Brooks' 5x10 Barrett's Mountain Build

[brx017]

I took a trip this morning to Benco Steel in Hickory, NC to pick up some square tubing to extend my tongue. Here's a few pictures from my field trip.

A look at the front half of their shop:


For an idea of scale, the racks to each side are holding 20 and 24 ft stock. This place is pretty big. I didn't want to try to haul a 24 ft long pipe on my Dad's 12 ft trailer, so I asked them if they would make a few cuts for me. They hooked me up! Instead of just cutting them in half like I originally planned, Gil said he would make whatever cuts I wanted. I figured his saw would do the job a lot easier than my recip saw:



Once he was done cutting, I pulled in, loaded up and headed to work:


The bad thing about buying from them is they make you buy a whole piece. The good thing about it is a 24 foot piece of tubing from them is cheaper than buying an 8 foot piece from somewhere online and having it shipped. So now I've got plenty of "free" leftovers to use on something else.

[KCStudly]

I'm not seeing the pics in your last couple of posts. I sure would like to.

I tried to follow the links but they don't pan out.

[brx017]

I'm not seeing the pics in your last couple of posts. I sure would like to.

I tried to follow the links but they don't pan out.

Try it now, KC.

[tony.latham]

I'm not seeing the pics in your last couple of posts.

Just a big negative symbol.. maybe the hosting site is down?

T

[brx017]

I don't think Google goes down, does it? Not sure what it was, I just copied and pasted the links again and now they work when I look "incognito".

[KCStudly]

Yeah, no. Now I get only the first pic on the "first" post, and all but the first pic on the "second" post.

Damn computers.

[brx017]

Alright, maybe third time is the charm... Google photos let me down first, then Flickr. I thought I would try loading them through the Tapatalk app. So far I think it looks good. I can see them all no matter how I look. Hopefully yall can see them all now too.

Life sure has a funny way of getting in the way of our plans sometimes. Like my Dad always says, "IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING!" Yesterday Natalie's 2007 Civic's hybrid battery pack crapped out on her on the way to work. It's been finicky here lately, so I knew it was just a matter or time. So now I have that fun little project to add to my never-ending list of things to do. Looks like the cheapest option is going to be for me to buy a junkyard battery pack, and that is gonna be $500 or more. Option 2 is buy a reman pack for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500.

Luckily, I have my trusty old Nissan Hardbody as a backup vehicle.

I decided to go ahead and work on the tongue last night, despite getting a late start. First, I took a 4 foot long piece of .120" wall (11 gauge) 2" square tubing and bolted it to the second frame crossmember. I did it so that if needed I'll be able to unbolt it later, once the trailer is built.



This piece sticks just proud of the factory tongue. Also, I flipped the gusset plate upside down, so I could run my 2" tube through it. Then I took a 6 foot piece of 11 gauge 1.75" square tubing and stuck it inside the 2" piece. This will give me a removable and adjustable length tongue extension. So for storage it won't take up any more space, but I can stretch it out to make towing and backing easier. Plus I'll be able to tweak my tongue weight ratio too, if need be. I think my Pilot has a 350 pound tongue weight rating, though. Another good thing about removing it is I wont be beating my shins against it walking around the campsite at night, and it'll be harder to steal if the potential thief cant find where the "missing" tongue is.



To make the the 1.75" tube telescope into the 2" tube, I had to cut a groove down the length of the 1.75" one. This is to clear the weld seam inside the 2" tube. I just scribed a line and free-handed it with my grinder using a metal cutting blade. It is still a very tight fit, I had to knock it in. When I get to the point in the build that I need to adjust it, I'll probably just jerk it out with my truck.





Once I get farther along in my build and figure out what length I want the tongue to be, I'll drill some holes and cut off what I don't need. For now I'm just going to leave it long.

[KCStudly]

I can see the pics now! Huzzah.

[brx017]

Things are still real busy at work, but I have found a little time here and there to get out in the garage. The first big step was straightening up the garage to have enough room to work.





Here are a few close-ups of my tongue extension too





After cleaning up I had to switch gears to finish wiring and hanging drywall in our living room. Then it was off to the mountains for a long weekend with the family. We stayed at the Great Smokey Mountain RV and Camping Resort in Cherokee, NC and had a great time. We took a trip Friday to Bryson City for a ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, and took our daughter to Santa's Land. Good times.

After coming back home, I finally got a chance to fix the wife's Civic last night. While I was waiting for the junkyard battery pack to charge up, I got a chance to relocate my center crossmember. I realized I needed a few more inches for my folding sofa bed. It was either move the rail or change the dimensions of the sofa. I like how my prototype sat, so I opted to drill a few more holes and slide the rail over top of the axle. It worked, and so does the Civic! I fixed it myself and saved $2000 over going to the Stealership. Now that's off the Honey-Do list, so it's back to the teardrop!

