A Brit builds a cedar stripped teardrop

[MikeG2]

It's the simplest thing on a drawing: draw a rectangle, fillet the corners to a 150 radius, and offset the whole thing by 60mm. Fifteen or 20 seconds............A few seconds pondering whether it looks right, and that's decision made: I like the detail, so that's what we'll do. It's a whole other kettle of fish when you are faced with a few offcuts of sapele:

I did all the normal stock preparation: cut to rough length, face, edge, thickness, saw-to-width, final planing. No problem. The idea was to do some 45 degree corner pieces half-lapped with the sides and ends. I set the trimming router depth:

I made a jig, and cobbled together a way of holding the workpiece and the jig, as well as a spare piece to stop the router base tipping:

The trial went OK:

.....although it threw dust everywhere despite the extraction:

I cut out and squared up the corner pieces:

 

[MikeG2]

Cleaning up the shoulders was quick and easy with a shoulder plane:

Just because of the work-holding, I did the sides and ends in two stages: all the right hand ends, then all the left hand ends:

Faffing about with holdfasts, scraps of wood, the jig, thew waste, the workpiece.......well, it turned into a real schlep. There must be a better way. Again, there was a mess all over my bench:

I then needed a groove for the door seal, so did my setting up on a bit of scrap:

....before running all the straight pieces through the mounted router (with 2.5mm wing cutter):

It took me ages to fettle each joint:

Time for a trial fit:

More fettling, more marking:

I then made a jig to shape the corners, glued everything up, and retired for the night

How on earth have 2 relatively simple frames taken TWO days to get this far?

 

[MikeG2]

I made a template for the corners:

After de-clamping and scraping off the excess PU glue, I offered up the corner template so I could mark them out roughly:

A few minutes with the jigsaw and the corners were roughed to shape. I could then clamp the template very carefully into the exact position necessary, and buzz around with a trimming bit in the router:

Eight of them, and I had the frames shaped:

The back needed a curved groove for the seal, to join up with the straight bits. I thought of many different ways of attempting this, and couldn't come up with anything more practical than a scratch-stock, so, using an old nail, that's what I made:

When all the scratching was done, two edges needed rounding over:

I'm not normally someone who sands, but when using a router there aren't many alternatives. So I spent a bit of time hand sanding, before picking up a spokeshave to do the arises on the inside edge

I'm really, really pleased with how they turned out, but really, really disappointed that these two frames took two and a half days. I've got another two to do for the outside. Anyway, these came up well:

 

[MikeG2]

Now, I need to fit them. I have this fun little detail to get over:

I have a plan..........




This is where the door surround will go (unsurprisingly, around the door!):

And here is the issue to overcome:

I routed out the PAR board down to the same level as the ply, using a jig to guide things accurately. The jig took some careful shaping to get a decent fit to the sapele surround:

It then needed thickening up to suit the bearing-guided cutter:

I then hot-melt glued it carefully in place, checking multiple times that the resulting overhang distances of the surround over the door opening were the same everywhere, and routed out down to the level as the ply:

Dry fit:

I don't often mix glues in a glue-up, but the section I had routed in the pine was a bit rough, and that would suit a PU glue, but I badly didn't want squeeze-out on the ply section, so I used whatever the white 502 glue is:

 

[MikeG2]

I was out for the afternoon on my bike, and de-clamped when I got home. It's gone well:

This is what it looks like from the other side, showing how it will act as a door stop. I'll get a better picture another time:

The structural opening will, as I mentioned, be covered with a laminated build-up once the cedar strips have been fixed in place, and will be fibreglassed over.

The second side is underway. I won't show much of that because it is just the same (well, mirrored) as the side you've seen:

 

[MikeG2]

The second side is done:

When faced with a frame which could be used either side, it was really important to not make two right hand walls:

 

[MikeG2]

In the long hiatus waiting for the chassis to turn up, I fiddled about with the two sides, and did some preparatory work for the cedar strip finish on the outside. This in addition to stripping the outside of my house and priming it. Anyway, one of the little tasks was to "fair" both sides together so that they were identical in shape. I clamped them together, with the completed on at the bottom:

I needed to saw some off the top one, and had to work out a way of transferring the line of that to the top of the one that needed adjusting. I came up with a gauge-thingy:

I could then trim to near-enough, and finish off with planes and a belt sander. I now know that both sides are the same shape. I did the insulation in the second as I had done in the first side:

I also added a piece of wood to the left hand side which isn't on the right, because something important and load-bearing will be hinged off that side of the kitchen later on:

The chassis really should have been here weeks ago. Whilst waiting, I made a jig for the router, worked out a pattern, and spent far too long removing 2mm deep sections from some of the ash strips:

And then one day, out of the blue, the chassis arrived:

 

[MikeG2]

My very first action was to check all of the dimensions, particularly the diagonals and the location of the suspension unit mounting plates. Everything was pretty much spot on, which relieved me greatly. It was to turn out that I didn't check thoroughly enough.

My first task on the chassis was to mount the independant suspension units and the wheels. Because I don't know where they'll end up, and I want to be able to move them without too much of a hassle, I decided to sandwich some felt between the mounting plates and the units, rather than gunk them up with a compound. This will hopefully keep water out of the join:

I've only used 3 of the 8 bolts to ease the work in re-locating later. It won't be driven like this!

