Hey all,
There is another, albeit smaller, side to this whole RV thing - those crazy folks who build their own for whatever reason. Whether you've scratch-built it from the ground up, assembled a kit, or (like me) scrounge up appropriate frames and go from there: let's hear about it.
I'm on number three.
The first was simply a utility trailer that got an enclosed box for a fraction of the cost of the used toy haulers I was looking at. It was carrying mountain bikes and race gear, so the GVW didn't matter and all the commercially built units were overkill for what I needed. A guy my dad worked with had a dump trailer he didn't need anymore...and so it began.
Number two was a more adventurous project. I started with a tent trailer deck and built a steel stud frame and sheathed it, first in OSB then in 1/4" ply when that failed dismally. I camped the trailer as a bare shell a few times, but the noise when the wind blew wasn't conducive to a good night's sleep. It's still on my 'ideas' pile, but it wold have to be FAR more rigid than that 'technology demonstrator' was.
Those two were pre-internet and pre-digital (for me at least) so there are pics but they are in a box in the basement and haven't seen the light of day in a long time...lost at sea.
Then I got a great deal on a 24' 1977 Dodge C..."had I known then what I know now..." nuff said.
That was how I found this forum.
A couple other projects and work since then and now I'm at a stage in my life where I want to go back to school and get the education I should have gotten years ago. Part of that 5 year strategy is staying in a trailer to keep my accommodation costs down....the rub is that I drive a compact pickup and don't have said trailer.
For this boatbuilder, the solution was a cinch...
My principal build requirements have been low build cost, low towing weight, four season (no canvas) and a permanent bed.
So far, I am building to all of those except for a minor concession in the bed - it will convert to form one side of the dinette.
I started with a tent trailer - $50 on craigslist. Once the body was off, the build could begin:
The deck is a sandwich of 3/8 ply, 1" foam, and 1/8 doorskin on top to provide some puncture resistance. At the moment, I'm sheathing the top of the deck in epoxy and 6oz cloth (pics to follow). The body will be foam and epoxy and will be shaped like a horse trailer - the head will be u in the nose and the bed will be in the back with a slide out in the back wall for a footwell. I will have to fab the (manual) slideout mechanism. My plan is to use heavy duty drawer slides, but any insight there is appreciated.
This is the completed but not yet glassed deck:
.
For the appliances, I scrounged up a free camper on craigslist. For the cost of a case of beer and the dump fees ($60), I got a stove/oven, two way fridge, lantern, windows, and a bunch of other bits. I still have to replace the heating element in the fridge (works great on gas) and the furnace valve body was beyond my desire to fix it, but otherwise everything works great and just needs to be cleaned up a bit.
Today, I'll be glassing the rest of the deck and next weekend I'll start assembling the cabinet carcasses and bulkheads. I was going to get the shell done first (the way you build a house) but the overhang off the back will be easier to build if I have the bed framing in place first. All will be built with 1" foam and then glassed. I haven't decided to make a weight concession with the galley countertop and dinette table and go with 3/4" ply or to use foam with an upper skin of 1/4" ply. Either way, they will be small enough that I can make both from the leftovers.
That's my build to date...let's hear about yours !
There is another, albeit smaller, side to this whole RV thing - those crazy folks who build their own for whatever reason. Whether you've scratch-built it from the ground up, assembled a kit, or (like me) scrounge up appropriate frames and go from there: let's hear about it.
I'm on number three.
The first was simply a utility trailer that got an enclosed box for a fraction of the cost of the used toy haulers I was looking at. It was carrying mountain bikes and race gear, so the GVW didn't matter and all the commercially built units were overkill for what I needed. A guy my dad worked with had a dump trailer he didn't need anymore...and so it began.
Number two was a more adventurous project. I started with a tent trailer deck and built a steel stud frame and sheathed it, first in OSB then in 1/4" ply when that failed dismally. I camped the trailer as a bare shell a few times, but the noise when the wind blew wasn't conducive to a good night's sleep. It's still on my 'ideas' pile, but it wold have to be FAR more rigid than that 'technology demonstrator' was.
