inverter configured to charge the array at 50a, which seems to be a good balance between charging speed and maintaining cell balance.
4. The diesel genny is killer. It's not very loud inside when running, no earplugs necessary to fall asleep. In fact, it's less annoying than the honda running at full tilt. We used the diesel genny overnight 4 nights in a row and it was amazing. Burns about 1/3gal of diesel per hour running the AC and keeping the LiFePO4 array topped up.
5. The diesel genny will output 25a (breaker at 25a), but this is insufficient for welders. The inverter will use the Power Assist feature and momentarily (less than 320ms) pull about 200a from the LiFePO4 array every time the arc starts on the welder. After arc start, load from the welder is only 15-20a, meaning the diesel genny can supply all of it.
6. There's something up with the circuit for the external outlet on the motel. If I have a fan or light connected to it, no problem, but connect a grinder to it, and the inverter trips off. Doesn't make much sense. Grinders work perfectly fine on all other outlets. Is there such a thing as a load-based romex short?
7. On My buddy Chris 's recommendation, bought a drum fan to create some circulation while hanging out outside the motel, and holy shit was that a gamechanger. 11/10.
8. My buddy Chris and I came up with a sun shade idea using a Slumberjack Roadhouse vehicle tarp, which worked very very well. Expands the shaded area under the awning by 100% or so, makes a ton more room.

In short, the motel is amazing. Best trip yet. The rooftop AC wasn't blowing as hard on the last day as it was the rest of the week, but it's still working for now. Still want to put a second LiFePO4 array in for more capacity and load absorbance, but that can come later.

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^^ After this, we figured out we could put another vertical post up on the near side to give even more room.

Sick shot by my buddy Chris . Love the palm tree, and the fake grass did a great job keeping the dirt out of the motel throughout the week. Also a convenient place to swap boots for flip flops at the end of the day.

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Random morning shot:

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Ol Reliable.

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My buddy Zach using the miller my buddy Adam brought off of the motel power:

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Big ol fire later that night with Friends

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