VENTEAR Weekender - Oct 12 2015 - Legal - but topless

[Breytie]

I have been planning this thing to death. Now to forget about 90% of the planning and start DOING!

It will be a full size Weekender (I want the galley!) based on Mike's plans.

Walls & roof will be 6mm (1/4") marine ply, floor 12mm (1/2"), some galley parts & hatch 10mm (3/8").
No sub chassis, single layer floor, no insulation, minimal framing.

Finish will be varnish if my workmanship allows, else good quality paint.

No AC (perhaps on-board charger), 12V DC only. LED lighting throughout.

Spending this weekend shopping for fittings and accesories. Vent, Windows, hinges and seals will decide some construction details.
Lots of wood arriving next week, I still have to build a sheet wood rack on castors before it does. I wonder how much I have to borrow to cover it all?

Cabin construction will happen on a platform with castors for ease of construction and storage. The chassis will be done last to fine tune height and balance.

 

[danlott]

Sounds like a pretty good plan.

I also built a lumber storage rack to help store plywood and stick lumber for my build. I am very glad that I did it.

Dan

 

[Breytie]

Dan
Thanks for those pics, the bins on the side I never thought of, great place for keeping off-cuts and smaller pieces.

The shopping did not go quite to plan, but I did manage to find a something like hurricane hinge, here they call it window hinge. It might be a bit smaller than what most other people use. It has a range of motion from about -30 to 90 degrees, which should be enough. Price? About $10 for 2m (about 7ft), and that includes the plastic trim strip.

I will have to go back during the week to talk to the workshop manager about most of the other parts I still need.

Here are some of the electrical goodies I gathered.

12V 7AH SLA batteries, LED only illumination, home-brew charging and self resetting poly-fuses are the main ingredients. Many parts are recovered and re-purposed.

 

[Breytie]

I wanted to call it the ESCAPE POD, but that name has already been taken.
Out here, any utility trailer gets called a VENTER trailer as that is the best known brand of trailer out here. Combined TEAR and VENTER, and I got VENTEAR!

The Marine ply has been ordered, as has some wood for the platform, wood rack, and a workspace reclimation project. Solids for the framing, joining and supports will be ordered when I know what the ply looks like.

Still looking for castors, a heap of assorted clamps and a tape measure marked in inches. The nice new powertools will have to wait for another year.

I cannot wait to start, I can already smell the sawdust!

 

[rebapuck]

RAH! RAH! RAH! Let's do it!!

 

[Breytie]

The particleboard has arrived at work. I didn't expect them to be that BIG! Delivery to home will happen tomorrow. The weekend will be used to do the timber rack, wife's storage rack and the mobile assembly base. I hope there are enough hours as I still have to work Saturday morning and Sunday is no-no for working.

The Marine ply will only arrive next week, definately a blessing in disguise.

 

[Breytie]

WOOD! Stacks of wood in my garage! Delivered earlier today .
SAWDUST! Fresh SAWDUST on the floor!

Actually it is from lumber cart construction, but it is part of the project. Plans as from http://www.woodworkingformeremortals.com - same as Dan's pictured above. Most parts were cut when noise making hours ran out at 20:00. I will cut the rest tomorrow, then rout the dadoes and assemble if time allows.

SWMBO requested that her shelving be constructed from the same ply as the lumber cart and not particle board as I originally planned. Result: 1 sheet particle board to many, one sheet ply short ! Ah well, I'll have it delivered with the marine ply when that arrives. Hopefully it will happen before Friday as it is a public holiday and thus planned as a full construction day.

 

[Breytie]

So, the lumber cart is finished and loaded. The floor has been swept, the shopping list drawn up and everything is ready for the next step. Unfortunately that will have to be more home / workshop cabinetry as my ply still has not arrived. The guy who ordered it is on leave, so I have no way to follow up.
I need to make some sort of notice board for the shop so I can jot down what is running low.
The wife's cabinet has reverted to particle board and it can be built over this weekend, as will the movable build platform.
If time allows, I will rough out the VENTEAR's profile and vertical layout in hardboard and cardboard. I need to find doors or the right combination of hardware and design and a satisfactory design for the lower galley area.

 

[PubUltraStar]

Jealous of the lumber cart.

 

[Breytie]

Jealous of the lumber cart.

So am I - that's not mine - that is Dan's handywork - mine is a lot more agricultural looking but based on the same plans.
No need to be jealous buddy! Make your own:2 sheets of 3/4" ply plus a few offcuts, screws & glue - I used the cheapest & nastiest shutterboard I could get. Add about 3 to 4 hours work and 4 castors and you have your own.
It freed up a lot of space in the garage and simplyfies moving lumber around. Being on the backside of 50 makes that an important considderation.

Just keep going!

 

[danlott]

Jealous of the lumber cart.

I used 4 sheets of 3/4" plywood, (2) 2x4's, (1) 1X4 and 4 coasters. Took only a few hours to build. I copied several ideas into my design and made a sketchup drawing of it before I built it. Here is a link to the sketchup file. https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=3c61d2bef338b3dcf00c9ba49d32f159

Dan

 

[Breytie]

I used 4 sheets of 3/4" plywood, (2) 2x4's, (1) 1X4 and 4 coasters. Took only a few hours to build. I copied several ideas into my design and made a sketchup drawing of it before I built it. Here is a link to the sketchup file. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=3c61d2bef338b3dcf00c9ba49d32f159&prevstart=0

Dan

Dan
Is that a full sheet sized unit?
Andre

 

[danlott]

Is that a full sheet sized unit?

