Conch Fritter Woodie - Finally gets its topsides painted!

...ask your questions in the appropriate forums BUT document your build here...preferably in a single thread...dates for updates, are appreciated....

Floor is sealed and mounted!

Postby daveesl77 » Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:57 pm

Got my frame work all finished and the base of the floor panel finished, so today it got flipped bottom-side down and bolted to the frame. Did the first trim on the excess canvass on the bottom and put on the first coat of poly/mineral spirits sealer.

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This angle (shot with a fisheye, so ignore the curves please) shows the new tongue extension tube. This makes me feel better as the only thing I did not like on the HF frame was the tongue setup. This is bolted and welded.
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I'll put on 2 more coats of top side sealer this week, going from 75:25 mineral spirits : spar polyurethane to 50:50 to 25:75. The glued and coated canvas bottom came out great (I forgot to take photos). I used Kool Seal to cover the bottom and edges since I already had a couple of gallons from my other campers. I wish it were not white, but that will change as the trailer gets used. All edges will get wrapped with aluminum flashing.

Next up, the walls get designed, cut and put up.

I am having so much fun.

dave
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Dave and Regina - Enjoying old age, a LOT!

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Re: Dave and Regina's Teardrop Build

Postby daveesl77 » Fri Feb 27, 2015 5:11 pm

Finally did a profile sketch and a rough cardboard profile cut out.

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Hope to do the walls this next week. Temps are supposed to be in the 80s.

dave
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Re: Dave and Regina's Teardrop Build

Postby KCStudly » Fri Feb 27, 2015 7:13 pm

Build onward!!! :thumbsup:
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Test cuts for the cedar strips

Postby daveesl77 » Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:10 pm

I decided to go pick up a few rough cut cedar boards to test out resawing strips. 2x4x12 and 2x6x12. Chopped off an 18" piece of one 2x4 to test cut with. Cut the strips to 3/16 inch thickness. I'm getting almost 30 inches per board, so essentially 2 boards will cover each side, not too shabby for $11 a board. With my modified bandsaw table, got my thickness' super accurate, really pleased with that.

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Raining now, so I guess I'll wait to do more work on the camper, but I'm really pleased with how these will look!

dave
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Cedar dust, vacuums and face palm.

Postby daveesl77 » Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:15 pm

Began ripping my cedar planks into strips today. It is Florida and it is 86 outside.

That said, I just fixed up my "new" vacuum system for my garage and it worked great with the bandsaw, almost no dust got out at all. Did I dump the 25 gallon dust holder that was mostly full now? Why of course NOT! Next up, let's play with my tablesaw I rebuilt last month. Why I have a vacuum system, I can rip western red cedar INSIDE my garage, no need to haul that saw outside like I normally do, afterall it worked great with the bandsaw.

Cut, cut, cut, rip, rip, rip. Whistle while you work. As anyone familiar with cedar knows, it likes to make lots and lots of very fine dust. I then noticed it was getting kind of hazy in the garage and it smelled REALLY GOOD! Yep, the filter on the vacuum had failed, thus blowing gallons and gallons of wonderous cedar dust all over my NEWLY CLEANED AND ORGANIZED GARAGE!!! I guess it had been doing it for awhile, but I hadn't noticed as I was son intent on making more sawdust. I had just spent 5 days getting everything cleaned and organized. I had thrown out 11 giant garbage bags of junk. I was so very, very proud of myself.

I now had 28 feet of nice, fine dust covering every square inch of the garage. Wood, tools, Santa, camping gear, the dog. Ok, so get out the leaf blower and get to cleaning again. Luckily it is hot and I was sweating, so I had a nice cedar mud covering on me by the time I got most of the dust outside with the hurricane machine.

To the positive, the cedar strips are coming out really pretty.

:lol:

dave
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Re: Dave and Regina's Tiny Trailer Build

Postby KCStudly » Thu Mar 05, 2015 6:25 pm

Gotta love it. :lol:

Hope there was a respirator involved there. Cedar has lots of resin and that fine dust won't do your long term lung health any good. Be safe. :thumbsup:
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Houston, we have trailer skins!

Postby daveesl77 » Mon Mar 09, 2015 6:03 pm

Got all the skin panels for both walls, inside and out, cut out today. Went easier than I thought, using my ancient jigsaw instead of my modern one. I set up my template and cut all for pieces of each section at the same time. That old saw and equally old blades went through 4 slices of 5mm ply like butter. I was prepared to have to do a bunch of sanding, but it didn't need a heck of a lot to smooth out any doinks.

This is kind of a weird angle shot from the top, front is to the left of the picture. It is 10' long curve to curve and 5' high. The rear actually drops almost a foot, but it isn't apparent in this shot. I took it from a ladder. Anyway, got much of the framing also laid out. A couple more pieces to do tomorrow then copy it for the other side. I should be laminating tomorrow. With the framing, it is all done half-lap, so all frame members cross each other and no butt joints. The color differences are because I put the top and rear of one series with the main section of another. Yes, they are all numbered, I was just seeing how the lines looked, so didn't care if they matched up with color or not. In addition, they will be covered on the exterior side with wood strips. Interior skins I pretty much book matched.

