Wyoming Woody Teardrop Build (Completed: 6/22/2013)

[_Ryan_]

Beautiful job so far on the unit.

Just a few questions for you. When you "skeletonized" the side walls how did you get the pattern or know how muc to take out without taking too much.

Also would you be willing to share or post your sketchup files?

I want to build one over the next few months and after looking at LOTS of designs I REALLY love your design.

Thanks, from a canadian fan

Thanks!

To tell you the truth the skeletonized sections were a bit of a guess. As you can see the holes were designed to avoid the cabinet edges to maximize structural support. As far as the size, I am using 1/2" plywood for the cabinets so I added 1.5 inches on either side totaling 3.5 inches. This seemed like a good amount and I called it a day. It turned out to be very rigid and I am incredibly pleased with the weight savings. What you don't see in the picture are the rounded corners, suggested by Dave, which helps with strength as well.



As far as the SketchUp file, it is still a work in progress and until it is done I don't want to release the entire model yet. If you have specific design or component questions let me know and I'm sure I can help you out.

Good luck, the design phase is a lot of fun!

Ryan

[_Ryan_]

Before everything is glued together I figured I needed to check the spacing of the walls as well as the alignment of the cabinets to the inner profile. At the same time this would give me a chance to see the Wyoming Woody in it's final shape, and obviously take some pictures to share!

Drilling pilot holes in the inside of the sidewalls so they would align with the center of the poplar boards in the deck frame. Once I had them on the deck I finished drilling the pilot holes from the outside into the deck frame.


Bam! We have what looks like a trailer. Everything fit as they should, which I have to say, is better than I expected. To be honest I stood there for a while and just stared at it. After so much work it was amazing to see it standing in front of me!

[WhitneyK]

I'm sorry, but all I can do is stand here with my mouth open

Excellent, just excellent!

[clintstuckless]

Beautiful job so far on the unit.

Just a few questions for you. When you "skeletonized" the side walls how did you get the pattern or know how muc to take out without taking too much.

Also would you be willing to share or post your sketchup files?

I want to build one over the next few months and after looking at LOTS of designs I REALLY love your design.

Thanks, from a canadian fan

Thanks!

To tell you the truth the skeletonized sections were a bit of a guess. As you can see the holes were designed to avoid the cabinet edges to maximize structural support. As far as the size, I am using 1/2" plywood for the cabinets so I added 1.5 inches on either side totaling 3.5 inches. This seemed like a good amount and I called it a day. It turned out to be very rigid and I am incredibly pleased with the weight savings. What you don't see in the picture are the rounded corners, suggested by Dave, which helps with strength as well.



As far as the SketchUp file, it is still a work in progress and until it is done I don't want to release the entire model yet. If you have specific design or component questions let me know and I'm sure I can help you out.

Good luck, the design phase is a lot of fun!

Ryan

You actuall answered another question as well. I was wondering why did you round the cutouts. I thought it would be easier for square corners, but stronger is better.

[S. Heisley]

Wyoming Woody (Ryan) wrote:

Bam! We have what looks like a trailer. Everything fit as they should, which I have to say, is better than I expected. To be honest I stood there for a while and just stared at it. After so much work it was amazing to see it standing in front of me!

http://ww.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?a ... _id=103238

MILESTONE REACHED: The walls are uP!
You have completed the beginnings of a mighty fine looking teardrop trailer!

[DMcCam]

FANTASTIC RYAN!!! Walls are up!!! Hey, one little tip, drill your electrical runs in the walls now if you haven't yet. I waited until we had the inner skin on and it was very difficult because of the width of the screw gun chuck. You're doing a great job Sir!!!

Cheers,

Dave

[PubUltraStar]

... To be honest I stood there for a while and just stared at it. After so much work it was amazing to see it standing in front of me!

Everyone needs to have an admiration hour for projects like this. I anticipate that this won't be your last. Nice work.

[RandyG]

Great job! You're doing it the way I plan on doing mine so, Thank you for putting it into perspective for me. By watching you build I am able to plan step by step.

[_Ryan_]

I really appreciate all comments! I'm having a blast working on this and I'm glad you enjoy following along with me! This past weekend I was able to get a lot accomplished!

