Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Today, I finally finished putting on the skin pieces. Now, it's sanding edges flush and filling screw holes and edge joints. I removed my old tarp on my canoy frame to put on a new one. But, decided while it's off, I'd work on the top pieces with it out of the way.

Now, it's time to step back, clean up the mess I've made everywhere (wood and tools scattered from here to breakfast) and get ready for the nest steps. First, after I've cleaned up, I'll pull this monster out in the open so I can do the rest of the work. That means I'll have to pull a tarp over it every night until it's painted and the fan, windows, and door are installed. Hopefully, that will be within the next couple of weeks. Then, it's interior work time.

Cool!

What's the deal with your AC? Is that a piece of newspaper covering the opening?

By the way...

How did your wife feel when she walked into it?

Good eye Ira. That is newspaper that I taped up to the AC box and windows to keep overspray out of the interior when I sprayed on thinned poly varnish to seal the plywood.

I pulled it out of my canopy frame by putting down pairs of 2x4 pieces side by side and some narrow sheets of OSB that I had scavenged from the roofing of the houses being built across the street on top of the 2x4 pieces...like a track for the hubs to roll on. The only problem is that the drive to the back where the trailer is parked now is so narrow, I can't take pictures of the whole trailer side in one shot. After I get the skin edges sanded, I'll put the wheels on and pull it out front and shoot a few pics from different angles. That will probably be sometime this weekend.

I sure hope I can get it done in another 4 weeks, but I won't be surprised if it takes longer than that. The detail work takes a lot of time as you well know, and there's a lot of detail work to do on the interior.

My neighbor next door saw it for the first time this afternoon. She thought I was building a "top", whatever that is, not a whole trailer. But, then, she is really does say some weird things at times. I didn't ask what she meant. She probably thought I was building a pickup camper.

Leprosy??? No, just bondo.



I put on my first applicaton of bondo on the front and top skins today. There are so many spots because for every screw I put in, I also used about 3-4 brads from my nailer, and I touched up all of the small holes.

Tomorrow, I sand it down and put on a touch up where needed. Next is another touchup of the new edges with poly thane in case the bondo didn't seal them. Then, by gum, I think it will be ready for the primer. I will get it out to the front of the house this weekend for some side shots to post.

It's really beginning to take shape, Dale. Looks good! I'm going to start on mine some day.

Yes, Chris, it's starting to feel like a trailer now, not just a pile of wood. When I'm inside working, I can visualize what it will look like when I'm finished with it. I spend most of every day working on it, except for breaks for running to the grocery store for food and sodas, or one of the box stores for supplies. I think I have everything bought now, except for ordering my cushions and buying the porti-potti. That is, unless I need more screws, sandpaper, foam insulation, etc.

Dale, What did you use to fill your screw holes?

I've used bondo for most of the filling of screw holes and edge joints. On all of the joints, I beveled the edges of the skin pieces, leaving a "V" groove to fill. The joints usually require refilling to get the filler sanded flush. Sometimes, after sanding, if there is only a small depression to fill to fininsh it, I used some Elmer's wood filler and sometimes, I mixed more bondo. On very small inperfections, I used the wood filler alone.

Today, it was close to 80 and the bondo set up fast in the sun. I got lucky and only had one hot batch harden before I had it half used. I cut the hardner down a lot because of the heat and got pretty good at mixing it to last until I used up most of a batch before it started getting too thick to apply.

Looking Good Dale. You are really getting after it.

Thanks. The weather forecast shows no rain expected through Sunday. We haven't had but one light rain in over 2 weeks and need it, but I also need the dry days to paint, and it's in the open now so I'd have to cover it if it did rain. It looks like I may get it painted, or at least, primed, before it does rain. Keeping the fingers crossed that I do.

Dale, the way you're moving along, I'm no one to give advice at all. BUT...

Do you have any plans to test prime and test paint a small area first? I don't know what your Bondo/wood filler background is, but what may look fine to the eye before painting may show annoying imperfections AFTER you paint.

I would hate to see anything like this happen to you. That's why guys like Tom went the Uniflex route (I think that was his reason), that it's better at hiding the bumps and depressions and such.

Excuse my butting in with this if you're 100% sure you're cool with this.

I thought everybody said that the Uniflex didn't hide anything very well.

GB

WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...BONDO ALERT....BONDO ALERT...

Most of my Bondo filling is a total disaster, but by my own doing.

Yesterday, in the heat, the bondo was setting up too fast, so I mixed in less hardener. That was a mistake! Today, most of my filler is gummy or at least soft and loads up the sand paper as fast as I change it. Some it is so soft that after scraping it off, I could mold it into a ball easily. So, I scraped off a lot of it, then just gave up. I'll wait another day or two to see if it hardens any more before scraping off the rest. I guess the only solution in hot weather is just mix really small batches or just work faster putting it on. Where I've scraped it off, I'll wait a day, then mix small hotter batches and spread a thin coat over it and sand. Meanwhile, I'll work on something else.

As for how well it fills, it sands smoother than the wood around it. After spraying on some poly varnish, it was very smooth. I'll know better after I put on some primer and sand it down.

GregB wrote:I thought everybody said that the Uniflex didn't hide anything very well.

GB

I'm getting old and forget things. You may be right.

I keep thinking of Uniflex as a kind of a thick "vinyl" coating that covers things.