My hopefully lightweight 5x10

[itc217]

Some small progress today.

I bought BAL light trailer leveling jacks from Amazon. http://amzn.com/B000V9ATEW Installed them today. They come with some handy bolts and mounting holes, however the cross brace for mounting them at the back is wider than the 2" tubes on the bottom of my trailer so... I chopped them off and got to work grinding some of the fresh paint off of the back of the chassis! I then welded them on both sides and tacked them a couple times in the middle for good measure. They're primed now waiting for a new coat of paint.

While the primer was drying on the chassis, I set up a couple sawhorses with the intent of turning two 4'x8'x0.5" sheets of plywood into one 5'x10'x0.5" sheet. First, I took a sheet and chopped off a 1'x8' section, then took my router with a 1/4" side cut attachment and hollowed out the center of the side. I then gave the other 4'x8' the same treatment. Next I took a sheet of 1/4" luan and cut off a 8' long 3/4" wide strip. I put the luan into the slot cut into the large sheet then fitted the smaller sheet up against it.

Once I dry fit everything, I took the luan out of the slots and loaded one up with TItebond II. Then I put the luan back in, and loaded the other up with glue. I put everything together and now it's sitting in the garage with a couple pipe clamps on it. Hopefully it will be stiff enough. Shouldn't be a major issue as it will be bolted straight to a metal frame... We'll see soon enough!

[RandyG]

It should be pretty strong, just make sure it stays flat, clamping too tight will cause a bow.

[oakinteriors1]

Some small progress today.

I set up a couple sawhorses with the intent of turning two 4'x8'x0.5" sheets of plywood into one 5'x10'x0.5" sheet. First, I took a sheet and chopped off a 1'x8' section, then took my router with a 1/4" side cut attachment and hollowed out the center of the side. I then gave the other 4'x8' the same treatment. Next I took a sheet of 1/4" luan and cut off a 8' long 3/4" wide strip. I put the luan into the slot cut into the large sheet then fitted the smaller sheet up against it.

Once I dry fit everything, I took the luan out of the slots and loaded one up with TItebond II. Then I put the luan back in, and loaded the other up with glue. I put everything together and now it's sitting in the garage with a couple pipe clamps on it. Hopefully it will be stiff enough. Shouldn't be a major issue as it will be bolted straight to a metal frame... We'll see soon enough!

What you did was create a spline joint....http://blog.carbideprocessors.com/wp-co ... -joint.gif
Oh,and the direction of the woodgrain in the spline is important for strength if you crosscut the luan panel to get the spline it would be stronger vrs. ripping a pc.

[itc217]

Some progress today. Since my last update I'd added on the 2x5 section necessary to make my 5x10 main "floorboard" and allowed it to dry. After much thought about the pluses and minuses of roofing tar, I decided to take the easy way out and use roof flashing rolls to weatherproof my floorboard. This idea was stolen from another thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=45873 (thanks ohbugger!)

Unfortunately, I had the impression that installing it would be butterflies and roses after reading that thread... no such luck. I cleaned heck out of the floorboard and I very carefully lined the flashing up with the back edge of my trailer and pressed it down firmly. I decided to test the long edge to see how well it stuck and discovered that it didn't stick at all! Not even little bit. Turns out that a 35 degree garage might not be the ideal location for installing this... so I went to bed.

The next day I went to Home Depot in search of a heat gun, and discovered that Ryobi's $59.99 gun was on clearance fork $24.99. Don't mind if I do. Took it home and hit the flashing with 1250 degrees. It stuck like crazy! I had to be pretty careful, moving the heat gun over every square inch of the trailer but not lingering too long or it'd blow right through the aluminum. Reminded me of learning to weld. I got the method down by the end... Anyway, now that it's stuck, I'm confidant it's not going anywhere!



After I got the floorboard sealed I set it off to the side and dived into the axle. I'd been delaying attaching it because ideally I'd like to build the trailer, measure it's CG then attach the axle. However, because of my planned building process and the fact that I planned to weld the side mount hangers to the frame, I couldn't see how this would work without setting the insulation on fire... So I bit the bullet.

I decided that 38% from the rear was the magic number. I have a long tongue, 4', but don't plan on a heavy tongue box. I'm not sure how crazy I'll get with the galley. At the end of the day I realized that I have a lot of heavy things I could locate in a number of places. If I need tongue weight, I'll put the battery up there. If not, I'll put it in the back! If I really need tongue weight, I'll make a place to haul the cooler on the tongue! Or I can put it in the back. Or I can put it in the tow vehicle. I plan to haul a spare tire mounted to the bottom. I can go anywhere! I have options.

Once I made that realization, I turned the chassis upside down and plopped the axle with brackets onto it. I measured it from the back, then measured the distance from the center of the ball mount to the end of the axle. Then I measured it again, and again. I clamped the axle in place and tacked the brackets. Then I took the axle off (don't want to melt the suspension!) and welded the brackets on. Phew! I wish I hadn't painted the frame already... or I should have ground the paint off a little farther from the heat affected zone... either way I was fumigated by burnt paint. Not fun. But it's done! The trailer is now sitting on two jack stands under the front and it's two attached BAL jacks on the back, primed and waiting for a few hits of gloss black tomorrow. Then I'll call the chassis done. For now.

Ian