First up was getting the inside 1/8 birch skins glued to the walls with some TIghtbond III. Since the skins were glued to the structural supports between the voids I clamped the second wall to the first in order to focus pressure over those those specific structural supports. It worked well but if I were to do it again I would glue it up on the floor instead of on saw horses as the pressure would have been a bit more even.


After gluing we rough cut the excess with jigsaw then used a router to make the final trim.


This is the bit we used, a flush cut laminate bit. We used this to solve the issue of having to trim the skin with only 1/4" of room between the skin and the shoulder of the wall. A traditional flush trim bit would not work as the bearing was to wide to fit in the space. Luckily this worked like a charm!


The finished wall with skin. As you can see we had to go back and fix an edge that didn't get glued all the way.


I had to redo a couple pieces that were slightly out of alignment, and also managed to cut the tracks for the sliding doors as well as the doors themselves. The doors are 1/8" birch left over from the skin, and the grain pattern is amazing.





Assembled the cabinets and walls on the trailer AGAIN!


I started attaching the hinges to make sure everything is square before the final glue up!



Next up: finish the hinge installation, take the cabinets down once again for a final sanding, applying a couple barrier coats of epoxy to the inside and bottom edge of the walls to protect them from moisture, and then hopefully the final glue up.

[Cummins01]

WOW! this is turning into an awesome trailer! Very nice!

[225]

I love it. Great motivation.

[_Ryan_]

So after a week vacation I was back in the garage working on the teardrop this past weekend. I had to disassemble the cabinets one last time and do the final sanding before glue up.

This is what all 72 pieces that make up my cabinets look like.


Took off all the hinges and labelled them so I don't get them mixed up later.


Sanding 120 -> 150 -> 220 grit... by hand. I broke down and bought a rubber sanding block.


Glue up begins!


Here is one mistake I wish I had avoided. I missed the measurement on the first set of shelf pin holes. Easy to fix and should be well hidden but it still gets under my skin.


Front cabinets done!


Making sure everything is square as possible. Although it took a bit longer, I'm glad I did so much work dry fitting the pieces beforehand.


Rear cabinets almost complete!

[nevadatear]

Looking fabulous! Woodies are our favorite for some reason!

[KCStudly]

Your cabinet design AND execution are excellent. Very nice looking, indeed!

[_Ryan_]

It has been a couple weeks since my last post but I have been hard at work over the last couple weekends and evenings! In fact, I have reached somewhat of a milestone as the walls, cabinets, and deck are all screwed and glued, and I have something that resembles a teardrop trailer! Thanks to everyone for their kind words and input, it really keeps me motivated and excited about this project!

Before the final glue up I had a couple odds and ends to take care of. First off I had to fit and glue the last couple pieces of galley cabinet.


Once the while trailer is glued I won't be able to access one hole where the countersunk cam bolts are installed through the deck. I made birch plugs out of extra 1/8" skin I had laying around.


Once installed you could never tell there was a 1-1/4" inch hole there!


Next I needed to epoxy the lower edge of the wall and the bottom end grain to create a moisture barrier where the wall meets up against the trailer frame. I decided that I didn't want to run the PL Premium below the deck and onto the metal frame. The blue tape protects the wall where the PL glue will attach the wall and deck.


It was fun to pull out the West 105/207 epoxy and do a trial run on a section that wasn't critical to get some experience.


It even makes regular plywood look good! Can't wait to see what it looks like on the outside skin.



Finally I had to drill the pilot holes for the screws from the inside out, then attach the walls and drill them from the outside into the cabinets. I had the walls marked from the last dry fit so I knew exactly where to fit them so they were square. This is my buddy Matt who came over to lend a hand!


Matt is a master homebrewer and brought over his new Pilsner! Time for some liquid courage before I dive into the critical glue up!


First wall is up! PL Premium between the wall and deck, and Titebond III to glue the cabinets to the walls. The deck screws provided most of the clamping pressure.


Both walls up! You can see the location of all the screw holes in this picture.


I decided to see how the inset cabinet frames fit with the walls up. To my relief they actually fit better now with everything assembled! Time for a