"TrailTop" modular trailer building components

[jscherb]

Jeff,
Things are looking great. An idea for sewing: make up cloth side panels for the hatch area. With a drop down/slide floor extender along with side panels the rear of the trailer could be extended for addition sleeping/storage area when setting up camp. Check out the small tent campers you can tow behind a motorcycle for more ideas.
Tom

Tom,
I was looking at a few examples of that idea the other day...

The one on the right only one side curtain installed for this photo. Interesting ideas.

[jscherb]

This morning I set up the mounting points for the roof top tent and rack basket. There will be blind nuts on the underside of the ribs so the basket and tent can mount from the top, without having to hold nuts inside the camper. Here are a few photos taken during the setup.

[jscherb]

Here's the hatch frame assembled. Just with screws for the moment, I'll epoxy the joints after lunch.

[grant whipp]

Hey, Jeff!

Looking great ... ...!

Please tell me that you will doubling up on that cross-beam that the galley lid hinge attaches to, or go with a 2x2 ... ...!

Looking forward to watching more progress! As always ...

CHEERS!

[jscherb]

Hey, Jeff!

Looking great ... ...!

Please tell me that you will doubling up on that cross-beam that the galley lid hinge attaches to, or go with a 2x2 ... ...!

Looking forward to watching more progress! As always ...

CHEERS!

Grant,

Thanks. I've got a 2x2 on the camper shell side, and a 1x2 on the hatch side. The hatch is going to be very light, so I'm testing with a 1x2 at first; if I decide that's not strong enough it's easy to double it up. What I often do with proof-of-concept builds is build with what I think a minimum requirement might be and if it's not strong enough I can change it. It's easier to know the limits that way than if you build a proof-of-concept like a battleship - if you build a battleship you'll never know if you went too far .

[jscherb]

The hatch framework has now been assembled with screws and epoxy. I'll let it cure overnight for full strength.



No special jigs or techniques were required to assemble the frame. Preliminary assembly was done with screws. After checking it for squareness, each rib was unscrewed/epoxied/rescrewed in turn. Then it went on the floor to ensure it stays flat, measurements were taken diagonally to ensure it was still square, and the cinder blocks were placed on it to make sure nothing moves while the epoxy cures.

The next step in the hatch construction is to get the hatch frame hinged to the camper shell. It's much easier to get the hinge set up when you're only dealing with hatch frame and not the entire completed hatch, so I'll do the hinge work before I put the skin on the hatch.

I will be using a Lil' Bear "Better Than Hurricane" hinge, because I'm told they're the best leakproof galley hinge around (http://www.lilbear.teardrops.net/images/better-hinge.jpg). In case you're not familiar with Hurricane-style hinges, here's a drawing showing how they work. The hinge line is sealed by the extrusion, so any water heading for the line is diverted past the sides of the opening by the vertical part of the extrusion.

[Hardryder56]

The one on the right only one side curtain installed for this photo. Interesting ideas.

[/quote]

It looks like the one on the right is hinged at the front of the camper and the whole roof raises up, NOW that would be some head room.
Tom

[jscherb]

I've got the hatch frame hinged in place. The Lil' Bear hinge works very well for this application and was very easy to trim to length and install.









Next up will be putting a plywood skin on the frame.

[jscherb]

I'm skinning the hatch with two layers of 1/8" Baltic birch plywood. This plywood bends very easily in one direction, and fairly easily in the other because it's 3-ply and the two outer plies run the same direction. Here's one layer draped over the hatch frame, gravity is the only force causing it to curve:





The first layer will be glued to the frame with epoxy. In this next photo I've traced the outline of the frame on the plywood and run beads of epoxy inside the outline. I'm using West System Six 10 epoxy, it fits in a standard caulk gun mixes in the nozzle so it's very easy to use.



And here's the first layer clamped in place:



Tomorrow when it's fully cured I'll test-fit it on the camper shell, and then I'll glue the second layer of plywood in place.

[Wright]

Say Jeff, is that a Land Rover firewall I spy in the background?

[jscherb]

Say Jeff, is that a Land Rover firewall I spy in the background?

Nope, it's a 97-06 Wrangler tub clip. I've used it to do several of my prior custom fiberglass projects:

My CJ Grille Kit and Commando Grille Kit allow the backdating of the styling of the 97-06 Wrangler to either a 50's-80's CJ or a 70's Jeepster Commando, in both cases a factory grille is used and my custom hoods, fenders and cowl panels integrate the styling:



I also recently finished a Wrangler flatfender kit, borrowing the styling from the original Willys MB and CJ-2a models of the 40's/50's. Unlike pretty much all of the other aftermarket fender kits on the market, this one's a total bolt-on, there are no changes required to the Jeep other than unbolting the factory fenders and bolting these on. The fender kit has been picked up by one of the very well known Jeep accessory companies and they'll be on the market later this year:



Ok, sorry, that's enough off-topic stuff for now, back to the TrailTop subject... .

[Kullas]

You are a very talented fiberglass man

[Wright]

Ok Thanks, the air intake by the right side windshield threw me off, <END HIJACK> sorry guys.

[jscherb]

Ok Thanks, the air intake by the right side windshield threw me off, <END HIJACK> sorry guys.

... that's a custom fiberglass cowl panel I made to support snorkels or a Humveee-style intake...

[jscherb]

A quick test fit of the hatch...



I left the bottom long so I can trim it to the exact length once it's finished.

Keeping tabs on the project - doing a weight check. I'm holding the scale with one finger, hatch weighs in at about 15 lbs. with one layer of plywood. Second layer will add another 8 pounds or so. If you were building an ultralight trailer, seems like one layer of 1/8 plywood with a top layer of aluminum sheeting would be a good way to go.



I'll add a second layer of plywood this morning.