Deryk's lil Vardo

[mikeschn]

That looks nice! It's time to add it to the Hall of Fame!

Mike...

[Deryk the Pirate]

Thanks Mike,

Once I get the inside done I will.

I got the "navigation lights" installed today (I didnt use the connections that came with it, the wires are cut and twisted together and used heat shrink tubeing so hopefully the connections will last a while!) and brought her home to my marina. 62 mile ride above 50mph she towed fine and the hubs werent even warm! I feel her a little back there, but honestly not too bad. Trailer creaked a little when I hit a pothole but I guess its new sounds to get used to lol.

Memorial Day weekend, Im goin to an SCA event, its only like 20 miles away but lookin forward to gettin rid of the air mattress and replaceing it with a futon so I can fold it up and have a couch for entertaining inside. Still need to get an awning, but not till I get my first 2 week paycheck lol...for memorial day Im gonna yank one of my boats 12 volt deep cycle batteries so I can have lights and a fan inside in case its warm.

I just got back and one of my neighbors just pulled up and he was really impressed with the vardo, its pretty solid, the trim is all glued and screwed and you can grab on it and shake the trailer with it and it doesnt flex. Im happy with the way she came out, wish I could have done it a year ago.

deryk

[Deryk the Pirate]

Well with 5 days or torential downpour's I need to add weatherstripping to my door lol. My carpet was damp today... hopefully the rain will be gone by the weekend!

[Deryk the Pirate]

Well Memorial day was a wash for me... I dropped my lil vardo at the site and headed to work for a half day... while drivin back my shifter cable snapped so car is in the shop hopefully they will have the part tomorrow since the chrysler dealer was closed saturday.

I added insulation and mostly finished my inside...still some more trim to go around the 3 windows and door... and need better weatherstripping...the foam stuff didnt hold up. I also want one of those over the door rain diverters I get a little dripping off the roof onto the door trim and it travels inside.

[Visionsbydarrah]

Sorry to hear about your car.
But your Vardo is coming along very nicely.
Keep up the great work.....

[Deryk the Pirate]

Thanks and Thanks... yeah I really wish I could have camped in it but oh well. Always another event!

[Woodstramp]

Sorry for the set backs, but you've actually been booking in your project. Look really cool. Looks roomy too.

[Deryk the Pirate]

Thanks... one of my friends has been teasin me that its like a little home... will be when I can find 1 of these for cheap on ebay http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=548713

[bobhenry]

Whoa $700.00 plus

How about an electric fireplace !

[Deryk the Pirate]

Well Bob, I got a brand new diesel one for my boat last summer for $255 shipped, so I will keep my eye on ebay over the summer. I like propane cause if your campin somewhere with no electricity the fan can run off of 12 volt battery... they throw out a ton of heat would be nice and cozy in there for winter camping lol

[CliffinGA]

Deryk your pt is like my last company vehichle a dodge caravan and is really low compared to your trailer. If I was you I would go by Uhaul or even Wal-mart and get a hitch with a rise from 2 1/2 to 4" that will level out the trailer compared to the PT. After hitting a big dip while pulling a pop up with the caravan I was driving and damaging the tongue of the trailer I got a 3" drop hitch and flipped it and never had that issue again. You can also get a trans cooler for the PT at Pep boys and not ever have an issue pulling your trailer. Just my thoughts .

Cliff

[Yoyoman]

oh Im hopein to keep it under 700 lbs too but my car's max tow is 1000lbs.

Hi Deryk;

I enjoyed reading your thread. Good work. Never had heard about a vardo...must get out more often lol.

My trailer fully loaded comes in at 1120lbs. So yes I am concerned about the 1000lbs limit. I have been towing for three season.

Just last month I spent ~$1000 in front end work. Control arms and something else needed to be replaced.
They thought that the car might have been in an accident. I bought it when it was a year old and I have no record of it having been in one.
So I am trying to figure out if the front end tear and wear can come from towing. All my towing has been straight forward. No offroading or scary braking stories.
Anybody have an opinion on this?

Norbert

[Deryk the Pirate]

Hi Norbert,

Yeah weight is an issue for sure! I weighed in at 620 lbs unpainted and no EPDM roof...let's say 60 lbs for that stuff with my foam mattress and gear I'm about 750lbs. I remove the battery while towin to save weight and the cooler stays with me in the car while traveling. Its doable.


Let's see how I come in with lil vardo 2!

[Alfred]

Deryk,

You built this in three months? Good grief! I've been working on mine for over three years! Great looking little vardo! What are you going to build next?

AL

[Deryk the Pirate]

Thanks Al!

I definatley have the vardo bug, and am going with another vardo. Going to be styled a little different then the last.



I want the door to face the tongue so I can put down some cedar decking as a place to sit and relax. I dont care for the portholes, way too expensive so I got another pair of crankout windows like the ones in my first build, but this time with screens!

Im makeing the trailer 10 feet long with it being about 53" wide. I got a longer axle and useing some cedar on the sides of the frame bolted in 10 places with 3/8" bolts. This time Im going to make the roof out of two 1/4 exterior grade 4x10 sheets of plywood. Then cover it again with the EPDM rubber roofing. I like the way the rubber roofing came out and its pretty tough stuff! The side walls are going to be 3/8" 4x8 mdo plywood with a 3/4 exterior grade 53" by 120" piece of plywood for the floor.

The trailer since Im not raising the floor like in my first build should lower the overall height by about 4 inches and its going to be about 4" narrower inside, and about an inch shorter inside. Im hopeing for a center ceiling height of about 52", tall enough for me to walk on my knee's. I really am hopeing to reduce the windage to lower the drag on my car and shave a little weight off of it if I can.

On the backside of the trailer I want to build a box as wide as the trailer and about 2 feet deep, maybe 3 feet high. In it will be the marine battery, Im hopeing it will lower my tongue weight a bit by being on the other side of the axle, and also installing a 5000 watt air conditioner. Some of the places I plan on camping have power, and alot of times its just gonna be in my friends driveway as my 2nd home lol. I also want to have an area for a galley. Afer my brief memorial day camping event I realized that the galley is a good idea, and I want to keep my stove, coffee pot, frying pan, paper plates/utensils and all that permanently in the vardo so to go away all I need to do is throw in a change of clothes and a cooler of food and Im ready to go.

Im not gonna add an awning this time. I saw a friend set up a big beach umbrella in front of his tent and I really liked the idea. Im hopeing to get some camping time in this summer if I can lol, hopeing to have it built faster, since my friend Connor suggested I frame out the walls on the plywood and put up complete walls instead of how I did it the first time, 1 tongue and groove piece at a time lol. Since Im building it at his house again because he has a shop to work in Im gonna take it home to paint it because this way I can do a little every day before work.



Next weekend I get to tar the bottom side of my floor and start makeing sawdust lol

Keep an eye on my build 2 page cause I will be uploading pictures. Im hopeing to be a motivation for people that Im not a carpenter by trade, just a former IT guy now a custodian in a high school that anyone can do this with some good research on other peoples build and a willingness to give it a try!

deryk