Those two were pre-internet and pre-digital (for me at least) so there are pics but they are in a box in the basement and haven't seen the light of day in a long time...lost at sea.
Then I got a great deal on a 24' 1977 Dodge C..."had I known then what I know now..." nuff said.
That was how I found this forum.
A couple other projects and work since then and now I'm at a stage in my life where I want to go back to school and get the education I should have gotten years ago. Part of that 5 year strategy is staying in a trailer to keep my accommodation costs down....the rub is that I drive a compact pickup and don't have said trailer.
For this boatbuilder, the solution was a cinch...
My principal build requirements have been low build cost, low towing weight, four season (no canvas) and a permanent bed.
So far, I am building to all of those except for a minor concession in the bed - it will convert to form one side of the dinette.
I started with a tent trailer - $50 on craigslist. Once the body was off, the build could begin:
The deck is a sandwich of 3/8 ply, 1" foam, and 1/8 doorskin on top to provide some puncture resistance. At the moment, I'm sheathing the top of the deck in epoxy and 6oz cloth (pics to follow). The body will be foam and epoxy and will be shaped like a horse trailer - the head will be u in the nose and the bed will be in the back with a slide out in the back wall for a footwell. I will have to fab the (manual) slideout mechanism. My plan is to use heavy duty drawer slides, but any insight there is appreciated.
This is the completed but not yet glassed deck:
.For the appliances, I scrounged up a free camper on craigslist. For the cost of a case of beer and the dump fees ($60), I got a stove/oven, two way fridge, lantern, windows, and a bunch of other bits. I still have to replace the heating element in the fridge (works great on gas) and the furnace valve body was beyond my desire to fix it, but otherwise everything works great and just needs to be cleaned up a bit.
Today, I'll be glassing the rest of the deck and next weekend I'll start assembling the cabinet carcasses and bulkheads. I was going to get the shell done first (the way you build a house) but the overhang off the back will be easier to build if I have the bed framing in place first. All will be built with 1" foam and then glassed. I haven't decided to make a weight concession with the galley countertop and dinette table and go with 3/4" ply or to use foam with an upper skin of 1/4" ply. Either way, they will be small enough that I can make both from the leftovers.
That's my build to date...let's hear about yours !
I got both of the sidewall bevels formed and got the next panels glued in.
I beveled the mating edges on the inside of the joint to make room for glue. I didn't touch the outside edge because that's the important surface to align with the adjacent panel (that's the one you'll see).
Here's the wall panel before
And here's the bevel. One of the things about this method is that, because of the expansion of the canned foam, the amount or depth of bevel isn't critical: the foam will expand to fill it. This went REALLY quick with a 60G disc in an angle grinder !
I didn't take a pic, but on the bottom I left a 'leg' at each end and sanded out a generous bevel between them. When I glue in the bottom I'll try and remember to show that.
Then I prepped the floor frame to receive the wall section: a quick sand of the old overexpanded PU glue runs (more is always better, right ?).
I'd have to go back and check, but I think I built the frame before I decided to cant the walls outward. You can see the 3/4" stock furred with a strip of 1/4" ply to make up the 1" foam thickness of a wall sitting vertically on top of it. To get 100% contact with a 45degree wall, that would need to be 1 1/2" (actually 1.414")....not that it matters at this point. A bit of time with a sanding block solves most problems...well, that and the generous use of high explosives.
This is the left (street) side offered up after beveling. On the outside are the strips of 1/4" ply I've been using to tack sections in place with drywall screws. That keeps the outside of the seam nice and flush and hold the parts against the expansion of the foam. The bevel is uneven but...who are we kidding...that's an angle grinder for you: quick but certainly not a finishing tool (much like the aforementioned explosives)
[img]http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb363/Folder1966/IMG641.jpg?t=1349048986[img]
This is the joint after foaming:
A bevel cut in the end of the applicator and the careful moderation of the trigger allows you to get foam all the way through the joint without voids that would have to be filled before glassing.
