Vintage Inspired travel Trailer

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DECKED!
Juneteenth, 2024

Got the deck mounted today. It is starting to look like a trailer!

I added 2x4's to 3 sides of the frame to give me a good base to attach the walls and the back curve.
These were bolted (1/4"-20 Carriage) and glued (Locktite PL3) to the frame.
( see previous post )

I used 5/8" ply for the floor. This gave me the structure and support I wanted, and allowed me to save some weight vs a more traditional 3/4" ply.
The floor was screwed and glued to the 2x4's using 1 1/2" screws and Locktite PL3.
The floor was also screwed to the metal frame using special Ply-to-Metal self tapping screws.

I made the wheel wells from the remaining 5/8 ply. Glued and screwed together. (Titebond 2 and Construction screws).
The inside of the wheel wells was covered in Rust-oleum Truck Bed Prograde Spray on bed liner. (My local Ace Hardware had them on clearance, $14/can down from $28/can). It took 1.5 cans to apply 2 nice thick coats.

 

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Curb Side Frame
July 2024

Over the last few weeks I have been ho-ing and hum-ing over the design of the walls. I finally settled on stick framed walls with plywood sheathing. The walls are going to be 2" thick total.

For the outside, I am using 3/8" BCX Plywood. The profile I am looking to achieve will be cut into these sheets, which will then be used as a template to trim router out the frame to match.

The "guts" of the walls will be 2x4 stock, ripped to 2x2 (1.5" x 1.5" actual) with some full 2x4s for extra support in the walls to support the beds and door.

Some of the edge pieces will be 2x6 boards, which will provide enough "meat" to router down to the desired profile while still providing strength.

The top plate will be a 2x6 ripped down to approximately 4" wide. This, plus the 1" of roof should provide enough clearance above the door, and enough "meat" to attach an awning.

I designed and cut all the boards, however, i had not fully appreciated how I was going to assemble the frame once all the parts were cut... So that is what I am struggling with this weekend!

Here is the progress so far:

 

[foxontherun]

"So... how am I going to assemble this!?...."

Pocket hole screws and glue maybe??

Harry
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=72881

 

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BACK to the DRAWING BOARD
July 2024
So... after sleeping on it for a few nights... I have decided to redesign and rebuild this wall. I was not happy with how it was actually going together, and it seemed... off...
So I went back to Sketchup and Started over... I started by laying out a grid with 16" on center vertical studs... and THATS when it Hit me! All of the windows, and doors, and luggage doors I had were designed for 16" on center installs... my first design I was trying to build around the windows and doors independently... this time around I laid it out based on 16 on Center and lo and behold, it is a much better, less complicated, and much LIGHTER design!

The other "benefit" of the redesign is the Horizontal Line where the seam will be for the aluminum siding is "adjustable" as there are no major components that rely on the horizontal support placements. This design gives me 47" for the top panel height, and 30" for the lower panel height, with room to adjust either way to account for "build accuracy."

Version 1:
Estimated Weight: 87lbs

Version 2:
Estimated Weight: 71lbs

So now it is time to head back to the garage and make some more saw dust!

 

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Frame Up (Curb Side)
Well, I made it! After tinkering with the design, I plowed ahead and got the first wall built.
It went together in just over an hour! Much easier then the first design! And lighter.

There are a few small horizontal pieces missing from this image that complete the seam line support...
and the TOP edge will be a full 8ft 2x4. This will provide plenty of space (and strength) to mount a larger canopy if I decide to go that route.

I am primarily using 2x2.
The angled 2x6 on the front and back edge provide enough meat to cut the curve when I lay the template over it!

I have the driver side lay out complete, and cut list made, so I am hoping to get that together this weekend.
This side is estimated to be 71lbs.

 

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Time is Liquid
I have been wanting to post an update for some time now... the project is STILL proceeding, albeit, slower then I would like!
There are now less than 100 days until my target completion date... no pressure...

I have erected a 10x10 tarp shelter in the back yard to house the project through the winter...

