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

[TimC]

Today's progress...

I cut my inner skin and seamed it with PL Premium adhesive. I was going to use epoxy to seam the 1/8" lauan skin, but, with all the praise I've seen here on T&TTT I decided to go with the PLP. Thanks KC for the help again...

From my boat making experiences I decided to glue a strip of 1/8" lauan on the back of the butt joint. I will document it later with a photo, but, I will back up the seam inside the wall by trimming the rafter at that location by 1/8" to compensate for the extra thickness of the joint. Here's a crappy photo of the seam with half of the backing applied.


And here, especially for KC's enjoyment is the clamping of the seam for the night to assure it will be flat and secure... complete with the extra weight of swim noodles!


Test fitting rafters


Next tasks
-seal/finish interior skin before install
-prep rafters with Kreg Jig
-epoxy door threshold

[TimC]

Poor Man's Fiberglass. It's canvas applied with TB2 wood glue then painted with exterior latex; sometimes the weave is filled with Glidden Gripper high build primer before paint.

By rounding over the edges and overlapping the fabric at the profile edges you can eliminate the cost of aluminum skins and trim, and all of those screws that are likely points for water to intrude. The fabric fibers do a good job of reinforcing the wood fibers (or toughening/strengthening the foam in a foamie build) so that they don't split over time and let water in like painting straight over wood... would.

KC, I'm a ways from finishing the roof with PMF, but, I like the idea of round over and wrapping the PMF over the edge. I will have to experiment with different techniques to end up with a nice clean edge showing on the vertical sides. Just one more of the bazillion questions I will eventually get to.

[KCStudly]

One trick to straight seams that is reported to work well is to glue the oversize canvas to the flat surface first and let it dry. This accounts for any shrinking or variances in placement. Then use slightly thinned white glue to bind the line you want to trim to, so when you cut along the line it doesn't unravel. Later, when you glue the edges down the white glue dissolves in the water base of the wood glue leaving the edge pliable again so that it will ay down nicely. IIRC, this was a technique that was first used on Desert Moose.

If the corners get stiff and don't want to wrap cleanly when the time comes to fold them over, another trick that is said to work well is to use a clothes iron (with damp cloth buffer if using over foam) to reactivate the wood glue.

All of this is well documented in the foamie forum.

[TimC]

I'm having a bit of trouble the last few days connecting with T&TTT. I have a very old computer and suspect it is on my end, but, I'll keep trying as the build goes on. Was in the middle of uploading a few photos last and could not connect and had to redo. No biggie, just wondering if I should get my computer serviced.

[KCStudly]

No. I've been having trouble connecting lately, too. Especially during the day (EDT).

[sincere01]

Same here, can't load the site at all for a while. Try again an hour later and it pops right up

[TimC]

Good to know guys!

[TimC]

Last two days...

A question for the experts about my hatch rafter (spar) at the end of today's post

Interior skin prepped


Rafters ready - they are numbered, but, found during install that my numbers were mixed up. I trimmed two rafters 1/8" thinner than the rest to compensate for the seam in the skin being backed up with a rafter. Then I realized I numbered them wrong.




Tools at the ready


Blanky to protect skin as I throw the skin over the TD by myself







Front installed


Almost done... 99%




OK, here's my question with a little background info. I'm looking at the Generic Benroy Plan specifically at the last spar in the hatch hinge area. I understand it should be double thickness (3/4 x 1-1//2" ea) per the plans. Even so I have two, 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" rafters cut. Now, do I laminate these two and nail them down at the end of my roof skins? Or, is one supposed to be the front/top end of the hatch frame? I'm a bit confused. I know that two 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 might be a tad over engineered.

I ran out of PL Premium adhesive with four rafters to install. I tried some white silicone caulk on one and decided it wasn't a good idea. I used TBII on the next one and because the TBII was running downhill I ran a bead of white caulk on the downward slope to keep it in place until it dried.

One of my last two rafters in place waiting for next step...