This is the left (curb) side after beveling and offered up into place, secured with a couple of the ply straps.
The wall forward of there is unglassed as yet, so it's not as rigid and able to flex inward. It really shows how much rigidity the glass adds. The glassed (aft) seam is perfectly flush - I know that it has to go in because that's where it came out of, but there's something satisfying when you offer up a piece and it fits like a glove...
And a shot of the same seam from the inside. I beveled both edges on this one: that's how I'll do the rest of them.
[/img]http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb363/Folder1966/IMG644.jpg?t=1349048953[/img]
A closeup of the bevel:
And right after I goobered it up:
After taking out the rear former so I could ad the last piece of floor, I rigged up a couple ratchet straps to hold the back wall plumb. The bottom is fixed, so it acts as a bit of a hinge. Those plates you see have 16 screws each because it was important to have a lot of small pulls over a large area (12"X12") rather than just a few, which would easily pull out of the laminate. This allows me to keep the back face plumb and take out any twist.
And, because I haven't posted one in a while, here's an overall shot...looks the same as it did last winter !
Not inside though...and there's glass that you can't really make out...
I've also been thinking about tongue jacks. I have left myself space to attach one of these to the forward wall with the leg dropping down through the bridle.
Instead, I think I might cut off the coupler altogether and have a tongue extension made up. This coupler is welded on, but I can grind it off and have a local shop make a sleeve to go over it that will allow me to bolt a coupler onto a longer piece of tube. It's not so much for the sake of the jack, but for the fact that I can't really do what I want to with the LPG bottle(s) because there just isn't room: one of the compromises I had to make. The trailer is already small enough for our needs but I can't possibly sacrifice any interior space, and I want room to make up a fairing for the bottle(s) both for fuel economy and (more importantly) to keep them out of the weather and secure since I may be leaving the trailer in the bush somewhere as a hunting camp.
I beveled the mating edges on the inside of the joint to make room for glue. I didn't touch the outside edge because that's the important surface to align with the adjacent panel (that's the one you'll see).
Here's the wall panel before
And here's the bevel. One of the things about this method is that, because of the expansion of the canned foam, the amount or depth of bevel isn't critical: the foam will expand to fill it. This went REALLY quick with a 60G disc in an angle grinder !
I didn't take a pic, but on the bottom I left a 'leg' at each end and sanded out a generous bevel between them. When I glue in the bottom I'll try and remember to show that.
Then I prepped the floor frame to receive the wall section: a quick sand of the old overexpanded PU glue runs (more is always better, right ?).
I'd have to go back and check, but I think I built the frame before I decided to cant the walls outward. You can see the 3/4" stock furred with a strip of 1/4" ply to make up the 1" foam thickness of a wall sitting vertically on top of it. To get 100% contact with a 45degree wall, that would need to be 1 1/2" (actually 1.414")....not that it matters at this point. A bit of time with a sanding block solves most problems...well, that and the generous use of high explosives.
This is the left (street) side offered up after beveling. On the outside are the strips of 1/4" ply I've been using to tack sections in place with drywall screws. That keeps the outside of the seam nice and flush and hold the parts against the expansion of the foam. The bevel is uneven but...who are we kidding...that's an angle grinder for you: quick but certainly not a finishing tool (much like the aforementioned explosives)
[img]http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb363/Folder1966/IMG641.jpg?t=1349048986[img]
This is the joint after foaming:
A bevel cut in the end of the applicator and the careful moderation of the trigger allows you to get foam all the way through the joint without voids that would have to be filled before glassing.
This is the left (curb) side after beveling and offered up into place, secured with a couple of the ply straps.