I've made a lot of metal dust so far, and collected a little dust too, but it's finally time to start making some sawdust. I started by cutting some fillers to go inside the steel crossmembers. I had to notch the ends to clear the bolts of the frame.



I have temporarily screwed them in place so that they are flush with the edge of the C-channel. After they were in, I cut the floor joists that run lengthwise. I had to notch them at the front to clear the tongue channels.





Then I knocked them into place and did a little measuring to check against my drawing in CAD. I'm within 1/4", so I can live with that.

Here's a look at what it looks like so far.



I also cut some crossmembers for the galley side of the frame. I just stuck them in there for now, but they'll have to come back out.



Toby likes it so far. If I can keep him happy, we're doing OK. Didn't I just clean up this garage though?



Oh well.

Next step will be cutting up the plywood for the floor. I spent way longer than I should have last night trying to optimize my plywood yield. I was hoping to get what I needed out of 2 sheets, but it's gonna take 3 to cut out the floor and all the parts for my underfloor storage box in the cabin and the galley. There are just too many pieces over 48" long and I didn't want to piece them. Most of it will nest well, so there won't be much waste. Hopefully I can work on that tomorrow night.

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[brx017]

Saturday I got a chance to do some work on the Drop.

I started by cutting up some plywood for the floor:



Once my cuts were made I headed in the garage to do some installation. You can't tell from the photos, but most everything is glued with TB2 and screwed with ceramic coated exterior wood screws:



Next came out the Kreg, to install the floor of the box:





After that, I cut a bevel on the leading edge of my floor and drilled some holes to clear the frame bolts. Instead of just making a relief to clear the bolt heads, I wanted to be able to get to the bolts to tighten or replace as needed.





Also not shown, I cut a filler strip on the tablesaw to go on top of the frame to take up the gap between the crossmember and the plywood. Then I screwed it all down through the crossmember into the wood joist inside it.

Still to do is cutting the filler piece to go underneath the leading edge of the floor.

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[brx017]

I added a small rail to the outside of my floor joists, to hold a piece of lauan in the gap between the storage box floor and the side rail of the trailer. This will be used as additional storage / wiring run.







Both sides done and glued down.






After using the Kreg in the floor of the box, I wasn't feeling good about it. Because of the way I'm building this floor, I can't build it then drop it in like a lot of people do. Because of this, and since I glued the plywood box sides to the floor joists, I couldn't put my pocket holes on the outside of the box. I physically couldn't get my drill in there at the right angle. So that meant all of my pocket hole screws were facing the outer edge of the floor. A few actually poked through. Couple this with the fact that it's only 1/2" plywood and small screws. There's just not a lot to grab there. So I decided I should stress test it before I went any further. Good thing I did. I stood against the front edge of the box and the floor popped loose all the way around.



Time for Plan B.

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[KCStudly]

Plan B, cleats all the way around? ...or a bigger piece of ply so that the cleats can go on the outside of the verticals?

Had you glued that and the glue joint failed, too, or was it just a dry joint with screws? If not glued, I wonder if you would have gotten a different result had it been.

[brx017]

No, it was a dry joint. I didn't glue it with the thought that I could easily replace it if I knocked a hole in it. Gluing probably would have strengthened it, and if the screws were running inward instead of outward I think it would hold my weight (190 lbs) at least.

I think with the convertible bed I need to play it safe and treat it as a "Crouchie" design, with the floor capable of holding the weight of the three of us.

Plan B was to add an internal cleat all around. I have actually already done it. There was no real damage to the floor plywood, so I reused it.

I didn't initially use cleats because I wanted to maximize storage space, and didn't want external cleats as a potential place to catch and hold water. But I realized I was going to use a cleat for the sofa (more on that later) so if I kept them the same size it wouldn't affect me much.

So, on to the fix. First I had to cut my cleats down to size: 1" thick x 3" tall.





Once I cut them to height I planed them to thickness. Like my Redneck Dust Collection System?





Works great.



Then I glued and screwed them down to the floor panel. I used 3" decking screws every 3".



After that, I rounded over the edges



Then it was time to install it on the trailer. I used ratchet straps to help me out.



It went way easier then I thought. Should have just did this first! Got it in:



Then screwed it in, again every 3"





This thing ain't going anywhere now. I think it looks pretty good too. Finally, it's test time again.



Success! I've been on it a lot this week. There's some flex when I stand in the center, but that's just the 1/2" plywood. It's the price I have to pay to try and keep it somewhat lightweight.

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[Rick Tyler]

Forget the trailer -- that is the BEST dust collection system I've ever seen. Excellent.

[brx017]

Forget the trailer -- that is the BEST dust collection system I've ever seen. Excellent.

Ha-ha, thanks. It really does work amazingly well. It catches nearly everything. I was afraid the shirt sleeve would get stopped up, but the planer blows hard enough that it isn't a problem at all. If I don't tie the other sleeve in a knot it will actually blow shavings out of it! The shirt acts as a filter for fines too. The best part is it pops right off and I can stuff it inside the planer when I am done.

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