Shakeout for the Maggie Mee

 Well, what with one thing and another, it was several months after I finished working on the Maggie before I got to take her out on a shakeout cruise. For her first trip, I wanted to go to nearby Caprock Canyon State Park, just a couple of hours up the road. If anything major were to go wrong, I would be close enough to make it back home without too much trouble. However, getting a reservation for a camping spot (at any state park right now) meant booking two months in advance. I dilly-dallied all summer, nervous about traveling during a pandemic. By the time I decided to give it a go, the soonest available time period was the first part of November, which can be dicey, weather-wise. What the heck, I thought, and clicked “send” to book my spot.

As it turned out, the weather was nearly perfect. Moreover, the forecast for night temperatures promised to be cold, but not quite freezing, so I figured that would give me a good opportunity to see how well she performed with a small space heater. I have a good winter sleeping bag, but mummy bags make me claustrophobic, and since the whole reason I decided to embark on the teardrop project was to eliminate as many discomforts associated with camping as possible, I was hoping that a space heater would provide enough heat that I could sleep in my PJs with regular bedding during cold weather.

And the answer to that particular question is that I can.

Other things also worked as well as I had hoped. The stove and galley counter top made cooking and clean up a breeze, even in the dark. Here we are on Taco Night:

The radio did not pick up any nearby stations, but since it is bluetooth capable, I just hooked up my phone and listened to my favorite classical station, KTTZ. I also used the phone as a mobile hotspot and used my iPad for internet access. I’d downloaded some movies onto the iPad as well before leaving and was able to watch them at night (since it was late fall, it got dark at 6:30 in the evening, so I really appreciated having something to do in the confines of the teardrop). My little reading lamp was perfect for reading myself to sleep, too. All the storage space meant everything stayed organized and out of my way. And the first night out there was a fierce windstorm. In a tent, this would have been a problem, but in The Maggie, it was actually soothing to lie there and listen to it. In short, the little camper is nearly perfect for my needs. 

What would make it perfect? Well, an indoor toilet, but that is not going to happen. The park rest rooms were clean and largely unoccupied, though, so it was not too much bother.

The other thing I can’t really fix is having to lie down to get dressed, but I guess I can live with that.

I was feeling a little under the weather for the couple of days I was there, so I didn’t do much more than some light hiking and bird watching. But it was a pleasant, successful trip. 

Adding solar power to The Margaret Mee

I am waaaaaay behind the updates on my work on the MM, but one of the big projects--arguably the biggest--was adding the option of running off solar power. The camper came with a 12 volt system, which, when plugged into electric at a campground, runs just fine with the use of a converter. By adding a 100 watt solar panel and 20 amp charge controller, however, I am not tied to using only campgrounds with electrical outlets. This way I can run LED lights, charge my phone, and play a radio while in camp. The solar power is not enough to run a heater or AC, however, so if I decide to add and use those luxuries, I will have to plug in.

Anyway, here are some photos of the work:

Ordered everything online: 

Did some investigating to see how to tie into the existing system:

Tied everything into a new 75 ah AGM battery:

Hooked up the charge controller:

And then hooked up the solar panel (this should always be the last step--otherwise you can ruin the electrical system):

Made a nice panel to hide the charge controller (the botanical print is by Elaine Searle):

I will not lie, this was hard for someone with very little electrical experience, but I read up on it quite a bit, asked a lot of questions of people who do have experience on the Facebook DIY Teardrop Camper group page, and then had it checked out by a neighbor who is an electrical contractor. I think I spent about $600 total. I probably could have done it for less, but I didn't have many of the tools or materials lying around for this.

There might be one little hiccup, though: I tried hooking up the Maggie to practice backing up last week, and the trailer's brake lights now do not work. Since I did not mess with that particular wiring in the installation, I am hopeful it is not something I did. I had my car mechanic check the car, and that system is working just fine, so there is the possibility that it is the four pin connector that connects the car wiring to the trailer. It was old, so I replaced it, but I have not yet had a chance to see if that fixes the problem. If It doesn't I'll have to take it somewhere to have someone work on it.

Galley before and after

I’ve been meaning to write a nice, long post a couple times in the past few days, but it is the last week of the semester and I find myself distracted and harried. Still, I am behind on my updates about my progress—and there has been progress—so I thought I’d just do a quick picture show. My grades were submitted last night, commencement ceremonies will be behind me after Saturday, and then, for a while at least, I can sit down and think straight.

In the meantime, here are some before and after shots of the galley:

The galley as it came.

There was a spare tire on the back that would fold down, but you had to step around it to use the galley, so I removed that feature. I'll carry a flat kit in the car that should be sufficient to air up the tire long enough to get me to a place that can fix the flat, should one occur.

