Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

mezmo wrote:Looks like Foam TTT acupuncture! Ha!

Your progress must be encouraging - seeing the idea
shaping up physically in front of you is quite satisfying, eh?

Wishing you continued success and progress.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

hahaha it does look like that however.. i think you guys are doing a fantastic job. that is looking really nice.

now from the looks of it, you precanvased the sides? and laid the roof foam down ontop of the canvas? so instead of foam to foam, you have your foam to canvas?

No, it's still foam to foam. I pre-canvased the sides, but pulled the canvas back a bit while we were gluing the roof. Today I trimmed the roof and gave it just a bit of angle so we weren't gluing the canvas over a right angle, and we took the extra fabric from the sides up onto the roof. At that point the wind was gusting to nearly 20 mph, and the primer was drying so fast I didn't think we would be able to glue down any bigger pieces, so we dragged the whole thing back into the garage and I took the kids to a birthday party.

Here's today's progress. You can see the fabric from the sides brought up onto the roof.





Tomorrow is supposed to be even windier than today, so I probably won't get anything done on the body. Then it is supposed to snow tomorrow night and Monday. But by Wednesday our daytime temps are supposed to be back up into the 60s, so I'll be able to move the body back out for more primer/canvas work.

Until then, I'll try to get back to work on the back wall.

Catherine

oh that makes sense now. i should have gone back a few pics and re looked. i see it now. smart move.

now without going back thru every page, what are you using on the canvas? it looks like it drying white, are you using tb or primer?

Indoor/outdoor primer. It's working great!

Catherine

A storm is BLOWING in today, and my DSD wants to park his car in his garage, so we moved the camper shell onto the trailer, strapped it down, and are hoping for the best. Peter keeps saying, "If it doesn't survive this, it's better to know now than when you are towing it down the road at 55 mph. He doesn't seem to appreciate that it will be stronger once the canvas is completely applied and the windows are in.



We tried to cover the windows, as there is supposed to be snow with this storm and I wanted to keep it out of the interior (off the floor), but the plastic we tried taping over the windows only lasted about 15 minutes.



Wish us luck! The wind is currently gusting to 40, with sustained winds at....40!!! Well, that's what the Weather Underground site says.

Catherine

Catherine, if it's not too late:
About the only thing that sticks to vinyl sheet is the tape used to seal vapour barrier. It looks like red packing tape and is called Tuck Tape here. That will keep your temporary windows in place.

FWIW, I recently had a polytarp cover on a boat survive (mostly) 187 km/h gust and 90 sustained.
The trick was to give the wind somewhere to go - leaving the wndows uncovered might be a good thing
Good luck !

good luck with this storm!

Well, we mostly survived the storm on Sunday. DSD called around 3:00 pm to tell me the back wall had blown off and he had chased down the pieces. Later we had dinner in town and he told me the next door neighbor had brought back one more piece of the panel. But the sides and roof, which were fully glued together and partly canvased, came through the storm fine. We had at least one gust over 60 mph, and sustained winds over 40, so I'd say it came through the "wind tunnel" test fairly well.





So, some more GG, some more tape "clamps," and I'll be ready to work on it again tomorrow when it is warmer and less windy.



Catherine

at least you got your pieces back!

Don't get discouraged. You're doing swell!

I was out all morning canvasing the roof. I started with a dark piece on the front, then finished with my large canvas dropcloth on the top. I have just enough in the back to bring down over the back wall, when I get it installed. I still need to glue/paint down the edges of the dropcloth. Darn, I get about half of what I plan to do done every day! But at least I'm making progress.

DSD wants to glue the body down on the trailer tomorrow, but I still want to paint the interior while the drips fall on bare ground, not the trailer floor. Currently the stipes (hey, it was free) show, going every which way. Okay, only horizontal and vertical, but they still show. So that's the task for tomorrow, and glue the body on the trailer on Saturday.

It looks almost done from this angle!



Here you can see the back is still missing. It's glued back together, but it needs trimming and sanding down (I guess I used enough GG!) before I cut the door out and frame it.



And here is a shot across the valley. The snow is melting, it's nearly time to go camping!



Catherine

C+T, Looking Good !!! If you have any wrinkles , try ironing then down with the household iron .... I’ve been using parchment paper as a barrier ... works fine , use it over and over.

that is looking real good!

you have a beautiful view out there!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Catherine, you're making great progress.

As I started doing my home remodel, someone told me something very smart. 1) Figure out how long you think it should take you and then multiply by 3. (comes out pretty close to right, especially if you get into the "while I'm at it" and/or the perfectionist mode). 2) Stop work when you're mind tells you that it's OK to settle for something you know your capable of doing better.

I've taken both of these to heart and I find out that I don't get frustrated as often, I don't end up doing rework and I am almost always happy with the end result.

I know your fighting a deadline, but take your time, be satisfied with the progress you're making and make sure you step back every once in a while and admire your handywork.

I have the back wall glued on!!! My DSD and a neighbor who was out walking and joked about supervising helped me get the wall up and skewered into place with the GG. The neighbor thought it was great fun, and she says I can't move the trailer back to my own house yet because it is the talk of the neighborhood. They all want to see it through to the end.




You can't really see it here, but I have the doorway mostly cut out, and the top framing board/drip rail already installed. When the glue is cured tomorrow, I just have to make a couple of quick cuts and the doorway will be clear for the framing to go in. I thought it would be easier to install in a fairly rigid single piece.

Catherine