The storage cart is 6 feet long, so an 8 foot sheet of plywood will overhang each side by 1 foot. Making it 6 feet long instead of 8 feet reduces the overall size, but still allows you to be able to adequately support 8 foot sheet goods and lumber.

Dan

 

[Breytie]

The build lumber arrived at work to late on Thursday to be delivered home. Today, having been a public holiday, was spent making more preparations and the wife's cabinets.

Experience gained: Never, never, EVER ass-u-me that any sheet goods are square as it arrives, EVER! Take a single edge as your base line and square up all your measurement from there. Else, like me , you end up with a pile of slightly off-square slightly undersized offcuts instead of a pair of storage cabinets. Fortunately I learned the lesson with relatively cheap lumber, not the marine ply!

An update on the lumber cart: Use a bungee or some tie-down to keep the sheet-goods tight up against the cart. The mass of a sheet of 3/4" ply makes it want to go straight when the cart makes a turn.

 

[rebapuck]

Everything in life is a learning experience.

 

[Breytie]

I just finished the mobile construction platform and drew out a rough profile on masonite/hardboard.
It is tiny! That is what happens if you never see the real thing before you start a build.
The galley was the biggest shock: the below counter storage looks way too small for even for a standard cooler box.
Fortunately no wood has yet been harmed, so I can possibly stretch the rear a little while adding only a few lbs/kgs in weight and quite a bit more usable storage and work space.

 

[Breytie]

Real progress at last.
The lumber cart is loaded with ply, solid lumber and Alu profiles.

Started framing the floor. 2 x 1 3/4 ( planed size) solid Meranti, lap joints all round, hand made. Perhaps not the neatest or quickest way, but solid. Only 2 more to finish, then it's glue and screw.

Am using full lap joint to help keep things together during glue-up. The side stubs will then be cut off and the long beams trimmed to help support the body overhang. The floor assembly weight will be about a third of the whole body!

Tuesday is a public holiday, so by that evening I want the floor assembled and the bottom in primer as well as the sides cut out. That is if I can stop changing and tweaking the profile!

 

[Breytie]

Floor assembly continued with starting the glue-up.

Plastic wrapped items not to be glued now. Laid out everything where I can just reach out & grab what I need when I need it. I am using Soudal Pro40P PU waterproof wood adhesive. It is very thick, so needs the bottle held upside down at least 30 min before use. You do not have a long work time so preparation is everything.

Glue applied and evenly spread with home-made toothed spreader.

Now the rush starts: Bring pieces together, line up, clamp in position, pre-drill holes 4" spacing, screw and final clamp. Breathe again

Check join: no gaps, just a little squeeze-out to show enough glue used.

Wait 3 to 4 hours and repeat.

 

[Breytie]

After a lot of false starts, things are actually happening.
I took a few days leave to recharge the batteries a bit. Spending some sweat and time in the Ventear seemed like the perfect answer.

Alas, on the first day of my leave, Murphy strikes! Agent Orange (youngest son) blows out the transmission of his scooter. That ensured no miter saw and no skill-saw can be afforded.

I did buy a new Stanley handsaw with Japanese style blade - the type you look before you touch lest you bleed. That and the jigsaw will have to suffice for now.

The floor was finished a while ago and underside coated with a rubberizing compound. Water-based so relatively easy to clean up and no stink.

So cutting started with the sides with a slightly altered profile but standard dimensions. The door was moved back slightly to place the join between the nose and body on the door opening edge. That will make framing to door with Alu extrusions a lot easier. To stop the doors from breaking loose too early, I drilled a 1/4" hole in each corner in the door. Once the corner is cut out, a bolt, nut and 2 fender washers keeps it together. Offcuts and clamps keep the start edge together.

The roof and nose section skin was also cut to size, everything so far from 1/4" marine ply.

Next came the bulkhead from 3/8 stock. That gave me enough parts to try a dry run assembling the cabin. Multiple clamps in all directions held it together long enough for 2 photos and a "WOW" from the wife. Then a gust of wind brought it down. Fortunately no damage done.

Now for one of the worst jobs there is: mitering the alu frame for the door openings and the doors. For the life of me I cannot get the angle right and straight. I only cut one of each size for a test fit, tomorrow I'll try to find a pro to do it right.

Also on the agenda tomorrow: see if I can get an el-cheepo tablesaw to cut the various angled strips to hold it all together without destroying itself, me or the timber.

 

[Breytie]

A lot has happened since the previous post.
I did buy that cheap table saw, and regret it. It took to much time to get it set up and aligned, I would have been better off buying a skill-saw and a guide. Lesson learned.
I did buy a decent SKILL MASTERS chop-saw / miter-saw and it is one of my best buys ever.
I did a little bit of fiddling and planning in December, but that lead to Analysis Paralysis.
January and February is supreme busy time at work so teardrop time just did not happen.

I had to take leave this week or risk murder or worse at work.

So I started making sawdust. planning just far enough ahead to not paint or glue myself into a corner or get Analysis Paralysis.

The sides are now assembled and attached to the floor, the door frames are in, galley bulkhead and work surface are cut and assembled, framing for the roof and front skin is about 75% done, hatch attachment brace is in.

Tomorrow I hope to complete the framing, add braces where the 2 parts of the wall meet and start skinning at the front. I still have to figure out how to trim the panel edges to get a good mitered fit.

Pictures will be done tomorrow.