The Coddiwompler

[Tony Latham]

Guess I will be caulking that joint after all.

Nothing like a rodeo when you're not expecting it. Been there.

I think a little PL3 in that crack and you'll be good to go.

Tony

 

[eLink]

Nothing like a rodeo when you're not expecting it. Been there.

Yee haw! Seems to be a regular occurrence for me.

I think a little PL3 in that crack and you'll be good to go.

Thanks Tony, will try that.

I'm my own worst critic. But I must say that it is pretty satisfying to finally reach this milestone!

 

[Tony Latham]

Nothing like a rodeo when you're not expecting it. Been there.

Yee haw! Seems to be a regular occurrence for me.

I think a little PL3 in that crack and you'll be good to go.

Thanks Tony, will try that.

I'm my own worst critic. But I must say that it is pretty satisfying to finally reach this milestone!

You might throw a pad in there and take a nap.

I think it’s looking great.

Tony

 

[KCStudly]

by MickinOz » Mon Sep 21, 2020 4:01 pm
"Mate - that's some seriously beautiful cabinet making."

I concur. You are doing great work.

"The sign of a true craftsman is how well he hides his mistakes." Don't sweat the little stuff. Those are easy to hide.

Those of us who have tried for perfection recognize good work when we see it!

 

[erfnie]

I'm my own worst critic. But I must say that it is pretty satisfying to finally reach this milestone!

You might throw a pad in there and take a nap.

And what a view! Looks like a beautiful blue night sky
Congrats on this milestone. It looks so professional and no one but YOU will notice those...um "mistakes."

 

[Bezoar]

I've enjoyed following your build - great work! I look forward to seeing updates when you get the chance.

 

[noseoil]

I made some 1/8" X 3/4" molding to cover gaps in my canvas headliner (5' was actually 58"?) at the walls. Worked out fine & closes the gap where the canvas was short along the edges. PL would be fine, or a similar trim to match the walls, even a different wood for accent would be good as well. It's not a problem, it's an opportunity!

 

[eLink]

Thank you all for the compliments and encouragement!
I took Tony's advice and did my best to squeeze some PL Premium into the gap. It definitely mitigated the squishy joint!
I will go back over all the joints with some wood colored caulk. If that doesn't look right, I'll go with thin wood trim as Noseoil suggested.
Meanwhile, I have begun laying out roof spars. But having trouble making time for it with yard construction going on, and then it gets too dark to work at 4:30 with stupid daylight savings!

More pics to come soon.

 

[lfhoward]

The Coddiwampler’s ceiling really looks great! Congratulations on getting it to this stage.

 

[eLink]

The Coddiwampler’s ceiling really looks great! Congratulations on getting it to this stage.

Thanks!

Update: I got the roof framing just about completed this weekend.
I see why a lot of people go on to build more than one camper. That way they can apply everything they learned from the first one!
The skylight framing turned out ok, but I found that gluing the pieces "in-place" did not go so smooth. I couldn't seem to clamp things right, so there was a little bit of shifting and misalignment.

So then I decided to build the vent frame assembly separately. This worked out so much better! Everything nice and square!

Blocking along the sidewalls seemed to be sitting proud of the roof profile. Probably because of the staples and glue along the wall ledge. At first I just figured I would just have to follow up with a belt sander. But then I realized that all I need to do is give the blocking and spars a slight bevel along the bottom edge. Makes it fit tight to the wall and flush to the roof line!

I wasn't feeling comfortable with crown staples for the headliner, so I opted to use 1" Kreg screws to join it with the spars. I will remove them once the glue has cured. Screws alone will dimple the plywood, as I had discovered for the first few spars. Even with the drill set to the lowest torque setting. So I used little pieces of 1/8" ply to prevent that.

Here is my other moment of panic. See what I had to do there?

Lastly, I won't use single 1x spars again. I used "select" pine, but the few that I used still sagged and warped. The doubled-up spars stayed straight and worked well.

 

[noseoil]

I used 4/4 poplar for the cross-spars, it's light, clean & straight when you cut it from a plank & it's plenty thick enough. Also, a few "prop" sticks & a sheet of 1/4" plywood will hold up a sag in the headliner until the glue sets. With the canvas applied to our birch headliner first, I needed to be careful of the glue & didn't want any fasteners to show when the ceiling was finished. With the side panels cut with a rabbet joint, it was fairly easy to lay the headliner in place with 2 people. Then, there's a lot of blocking to cut to set things in place for the insulation & outer skin.

Looks like it worked well enough for your build, there's always something...

 

[eLink]

Slow going lately, but making progress...
Test fitting the bubble window with a scrap piece of Trimlok. I think it's gonna work out!

Started building the hatch!

 

[lfhoward]

That hatch skeleton looks good! Nice progress.

 

[eLink]

That hatch skeleton looks good! Nice progress.

Thank you!

I got the interior side skinned this weekend. Next time, I'll trim most of the excess before gluing. I couldn't get a clamp around that wide lip so the process was a little more tedious than expected...

Lots of kneeling, applying pressure by hand and stapling. Little by little, but it worked out ok.

Edges trimmed. Oops, forgot to check my router depth for that hardware recess! Looks like cigarette burns.

...and that'll do for now!

 

[Tony Latham]

Lots of kneeling, applying pressure by hand and stapling.

I had to put a couple of pocket screws in mine to hold it down while the glue set.

[youtube]-ZBTh_kiYiE[/youtube]

It was a bit of a rodeo.

Tony

 

[eLink]

I had to put a couple of pocket screws in mine to hold it down while the glue set.
It was a bit of a rodeo.
Tony

But that woulda' been too easy.
Honestly, I keep forgetting to review all the resources here, including your book and videos, beforehand!

 

[Tony Latham]

Honestly, I keep forgetting to review all the resources here...

I believe all the thinking-through during our builds is part of the satisfaction.

Tony

 

[Bezoar]

Looking great! Please provide more info/photos on the bubble windows. Are they similar to the plastic things they make for dogs to look thru fences? I thought about those for my boys, but was chicken to try it fearing water intrusion!

 

[eLink]

Looking great! Please provide more info/photos on the bubble windows. Are they similar to the plastic things they make for dogs to look thru fences?

Yes, they are similar. But I found a company that will make custom sizes, materials, tints and shapes.
https://www.eztopsworldwide.com/smalldomes.htm

On my non-insulated, 3/4" thick walls, the window openings are routed so that there is a 1/8" thick lip all around to receive the Trim-Lok gasket. The gasket I chose provides a double-seal against water intrusion. It's too early to tell whether they will be completely weatherproof. But I'm feeling confident about it.

 

[eLink]

I opted to insulated the hatch as added defense from the sun for my ice chest.
My hatch framing is 2" deep so I used two layers of 1" thick polyiso boards, which I managed to acquire for FREE!

Cutting and kerfing would have been a huge mess if not for my new cheapo automatic dust-collection system!

Peeling the foil off of the second layer allowed it to fit more snugly into the cavities.

It was a lot more work than anticipated, but still a good learning experience.