How did you guys attach your bulkhead?

[23Sojourney45]

More questions as I continue my build when I get home. How did you guys attach your bulkhead? I know that I will attach the bulkhead to my side walls from the outside in, that's a given. BUT, I was thinking of also attaching it to the floor, is this necessary? Here's the thing, my floor is sandwiched 1/4" ply, 1x2 nominal skeleton with insulation in the voids, 1/4" ply. Is it unnecessary to attach the bulkhead to the floor? especially since the floor is only 1/4" thick? depending on how far or away I move the bulkhead from the main cabin it may NOT be screwed to a skeleton crossmember of the floor and only through the 1/4 ply. Thanks in advance, you guys have always been helpful.

[Onajourney]

Check out the countless build journals here. Most folks strategically install "nailers" in the wall and floor to screw the bulkhead into. It is imperative to clearly have the complete build sequence planned prior to building with dimensions. Many things will be very difficult to undo if they were not installed correctly.

[23Sojourney45]

Check out the countless build journals here. Most folks strategically install "nailers" in the wall and floor to screw the bulkhead into. It is imperative to clearly have the complete build sequence planned prior to building with dimensions. Many things will be very difficult to undo if they were not installed correctly.

Onajourney, yeh, there are so many build journals, so overwhelming lol. I was looking at those journals (you could spend hours just looking for motivation), which is why I decided to maybe change up the galley wall location last minute. I was set on attaching the bulkhead to my walls and floor crossmember and then thought about "what if I move it? will it still be strong enough just being attached to the walls and not the floor?".

[Sparksalot]

I glued a 1x2 cleat to the floor. It's placement matched a cleat in each wall. After standup. I finished framing the bulkhead then skinned it in place.

[tony.latham]

I cut a slot (mortise) for the bulkheads in the wall (which is easy to do for a sandwich wall). They are glued and screwed to the walls. And yes, attach the bulkhead to the floor.

https://youtu.be/HhjyQpcszIs?si=p-SUGE6ZtvyCfycz



Tony

[Bruce R Leech]

Yes exactly like Tony said Use pocket hole screws is an easy way to get it done

[working on it]

from a previous thread, concerning my construction method(s):

My trailer is entirely 3/4" pre-sanded interior grade plywood (except for the two-part floor, and additional 1/2" x 3" oak boards used as bracing ), bolted with steel hardware, no curved cuts, and only two mitered cuts-the rest of the cuts were straight.

I first made a two layer floor, with 1/2" Birch plywood attached to cross beams with 3/8" carriage bolts, followed by 1/4" Luan glued w'Titebond 2 to cover the Birch. Then I used Tek screws to penetrate the floor, screwing around the perimeter into the frame. Bulkhead and frontal piece were bolted on top of the floor, using steel corner brackets and Simpson Strong-ties gusseted angle brackets. All seams were glued together with Loctite PL Premium adhesive in-between floor and vertical pieces, and inside and outside (done later) to ensure watertight joints.

The walls, being stood vertically, were placed over the outside edge of the floor, reducing the interior width to 46.5", and inside length to 95.25". Also, I sprayed multiple cans of spray-on undercoating (and continued doing so every time I drilled thru the floor).

I didn't have the equipment to fasten the plywood together with rabbets and dadoes or biscuits, and I felt that cutting into, and reducing the strength of the resin-impregnated 3/4" plywood walls, would not add to the robustness of the structure. The angle and corner brackets took the place of internal cleats, so none were used. The only roof spar, was not on the ceiling, but placed in the middle of the front slope, to be used as part of my overhead shelf, holding my stereo & electric main cooling fan (it might also serve as a brace against wind pressure). The only other interior bracing was around each door, the windows, and the A/C unit (mounted thru the rear bulkhead). Those places were braced with 1/2" red oak dimensional lumber, with 1/2" long Spax screws holding the wood to the walls, while the PL adhesive dried between surfaces (the Spax were left in place, since at 1/2" long, they didn't penetrate the outer skin of the trailer.

rear bulkhead attached to floor, with steel brackets and PL adhesive.JPG (22.44 KiB) Viewed 3994 times

note the carriage bolt heads and fender washers thru the wall, all stainless and sealed with PL

vertical galley space, more steel bracket on bulkhead.jpg (72.85 KiB) Viewed 3994 times

Of course, my intent all along was to mount heavy accessories up high on the bulkhead (A/C unit and power control center), with wood shelving on both sides of the bulkhead, at 20" from the floor, necessitating heavy-duty construction.


If I had only 1/4" plywood + foam to attach the rear bulkhead to floor, walls, ceiling (I believe in making everything solid!), I would've opted to use either square or quarter-round molding + PL adhesive (sufficient holding power for lightweight material, without screws or nails). I thought about using the same method, but my penchant for overbuilding swayed me away from doing so.

[aggie79]

I cut a slot (mortise) for the bulkheads in the wall (which is easy to do for a sandwich wall). They are glued and screwed to the walls. And yes, attach the bulkhead to the floor.

https://youtu.be/HhjyQpcszIs?si=p-SUGE6ZtvyCfycz



Tony

I used the same method for my bulkhead, floor, and "footboard" interior cabinets.

[23Sojourney45]

I glued a 1x2 cleat to the floor. It's placement matched a cleat in each wall. After standup. I finished framing the bulkhead then skinned it in place.

Sparks, I didn't think of putting a cleat on the floor, good idea! All this time, my brain went to cleats for the side walls but not the bulkhead, another idea to write down in the notes.