Both walls have been framed, and 75% of the interior walls have their panels. For the interior, I am using prefinished 1/4" birch panel from Menards. It was only after committing to these, and installing the first few that I finally found the local lumber yard that all the cabinet builders use! They also have prefinished birch panels, 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" for the same price as Menards, but MUCH better quality! They also have bendy ply that I intend on using for the roof.

 

[mmccrumb-TNT]

That is looking great! Your attention to detail and skills are coming through. I'm in the midst of construction, so I love to look at these projects. Great work!

Mike

 

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Time is Liquid (Part 2)

I have built 3 of the 5 interior "furniture" pieces that will support the walls.
For the internal "furniture" I am using 3/4" plywood that has been ripped to 1 1/2" wide, with pocket holes and glue.
These will be faces with the scraps of the 1/4" birch panels that are left over from cutting out the windows and doors from the completed walls.

I have worked out a design for the front bunks that should add rigidity to the build, and privacy / functionality to the bunks for the kids!

It will also give me a great place to use some of the Black Walnut boards that I was gifted as trim!
The two "walls" will be 3/4" birch ply, finished on both sides. These will attach directly to the exterior walls to provide good vertical support. The green sections are storage, with the one on the right being the "garage" and only accessible from outside. The one on the left will only be accessible from the top, which will be storage for blankets and bedding.
The blue (lavender?) color is the support for the queen size bed, as well as the housing for all of the electrical and battery systems.
The orange in the middle will be the housing for the AC unit, as well as two cubbies for XL milk crates for the kids storage. On top of that will be a home made butcher block counter made from oak/hickory from our family property.

Inside the door, across from the "garage" will be a small compartment to store our 12v Fridge. This also doubles as more support for the queen bed.

You can just make out the furniture I have completed in this pic.
A = Fridge compartment
B/C = front lower bunk storage sections.

You can also see the front "curb" I have added to the frame to act as a support for the roof/ceiling. It will also help give some physical support to protect any coolers or water jugs from smashing through the front wall of the camper "Kool-Aid Man" style should i need to perform any brake tests!

I am hoping to get back out to the garage and work on the camper some more this weekend! Watch this space for more updates!

 

[KCStudly]

Great progress and well written account. I will be watching!

 

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Trick-or-Treat
Both walls now have their internal paneling installed.
Work has been slow over the last few weeks... life has a way of doing that sometimes.
The 10x10 tarp shelter is holding up well. Not ideal, but it is doing the trick for now.
We had to go back for more panels, and unfortunately, despite being the same manufacturer, they are a completely different shade of birch. Luckily, there is enough that only the front "bunks" will have different colored walls.

There will be a support wall that covers the seam between the darker back half and the lighter front portion of the walls, so hopefully, the color difference will not be too noticeable.

 

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Turkey Treats! - THE LOOK
With Family in town, i was able to get some help working on the trailer around the Thanksgiving holiday. There were some major decisions made that will affect both the look and the location of the build.

Lets start with the LOOK.

For the interior, I have decided to focus on a "Birch and Walnut" theme for the wood. As we already have seen, the walls will be the prefinished birch. The ceiling, and the trim/accents will be walnut.
The ceiling is going to be 3/8" bendy ply and 3/8" plywood stained with a dark walnut stain. The TOP of center of the ceiling, the flat part, is going to have birch slats with actual walnut trim.
The birch slats are going to be cut from 3/4" prefinished birch panels (this time from the GOOD lumber yard) with edge banding to make it look like birch lumber.
The light color of the slats on the dark background of the walnut ply should work to help reduce echo and lighten up the space. I have a few ideas for lighting that will really be unique to this build, so stay tuned for that!
So with some help from my brother, we stained a total of 5, 4x8 panels. 3 bendy ply, and 3 standard ply.

The contrast looks great!

We also finally mounted the wheel wells.

Here is a link to a video from "Builders Blueprint" that was the inspiration for the slats. Jump to 10:36 to see what we have in mind!
[youtube]HEYGb-L9wwIFVhov[/youtube]

 

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Turkey Treats - THE LOCATION
After much discussion, and some pumpkin pie, there was a game day decision made as to where the project would live for the winter.
When reviewing my work and personal calendars, it was clear that if the project stayed at home, I would NOT be able to work on it between Thanksgiving and February. That is NOT good for my deadline.
For the Christmas holidays, we are going to be up at my folks house, and they have a HUGE heated shop. That seems like a GREAT place to make some progress. So we gave the project the IKEA treatment, and flat packed it up, walls, ceiling panels, furniture, and all, and made the trip north for the winter.

