Trailer 12
Busted some ass today! (I believe farting is RIPPING ass, not busting. Altho a properly powerful fart could bust ass.) Got much of what was stumping me in my head came together by just doing it. It was nice to have a whole day to devote to it - hangover and all (happy birthday Capodagli!) After working for a few hours my mind finally got going and all was good.
So there's photos of some progress below. The weird thing with the pencil in it is my jankety tool made to 'draw a good curve' around the hatch.
The back hatch has been fully supported with about half a dozen struts. The hatch frame has been cut off of the trailer body, and there's now room for weatherstripping on the trailer body. I figured out part of the t-latch on the hatch and have a good spot for it.
I decided to say fuckit to the taillights being inside the hatch. I really want them on the backs of the fenders like a ratrod so I'll do that when I build the fenders after the august roadtrip. For now cheap harbor freight tail lights simply bolted on!
Got the inner luan squeezed onto the struts place. Trailer now has half a roof! Bending that around the inner diameter while having it a really tight fit was hard. Took alot of monkeying around to get it in fully. Covered everything in copious liquid nails and about 50 screws. Oh, the front half of the trailer is varnished now!
Trailer 11
I got called in to attend a conference for work this Sunday - but I still managed to get some stuff done around it and a drinking birthday party for my buddy TJ.
Got a portion of the rear hatch sealed up with some wood filler and a massive amount of vanish. I then installed struts for the hatch and am presently letting it dry - will cut it out directly from the back of the trailer to ensure a good fit then finish the edges with varnish and some tough primer. I will begin bending the luan around the inside portions next. Hopefully I get a few hours to do so before this weekend, but my day job hasn't allowed that. We'll see. I have some time to take a couple three day weekends in the next month or so.
Oh the weird odd angle green marker shot is where the galley hinge will be installed. That's the distance between the two necessary to allow the plastic 'living' hurricane hinge to work.
I grabbed a respirator from the amazon. I've had it for some time actually, but just now decided to wear it. Went a long way to keep my black lung in check!
Unrelated to trailer, this song is funky as hell: http://vimeo.com/11737975
Trailer 10
Got a couple hours of work in around Dominion time tonight. Did the initial ceiling framing. The walls had some various warps in them so I applied some cargo straps and cinched everything up tight.
Second photo is of my dirty 'shop' garage! Piles of sawdust covered tools ftw. Totally need to sweep this weekend.
Trailer 9 Supplemental
Didn't do any work on trailer besides some more research on axels. Found a pretty solid example of exactly what I want to do on the teardrop fourm.
This guy has a very similar build (frighteningly similar considering I've never seen his before!) using the harbor freight 1750lb trailer. First picture is the 12" tiny wheels that I have on mine. Second photo is a new tortion axel and 14" wheels. I'm gonna do a very similar thing after our August road trip once I get caught back up on my budgets. Before then I will use the silly stock fenders and tiny wheels. This will give me time to save up some cash for the axle & wheels and prevents me from having to custom build two sets of custom fiberglass ones. I'll still be using fiberglass to reinforce & waterproof the wood corners.
^-- not mine!
Means that the 2500 mile August roadtrip will be on suspect bearings and teeny wheels!
Trailer 9
Tonight I worked for a few good hours trying to get the walls closed in. I carved out a thin 1/8" channel with my death-router and wired up both sides. The wiring is underneath the black tape in the photos below. I got the switch portions all wired in and shadily labeled. I believe it's correct, but I knocked on wood as I typed that jsut to make sure. I caulked in the inside window and it looks good. Lexan is pretty.
Both of the walls are now closed in. Next I'll start framing out the roof and really making everything nigh-bulletproof. Gonna be one cozy little box!
Trailer 8
Insulation! 1.5" R7.5 rigid foamular. This stuff is both great and a pain in the ass to work with. It gets everywhere when you're shaping it with a rasp. Afterwards I looked like I walked through a pink snowstorm. My lungs are still not forgiving me for not wearing a respirator or at least some sort of particulate mask. Did the floor, walls, then foamed all the gaps up with expando foam. Managed to not catch the black-hands-disease this time around via a pair of purple nomex gloves I bought for playing with lye.
Started priming and sealing the window on the passenger side. I'll have to put the one pane lexan in before putting luan plywood as the inside skins for the standing walls. Doing the inside of the window I primed (stupidly) then remembered to seal it. So it's a couple layers of primer, a coat of oil based varnish, then two coats of just simple black rustoleium. It feels thick.
