Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

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Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Sat Aug 02, 2014 6:23 am

I have been reading build journals lately and it has inspired me to finally do one of our build.
I had not done one at the time we were building,
1) I wasn't registered on the forum at that stage.
2) I was flat out during any spare time trying to get our TD built in time for a trip we had planned.
The reasons we decided on a TD are already mentioned in my newbies posts, so enough on that for now.
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=56573
Time was getting by! We had to be in Wellington (850km/530mls away) on the 11th Oct to catch the ferry to the South Island, early on the 12th. The plan was to leave home in the morning on the 10th Oct, with an overnight stop part way down the North Island.
Before the 1st July, we had no thoughts about a teardrop, or even what one really was.
They are very few and far between in NZ and we had already lost a couple of weeks looking for a ready made TD.

Day One: 19th July 2012. I picked up the steel for the chassis frame, and a drop saw from the hire centre. The axle had arrived, it is a Dexter that a guy in New Plymouth is importing, it was about half the price of the local equivalent.
That night I started by cutting the steel and laying out the frame. I was using 50x50x3mm (2x2x 1/8in) Galtube. Ready Galvanised box section.
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Day Two: 20 July 2012. That afternoon I welded the main part of the frame, added gussets to the corners, which I also used to bolt to the TD floor, then ground off the welds to tidy things up.
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Last edited by Sheddie on Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:33 pm, edited 9 times in total.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby 225 » Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:01 am

Looks good!
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Sat Aug 02, 2014 6:40 pm

Day Three: 21st July 2012, Saturday morning, down to Demolition Supermarket to see what ply they had. Picked up 4 sheets of 2440x1220x18mm (8x4ft) construction ply for the floor and sides and 3 of 2440x1220x4mm, some sort of Indonesian hard wood, for interior trim. They also had 50x20 treated pine batons, 3m long. cut in half these were perfect for the roof beams. I could have got a 10x5 sheet to do the floor in one piece through a timber merchant, but as they don't carry them in stock the price plus freight was going to be a bit over the top. We also had some Kauri ply and a stack of Kauri timber, left over from building a boat many years ago.
When we got home I decided, if I was going to be working nights, we needed more light over the work area, so I moved one of the double fluro units from the other side of the shed. The trailer frame was the ideal place to work from. That night we spent the evening with a large sheet of heavy cardboard on the floor in the lounge drawing the profile and working out the layout of the cabinets.
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Day Four: 22nd July 2012. By tonight the floor was done. The ply for the floor was laid cross wise, with an off cut to fill the gap across the middle, with other off cuts underneath to back block the joins, glued and screwed. The remaining off cuts were used to extend the sheets for the walls.
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We had also cut out the sides and tried them for size.
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And an hour later we had the vinyl laid and glued on the floor.
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Last edited by Sheddie on Sat Oct 11, 2014 5:01 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby rebapuck » Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:20 am

I'd kill for that garage.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby StockCube » Sun Aug 03, 2014 3:35 am

That's not a garage - that's a barn!
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Sun Aug 03, 2014 6:02 am

Thanks guys, for your comments. It's not a bad wee shed, but even my wife thinks it should be half as big again. That is where the "Sheddie" handle came from as we lived in half of it for 3 and a half years while we were waiting to move into our new built house. Then came the big move, into a couple of small rooms in the basement while we finished the living area up stairs. How we thought we could fit a teardrop build around finishing the house and going to work to pay for it all is a mystery. We moved to the property 12 years ago, and finally moved into the master bedroom late last year. PS the house still isn't quite done yet.....
Picture is of the shed when set up as living accommodation (lounge & kitchen). We also had a small garden shed inside the main shed for a bedroom (aka: the bed shed), an office and open plan ensuite at the rear. Other than cold in winter and hot in summer (no insulation) it was great.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The build

Postby Sheddie » Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:54 pm

Day 9: 27 July 2012. Sides joined together and sitting up for test fit.
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Day 10: 28 July 2012. Floor off and painted the under side with a tar based sealer. At the same time welded the "A" frame on to the chassis.
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Day 11: 29 July 2012. Holes cut out of sides to get rid of a bit of weight (about 10kg). If I did another one I would take more out.
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Finishing ply laminated to insides. Loaded everything heavy that we find to get them well stuck down.
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Day 12: 30 July 2012. Sides attached to floor.
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Last edited by Sheddie on Sat Oct 11, 2014 5:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Thu Aug 07, 2014 12:51 am

Day 13: 31st July 2012. Started building in rear storage areas.
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The ply used here is Kauri, left over from a boat we built quite a few years ago
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The gap at the bottom of the galley wall will have a removable panel to be able to get a proper inner sprung mattress in and out.
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The framing around the cabinets is New Zealand Kauri
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A good days work. It is progressing well. :)
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Day 18: 5th August 2012.
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Starting to plan Galley
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:30 am

Day 20: 7 August 2012.
Our doors have arrived!! :woohoo:

109649 109648
We imported our doors from Little Guy USA.
We had been searching all over New Zealand for suitable doors but only found full size ones to fit caravans/motorhomes. Next option was to look overseas. The options we had were the ones from Little Guy or some others from a manufacturer in Australia. We didn't like the Ausie ones as much, they were also quite a bit dearer. The exchange rates were about the same and surprisingly the shipping cost across the Tasman Sea was no cheaper than half way across USA and then across the Pacific as well. Just before we ordered the doors I found a manufacturer in our own town who could make us some doors, but he was almost three times the overall price. From Little Guy the shipping cost to NZ was about the same as the cost of the doors. Little Guy were very helpful, and even put some extra clips on u-tube to show us installation so that we could start planning things for when they arrived. Fed Ex had them to us in less than a week.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby pchast » Thu Aug 07, 2014 2:17 pm

:thumbsup:
Getting there...
:)
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby S. Heisley » Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:35 pm

I like the floor vinyl and the teardrop profile. :thumbsup:
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Fri Aug 08, 2014 4:22 am

My wife sent me down to the flooring shop to get a piece of vinyl for the floor. The only instruction she gave me was, "I could pick anything I liked, as long as it wasn't black and white checker".
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby capnTelescope » Sat Aug 09, 2014 9:35 pm

rebapuck wrote:I'd kill for that garage.

and...
StockCube wrote:That's not a garage - that's a barn!

then...
Sheddie wrote:my wife thinks it should be half as big again.


Where do you find a wife like that? You are a God among men. We're not worthy! :bowdown: We're not worthy! :bowdown: We're not worthy! :bowdown:
I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

Postby Sheddie » Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:21 pm

Thanks Capn,
We are a pretty good team. We are back to working on the house again. She is just finishing off some painting in the kitchen and front foyer so that I can fit the architraves and skirting boards.
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Re: Sleepin Around, New Zealand.

Postby Chuckles » Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:49 pm

Sheddie wrote: PS the house still isn't quite done yet.....


I have news for you,,, it never will be! I built our house too...18 years ago, and its still not done yet! Now my wife is talking about remodeling, new siding etc. It never ends.

Then again, I have a habit of going all out on new projects then petering out when I'm about 95% done. I offer my year-old but not yet finished tiny trailer as proof.

Oh, and very nice teardrop :thumbsup: . Don't take too long to finish it :D
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