Franks First Build [10/13/2012] "FRANK'S DOG HOUSE"

[crumbruiser]

The title FFB comes from the world of texting, kind of. It's sort of like BFF [Best Friends Forever]. The name, FFB, is subject to change as I really don't like that name anyway.
The trailer is a Northern Tool 5x8 stretched out to 5x10. I thought I would like the extra room but unfortunatly, I got scared. My little PT can tow up to 1000lbs, and I was afraid that a 10 footer would take me over my towing limit so, I'm going to have me a 2 foot back porch for hauling firewood and such, as long as it ain't too heavy. (also, I messed up and measured the placement of my axle wrong, twice, and I don't want to drill anymore holes in the frame. I measured 2 maybe even 3 times and still messed it up! )
Here is what it might look like. Even with video instructions, Sketch up is still difficult to me.

I stretched the frame much like some have done to the HF trailer, except I added 1 cross member to the rear of the frame instead of the center. The NT trailer had 8' rails instead of bolting 2 4 footers together, like HF.


Well, in order to afford this build, I had to sell my "Baby". 1983 Kawasaki KZ550. The new owner seems like a very nice fellow. This is a picture of the OLD owner. (me)

So, today I went to the blue store and got a few supplies. This load didn't feel that heavy. Of course, I need more stuff!

I am planning to sandwich the floor with thin 5mm luan-1 1/2" foam-1/2" inch plywood. I have changed my mind on this so many times, I know the bottom will be 5mm luan. Here is a poor quality pic showing a small cut out for 1 for the bolts holding the frame together. The 5mm will sit inside the frame channel, foam glued to that then plywood glued to that on top of the rails with some 1x3's glued and screwed and maybe nailed to stiffen things up.

Build journals are more fun to look at than to put together, but they are for a worthy cause. I apprieciate everyone who has done a Journal and posts pics. THANK YOU ALL!
I coated the frame with bedliner stuff for trucks. I do not recommend this unless you really like to sand stuff.


I didn't fasten any wood down, I just dry fitted it. It was looking like rain and my garage just isn't big enough to store the trailer and materials and everything else. I forgot to take a pic of the bottom of the floor sandwich after it was fitted. I will try and do that on my next work session.
Well, thats about all I have for today, maybe this week. I made a couple of purchases and some saw dust, so......it really did happen!
Frank

[parnold]

Gratz on the sawdust! I was hoping for sawdust this weekend myself, but seem to be working in slow motion.

[Rudyjr]

Frank, Glad to see you are making some progress, I am still in the planning stages. Give me a call if you need an extra set of hands or some welding help. Good luck, Jim (we work together, see if you can guess who I am from my signature!)

[crumbruiser]

Rudyjr, yes we know each other. I sent him a PM and will use his welding abilitys in the future. Knowing what I know now, I would either weld the trailer together or build on top of the frame instead of inside of it. The bolts and bolt heads get in the way all of the time. I scraped the sandwich floor idea. Instead I will be putting a plywood floor on top of the frame and bolting and glueing the foam insulation to the plywood.

I cut 3 inch strips of the luan and coated with the bed liner stuff. I will run 1/4 inch bolts through the floor, through the foam and through these strips and add lock washers and nuts.

I cut the foam out and installed it into the frame. The smaller pieces toward the rear I'm not going to show you, it's nothing to be proud of. [really ugly, I really like the spray foam though]

I decided that the stock fenders aren't going to work, there really isn't any room for bigger tires and wheels, plus, my plan now is to build out over the frame and therefore I'll end up boxing the wheel wells in.
I am kind of amazed how slowly this build is going. 2 nights this week I spent painting my sons "new" bedroom. If it dries up here, probably tomorrow, I'm going to have to mow the lawn. My little dog Bandit can't go outside without geting his legs and belly all wet. He needs a haircut too.
Thanks for looking and I hope to have a solid floor on and painted by next Sunday.
Frank

[crumbruiser]

This is more like the profile I have in mind.
Frank

[crumbruiser]

I got the grass mowed, the dog still needs a bath though. I ended up trading the fenders for a spare tire and rim. The other guy got the better end of the deal but I didn't need the fenders anyway and he did.
I cut off the expanded foam sealant with a high carbon butcher knife my son got me from the thrift store.

I cut the floor out including the cut outs for the wheel wells.

And after seeing what happened to Mikes plywood, I thought I would try to seal up the edges of my plywood with straight TB3. I covered every edge with that stuff. I used a cheap paint brush from HF to smear it around.

After it dried, I primed the edges and what is to become the under side of the floor with Kilz2 latex primer. I also intend to use this to glue down the fabric over the foam. Does anyone think this will be a problem? Should I dilute it some?

I used Industrial Oil Based Rustoleum for the paint for the underside of the floor. The wind was really blowing and it ended up being beutifully decorated with these little white flowers from my Bradford Pear tree. There were lots more than what you see here, they came off fairly easy the next day and I put a second coat of paint on.


After that dried, the next day, I was able to flip the floor over and screw that baby down, it's starting to look like something finally.