At this point, the frame is only 20 yards from where it sat for 20 years... so... back to where it all began I guess!

 

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Holiday Magic

Stay tuned for a major update! I had the chance to spend a few DAYS working with my dad and brother on the camper build over the holidays!
I am working on the content and will post an update shortly, but here is a teaser of the progress we made!

Sadly, the next time i will get to work on the build is not likely be until late February, which, for those of you keeping track at home, is well past my deadline...

so... we may have a new deadline for the first campout...
Father's day is looking realistic!

 

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Holiday Progress! - PART 1
Every great journey, starts with the first step...
And over the extended holiday weekend, my first step was "de-winterizing" the build!

Over the Thanksgiving (2024) weekend, I moved the trailer NORTH back to Wisconsin. We wrapped it up pretty well, and parked it behind the shop in anticipation of the week long holiday break and build session planned for the Christmas holiday.
So after opening all my presents from Santa, it was time to unwrap the present from Past self and see how the trailer survived being parked out in the elements for a month of Wisconsin WInters.

I am happy to report, it survived!

The Plan over the next week is to permanently attach the walls, mount the rafters to the ceiling and mount the ceiling to the walls, all while trying to keep everything square and plumb.

 

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Holiday Progress! - PART 2
"Measure Twice... Cut Thrice"

After unpacking everything, the next step was to dry fit everything to make sure there wasn't any major warping or twisting with the move and prolonged storage.

We propped up both walls and clamped them in place with pipe clamps. We also added some ratchet straps to the walls to act as diagonal bracing. The straps are nice because you can fine tune the adjustment to make sure each of the walls is perfectly perpendicular to the frame before attaching them all together.

We performed the dry fit for two main reasons:
1: Because we wanted to take measurements to make sure we had enough paneling stained and prepped for the ceiling.
2: Because we were really excited to see what it was going to look like!


Finally, we clamped the first piece of bendy plywood in place to see how the back curve came together. This step also highlighted the need for a final "curb" on the back of the build to ensure any stray coolers or gear would not shoot out the back of the camper when I took off from a red light! This curb also provided some extra "Meat" on the back of the camper to attach the bendy wood to.

I didn't get a good picture of the curb when we were installing it... but I will point it out later in the build journal.

This is the first time we have seen the final shape in person! Nice to see plans coming together!

 

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Holiday Progress! - Part 3
Stick 'em with the... sticky end!

Once we were happy that everything was going to fit up nicely, we glued all the rafters to the stained panels.
Each of the 3/8" panels was 48" long by 80" wide. The final width will be 79" but we gave ourselves an extra inch, just to make sure everything lined up. We used a trim router to take the extra inch off once each panel was attached.

Each rafter is cut from a 2x4. We resawed and planed them down to 1" thick, and kept them at 3.5" wide. Each rafter was cut to 80" and glued (TB3) to the ceiling without using any mechanical fasteners. Most of the panels (Especially the bendy ply panels) are going to be fully visible, and I did not want to fall asleep listening to crickets and counting nail holes.

There is a significant difference in color and grain pattern between the bendy ply and the standard plywood. Each had 2 coats of Minwax Walnut stain...
I AM very happy with how the bendy ply took the stain and looked once the stain dried.
So much easier then trying to kerf cut ply to get it to bend to match the curves.
My local lumber yard had 3/8" bending ply in both 4x8 (8' tall tube) and 8x4 (4' tall tube) bend directions for $65ea. There was an 1/8" option for each available at $55ea, but I figured the 3/8" would give me some extra strength and snow load capabilities, and for only $10 more, it was worth it.

I am not to worried about the darker stain on the standard ply, as most of this will be hidden behind the slats for the ceiling.

 

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Holiday Progress - Part 4
Quit screwing around!

Using the 3-4-5 rule, we checked each of the corners of the camper to make sure the walls were square to the frame.
We made a mark on curb, 3' from the wall, towards the center of the camper.
Then we made a mark 4' back from the corner where the wall meets the frame.
If everything is square, the distance between these marks should be 5'.