I added a fold down counter and a pull out stove, added storage below the long counter, and painted the doors. The counter on the right will serve as both a sink for washing  hands and a typewriter/work table. I'll do a separate post on the sink when I finish it.

I turned the empty space that was originally under the long counter into a storage cabinet. I think this was originally meant to be for a refrigerator or ice chest, but I never could find anything that would fit in such a shallow space.

A quick update on the galley progress (and a bit of news about the title)

The weather was chilly and rainy all week, but the morning broke bright and clear today. So after some Saturday morning pecan pancakes, I took advantage of the warmth and sunshine and headed outside to work on the Maggie Mee.

I made good progress on the fold down work counter and pull out stove shelf. It took quite a bit of tweaking to get the stove shelf to work the way I wanted it to, but I am satisfied with it now. Last Sunday I worked too long and got tired and careless, and ended up tripping over something in the shop and taking a hard fall on the concrete floor. So today I quit while I was ahead. Tomorrow we are supposed to have another beautiful fall day, so I’ll pick up where I left off this afternoon and work on the storage cabinet that will go beneath the stove. In the meantime, this is what it looks like so far:

In other news, after a five week adventure, I finally have a title to the trailer. Someday soon I will write up what it was like trying to build a bonded title (the original was lost) so that I could register The Maggie and become the legal owner. I am sure that someone might find a list of all the steps I had to go through useful if they ever have to do the same. For now, though, I am just too tired of the whole story to think about it. Suffice it to say that it was epic, like the labors of Hercules, full of sea monsters, and Gorgons, and swimming frantically through the rapids in a driving storm, only to have a wave sweep you away just as you thought you had finally reached shore. Or something like that.

If it is Saturday, it must be time to work on the Maggie Mee

A chilly fall morning, but it promises to warm up to 75° F later today. I am building countertops for the galley, one which will fold out to form a place to prep food, and the other to slide out for the stove. Both of these will allow me to cook without bending awkwardly at the hips—something that should be more comfortable for my lower back.

This morning I am cut rounded corners on the countertops (mainly to minimize the pain if I run into them) using the bandsaw, and now I am dry-fitting to see which arrangment I prefer. (I think I prefer the stove on the right; it suits my left-handeness better.)

Later today, after it warms up, I’ll laminate the countertops. Tomorrow I’ll put an additinal coat of spar polyurethane on the undersides (they already have two coats). I’ve ordered aluminum trim for the edges, which should give it all a nice retro-diner look.

Here is the “before” of the galley:

And here is what I am working on today:

Why is this blog called "The Voyage of The Margaret Mee?"

A couple of months ago I got it into my head that I needed a teardrop camper to do some botanical art field work. I have a big project I am going to start next year in the Trans Pecos of Texas, and plan to spend several weeks down there. Camping would be the cheapest way to do that, but I have done a lot of tent camping in my life, and I am here to tell you that I am finished with that chapter. I am tired of sleeping on the ground, tired of tent poles collapsing in my face during storms, tired of trying to pull on my pants while lying down, tired of never being able to find things in the dark. Tired of it all. Plus, I am 62 years old and not as bendy as I used to be.

So I was casting about for solutions and posted a query on my Facebook feed about teardrops. Almost immediately a neighbor replied that she and her family were thinking of selling theirs. Now, these days a teardrop can run you around $10,000-$20,000, and they can also come with all kinds of amenities, like teevees, and air conditioners, and built-in stoves and refrigerators, and even showers. I couldn't afford to spend that amount, and I didn't really need any of those luxuries--I was just looking for a way to avoid sleeping on the ground. This teardrop, as it turned out when I went to look at it, had none of those things; it was a 2007 model, and basically just a bed on wheels, with electricity. Best of all, the price my neighbors hinted at was about what I could expect to pay if I stayed in a hotel during my field work. If I bought the camper, however, I would still have it at the end of my project, ready for other field excursions. Or, even if I never took it out to the field again, I could sell it and recoup my cost.

Plus, people who have known me a long time know I love a good project, and looking the camper over, I could see all kinds of possibilities to refurbish and customize her.

Well, I am old enough to recognize karma when I see it, so we made a deal and she was mine (well, sort of mine--there is a little problem with a lost title, but that is a post for another day).

Right away I named her "The Margaret Mee," after the famed and intrepid botanical artist who did so much for the Amazon. The same people who know I love a good project also know that I am not intrepid in the least little bit. But maybe by naming the teardrop camper after her, some of Margaret Mee's bravery will rub off on me. We shall see.

Anyway, it feels like the beginning of an adventure--the project and the fixing up of the old teardrop, both--and I invite you to follow along.