I got the wheel wells built,

and primered the entire top of the floor. I must do a lot of sanding and another coat of primer, I intend to have the finished floor painted in either red or grey Industrial Oil Based paint. I'm wanting to add some color to the trailer, I hope I have enough red.
[img][http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?album_id=119&image_id=89952/img]

Thank you all for your interest and if you see something I'm doing wrong, correct me before it's too late.
Frank

[crumbruiser]

How are you all today? Thursday and Friday I was sick! Sick enough to stay home from work, so sick I could only work on this baby for 20 minutes at a time, then I HAD to rest! But, even with 20 minute shifts progress can still be made.
I did some measuring and some looking and I really don't think I need a 9 foot long cargo/camper area, plus, a measly 12 inch porch isn't big enough for anything besides maybe a tiny seat. So I figured I'd remove the 12 inch extension from the back and give myself a 2 foot porch. In 2 feet I can haul a little fire wood or a couple of bikes or maybe chairs or coolers or who knows really? I think I made the right choice.
The 1 foot porch.

The 1 foot removed.

What a 2 foot porch looks like. I will end up putting deck boards on this area, I don't have any at this time. I think this area will be more usable now.

While working, I used my Lovely Wifes recipe for homemade wood putty/filler. All it is is a good quality wood glue and sawdust.

Just mix the sawdust with a fair amount of glue. I wear rubber gloves and roll it into a ball, then press it into the recessed area, in this case, the indents where I recessed the screws for the floor.


When it dries or hardens, just sand it smooth and primer and paint.
In the pic "1 foot removed", if you are wondering what kind of whacky saw i have there, I subscribe to a wonderful magazine called "The Backwoodsman". They have articles on how to repurpose things and how to make do with simple materials. This is the greatest magazine I have ever seen. Anyway, if you have an old handsaw like the 1 have in the pics, you can take a roto tool and carefully cut out knife blades and make your own knives. I bought this saw at a yardsale for $2.00. This saw is what is leftover from me making a couple of knives. I just needed a hand saw to cut the 1 foot off and this happened to be within reach.

Maybe I'll post a couple of pics of knife making if there is any interest.
Thats all I have for now, thank you for your interest!
Frank

[KCStudly]

I have interest in knife making!

Maybe you should post it in General Discussion, and put a link to it here. Or here would be fine, too. It's your thread!

[pappaw]

Nice work Frank!

Cheers: Jeff

[crumbruiser]

Thank you Jeff. I do appreciate the kind words.
KC, I'm totally an amature at the knife making thing, but I have made a few. I am in the precess of making 1 from a worn out Saws All [?] blade. Maybe when I'm done with this I'll post some knife making things.
Frank

[KCStudly]

Amateur? Oh, I don't even reach that level.

The only thing I've made is a little thing I call "The Shive".



I needed something at work to cut 3 inch thick closed cell neoprene foam. I made it from a metal cutting reciprocating saw blade and a couple of pieces of poplar pinned together with brass rod.

Yup, the sheath is cardboard and packing tape. Keeps me from getting cut, and it from getting dull in my tool bag. I think the stained appearance is just from use; I don't remember oiling it or anything.

One step up from a total bodge job.

[crumbruiser]

[quote][I needed something at work to cut 3 inch thick closed cell neoprene foam. I made it from a metal cutting reciprocating saw blade and a couple of pieces of poplar pinned together with brass rod.

/quote]
Yes, that is how it's done. Here is 2 wooden templates I made.

Here's my first fixer upper knife. I made red oak handles and used brass rod for the rivets. I made the leather sheath from thrift store craft leather. Notice the star rivets, no sewing went into making the sheath. Thats a cell pnone type of belt clip I used for the belt loop.


Here is a "survival" knife with a sewn and riveted sheath.

Another with cheap luan handles Gorrilla glued to the knife.

Sawzall blade with bamboo flooring handles. [my worst job I think]

Fixer upper meat cleaver & 2 nail knives. My fixer uppers are always carbon steel.

Close up of the nail knives.

Here is my first score for a high carbon knife. Thrift store, 50 cents. It's a broken butcher knife but the rounded tip is sharp and comes in handy for "skiving" leather.

I'm not really dangerous, or crazy, well maybe a little crazy. I work on these knives in foul weather and then put them in a drawer. I have 2 more in the fixer upper section. The 1 I'm carving the foam with and another still in my drawer.
Next up, Build Journal Pics.
Frank

[KCStudly]

Those are quite crafty Frank.

I like the shapes of your wood patterns and that first boning knife looks like an Old Hickory. Classic carbon steel, my dad used one for many many years.

Nice hobby.

[crumbruiser]

I'm sorry if I bored anybody with the little knife collection. I'm interested in many things. Mostly I like to build bigger wood stuff. Shelves and the stuff that makes the Mrs happy. She calls it "Primitives". I like it very much because it's supposed to be scratched and a little beat up and doesn't need to be perfect. Anyway, I got what may be the final coat of paint on the floor.

To get this color I mixed a tad bit of the black oil based paint with a quart of red oil based.

The first coat looked a lot like blood. My daughter even told me that it did so I didn't want to post that, but the final coat I think, looks good. That's all the progress I have for now, I'm playing around with TB2, water based stain, water based paint and water to come up with a "cheap" finish for the inside plywood. I am building outside and I don't want to have raw materials out in the weather so I will be depending on the weather for a while. Of course, I could move to the back porch.
Thanks,
Frank

[crumbruiser]

KC,
Thank you! I like your knife too. It looks very strong and tatally servicable. Those are good qualitys.
Frank