Summertime Benroy Build- Finally named: The "Towster"!

[flbikejunkie]

Wow! Great job

[gilligan5000]

You have given me some great ideas that are worth copying!

List of things I can't wait to see:
1. I still don't understand how your sleeping surface is going to be level, but I'm sure you'll get us there
2. how well the "slide-in" ceiling panel is going to look (i think its an awesome idea)
3. how crazy, I mean overboard, I mean...how well you're going to waterproof this thing, and how (aluminum, resin, fiberglass cloth and resin, frp panels)
4. roof rack setup
5. ease of use of table(s) (I've always liked this idea, and want to do it, but keep telling myself to KISS)

Best of luck, and keep the updates coming!

[S. Heisley]

.
The cabinets are looking great and I like your choice of knobs.

Also, the method of installing your controller and wiring cabinet is clever.

[Adventure Time]

Stop going to school. Do some work on this and take some pictures.

[Babartlett]

I'm back!!

Life got busy and I had to take a two month break from working on the trailer. School picked up and I could not afford to work on week days, and then other things happened on the weekends. And one memorable weekend in October I got married!

Now that I just finished the semester, I am working on the trailer full time again! As I prefer.

I did have some progress before my break that I did not record so I have a good bit of of pictures so bear with me!

Gluing the headliner together. Two pieces of 1/8" Baltic birch tied together with a piece of the same.


The headliner all shiny after spraying with water based poly.


I decided to make junction box where the trailer wiring harness attaches to all of the sub floor wiring.



Starting to add the headliner. This will sit on the offset lip cut into the wall then the roof spars will lock it in place on top.


Here is the headliner installed. I used PL Premium Polyurethane glue for all of the spars. This stuff is really strong and good at staying in place on the vertical as well!


I didnt want nail holes in the headliner so here is how I secured it while the glue dried! A little un-conventional but it worked great!


The exterior lights work!


I added adhesive led strip lighting under the cabinet and in the cabinet recess. These light strips are really great. They can be cut to size and and pretty cheap. They are bright enough that, between the strip light reading lights, I opted against adding overhead lighting like I planned. I also added a remote dimmer to the larger one! I got it off Amazon. It has a small receiver that plugs in line with the light and it was on sale for $4!





Starting the hatch frame! I decided it was best to build it in place to assure that it fits.



My dad reminded me that in a house, all electrical connections must be accessible. With that in mind I decided to follow the same rules with the trailer. This is a simple junction box where the wires from the bulkhead and roof meet. There is also and extra line run in case I want to add another to component to the galley in the future.


Insulating the roof. There are two layers of insulation on the roof as opposed to one on the walls. I didnt want to run in to the same interference issues with the foam like I did with the walls ( Eurpean ply being thinner than the foam board) so I ripped the roofs spars to 1-5/8" instead of 1-1/2". To bend the foam around the radius on the front, I applied a good but of Titebond and secured it in place with some scrap wood and pocket screws while it dried. It has held out very well! It actually stayed clamped in place for almost two months so I am not suprised.



This is where I got to before my hiatus started at the beginning of October. Dont worry I have more Pictures..

[Babartlett]

Gluing the 1/4" birch roof onto the top! I was working by myself and I was worried about how to line up the large sheet on the wet glue. I ended up placing the roof on top on two plywood strips then slid them out from under the roof. This ended up working very well and I will definitely use this technique again in the future!





Got plenty of squeeze out on the edges like I wanted. No water is getting in this seam! I used a screw every three inches on the sides and every foot going across the roof on each spar.


Working on the trailer front, same method as the top. One difference is that I used two 1/8" layers on the front radius instead of the 1/4". This was much easier to bend. I used brad nails on the individual layers of 1/8" because I could not countersink the screws in the thin sheets properly. At this point I ended up using a large quantity of brad nails!




The two layers of 1/8" on the front radius. I was impressed with how it turned out!


For skinning the hatch. I decided it would be best to do it in place to assure that it is in the proper position when the glue dries. I have heard to many horror stories about a hatch that changes shape when it is covered. To hold it in place, I used the same method that I did for constructing it: placing 1/4" spacers on all sides. It is a tight fit. PL Premium Poly glue was the glue of choice and brad nails were used to hold the 1/8" birch in place. I decided to go with only one layer of 1/8" ply to save weight and reduce spring back.




The hatch the next morning all dried!


Cutting the notch in in the hurricane hinge to keep the hatch in place. I learned that getting the hatch slid on and off by yourself is no easy task. I'm sure it will only get worse when I keep adding things to it.


Trying out the rear lights!


I decided that one layer of rigid insulation was enough for the hatch. It was not worth the headache trying to get two layers in there and one is better than nothing.


I was pretty worried about how I was going to measure out the right outline for my door. I ended up thinking of a neat idea that I'm pretty proud of! I placed the rough door blank that was cut out months ago into the door jamb. I then squeezed in pieces of 1/8" ply in the gap to hold the blank in place then cut them flush with a chisel. After measuring my door trim and deciding that I wanted a 5/16" gap, I cut a spacer out for a stencil. I then ran the pencil around the door jamb with the spacer and ended up with a perfectly offset line drawn on the door blank!