Next tasks;
-be sure the last rafter is square to the hatch opening and install
-run wiring (adding a couple runs of spare wire in case I add something up front or stab a wire during construction'
-insulate roof
-skin roof

[daveesl77]

This is coming together so beautifully! You will be really proud of it for a very long time to come. Once again, forget about getting out of campgrounds, gas stations or restaurant parking lots quickly and prepare for lots of people to be waving and taking photos as you travel.

dave

[KCStudly]

I'm not sure about the specifics of the generic Benroy plans, but it is a good idea to double up the spars (either by using a solid 2x2 or by laminating two 1x2's together with glue) at the hinge. There is a lot of leverage acting on the hinge, especially if you use gas struts, and you want the foundation for the hinge to be stable.

It's also not a bad idea to use a harder species of wood, like maple or oak, that holds screws better than something softer, like pine.

[TimC]

I'm not sure about the specifics of the generic Benroy plans, but it is a good idea to double up the spars (either by using a solid 2x2 or by laminating two 1x2's together with glue) at the hinge. There is a lot of leverage acting on the hinge, especially if you use gas struts, and you want the foundation for the hinge to be stable.

It's also not a bad idea to use a harder species of wood, like maple or oak, that holds screws better than something softer, like pine.

Thanks again KC. I used two treated 2x2s for the hinge base. Treated just because I had a lot of scrap 2x6s laying around that were well seasoned for many years. It won't hurt to have the rot resistance qualities.

I'm wondering if I might be able to anchor my hatch hinge with machine screws (SS) rather than wood screws. Right now I can't picture what will be directly under that point and whether I will have access to it. I'm putting in cabinets, but, just haven't thought through that process yet. I suppose I can design it any way I want to make it work. I think machine screws would be much more secure than a wood or other tapered screw. I'll just need a buddy to hold one end of the fastener to secure it.

[TimC]

I crunched the budget numbers this morning and I have cracked the $2500 figure! I'm quite a ways from finishing. Guess I'm not much for following a budget. I'm going to try to estimate the rest and see how close I come to reality.

[TimC]

A couple day's progress...
After checking to be sure the walls were plumb I was surprised to see a definite lean in the galley area after removing the deadman. Leaning against the walls brought them into position with a bit of effort, but, I had to provide a good lean and they sprung back as soon as I let them go. My plan was beginning galley, headboard and footboard cabinets next. Trouble was I was worried I needed the whole length of wall to give from the front to back. So, putting in any cabinets before the wall was secure might present some problems getting it plumb later. Back to the drawing board.

What I came up with is a change in how my galley cabinets and footboard cabinets meet. I decided I wanted a bulkhead that went floor to roof height to be sure everything squared up and stayed that way. It doesn't look like much yet. It will just be the insides of cabinets anyway and the short part that shows at the footboard will be skinned with lauan.



After solving the leaning problem I decided to start with the headboard cabinets. They turned out very nice. Makes me more excited to begin designing of the rest of the cabinets.



The sides will have cabinet doors and the middle will be a cubby for stuff. The partitions on each side of the cubby were a challenge. I'll have to put in a little trim to hide the gap. I'll be building all the doors at the same time to eliminate extra tool set-up for the rail and stile frame.

Next task is to design the footboard cabinets then the galley.

[dales133]

I crunched the budget numbers this morning and I have cracked the $2500 figure! I'm quite a ways from finishing. Guess I'm not much for following a budget. I'm going to try to estimate the rest and see how close I come to reality.

Verry nice work,i love your ceiling ply,what is it?
That 2500.00 will blow out by the looks of your build quality and eventualy youll forget about all the 50's here and 100's there.
Main thing is you enjoy the ptocess and the end result

[noseoil]

Tim, really looking nice now & good to see some real progress. The wood side strakes look great & you will be having longer pit stops when you pull off the road.

About the walls leaning, that's why I did the cabinets first, before putting on the headliner and spars. The cabinets fasten to the walls & help keep them square so once the headliner is bent into place, it's already squared up at that point (or close enough for who it's for). It's also easier to install the cabinets for a tight fit if the walls are flopping around a bit. The cabinets just drop right into place & the walls can fasten to them from the outside with screws. I built cabinets to the width of the floor panel (inside the wall rabbet dimension) it went together really well.

There's no right or wrong answer on this stuff, just what works for you! My budget was slaughtered beyond recognition, target was $5K (over $7K now), but that's gone now. Glad I'm still working & having an income. I retire in a year so I need to get my build finished!