MyAway build - Updates for space usage & organization

[Steve_Cox]

:applause: As usual your clear thinking things through has worked to educate us all. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

I still can't get over how beautiful your floor is. I just love the whole thing!

I have to agree, Sharon is an incredible woman and her work is an inspiration. That Mr Heisley is a lucky man.

[S. Heisley]

Thanks, Miriam and Steve. I just wish Mr. Freckles Heisley could help out with the work now and then but he's just too short and all thumbs and hair from his fur coat gets on everything! Plus, he always has to run out of the garage to bark at something. What's up with that?!

[bve]

Sharon thanks for indulging my craving for an update sorry to hear of the setback, however we know you will overcome it.

In this pic, if I'm looking at it correctly, the holes are from the inside of the camper? (facing the interior) It certainly looks like you had enough fasteners, however I'm wondering if it might be worth staggering them in the horizontal plane... the thought being since they are all aligned across the center there was an unintended 'pivot' point when the load of the roof changed. If you have them staggered by an inch on either side of the current row it should add some additional strength... does that make sense? Half inch to the bottom, half inch to top, half inch to bottom, etc.



As always looking forward to your next update.

[S. Heisley]

Sharon thanks for indulging my craving for an update sorry to hear of the setback, however we know you will overcome it.

In this pic, if I'm looking at it correctly, the holes are from the inside of the camper? (facing the interior) It certainly looks like you had enough fasteners, however I'm wondering if it might be worth staggering them in the horizontal plane... the thought being since they are all aligned across the center there was an unintended 'pivot' point when the load of the roof changed. If you have them staggered by an inch on either side of the current row it should add some additional strength... does that make sense? Half inch to the bottom, half inch to top, half inch to bottom, etc.

Yes, Burke, you are looking at it correctly. You idea is a good one and ideas are always welcome. But, since the holes are already drilled and I have seven of them in about 4 feet of length (you can’t see that in the pic), I think adding more might weaken the boards themselves. What appears to have happened is that the lag screws pulled and stripped right out of the holes.

Last night, I purchased stainless steel bolts and locking nuts plus washers for the inside and large fender washers for the outside plus a metal backing strip to strengthen everything. When I get done, I doubt that baby will come undone without two wrenches and a lot of work. I truly believe that the problem was using lag screws when it should have been bolted. Once installed, my theory will be proven by the roof's stability or lack of therein. I should be able to test my theory fairly quickly with just a few liftings and the roof will be getting a number of those just to add weather stripping, hardware, painting touch-up, etc.

Thanks again for looking, thinking, and caring. You make a difference.

[Steve_Cox]

Sharon,

I was over on Dale's (Cracker39) build thread and saw your pop-top roof lifting devise.

After watching Dale's video I am glad you are lifting your roof from the outside of the trailer, securing it and then going inside to raise the pop-top side panels. Freckles nor I wouldn't like it if the roof fell on your head. But Dale's roof lifter was a pretty good one too.

Most people don't show the little setbacks and mistakes, that was pretty cool. Do you have it fixed yet?

[S. Heisley]

Sharon,

I was over on Dale's (Cracker39) build thread and saw your pop-top roof lifting devise.

After watching Dale's video I am glad you are lifting your roof from the outside of the trailer, securing it and then going inside to raise the pop-top side panels. Freckles nor I wouldn't like it if the roof fell on your head. But Dale's roof lifter was a pretty good one too.

Most people don't show the little setbacks and mistakes, that was pretty cool. Do you have it fixed yet?

I was playing around with the lifting roof and pole and took that picture just before the lag screws stripped. Yes, HaHa! I've already fallen on my head and gotten hit there too many times.

No, the roof isn't fixed yet. I went out to work on it and got side-tracked with "one-more-thing-itis" on the bed platforms, which I was going to put away. From there, I started working on the water tank anchors inside the bench.... Ah, tomorrow is another day....

[S. Heisley]

The saga continues....

I should have known that if it could happen, it would happen to me! ...And to think I paid extra for a Red Trailer because I thought it would be sturdier and better made than a Harbor Freight.



The ‘C’ channel was too weak and it twisted. The tongue will need to be beefed up before this baby can be used.

[parnold]

Sharon:

I feel for you. The HF frames also are weak there! I rigged up a bar and clamped it to both cross members. Now I'm not afraid any more.



I don't know if you can really see it in the above photo, but the advantage is it also centers the jack. The disadvantage, I have to use bungee cords since the jack will not fold up into it's locking position.

[LDK]

Sharon

I'm sorry to hear about your trailer tongue. I was worried about mine after I moved the axle back so I decided to beef mine up. I used 2 inch wide plate iron that I bought at lowes and had it welded in the channels. That and the battery box really made the tongue strong. Hopefully soon you'll have yours up and going.

[S. Heisley]

Thanks, Paul and Larry.

This set-back was like 3 steps forward and 4 or 5 back.
I got the trailer back up but the 'C' channel doesn't want to straighten out. I called a neighbor over, just in case more went wrong when I raised it. While he was there, he said that the welder can warm the metal and it should straighten out. After it is straight again, it can be reinforced with welded-in metal. I upgraded to AAA plus last summer; so, I think I'll be able to get it towed to the welder's shop under that towing insurance.

I appreciate both of you showing what you did to strengthen your tongues. That will help a lot.

[bve]

Aww what a bummer, hope there were no injuries?

Despite the mishap, you have given us the best view of your build so far in this picture, and it sure is looking good!

[Steve_Cox]

Hi Sharon,

Sorry about the bent tongue support, but better for it to happen during your research and development phase of the build than at the campground later.
R & D is a big part of creating a unique camping vehicle, all innovative builders go through things like this.

I have switched to the fixed tongue jacks on everything I build to tow because of greater stability, which is what the tongue jack is all about.
It looks like you have room for one in front of the spare tire.

The foot can be replaced with a castor, and the castor can easily be removed for towing if extra clearance is needed. I prefer the foot instead of a castor, it eliminates the need to chock the wheels on mild inclines.

[S. Heisley]

Burke, No, there weren't any body injuries...only my pride. I'm glad my feet weren't in the way!

Steve, You might be right. That certainly looks like a nice tongue jack. I think I have tongue jack envy!!!

Thanks to both of you.

I think that I may have the solution to my latest problem and have posted it in another thread for review. When I am certain of my repair plan, I will post more here.

[aggie79]

Sharon,

I'm sorry to hear about your temporary setback. I know you'll come up with a good solution.

If it makes you feel any better, the tongue on my TD is tongue #2. When I drew the sketch for the welder, I didn't use a calculator and my Aggie math got the best of me. Tongue #1 was 10" longer than it should be. It probably would have been okay, but it sure did flex more than my liking. Just before I was going to place my TD shell permanently onto the frame, I decided to take it back to the welder to make it as it should have been.

Embarrasing, time-consuming, and expensive? Yes! But definitely worth it.

You'll get this solved!

Take care,
Tom

[S. Heisley]

Thanks, Tom. I'll get'er done yet!