Getting the RV latch to fit in the door. This was pretty tricky. I'm still a little worried about how I'm going to get it in and out once the door is clued together.



Working on the door frames. It looks funny because the corner radius hasn't been routed out yet.





This is where I am at as of today! More to come soon!

[rebapuck]

I'll give it an A.

[KCStudly]

A+

[Sheddie]

It is great to see you back and the progress you are making.

Frank

[Vedette]

I am always amazed by guys that have wood working skills like you have.
What a great job you are doing!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[Ned B]

I am always amazed by guys that have wood working skills like you have.
What a great job you are doing!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

Brian, I had to laugh at this... My first thought was ' so says the man with Mad Metalworking ability'.

[Ned B]

now that I'm viewing on my computer...

Looking Great on the build. Stealth gloat on the wedding though... Congratulations!!

[Babartlett]

Just finished the sixth strait day of work and I have some updates.

When I started the build It was 85 degrees by 8 am, now I hope for 40 degrees at the same time. I honestly cant decide what is better!

After routing up the edges of the roof and the hatch, I rolled the camper out to snap a few pictures in the sunlight. Its really starting to look like a teardrop!




Routed up the door edges and getting some insulation in. Note that on one, there is another spot for a latch built into the frame. I realized that I built it backwards after the glue dried. Luckily I have had a lot of practice with the router and was able to fit the other side to accommodate the latch.



Fitting up the new hinges!


The window and latch fits!


More clamping..


First hanging of a door! Works smooth so far. Still need to add trim, seals, and hinge spacers before I can relax.



Starting on the rest of the floor. Same method as the rest of the camper. Light frame with 3/4" rigid insulation sandwiched between 1/4" ply.

[Gunguy05]

This is looking great. Very clean build. Will be excited to see the rest of the progress.

[Babartlett]

More pics!

Starting on the removable middle floor sections. They are the same wood/foam composite the walls and are very stiff yet light.


One of the floor sections in place. They can fit inside the front floor compartment when not removed.


Preparing the exterior surfaces for the coating of CPES. I found this masking tape that has a 24" plastic skirt attached to it. Works great for many applications!




Not a good picture, but I used the Smiths cold weather CPES. Apparently they have the best waterproofing penetrating epoxies. This stuff is expensive at $70 for 2 quarts mixed 1-1. Fortunately this was just enough for my application. I lightly applied to all surfaces with a roller using half of the mixture. I used the rest to re-soak the areas that are near the trim and breaks in the aluminum skin.



Starting on the trim for the door jambs. It was tricky to properly bend the trim because it is on the inside of the mounting area. When I did get it bent, the outer lip distorted and left a large gap against the outside of the door jamb. I was able to over come this with some significant persuasion using a piece of plywood and a hand sledge.. The door jamb corners are not perfect but they do improve as you spend more time hitting them.


Starting to add the T-molding to the outside of the doors. Taking advice from others bending this stuff to tight radius's, I started by cutting a jig out of plywood that I could use to route a "relief" on the inside of the molding around the curves. This reduced the inner coverage from 3/4 to 3/16 and provided a smooth and easy bend without buckling.




After a successful two corners, I messed up my jig and decided to see what happened if I didn't relieve the trim. To my surprise, the trim bend around my 6 inch radius with almost no buckling! And what did slightly bulge was easily fixed with a hammer and wood spacer. I completed the rest of the corners with out relieving the trim and did not have any catastrophic failures!




I started and ended the trim under a hinge when I could. When I couldn't the next option was on the bottom of the door to reduce the chance of leaking.




Here is what I did to find the correct alignment on the door: After first mounting the hinges on the doors. I floated the doors in the door jamb with little pieces of foam (without trim applied). I then used shims to achieve even spacing around the door, before mounting the hinges to the trailer wall. Even after adding trim the door should have proper clearance on all sides. This worked perfectly for one door! And would have worked better for the other if I hadn't started building one door upside down :/ That alignment on that door was a headache but it works now!




In order to work with the D profile door seal that I used, I needed a 3/16" gap on the trailer side of the hinge. Thought the clearance for the inside and outside seal is slightly different the 3/16" gap allows both to make good contact. To make the spacers I settled with doubling up a 1/8" and 1/16" strip of aluminum that I picked up for a ridiculous price at a box store. I could have found a nice 3/16" piece from a distributor but I settled for the easier option.




I ended up with a pretty crude yet effective way to trim the spacers down to the shape of the hinge base. I fixed a hinge and spacer to a strip of wood that would simulate how it would align on the wall (the holes are all in slightly different places). I then went at it with a grinder and a cut off wheel! The thinking is that because the Al is so much softer than the stainless steel that I could remove the edges without major damage to the hinge. This was pretty true and I was able to cut all four spacers without noticeably scarring the hinge base. When I was done I had some pretty cool artwork!





Door latch catch installed. Thats fun to say!


Starting to look complete!


Door from the inside. You can just see the black inner door seal. Right now I only have the inner seals installed and will install the outer after the trim is installed the final time.



Here is the finished floor with carpet installed! Again, each end can be accessed for storage and the middle two segments are removable to expose the foot well. The middle segments also fit in the front compartment for easy storage.