A couple of days ago, I got down to some serious buttoning-up on the front cap wall of the cab-over bunk. Having already screwed in place the bottom row, and the ends of the roof/sidewall lengthwise ribs, it was time to custom fit the individual spacer boards to complete the round front edge.
As on the rear wall, these were originally a combination of 1x2s and 3/4" plywood. It seemed to me during disassembly, the choice between the two were either, what was available during that particular stage of the camper build, or the plywood was chosen for the pieces fit to the more rounded spots.
I kind of duplicated that in the back, but up front, I settled on just 1 by material all the way around, because there will be a lot of fasteners: staples for the sheet aluminum and small screws for the trim molding (like gutter trim), and I don't know that one method is that much better than another, but I'm always willing to do it a new or different way if I feel it is a benefit, not JUST stick with a previous method for standardization - necessarily.
Additionally, each of these pieces were cut to length using an angle different from 90 degrees, based on where they fit in the radius of the wall. And each is beveled back to fit the slope of the front wall. And each was pre-drilled to fit the same angle. It was a lot of work!
Here is an example of one piece.
Each piece was pre-drilled 1/8" for the full depth of the screw to prevent splitting in the plywood edge. Then each piece was pre-drilled to the diameter of the screw threads to allow the threads to pull that piece in tight to the plywood without stressing the plywood edge, or splitting the small piece. Then each piece was counter-sunk to allow the screw head to sit low enough on its unique angle, and to prevent splitting of the piece.
I used a protractor to find the degree of angle off 90, for both ends of each piece. Then I split the difference, if any, and stuck the result in my head. Then I measured the length of the piece for span, not for longest/shortest angle length.
Then I set the angles and span lengths on the table saw. I'll mention here my table saw rule-of-thumb, as opposed to my table saw rule-of-missing-thumb. If I have to get my fingers within 3" of the blade, I use a push stick, or two push-sticks when the piece is especially small. I wear safety glasses, I stand to the side slightly so a small piece of wood thrown will not strike me in the face. I keep the surface clear of things not being cut. I keep the blade no higher than needed for the current cut.
During home remodeling some years ago, I cut into my thumb nail and learned a valuable lesson.
Note the blade here is too high. Bad move on my part.
With all the pieces cut and in their own place. I marked the bevel profile needed. Then took them down and finished up a pencil mark and took them over to the bench sander.
Then I pre-drilled and counter-sunk as earlier described, and sank them all in place.
Finally I went over all the joints as a unit with the belt sander and flushed everything up good, even starting down the side of the camper and around back until I wore out or gummed up my last belts. There's still more work to do on that chore, but it's bringing the exterior that much closer to some other final work in preparation for covering it all up!
And cover-up is not necessarily that soon. I may finish a great deal of the interior before I choose to remove my exterior access.