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Re: Dave and Regina's Tiny Trailer Build

Postby daveesl77 » Tue Mar 10, 2015 5:32 pm

Got all of the framing finished for both sides today, after dear wifey made me dig out the pole saw and cut down branches that were cutting down on her view of the lake. I didn't start the glue up though, as by the time I got all the boards cuts and the lap joints made and tested I was tired and hot (89 today - yes it is March in Florida) and decided to start fresh tomorrow. I think this is going to come out great! I am so glad I found this site, the inspiration and ideas it has given me plus the incalculable amount of experience you guys all have makes this so much easier for me.

dave
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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter

Postby daveesl77 » Wed Mar 11, 2015 4:14 pm

It now has a name - Conch Fritter (pronounced "Konk", not konch, for those not from Florida or the islands). 8)

Got my port side framing glued up and the exterior skin applied. Will do the same tomorrow for the starboard side, let em dry for a couple of days, then flip them over and do the void areas and laminate the interior skins.

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Almost done, except for the 'finishin'

:D

dave
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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter

Postby Patti » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:07 pm

This is going together fast! And looking great, too.
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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter

Postby daveesl77 » Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:48 pm

First wall is now laminated and this pic shows kind of how it will look. Wall 2 is being squished now, should be ready by Wednesday morning.

Here is the first side wall, kind-of, sort-of on the trailer frame for testing. What I actually did was to prop this one up on top of the floor. Then did a bit of photo manipulation, cut and paste and moved it down to where it will actually sit. No doors, galley opening or window is cut in yet. No wood strips or trim either and my cut/paste isn't exactly smooth on this, but it gives the idea on the shape and sit. This isn't even the proper wall for the "port" side. Instead, this is the interior side of the "starboard" side wall.

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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter Woodie

Postby daveesl77 » Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:39 pm

Walls are now laminated (base structure) and I cut out my first door on the port side. They are 42" tall, 23" wide and 1.25" thick, solid wood/plywood. Reason I made them that tall is because I want them to kind of match the slide-out galley door, since it is next to it.

This is the exterior, unfinished side. Over this I'll be laminating my cedar strips. Due to the angle I had the cell phone it looks kind of skewed, but it is actually a true rectangle with 2 curves on the outside.

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This is the interior side. I'll be doing trim and polyurethane on it.

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The manner that I've cut the doors is to help with water seals. The door base is cut at a 15 degree down angle to the outside. Trim panels will be attached to both the inner wall and the outer door. Rubber(ish) gasket material will be attached to both of these to give a double seal. All wood is being sealed with epoxy and polyurethane. Weep slots will be cut to further aid if needed.

I am really happy on how the walls came out. This is due to a lot of research on this site and I cannot begin to thank those who have gone before me in making this work so well! When I overlaid the two side wall panels I had my fingers crossed that they would be somewhat similar in size and shape. I was amazed! There is not a single part that deviates a 1/16th of an inch from the opposing side wall. Just a bit of sanding and voila, they were damn near exact copies! Wow.

So, tomorrow back to ripping cedar strips, come up with window designs for the doors and the two small windows in the back wall areas. Then I need to cut out the "slide out galley" door, laminate the cedar, epoxy and attach the walls! Maybe a week or so before the walls go up.

Almost done except for all the finishin' (this is a favorite saying of my neighbor)

dave
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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter Woodie

Postby KCStudly » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:13 am

You're off to a great start!

What's left to do? I like to say, "everything else, all of it".
KC
My Build: The Poet Creek Express Hybrid Foamie

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Engineering the TLAR way - "That Looks About Right"
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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter Woodie

Postby daveesl77 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:00 pm

Looks like all the cedar strips to cover the entire outside walls are now cut to thickness, 3/16". Over 1/4 mile of stripping I cut, yep over 1,500 linear feet cut out of 8 rough cut cedar boards. Tomorrow I'll do the edge trimming to make them all square. I think this is going to be really beautiful, as there are such amazing levels of colors, grain, patterns on these strips. I won't be staining them, as the natural colors are wow. There will be 4 different widths of the boards as I wanted to mix up both the colors and sizes. We've decided to cut out the back windows in the shape of a conch shell, carrying on with the trailer's name "Conch Fritter". Time for the wifey to get sanding!!!

I'll post some more pics when I have the cedar laminated to the walls.

dave
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Re: D and R's Conch Fritter Woodie

Postby daveesl77 » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:27 pm

The cedar is all cut and edge trimmed. Laid them out on the walls today to size and locate. The exterior side walls have been done as a "book match", so each strip has its mirror image to be placed on the opposite wall. Tomorrow I'll do the final locate, rough trim to length and glue to the walls. I think this will look ok when done. All of this came from 8 rough cut western red cedar boards.

Sizing the cedar strips. These are just laying on the wall. Nothing has been done to them, no sanding, no glue, no polyurethane. The clamps are just to hold the bottom boards down tight to the wall so I can size the others. There are so many varied shades, colors, grains, knots and patterns it is amazing.
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This is about a 1/4 mile of cedar strips, over 1,500 linear feet cut. I kind of like it.
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My temporary construction "garage", since I don't have enough room in my real one. Hey, it stands up to some pretty strong wind and rain so far. Each board is numbered and location marked, so I can copy the design on one wall to the other.
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Each strip is 3/16" thick, between 1.5 and 3 inches wide and 12 feet long. These are just the ones for the walls. The front and back strips are very similar, but will go vertical, with the design starting from the middle going out. There is also a raised trim in several areas. The door and window is presently under this test lay. I cut out the window today, made it kind of a cloud shape.
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I can hardly wait to see what this looks like laminated, trimmed and varnished.

dave
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Dave and Regina - Enjoying old age, a LOT!

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