Where or When Jr. --Paint & New Tow Vehicle--update 5/17/15

[myoung]

Mike, seeing your beautiful one car workshop, I've been wondering where you will build or put all the extra parts for your trailer, once the body is built. I'm assuming you have another garage that you can borrow storage space from or you are going to build some overhead racks or storage.

Even with a two car garage, I occasionally feel cramped in. By the way, I found that, before the sides were up, the deck made a wonderful work "bench/table".

Hmmm. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "extra parts" Sharon. If there are items that belong in the trailer they will have a home in the trailer.

I'll build inside the garage except for the chassis that will be built elsewhere. All the parts I have assembled thus far like stove, portapotti, sink, power center, windows, lights, etc all get attached. The chassis will involve all the steel you see in the garage, the wheels, the jack, the hitch connector, the receiver, and the axle that is currently in the rear of our SUV. I'll bring in the wood when I need it and there is sufficient storage along the wall to stack it until then.

I like having an RV that is ready for the road at a moment's notice with little or nothing to load to make it ready to travel. We did that with our VW Camper and currently do the same with our Airstream. I see no reason why the same rule won't apply to this TTT. I even keep some clothing and all the bedding in place. About all that needs to be added to be road worthy is some food and some beverages and occasionally some water if the first stop along the way won't have a hookup. That's about it.

[S. Heisley]

What I meant is that you'll need a place to put the doors and lifting roof until you have your final exterior finish on and are ready to install those pieces on the trailer. At least you won't have to deal with folding sides as you are using canvas or other such material for the folding sides. I find that I am having some difficulty storing everything in one car stall and I kind of wish I that I would have built a ceiling storage rack for uninstalled parts. ...hindsight. When I was building, I leaned the framed pieces against the wall and learned that I should not have done that. One whole framed trailer wall had to be rebuilt because it warped from being leaned like that. I also lost a couple pieces of plywood for that reason.

[myoung]

What I meant is that you'll need a place to put the doors and lifting roof until you have your final exterior finish on and are ready to install those pieces on the trailer. At least you won't have to deal with folding sides as you are using canvas or other such material for the folding sides. I find that I am having some difficulty storing everything in one car stall and I kind of wish I that I would have built a ceiling storage rack for uninstalled parts. ...hindsight. When I was building, I leaned the framed pieces against the wall and learned that I should not have done that. One whole framed trailer wall had to be rebuilt because it warped from being leaned like that. I also lost a couple pieces of plywood for that reason.

Good lessons. I'll be careful not to leave walls propped up against a wall for too long to avoid warping.

My planned sequence of construction after the chassis is built is:
1. floor
2. rear wall
3. two front wall sections
4. popup top
5. two side walls
6. roof
7. door
8. cargo doors

I'll build all the walls from the inside out. I don't expect that this will take too long because I am retired and can work almost every day on the project.

[myoung]

On the Eve of Christmas Eve, the chassis of Where or When was assembled in Eddie's shop. Most pieces were cut in advance, but we still had to figure out a few details like the way in which the bumper was attached.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the result and excited that the dream now has a physical presence.

The maiden voyage home, a distance of 50 miles, was an unmitigated success. No swaying; no pitching; no yawing. Perfect tracking. Didn't even feel the passing cars and trucks. Not much crosswind but I'm confident that that would have been handled with ease as well. Great gas mileage of 22.6 mpg. Couldn't as for better performance.


Here are some pics. The first shows the entire assembly. The box sections are 1.5 x 3 x 0.125; the angle pieces are 2 x 2 x 0.125.



The tongue is raised at the ball connector by two pieces of box section. Currently, the pitch between the trailer and the Dodge's hitch is upward, but I expect the tongue weight to be about 300 pounds when finished. The current weight at the hitch is about 60 pounds.



The joint that will likely be stressed the most is the one between the tongue and the longitudinal. So, for additional reinforcement, we placed to 3 x 0.125 flat plates on the inside and outside surfaces. The bulk of the welding is on the underside and not visible in these two photos.




We centered a 2-inch receiver in the rear. It does double duty in providing additional support to the bumper because it is welded to the bumper and the rear cross piece.



The bumper ends were formed by slotting the angle stock and bending and welding it to fit a nice curve. We think it looks nice. Notice that the bumper is supported by another piece of angle stock welded to the bottom of the longitudinal box section.



Lastly, we welded a plate to the underside of the tongue. This will serve as the base of a box that will house the gas bottle and battery. By placing the plate on the underside, we have lowered the center of gravity a bit.

[Cliffmeister2000]

That's awesome, Mike! Glad to see you getting started!

[hugh]

Looks good, maybe once its painted run a bead of some type of sealant along the top edges of the reinforcement plates to keep water out

[myoung]

Looks good, maybe once its painted run a bead of some type of sealant along the top edges of the reinforcement plates to keep water out

Thanks. Will do.

[aggie79]

Mike,

Looks like you're on your way! That's a great looking frame. I wish that I had raised my coupler the way you did. Your way solves two problems - it keeps from having to use a draw bar with such a low drop and it provides more ground clearance for the tongue jack/wheel.

Keep posting pictures, please. Your build is going to have a lot us following closely.

Take care, Tom

[myoung]

I wish that I had raised my coupler the way you did. Your way solves two problems - it keeps from having to use a draw bar with such a low drop and it provides more ground clearance for the tongue jack/wheel.

Looks like I could have raised it even higher. It has about 60 pounds on the ball now. I tried it with a 240 pound neighbor added and the drop wasn't as much as I had hoped.

At the suggestion of my neighbor, I'll be adding two bolts to join the hitch coupler and the two 1.5 x 3 box sections together. If that along with the welds doesn't hold up, I'll be in big trouble.

Oh, I haven't put the chain anchors on yet either.

[myoung]

Today I took the trailer for a wash at a local DIY place. When I got back I gave the chassis a once over with steel wool (the synthetic kind) before painting.

Two coats of black paint are now applied. I should start building the floor tomorrow.

[myoung]

Yesterday I cut two of the plywood floor pieces to wrap around the tires. There are 3 sheets of 3/4-inch plywood. Two are 48 inches wide and the center one is 36 inches wide. That leaves two joints that I covered with 1-foot wide cleats glued with Titebond II and screwed with 1-1/4-inch screws. Two other small cleats add additional support to the frontmost joint. These cleats are conveniently located at the front door, the galley, and back toward the settee/bed, all places where the extra rigidity should be helpful.

[myoung]

Not much to see here. But for the sake of completeness, this is a pic of the underside of the floor painted with Henry 107 Asphalt Emulsion. I'll probably put on another coat tomorrow.



Picked up about half of the 1.5 and 2.5 by 0.75-inch poplar furring strips for the walls, roof, and floor today. Also, bought 10 half-inch bolts with washers, lock washers, and nuts for anchoring the body of the trailer to the chassis. Had to buy a half-inch drill too.

Glad I get the veteran's discount at HD. Thanks, HD.

[S. Heisley]

Good job. Your trailer looks like it is going to be pretty big.

[myoung]

Good job. Your trailer looks like it is going to be pretty big.

Not too big, really. Eleven feet long, six feet wide and under 80 inches high with the pop top down to fit in the garage.

[starleen2]

Good looking frame you have there - but this picture has me worried - maybe i don't see all the welds on the tongue - but from what I see at the step up - A one inch weld and a few tack welds doesn't seem quite strong enough for an anticipated 300 lb tongue weightt.Maybe I'm not seeing this right?