Generic Benroy Foamie in NE Wisco

[TimC-TNT]

Due to the heat and humidity this weekend I'm tackling some jobs that take me to the cool basement workshop. I've made treated lumber spacers to mount the fenders to the frame. I also laminated and machined the mating pair of 1 1/2 inch maple to mount on top of the bulkhead that will eventually hold the hatch hinge. One half is mounted securely to the bulkhead and the other half is the hatch top frame member that will anchor the hinge.

I put another layer of spackle on the interior walls. That is going slowly. Several coats have taken days to harden up with the intense humidity we are having. Very humid days were rare up here until the last year or two. Something is going on for sure. We usually "enjoy" a stretch of several weeks of dry spell in late July and early August. This and last summer there is no sign of drought. And the mosquitos! They are usually gone by August except in the deep woods.

Another task I could handle easily without Andy is plywood facing for the galley. I just happen to have a decent piece of 1/2" ply (thanks Menards for always packaging my lauan shipment with useful materials!). First I made a cardboard template for the port and starboard sides.

Transfer that to my ply.

Add a 3/8" "gutter" to keep water out.

Fits! Now adding some stretigic pocket holes to anchor it to the floor and bulkhead. I'll also glue the ply to the foam.

Next up is finish spackling and scratch the foam to prep for PMF. I must remember to make a legend for the locations of cleats and wires before we cover everything up with PMF! More on that in a later post.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Thought I would waterproof the edges of the galley wall faces where water may reach. After doing some research I passed on epoxy resin and I'm going with Titebond III. Other posts have reported good results waterproofing with this and seeing as I expect little water to reach this wood and TBIII being readily available it was a good choice.

I'll sand them smooth and add another coat before installing these.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Anchored the galley wall faces with pocket hole screws and PL Premium. Had a spare 4" roll of fiberglass so I thought I would use it to help glue the wall to floor.

A clear poly drop cloth helps record cleat and wire locations. It will come in handy to locate anchor points for hooks and cabinet frames after covering the interior with PMF and paint. when the camper is finished its easy to fold up and stash below the mattress for future reference.

 

[pchast]

Great idea.....
Why didn't I think of that?
Maybe mark the wire runs too..

 

[TimC-TNT]

Getting a few items out of the way before the weekend. Work session with Andy this weekend and I want to be prepared...

The a-frame tongue jack plate was finished by the local welding shop and I drilled mounting holes and painted it.

Added some fiberglass to the floor/wall seam after realizing the 4' wide canvas I bought was only 4'wide. Doh! Wanted a little extra help holding that joint.

Andy arrived! On to PMFing the interior walls.

 

[TimC-TNT]

It was easier to anchor the ceiling on my woodie, TD#1. Could staple it as we went from front to back. This gluing is much slower and causes a pregnant pause while glue dries. Oh well, we'll use that time putzing with other tasks.

 

[MickinOz]

Looking good.
Starting to look like something you can camp in.
Impressive workmanship and attention to detail.

 

[TimC-TNT]

First section of roof foam being machined. Roof design is slowing us down a bit, but I hope it is all worth the careful fitting. Still need to determine a splicing method for the next two roof sections.

 

[TimC-TNT]

My work space is an unlevel dirt floor so did a little earth moving to be sure we're building on the level.
Made a quick and dirty set of wheel chocks

And finished the a-frame tongue jack install. I can't take credit for the idea. Found this design on tnttt way back there.

Dry fitting the first section of foam with third brake light and ceiling ventilation.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Andy is back home in MKE so I'm putzing with various tasks. Not necessarily in the proper order...
Moving on to hatch framing. Decided to steam bend some cedar for the hatch frame. I think the laminated result will be as strong, if not stronger than plywood cut to the profile of the hatch. We'll see. Always wanted to try steam bending so built a quick and dirty steam box, bought a used wallpaper steamer and rigged it up to the steam box and I'm trialing a 1 1/2" x 5/8" cedar stick to see how bending works. After an hour in the hot box I was able to get a pretty good bend by hand. This is going to be a part of my hatch bending jig, so, tomorrow i will ready the clamps and jig to give it a real go.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Gave the aformentioned cedar plank almost two hours in the steam box. Tried to bend it around the form and SNAP, total fail. Looks like that is one of the bending jig components that will be a lamination of 1/4" sticks instead...