The wall forward of there is unglassed as yet, so it's not as rigid and able to flex inward. It really shows how much rigidity the glass adds. The glassed (aft) seam is perfectly flush - I know that it has to go in because that's where it came out of, but there's something satisfying when you offer up a piece and it fits like a glove...
And a shot of the same seam from the inside. I beveled both edges on this one: that's how I'll do the rest of them.
[/img]http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb363/Folder1966/IMG644.jpg?t=1349048953[/img]
A closeup of the bevel:
And right after I goobered it up:
After taking out the rear former so I could ad the last piece of floor, I rigged up a couple ratchet straps to hold the back wall plumb. The bottom is fixed, so it acts as a bit of a hinge. Those plates you see have 16 screws each because it was important to have a lot of small pulls over a large area (12"X12") rather than just a few, which would easily pull out of the laminate. This allows me to keep the back face plumb and take out any twist.
And, because I haven't posted one in a while, here's an overall shot...looks the same as it did last winter !
Not inside though...and there's glass that you can't really make out...
I've also been thinking about tongue jacks. I have left myself space to attach one of these to the forward wall with the leg dropping down through the bridle.
Instead, I think I might cut off the coupler altogether and have a tongue extension made up. This coupler is welded on, but I can grind it off and have a local shop make a sleeve to go over it that will allow me to bolt a coupler onto a longer piece of tube. It's not so much for the sake of the jack, but for the fact that I can't really do what I want to with the LPG bottle(s) because there just isn't room: one of the compromises I had to make. The trailer is already small enough for our needs but I can't possibly sacrifice any interior space, and I want room to make up a fairing for the bottle(s) both for fuel economy and (more importantly) to keep them out of the weather and secure since I may be leaving the trailer in the bush somewhere as a hunting camp.
OK, today's progress:
This is the 'before' shot. The delam in the cheap luan ply wouldn't have happened if I had kept it encapsulated...but my progress on this project has been pretty much zero this summer thanks to work (and that's not a complaint !!).
The top of the floor is glassed but you can see where water soaked in from the back edge. I sanded the delamming layers out and replaced them with glass. The back piece just went in ans is about to get sealed in epoxy.
This is how the first layer of tape will cover the joint:
And the second layer of full-width cloth over that:
I was able to squeegee enough resin out of the cloth that I laid in another layer of 4" tape on top of everything else. By keeping a little extra cloth handy, you can use resin that would otherwise be waste and make your layup stronger.
Here's a final shot as she sits now with the resin curing:
So now the back wall is permanently, structurally attached to the floor. Up until now, it's been a styrofoam box sitting on top of a deck. Once I start glassing the sidewall sections t the floor, I can release the ratchet straps that are currently holding the back wall plumb while today's glassed joint cures.
This is the 'before' shot. The delam in the cheap luan ply wouldn't have happened if I had kept it encapsulated...but my progress on this project has been pretty much zero this summer thanks to work (and that's not a complaint !!).
The top of the floor is glassed but you can see where water soaked in from the back edge. I sanded the delamming layers out and replaced them with glass. The back piece just went in ans is about to get sealed in epoxy.
This is how the first layer of tape will cover the joint:
And the second layer of full-width cloth over that:
I was able to squeegee enough resin out of the cloth that I laid in another layer of 4" tape on top of everything else. By keeping a little extra cloth handy, you can use resin that would otherwise be waste and make your layup stronger.
Here's a final shot as she sits now with the resin curing:
So now the back wall is permanently, structurally attached to the floor. Up until now, it's been a styrofoam box sitting on top of a deck. Once I start glassing the sidewall sections t the floor, I can release the ratchet straps that are currently holding the back wall plumb while today's glassed joint cures.
Thx recycler.
That nagging in the back of one's mind to 'git 'er done' ?...I know exactly what that's like.
Progress has been a bit slow, but I've got the three panels that make up the back wall together now and glued to the floor. Today it gets glassed down and tomorrow I should be able to start attaching the sidewall panels and glassing them in. I'll put up some pics tonight of how I'm glassing the back wall to the floor.
