2011 Fish House Remodel

[chad austin]

My brother and I bought a '95 8x18 Ultra Shack on a shack rack hydraulic frame last fall and decided to use it as is, so we could figure out what kind of changes we wanted to make to the interior. It's a good thing we did because we took the sellers word that the roof didn't leak.

Well with that being said... The roof leaked (the skylight and the crank up vent) which is why I inquired on here about a brush on roof covering.So after pulling all the paneling down from the ceiling we discovered a lot of the welds on the aluminum framing for the roof were cracked.

So now the plan for the exterior is to raise the roof about 12" so there will be room for a ceiling fan, put about a 3/12 pitch on the roof and also put a false V-front on to help with pulling. We will be moving the propane tanks to the rear of the house to help with the tongue weight(100lb and a 30LB) and building an isolated platform/cage for the generator to go. A few 12V lights and a 110 light for the nightly get togethers around the fire.

The plan for the interior is to add a dinette with a 30" fold up bunk above in the rear and two 30" bench/beds over the wheel wells along each side. Being there will be more headroom above the cabinets and the stove in front, an upper cabinet will be added to house a 12V stereo with 4 speakers in the ceiling, a flat screen T.V., DVD player, Playstation 3 and a DirectTV receiver all powered by a 110 inverter and 2 deep cell batteries that will be charged by an IOTA 45 amp converter.

I will add pics of what it looked like when we first bought it and pics of the progress as we go.

[iffwalleyes]

Chad can you explain to me how that IOTA 45 amp unit works. I have looked at them but am kind of confussed. You can use it as like an on board charger or without batteries if it is hooked up it will convert everything over to DC is that kind of the jest of it?

[chad austin]

More to follow soon!!

[chad austin]

Yes, it can be used with or without batteries. In my case we will only run the generator when the bite is slow and shut it off when it picks up and use the inverter for 110 when it's off.

[MJ1657]

How much does an invertor like that cost?

[chad austin]

MJ, I honestly don't know as the one I have came out of my brothers camper, he thought it was junk and had bought another one but as it turns out the fuse was blown. I think he just said that to justify buying a new one to the wife and also having one for the shack.

The brand is iota engineering, model DLS-45

[Boker001]

It would be a hazard for the propane tanks to be on the rear. If you got rear ended that might not be good for the car that hits you. Plus I would think that might be illegal. Just a thought.

[MJ1657]

MJ, I honestly don't know as the one I have came out of my brothers camper, he thought it was junk and had bought another one but as it turns out the fuse was blown. I think he just said that to justify buying a new one to the wife and also having one for the shack.

The brand is iota engineering, model DLS-45

I found them they are around $150

[Iambjm]

What is the importance of a converter or an inverter? Are either really necessary? I will be finishing a wheelhouse in the near future and wonder if I really need either.

[chad austin]

Lambjm, A converter "converts" 110 volts to 12 volts and will also charge your battery when you are plugged into 110. An inverter will convert 12 volts to 110.

Examples of each

Converter: At night start the generator and run the interior lights, TV ect. and charge the batteries at the same time

Inverter: During the day if the kids want to watch TV, they can without starting the generator. At night run the TV and DirectTV box ect. off the generator, the inverter doesn't really get used at night when the generator is running as you can pull 110 off of it.

Keep in mind we will be doing a lot of 3 day to 1 week trips with our house and want the added comforts mainly for the "kids" (which is how we justify it to our wives)

[iffwalleyes]

Ok I thought I had it figured out. I have a honda generator that has a charging port on it that is my plan for charging my batteries up. I am going to wire in another exterior plug that will go to my batteries so I will need to carry two cords and I will be in business.

[hovermn]

One thing to keep in mind is that you want a charger that's rated at approx. 10-15% of the total amp/hrs your batteries are rated for. If you have a 150 amp/hr battery, you want at least a 15 amp charger for optimum battery conditioning. Less, and it'll take longer than necessary to charge as well as build sulfer on the plates faster. You want the higher amps to knock the sulfer off so to speak.

Check the battery charger specs on the Honda and see what it's putting out. Regardless what it is, it'll be fine for once in a while use, but be sure to use an appropriately sized charger at the end of your trip to top off the batteries.

[iffwalleyes]

Hover,

My generator will put out 12 Amps it says. I have 2 regular size deep cylce batteries in the house I don't know the amp hours of the batteries themselves. I thought they always said to charge your battieries at a low amp so I have always topped my batteries off at home on a 2 amp charge top setting for me is 12 amp on my battery charge I have. Your saying I should find something that put out a bigger load like 15 amps or better?

[hovermn]

I deal with batteries often at work, have spoken to several battery experts, or at least experts in the field and have done quite a bit of reading on proper maintenance. Your 12 amp generator will be just fine. Your batteries will charge and will have a good life. 10-15% is just a good rule of thumb. With lead acid deep cycles, depending on the size batteries and the drain, sometimes a 2 amp charge may not even charge the batteries at all. It may just keep up with the idle drain of the battery its self. Sulfer will build on the plates and the life of the battery may be shortened.

I'm not pushing Iota products here, but to give an example of what they're Converter/chargers do: They have a 3 stage charge: Bulk, Absorption, and Float. I think we all know what those are.

However: "If the batteries have not received a "smart charge" during a seven-day period, the IQ Controller will switch the DLS charger into a pre-programmed equalization stage to top off the batteries, dissolving any sulfate layer on the battery's internal plates and avoiding stratification."

I'm sure most RV chargers do the same. I just know about Iota, so I use it as an example.

Short story long, your generator will do just fine. To extend the life of your batteries, I'd recommend hooking them up to a "smart" charger every once in a while for good measure.

[iffwalleyes]

I do have a Vector 2/6/12A 12V Smart Battery Charger. So when I get back from the lake and a weekend and toss on 12A I should be good to go. This charger does has a battery reconditioning (Desulfate) mode as well. Would a person be smart to every so often run it through that.

[chad austin]

Well, after a small hiatus on this posting the remodel has officially started(was helping my brother build his pole building). First on the list is the roof to be torn off.

[chad austin]

This would be the main culprit to the whole remodel. Many of the roof supports had broken welds and the aluminum roofing had small hairline cracks which was letting water in and ruined all of the paneling on the ceiling.

[chad austin]

And finally to end the day today, the house is ready for a new roof system.

More pics to follow in the next few days after the new roof is welded up and ready to install.

[Iambjm]

Talk about flipping your lid..........

[chad austin]

Today we welded the trusses for the new roof and later this week we will be welding up the rest of the frame for the roof and steel roofing to be added as well. The V-front will be welded on in the near future, originally I had posted that the V would be false for the benefit of towing but we decided to make it functional and move the bathroom up there as well as additional storage.

[chad austin]

Grinding the welds on the trusses

[chad austin]

All of the trusses finished and ready for the support "beams" to be welded on.

[chad austin]

My brother welding up the wall extensions to gain a little wall height, 13" more than what we had before!

Close up shot of the "bridging" as my brother calls it. That's what you get when you partner up with a mechanical drafter.

The finished wall extension ready for the trusses to be welded on.

[chad austin]

The finished roof ready to be installed, the next step will be to weld up the V in the front and get the roofing material put on

[Get'n Jiggy]

Quite an undertaking,,, looks good!