Mounting components in the pass-thru

[BillM321]

Hello all,

I am not sure what forum to post this question in....but since it is kind of related to my solar project I am putting it in here. Please feel free to move it to a different forum if that is more appropriate.

I am wanting to mount my solar controller, circuit breakers, switches, shunt, and cable fasteners to some 3/8" plywood in the front pass through storage compartment of my 22MLE trailer. I was planning on doing as much of the mounting and wire interconnects outside on my work bench, and take the section of plywood with all the components on it and mount that in the pass-thru. The less time I have to spend laying on my side inside the front pass-thru the better

All my previous trailers were stick and tin, so there was always some 2x2 wood I could drive a screw into. But now with this 22MLE it looks like it is all hollow aluminum framing. It looks to me like Grand Design just drove some screws through the 1/8" luan into the hollow aluminum framing when they made the wall inside the pass-thru. But that wall is just decorative and doesn't have to support anything hanging off of it.



If I want to mount a piece of 3/8" plywood to this wall, do you think that some coarse thread screws will hold? Any suggestions on the best way to mount a section of plywood onto those hollow aluminum frame members?

I have seen folks mount those big Victron inverter/chargers and I assume those things are really heavy. So I know this can be done.

Thanks,
BillM321

[howson]

Bill M

My 315RLTS had wood behind the passthru walls. You may even find a combination of wood and aluminum. (On the other side of the paneling you can see in this picture is the bedroom.)

Here's what the rear side of the pass-thru looked like (you can see the Nautilus Panel water connections on the far side).




I cut a new piece of plywood that went the length of the wall (forget how thick the wood is...sorry)...





I put a layer of Reflectix insulation on the wall.




Then the DW put a new covering over the plywood which was secured to the existing pass-thru frame. That's why the Multiplus stay on that wall. Picture below also shows the "box" holding the batteries, BMV, and CCGX.



Howard

[Cate&Rob]

BillM321
Hi Bill,

Sometimes, Grand Design puts a piece of wood inside the aluminum square tube to retain screws, but without this, a coarse thread screw is only going to engage one thread in very thin aluminum . . . which is not going to hold much weight . . . particularly when bouncing down the road. I have used "rivnuts" which provide considerably more holding power and after installation take a removable bolt which is better than a fastener that would have to be drilled out if you ever wanted to remove this panel.

Rob

[gbkims]

If I want to mount a piece of 3/8" plywood to this wall, do you think that some coarse thread screws will hold? Any suggestions on the best way to mount a section of plywood onto those hollow aluminum frame members?

I have seen folks mount those big Victron inverter/chargers and I assume those things are really heavy. So I know this can be done.

Thanks,
BillM321

There's a similar install in a 22MLE in the Solar-powered Grand Design RV - https://www.facebook.com/groups/sola...59151901018659
Looks like Nicolas mounted plywood on the passthru wall.

[BillM321]

There's a similar install in a 22MLE in the Solar-powered Grand Design RV - https://www.facebook.com/groups/sola...59151901018659
Looks like Nicolas mounted plywood on the passthru wall.

Thanks! But I refuse to use Facebook. Did he mention how he attached the plywood?

[gbkims]

Thanks! But I refuse to use Facebook. Did he mention how he attached the plywood?

I understand about fb, I just lurk there.
No he didn't describe how, a couple photos he took.

[bridgway]

Probably a little late to post this. I mounted plywood just in front of the front panel. it is secured to the floor and the aluminum frame at the top of the pass through. It is very secure and made it easy to run the power with 5 ft battery cables. there is no pressure on the front panel as the plywood floats in front of it.

[BillM321]

Just a quick update for how I ended up mounting solar components in the pass-thru.......

The 22MLE does not have wooden studs separating the pass-thru and the under-bed area. Rather they are hollow aluminum studs.


So I mounted everything to a scrap piece of 1/2" plywood and then secured the plywood with some long #8 bolts all the way thru the hollow aluminum studs with bolts/nuts/washers. I was going to get a "new" piece of plywood but it would have required a 2nd mortgage with the way lumber prices are right now



Here is a view from under the bed and you can see the bolts coming thru. I might get some slightly shorter bolts or cut these existing ones so that there is not as much protruding thru the wall. It seems to work well as the weight of the plywood and the components are transferred to the floor of the pass-thru, and the bolts thru the wall just keep the whole thing from falling over.


Hope this helps somebody with their Solar plans. Also if anybody has any suggestions for improvements in the way I did this...please speak up. I am not too proud to change things as long as it doesn't require me crawling up in that pass-thru ever again.

And for what it is worth....I do not have the portable "ground" solar panel wiring hooked up yet. I am still waiting on an Andersen Connector, so that is why that one Breaker has no input wiring.

Thanks,

[ThePowells]

Bill M , now I like the wiring chases. I hadn't thought about that.