Cutting individual panels and glassing them on the bench has been a great way to control resin usage and to help break the job up a bit, but it's a bit more work to rejoin them in such a way as to maintain full structural strength. I was prepared for that, but it makes for less visual progress between build sessions. It also saves me from glassing overhead, which I hate doing !
I'll still have to tape them on the inside, but that's no big deal: after wetting out the tape you roll it onto a dowel and squeeze out as much resin as you can. Then it just rolls on without being a horrible, drippy (and wasteful) mess. There's still a bit of dripping as you squeegee that wants to run down your arm, but that can be caught in a small container and used on the next strip.
I've also set up my solar on the roof as a bit of a dry run.
These are the four 15W panels on a rack that's a mockup of the mounting ribs I'll glass onto the top of the roof. This will be a fixed array, but I can fab a tiltable rack from aluminum later if need be.
I can see already that I'll need to add a center rib to keep the panels from sagging. Combined with bumps and road vibration, this sag spells cracked panels for sure:
The kit is four 15W maintainer panels that plug into an octopus before feeding a single line to the 7.5A controller. From there, I dump the power into a Group 31 deep cycle and then to a 1000W Xantrex inverter.
For the last few days I've been using the inverter to make my morning toast (900W) then it's got all day to charge back up. I'm up before the sun, so I check the voltage on the battery after it's had all night to equalize after the day's charge and every morning I'm right back to 12.7 V
This weekend, I'll be running an extension cord from the inverter to the bedroom window to run the bedroom TV off it instead. That's more of the low draw/longer duration loading that deep cycles prefer, since that TV is on for 3 or 4 hours each day.
My goal is simply to use the panels to maintain the batteries while in storage and to extend my boondocking time between charges, rather to try and offset my entire daily consumption. A generator will do the heavy lifting as far as charging goes, so all I need to do is add a couple days between charges. For that I think this kit will shine.
And now, it's back to work !!
That nagging in the back of one's mind to 'git 'er done' ?...I know exactly what that's like.
Progress has been a bit slow, but I've got the three panels that make up the back wall together now and glued to the floor. Today it gets glassed down and tomorrow I should be able to start attaching the sidewall panels and glassing them in. I'll put up some pics tonight of how I'm glassing the back wall to the floor.
Cutting individual panels and glassing them on the bench has been a great way to control resin usage and to help break the job up a bit, but it's a bit more work to rejoin them in such a way as to maintain full structural strength. I was prepared for that, but it makes for less visual progress between build sessions. It also saves me from glassing overhead, which I hate doing !
I'll still have to tape them on the inside, but that's no big deal: after wetting out the tape you roll it onto a dowel and squeeze out as much resin as you can. Then it just rolls on without being a horrible, drippy (and wasteful) mess. There's still a bit of dripping as you squeegee that wants to run down your arm, but that can be caught in a small container and used on the next strip.
I've also set up my solar on the roof as a bit of a dry run.
These are the four 15W panels on a rack that's a mockup of the mounting ribs I'll glass onto the top of the roof. This will be a fixed array, but I can fab a tiltable rack from aluminum later if need be.
I can see already that I'll need to add a center rib to keep the panels from sagging. Combined with bumps and road vibration, this sag spells cracked panels for sure:
The kit is four 15W maintainer panels that plug into an octopus before feeding a single line to the 7.5A controller. From there, I dump the power into a Group 31 deep cycle and then to a 1000W Xantrex inverter.
For the last few days I've been using the inverter to make my morning toast (900W) then it's got all day to charge back up. I'm up before the sun, so I check the voltage on the battery after it's had all night to equalize after the day's charge and every morning I'm right back to 12.7 V
This weekend, I'll be running an extension cord from the inverter to the bedroom window to run the bedroom TV off it instead. That's more of the low draw/longer duration loading that deep cycles prefer, since that TV is on for 3 or 4 hours each day.