...That strategy worked so on to steaming other parts of the hatch frame member.

I need to ask for more clamps for Christmas...

 

[TimC-TNT]

Back to fitting the first foam roof panel. Made some adjustments to allow the panel to sit true on the not so square walls. Was about3/32" out of square at four feet. Where did I go wrong.
A little tweak and it sits nice. Mocked up a transition from the ventilation scoop to the roof line. Not sure if just a 1" round over on the edge tapering back to square toward the front would look good. I think Andy might want something more substantial! He did tell me he wants fillets. Gotta go to the lake and net some walleyes...

 

[TimC-TNT]

After gluing up the hatch frame and making a fitting cut on the high end I see the lamination is going to work. The gap between wall and frame member might be a little inconsistent but I hope the weatherstripping will fill the void well enough. That and the hatch latch will be designed to pull the hatch snug around the weatherstripping.

Sorry about jumping around from task to task in this build journal. The timing for bending, drying and gluing up the hatch frame lamination is a process that is taking weeks rather than days.

Tim

 

[TimC-TNT]

Continuing the hatch frame construction. The laminated side frames came out well. I did some minor shaping on them with a hand plane. Cut a lap joint on the hinge frame member and glued and screwed them together. 1/2" rigid foam will be glued on top of the frame and finished with canvas and paint. The top (hinge) frame and bottom will be hardwood as well as any cross frame members. Not sure if we're running then horizontal or vertical just yet. I guess fitting straight horizontals will be easier than curving additional frames!

I hope to get a chance to glue the first roof panel on this week. We'll have some family visiting so I will have some extra hands and eyes to get it done right.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Back to the hatch construction. Bottom frame member first. The hatch will end at 8" from floor and a fixed section will be installed below to house the lights and battery bank as well as other stuff. The side frames still need to be trimmed at a ten degree angle on the bottom.

Top and bottom frame members will overlap the laminated side frames and be glued and screwed to them. The center frame members are attached with pocket screws. I'll add a few gussets to keep everything square and rigid.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Nice October day so decided to get a little building done. Foamed the hatch in place. I left the plastic film on the exterior in case there is some bleed through of PL Premium at the seams. I hope that helps when removing the top and bottom cleat that holds the foam against the glued surface.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Glued down the first roof panel with PLP on the rigid points and great stuff foam on flexible areas such as the ceiling panel.

Some foam cleanup to do before the next panel goes on. A spline will help join the two panels. I laid a flat piece of plywood with some weight on it on the front edge of the panel as there was quite a bow in it. I then removed the weight and it resulted in just a slight crown. Happy with that.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Unseasonable weather has caused me to break out the mothballed project and finish the roof panel gluing. October was mostly between 25 and 45 degrees. This week has been reaching mid 70s. I thought it was wishful thinking that we'd have over 60 degrees to finish this task. Pleasingly surprised!

A kerf every 1" and 3/4" deep just wasn't enough to safely bend the 1 1/2" foam. Especially with a 3/32" blade in the saw. So I ended up hot wiring every other kerf along the curve. Then, with these foam panels scored at 16" and 24" I had to back up every scored spot with lumber to keep the panel from cracking along the score line. I know you can get un-scored, but, local Menards didn't have that version.

After running final wiring to headboard the second panel was glued down. With the warm weather there was less popping and cracking noise. PLP on the wall seam and GS foam to fill the void under the rest.

Last panel dry fit. Bringing it down to about a quarter inch above the trailer frame. This hopefully will make a better water seal on this front edge which will take the brunt of driving rain.

I will modify the piece of treated lumber that fills the gap under the floor next to the side wall (lumber not yet shown). Originally it was only going to be a couple feet long to help support and anchor the fender. Now it will run front to back and fill that area behind the front wall in this photo.

Maybe a better view of that gap.

 

[TimC-TNT]

Yeah, what a mess! Guess who forgot to put the spray foam on before gluing the last panel down. Some trimming and spackle work to do...

 

[twisted lines]

Now I am watching to see the tail lights finished
The portable pattern is genius; I am going to use it on part of the middles of both sides that aren't covered
What thickness foam / radius on the hatch; looks great how's it holding?