[23Sojourney45]

I cut a slot (mortise) for the bulkheads in the wall (which is easy to do for a sandwich wall). They are glued and screwed to the walls. And yes, attach the bulkhead to the floor.

https://youtu.be/HhjyQpcszIs?si=p-SUGE6ZtvyCfycz



Tony

Tony, mortise is a great idea, good video by the way. I might end up doing a mortise if I can borrow my friends router in combination with the other techniques. I'm assuming in all of your builds, you used mortises? or did you build one with no mortises? if so, how is it holding up to this day?

[23Sojourney45]

Yes exactly like Tony said Use pocket hole screws is an easy way to get it done

Bruce, got my Kreg jig all ready to be used, can't wait!

[23Sojourney45]

from a previous thread, concerning my construction method(s):

My trailer is entirely 3/4" pre-sanded interior grade plywood (except for the two-part floor, and additional 1/2" x 3" oak boards used as bracing ), bolted with steel hardware, no curved cuts, and only two mitered cuts-the rest of the cuts were straight.

I first made a two layer floor, with 1/2" Birch plywood attached to cross beams with 3/8" carriage bolts, followed by 1/4" Luan glued w'Titebond 2 to cover the Birch. Then I used Tek screws to penetrate the floor, screwing around the perimeter into the frame. Bulkhead and frontal piece were bolted on top of the floor, using steel corner brackets and Simpson Strong-ties gusseted angle brackets. All seams were glued together with Loctite PL Premium adhesive in-between floor and vertical pieces, and inside and outside (done later) to ensure watertight joints.

The walls, being stood vertically, were placed over the outside edge of the floor, reducing the interior width to 46.5", and inside length to 95.25". Also, I sprayed multiple cans of spray-on undercoating (and continued doing so every time I drilled thru the floor).

I didn't have the equipment to fasten the plywood together with rabbets and dadoes or biscuits, and I felt that cutting into, and reducing the strength of the resin-impregnated 3/4" plywood walls, would not add to the robustness of the structure. The angle and corner brackets took the place of internal cleats, so none were used. The only roof spar, was not on the ceiling, but placed in the middle of the front slope, to be used as part of my overhead shelf, holding my stereo & electric main cooling fan (it might also serve as a brace against wind pressure). The only other interior bracing was around each door, the windows, and the A/C unit (mounted thru the rear bulkhead). Those places were braced with 1/2" red oak dimensional lumber, with 1/2" long Spax screws holding the wood to the walls, while the PL adhesive dried between surfaces (the Spax were left in place, since at 1/2" long, they didn't penetrate the outer skin of the trailer.

rear bulkhead attached to floor, with steel brackets and PL adhesive.JPG

vertical galley space, more steel bracket on bulkhead.jpg

Of course, my intent all along was to mount heavy accessories up high on the bulkhead (A/C unit and power control center), with wood shelving on both sides of the bulkhead, at 20" from the floor, necessitating heavy-duty construction.


If I had only 1/4" plywood + foam to attach the rear bulkhead to floor, walls, ceiling (I believe in making everything solid!), I would've opted to use either square or quarter-round molding + PL adhesive (sufficient holding power for lightweight material, without screws or nails). I thought about using the same method, but my penchant for overbuilding swayed me away from doing so.

Workingonit, thanks for the input, I've read that others have used some sort of brackets as well, seems to be another option depending on build style. You only had 1 roof spar? how did you manage to hold your roof up without it caving in?

[23Sojourney45]

I cut a slot (mortise) for the bulkheads in the wall (which is easy to do for a sandwich wall). They are glued and screwed to the walls. And yes, attach the bulkhead to the floor.

https://youtu.be/HhjyQpcszIs?si=p-SUGE6ZtvyCfycz



Tony

I used the same method for my bulkhead, floor, and "footboard" interior cabinets.

Aggie, from your picture, how long is your sleeping area? it looks like you have some sort of head board shelf with a landing on top.

[23Sojourney45]

Thank you to all of you for the constant advice and suggestions. Like I mentioned earlier, I've been looking at pages upon pages, threads, and journals for research. Most of us sleep on our side, correct? for example, if you're 5'11 do you build the inside cabin to sleep a 5'11 exactly? if you sleep sideways, your knees are bent. But, if you sleep on your back, then your head/foot will hit the headboard/bulkhead respectively. Which is why I was thinking of moving the bulkhead to begin with and asked the main question. At the moment, if I lay on my back in a relaxed position, the balls of my feet slightly touches the bulkhead where it is right now. The bulkhead will be attached to the walls and floor crossmember if I leave it. IF I move it farther out (Green in the diagram), lets say to 3-4 inches longer than my feet, the bulkhead will just be attached to the wall for the most part because there's nothing underneath that part of the floor. In the picture, the green is the new proposed position. I technically could still attach the bulkhead to the two pieces of floor skeleton, on yellow 1 and yellow 2, if I move it to the green position. I've never slept in a teardrop and I don't know the finer points of cabin sleeping throughout the night. Am I fine if I leave it? is this teardrop building paranoia? lol or will I be o.k to move it and use the fine techniques that you guys have suggested?

[aggie79]

The inside dimensions were 57” x 78” - slightly smaller than a queen size mattress, although a queen size fit fine. Yes, we did have a headboard cabinet. It allowed a place to set eyeglasses and phones. Although it had doors, the cabinet itself was filled with supply ducts and return air plenum from/to the air conditioning unit in the tongue box. The supply air blew through vents/grates on the top of the cabinet.


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