My goal is simply to use the panels to maintain the batteries while in storage and to extend my boondocking time between charges, rather to try and offset my entire daily consumption. A generator will do the heavy lifting as far as charging goes, so all I need to do is add a couple days between charges. For that I think this kit will shine.
And now, it's back to work !!
Haven't had much time for the trailer this summer between work and diving, but now that the season is starting to slow down a bit, I can pick up were I left off.
Right now, I'm joining the three panels forming the back wall (flat center panel and two corners). They are attached to the internal form and have strips of 1/4 ply across the seam on the inside so that the mating edges can't move independently during the layup.
Then I opened up the seam a little bit to allow some room for the expansion of the canned foam that's serving as an adhesive for the core and added the foam.
Once the foam has had a chance to expand and fill the joint, I sanded it and laid on a thickened epoxy mix to seal the pores in the foam and fill any remaining imperfections. While that was still wet, I laid a strip of 2" glass tape across the seam and then a layer of 10" tape over that. That's to ensure I have two layers of cloth over the seam itself and the loading is spread over a wide swath of the adjoining panels.
That's typical of how I will be doing all the seams.
While that was kicking off, I laid up the next panel in sequence:
I have only two more panels plus the roof to do this way, then the nose area will be done as a single unit in place on the trailer.
At this point, it looks like deconstruction more than construction, but sometimes progress is like that !
(I'm about ready to cut down that cherry tree above the trailer !!!)
Right now, I'm joining the three panels forming the back wall (flat center panel and two corners). They are attached to the internal form and have strips of 1/4 ply across the seam on the inside so that the mating edges can't move independently during the layup.
Then I opened up the seam a little bit to allow some room for the expansion of the canned foam that's serving as an adhesive for the core and added the foam.
Once the foam has had a chance to expand and fill the joint, I sanded it and laid on a thickened epoxy mix to seal the pores in the foam and fill any remaining imperfections. While that was still wet, I laid a strip of 2" glass tape across the seam and then a layer of 10" tape over that. That's to ensure I have two layers of cloth over the seam itself and the loading is spread over a wide swath of the adjoining panels.
That's typical of how I will be doing all the seams.
While that was kicking off, I laid up the next panel in sequence:
I have only two more panels plus the roof to do this way, then the nose area will be done as a single unit in place on the trailer.
At this point, it looks like deconstruction more than construction, but sometimes progress is like that !
(I'm about ready to cut down that cherry tree above the trailer !!!)
I picked up another 125 yds of cloth last week, so the Glacier is advancing again.
I cut out another 38" wide slice, this time 19"X19" of the corner.
Cloth laid out and cut:
And glassed:
The scraps get cut into tape:
Today's task is to flip it over, filet the inside corners and lay up the glass on the inside. Then cut another 'slice' off the trailer. Rinse & repeat all the way around...
One of the little things about epoxy layups: because the stuff is a bit pricy, it's best to have a side project on the go where you can use up small amounts of leftover resin. As you squeegee the cloth after wetting it out, you'll always pull out excess resin to keep you layup from being too resin-rich. I built a 9' punt that way that's perfect for fly fishing. The current side project is putting a sail rig into a 14' rowboat. The dagger board and slat seatbenches are next.
I cut out another 38" wide slice, this time 19"X19" of the corner.
Cloth laid out and cut:
And glassed:
The scraps get cut into tape:
Today's task is to flip it over, filet the inside corners and lay up the glass on the inside. Then cut another 'slice' off the trailer. Rinse & repeat all the way around...
One of the little things about epoxy layups: because the stuff is a bit pricy, it's best to have a side project on the go where you can use up small amounts of leftover resin. As you squeegee the cloth after wetting it out, you'll always pull out excess resin to keep you layup from being too resin-rich. I built a 9' punt that way that's perfect for fly fishing. The current side project is putting a sail rig into a 14' rowboat. The dagger board and slat seatbenches are next.
