NE Wisconsin Generic Benroy 5x8... my first!

[TimC]

Happy Independence Day!

Making little progress this weekend on the build. Mainly contemplating Wiley window shapes and door layout. A little (a lot) apprehensive about it all. I like a round Wiley window I saw on someone's tear. Just trying to figure out how to allow water to be shed from behind the frame.

Inside skin is done. Made a small mistake and drilled for wiring right through the inside skin for an outside porch light. Well, I guess I wanted to decorate/paint the inside walls anyway, so, that decision will be easier now. There will be enough cabinet and trim woodwork to make it look great anyway.

[KCStudly]

Opposite the porch light is a good place for a coat hook.

[TimC]

Simply brilliant!

[KCStudly]

[apopj]

Lookin' Good..... doing a great job. Keep the updates coming.

[TimC]

I've made some progress this weekend... Finished the door template and added backup hardwood for hinges and latch. Added red cedar frame for the Wiley windows. Located and installed wiring for porch lights port and starboard outside walls. Going with some small LEDs for porch lights and little 3/4" toggles for switches just inside the door. I insulated including the galley area since I wanted the 1/8" lauan to have some stiff backing material in this area to reduce flexing. I'm going to take the night off and think about whether I am ready to skin the outside. Wiring done, check. Hardwood backing, check. Drilled reference holes for three corners of doors as well as switch mount holes, check. Does anyone else see a missed step...?





And, thinking that I will need a reference to where wood studs are located I taped a large paper drop cloth over both side walls (both because they are not exactly the same). It was the simplest way to accurately locate them after they are covered. I could have measured and recorded locations, but, I am prone to error. This I can tape up on the walls after they are installed and be confident I am drilling where I should be...



Now to find lots of heavy things for clamp weight. Maybe I'll even fill some bags with sand!

[KCStudly]

Looks good!

Are the doors built as part of the walls and you plan to cut them out later? I built my doors separately and shimmed them into the door openings before skinning them together, then all I had to do was cut the skin and route both edges flush.

Have you figured out what you will have to do to mount you door latches? I'm assuming that you will do that once you cut the doors free, but that is the only thing I would say you might want to be sure of before taking the next step.

[TimC]

KC, Thanks for the questions. It's helping me scrutinize this before I skin the walls. I plan to skin and put on final exterior siding (red cedar) before cutting out the doors. I have a template for the doors and I have been drilling reference holes at the three right angles of the template as I skin the interior and exterior. So, to get the door cut exactly where I want it I will just match the corners on the template to the drilled reference holes, mark out the profile and cut through the entire wall at once.
Template...


without template...


You probably can't see it in the previous photos, but, the hinge side of the door/frame has hardwood (red oak) on the frame side and the door side. Like you I did place the two hardwood hinge sides spaced about a saw kerf apart so I will be able to cut through that easily. The rest of the door is softwood framing so will be no problem cutting that part. I'm using two heavy strap type hinges for each door.

Hinge side of door...


Close-up of saw kerf...


As far as the latch side I have added extra wood meat to anchor those. They don't support any real weight, so, softwood was the choice there. I don't have the latches yet. I did check on the recess size before I put in the extra meat.

[TimC]

Today I decided to be patient and skin just one wall at a time. I have most of my worldly processions on top of two additional sheets of ply to weight the PL300 so it goes somewhat flat. Not too worried about perfect flatness on the exterior as I will be siding with red cedar planks. I'll be out of town for a couple days so that first skin will have plenty of time to set. I hope I have enough patience to do the same with the other side. God knows I have plenty of other tasks to work on as the other side sits. Wiley window frames, cut spars for roof, etc.

[TimC]

After a little break while my wife had total knee replacement I am back at the skinning of wall number 2. I took just about everything in the garage that wasn't nailed down to help flatten the PL300 and 1/8" skin. I happen to have a pile of white birch logs (a project for my son's wedding reception) handy for extra weight. The first wall didn't have this much weight on it, so, I think this should do it.

Wall number 2


On to the Wiley window build in a couple days...

[KCStudly]

I'm not sure that the swim noodles are doing much.

[TimC]

I said just about anything that wasn't nailed down!

[TimC]

Progressing slowly right now. I started and stalled on the Wiley window frames. No snag, just moved on to "nice weather" tasks. I just cut the rafters for the roof out of some salvaged treated 2x6s. They were stored in a pile outside and uncovered for quite some time. I let them dry in the sun for about a week and found after ripping to width they are still nice and straight with no twist. If they stay that way until I need them, about a week from now, they should stay true.

I'm at a bit of a quandary. I am torn between siding the walls with the 5/16" cedar tongue and groove from the big box store, or, doing a PMF job and painting. I do need the extra 5/16" thickness for my door latches so I don't have to scab in a piece of scrap. It's really a question of further busting of the budget. As I mentioned earlier, the custom trailer build ended up costing way more than planned. Aw hell, I'll just add that extra $600 to the budget. I'd make a good congressman, right? I'm at that point where most of the big ticket items are paid for. Running total is in the $2k area now. But, I know that all the little nickles and dimes are going to really add up. No photos to post right now. As I make progress I should have something to show.

[TimC]

Decided to go with the cedar planks. 5/16" cedar T&G. I see most people putting on 1" (3/4") cedar T&G. Walls already weigh almost more than I care to lift by myself. Wondering what the average TD walls weight with all the different build techniques. Maybe I'll weigh them and post the final weight if anybody is interested. TBII and pinned with 5/8" 22ga pins. Notice the rough markings of studs in black. I put one coat of my spar/thinner/linseed oil mix on the 1/8" lauan skin.





24 hours after glue-up and press







Below... not a bad look after one coat of Spar (1/3 spar varnish, 1/3 thinner, 1/3 linseed oil mix for penetration)

[KCStudly]

Nice. The cedar looks good.

As a point of reference my 1-1/2 inch foam wall with 5 mm inner wall skin, minimal 2x cedar sill and door frame, numerous individual 1x pine blocking and the door (w/o hardware, window or outer canvas skin) weighed something like 45 or 46 lbs. No problem lifting or maneuvering by myself.