My next job was to mount the corner "steadies".......essentially built-in jacks to level and stabilise the corners of the trailer. This should have been a quick and easy job........if I had designed the brackets properly. I didn't, and ended up, eventually, cutting off the back brackets:

There is a top plate to the moving brace, which will bear on the underside of the chassis:

I didn't think this was a good idea, and decided to add a nylon piece to the top to avoid the steel-on-steel wear. Before I could measure that properly, I had to remove the rear bracket. Before first, then after:

I deliberately cut quite a way away from the chassis to avoid any damage: and I then painted the cut steel with a zinc primer. To be continued......

 

[MikeG2]

I could now level everything up properly, and measure for the nylon pad:

Phenolic ply isn't cheap, so it was with a little trepidation that I marked up the first cut for the floor, and attacked it with a circular saw:

It actually cut beautifully cleanly, so I cut out all of the floor pieces. I have quite a lot of Black Jack (so called liquid DPM........essentially a thinned bitumen, turned into a waterproofing paint), so I decided to use it to seal the cut edges:

After drilling locating holes, I squeezed out some beads of Hippo Pro 3, which is an alternative to CT1......a low modulous waterproofing gunk which is both a glue and a sealant:

All of the bolts holding the floor down go through the full sandwich of ply-framing/ insulation-phenolic ply, so couldn't be used just to hold the phenolic ply down. I clamped instead.

At some point I had also mounted the jockey wheel, but that didn't justify a photo. Between thunderstorms I carried the sides over to the garage:

and once the Hippo 3 was set enough I picked them into position for a dry fit, and clamped:

 

[Tony Latham]

I suspect your images may be being hosted on Imgur.

Correct. Odd that they can't be accessed there.

T

 

[MikeG2]

I thought you guys might have been interested in this build. Oh well.


It takes a bit of effort to post like this, so I'll drop in a few more recent images and leave you to it:

 

[gearsoup]

Sir, the amount of work you've put into this is amazing, doing a lot of it with hand tools is dedication!
I think a lot of people that frequent this forum are in the midst of their camping season, thus the low response to the thread

 

[Peachmaster]

Mike, there are a few builds on this site that are on a different level to the norm and this is firmly in that select category. The attention to detail and craftmanship is beyond anything I'd aspire to. As a lurker from the UK, a few years away from attempting a build of my own due to time constraints, is great to see what you've achieved. Thanks for taking the time to document it to date and I for one would appreciate any future posts especially those that answer the few teasers that you've dropped already. Cheers, Brian

 

[TD Gnome]

This is an awesome build and I want to thank you for sharing. Love strip built boats and wondered if anyone took on a teardrop. Keep up the good work.

 

[Tony Latham]

so I'll drop in a few more recent images and leave you to it:

Mike:

How'd you put the heartbeats in????

Tony

 

[S. Heisley]

Mike, there are a few builds on this site that are on a different level to the norm and this is firmly in that select category. The attention to detail and craftmanship is beyond anything I'd aspire to. As a lurker from the UK, a few years away from attempting a build of my own due to time constraints, is great to see what you've achieved. Thanks for taking the time to document it to date and I for one would appreciate any future posts especially those that answer the few teasers that you've dropped already. Cheers, Brian

I totally agree with Brian. Your work is so far beyond what most of us will ever be capable of that I, for one, am in awe. Because of my age and health, I suspect all I will ever be able to do from this point on is look, but you take "looking good" to a whole new level! Thank you for sharing your build. I know it's an effort to post so many pictures, but please don't forget us, and please, if nothing else, show us pictures of your completed project so we can drool from "across the pond" at its beauty! I'd also like to see pictures of its maiden voyage, when you set off in her. Thanks again, Sharon

 

[MikeG2]

Mike:

How'd you put the heartbeats in????

Tony

They were milled 2mm deep on a friend's CNC machine, then filled with a 2 part filler. The strips were glued together and flattened beforehand:

Never mind that. Which classic album do they reference?

 

[MikeG2]

I totally agree with Brian. Your work is so far beyond what most of us will ever be capable of that I, for one, am in awe. Because of my age and health, I suspect all I will ever be able to do from this point on is look, but you take "looking good" to a whole new level! Thank you for sharing your build. I know it's an effort to post so many pictures, but please don't forget us, and please, if nothing else, show us pictures of your completed project so we can drool from "across the pond" at its beauty! I'd also like to see pictures of its maiden voyage, when you set off in her. Thanks again, Sharon

That's very kind of you Sharon.

If I hadn't ruptured my achilles 2 months ago, that voyage would already have happened. As it is, it may not happen this year.

 

[gearsoup]

They were milled 2mm deep on a friend's CNC machine, then filled with a 2 part filler. The strips were glued together and flattened beforehand:

View attachment 2468202

Ok, this I'm going to love. Yes, the handwork is amazing and a true art. That said, I'm a machinist and I just love seeing people with small CNC routers in their shop. I (briefly) considered building a 4x8 router when I was starting my build, but decided that I should go the more traditional route for the first go-round.

 

[Tony Latham]

Which classic album do they reference?

Zero idea, but grossly cool.

Tony