I also installed the side vents. I just sorta stuck them there for aesthetics late in the evening (after half a dozen beers.) Later kicked myself - they're too low and will be blocked off on the interior by the mattress! Go me. It's alright tho, I have an idea for a ducting thing that will incorporate two 80mm computer fans to draw the air out of the trailer and sorta point up above where the mattress will sit - they'll have some sort of a 'steal off' cork for cold winter months incorporating a chunk of insulation. It'll be ghetto and sorta stick out on the internal sides a few inches but they'll do the job. You can see the interior screens on them to keep the bugs out in the photos below.
The second to last photo is of the first piece of lexan installed! Came out great. Gonna seal it with a bunch of caulk from the inside then overlay the finish wall ply over that.
Oh and the final blurry damn-it's-late-at-night photo is of the floor! It's finished and secured on. It's a piece of 1/2" birch ply fastened to the insulation and framing using liquid nails and ~50 actual nails. Made me feel like a roofer.
Trailer 7
Bicho and his wife Shana stopped by to celebrate 4th of July weekend with the Lawrence possee. We did it up right too.
While we weren't drinking and watching bad vampire movies (Thirst and Blade II - not glitter fucks. Thirst is really good.) Bicho lent me a hand and we made some progress on the trailer. I previously got the door framed out and the remainder of the flushing material required for all the laminates that ended up about 1/8th an inch too short. I got to use the kerf-cut on the door frame! Good lord it was faster. Something like 45 minutes to do the laminate not including drying time and the kerf cut took approximately 15 minutes total to fabricate, bend and attach.
Moreover, walls!
Liquid nails and some 2.5" screws going down into the 3/4" base pine are holding the walls up. They are very sturdy - that trick Anthony showed me with the 2x4s is no bullshit. I'll add additional support for the walls when I frame out the roof. It should be able to take a direct hit from a falling tree branch at that point.
Also got the subfloor framed out and ready for insulation. The side pic proves that I'd like way bigger tires, the little ones look so puny. To get bigger tires I'd have to get a bigger axle & bearings. Prolly add in some extra shocks too. That's all cash that I haven't budgeted for so will be put off until after the August roadtrip.
Trailer 6
Next steps were window cutting and additional framing - this is still prior to re-learning the kerf cut trick. Anyhow, both sides framed out and so is the door now.
The door section that I was gonna/might still use for the door proper has picked up a wicked warp just sitting around the garage.
Trailer 5
After getting the walls cut I measured and cut out a door. I decided on trying to mimic the front curve with the door itself, just for silly 'lets make this harder to build' aesthetic reasons. I'm still not sure which side I'll put the hinge on. Optimally the door will open forwards so it can open 180 degrees without hitting the tire or fender.
This step progressed with me framing out parts of the trailer. I'm doing a 'drop in' sort of seal for the back galley. The inner part of the hatchback lid frame will drop into the edge of the trailer. The top of the hatchback will nestle over the top of the back galley and be sealed using door steal from Home Depot.
I made a really stupid mistake on the curves before I saw how to do a kerf-cut in 1.5" stock wood. I chose to laminate some plywood three times, cut it to shape with a jigsaw on the curves, and then glue/screw it into place on the wallply. Turns out that this shitty Home Depot plywood is actually around .458" per sheet instead of the advertised .5". Live and learn, it's stamped in HUGE letters right across the sheets! So I laminated a 1/8" peice on all the parts that needed it. I'll be doing the kerf cut in the future as it's much quicker. Oh well, feel like a dolt and learn!
Partially framed out side below.
Trailer 4
I had a randomly productive Wednesday. I had to take my girlfriend in to the doctor so she could be sedated and have a variety of tests done on her digestive system. So I took the day off work. My good buddy Anthony came out that evening while Jess was sleeping and we got some trailering done. He knows much about scrappy construction techniques so it was a huge help working with him.
We got the two sidewall exteriors measured and cut out of some cheap 1/2" ply from the Depot. This wood is pretty shitty but it gets the job done. We also got the bottom flipped back over (it's getting a bit heavy for just me to flip around by hand). The garage has been coated in sawdust.
Next steps = framing out the walls for insulation, support and wiring.