We used a 6' long level to make sure the walls were not bowed and mounted perfectly perpendicular to the frame.

The project foreman double checked all our work.

Once we were happy everything was square and true, we drilled 10 x 3/8" holes for 5 1/5" carriage bolts. The walls were glued to the frame before the carriage bolts were tightened.
In a few spots, we threw some extra 3 1/2" construction screws in for good measure. (Specifically around the door frame to ensure a solid foundation for the door.)

There were a few KEY points we had to remember when installing the carriage bolts:
1.) The aluminum sides will wrap around the bottom edge 7/16" or more, so we had to ensure the heads were drawn all the way into the wood.
2.) The Luggage doors sit on the bottom plate, so we inverted those bolts (light blue arrow), and counter sunk the nuts into the bottom support rail, as there was more meat there to hog out and hide the hardware. (3" of material vs 1.5")
3.) We used Nylon nuts and washers to sinch everything tight... there may have even been some over squeeze on the PL3X construction adhesive that made its way on to the threads to hold it all snug.

 

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Holiday Progress - Part 5
An extra set of hands...

It was finally time to get the ceiling installed!
Before installing the ceiling, we installed some welting at the seam where the wall meets the ceiling. This is a quick and easy way to trim this transition, and I am very happy with the results!

This is the welting I used:
Vintage Trailer Supply - Round Cabinet Welt

We mounted some cleats to the bottom back edge of the frame to support the first piece of bendy ply.

It was crucial that we got this piece square, as the seam would be in FULL DISPLAY inside the camper. (It is one of only two seams between panels that will be visible, all other seams will be hidden!) As you may recall, we cut the ceiling panels 1" wider then the final dimension. We lined up the factory edge to our square wall.

We started by using some 3/4" staples to staple the bottom edge to the frame. From there, we had one person pushing the bendy ply flat, and one person running the stapler, and slowly worked up the "flush side" to the first rafter.
Then we used some 2" construction screws to tie the rafter into the walls. We repeated the process until we had the whole panel installed.

The "top" rafter was only half glued to the ceiling panel. We left the other half of the rafter exposed, to tuck the next panel into as we worked up and around the curve of the camper. This is where the third set of hands came in handy. We applied glue to the rafter before installing the next panel, then pushed from the inside to make sure the panel adhered to the rafter. We threw a few 1" finishing nails in for good measure. (they will be hidden with trim!) We made sure to apply some painters tape to the bottom of the seam, just in case there was any dripping!

I didn't take many pictures of this process, but there is a hyper lapse video that I may get around to posting some day.

 

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Holiday Progress - Part 6
All hands on deck!

Maybe we are slow, maybe we over analyze every step, maybe we just want to do it once... but it took us a while to get the ceiling done. 2 days to mount 4 panels to be exact.
Ok... that is not totally fair... it was like 8 hours total, over two days. AND we had to design some fancy "H" frames to support the fan and make up for being 16" short of having enough panel to cover the whole roof!
But, I am VERY happy with the results.

The welt really looks great between the Birch and Walnut panels.

We have all but the final front panel mounted, including all the rafters to mount the MaxxFan Deluxe.
IF you look closely, you can see the middle section that filled the 16" gap we had. Part of that will be cut out in the spring to mount the fan. The seams will ultimately be hidden by the slat ceiling and framing for the fan.

You can see the yellow strap that we added to make sure the rafters were snug to the panels while the glue was setting.

At this point, I want to make sure to thank my dad and my brother for helping out! Could NOT have done this alone!

 

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Holiday Progress - Part 7
I thought I was DONE wrapping presents!

Full disclosure, these steps are NOT necessary if you have a shop you can keep your build in 24/7.

We spent some time today prepping the trailer for its next hibernation.
The guys at the lumber yard were pretty adamant that any bendy ply that will be stored outside should be protected. So we threw some white primer/sealer on the bendy ply, including all the edges.

I even threw some on the end grain of the rafters as well... why not!

Finally, we wrapped it all up in some Vis Queen and got it ready to move back outside for a few weeks.