Cider House...some finishing touches, 9.27.10

[doctor phreak]

nice start..r u going to paint your TD the same color scheme as your TV ...that would be cool......BTW do you know which design you are going with....i am still up in the air on mine....

[Chip]

the red,blue and silver soccoter or the black SCOOTER,, ???

[Jiffypop207]

Nice frame... Nice moped/scooter.

Thanks for the compliments. Scooter is mid '70's I believe.

[Jiffypop207]

nice start..r u going to paint your TD the same color scheme as your TV ...that would be cool......BTW do you know which design you are going with....i am still up in the air on mine....

I like the looks of the mil finish aluminum TD's...so I plan to go that route, but some vinyl red and black strips might find there way on there. As for design...interior will be an expanded round long weekender while the outside shape will be more like the Lil diner.


Adam

[Jiffypop207]

I have been thinking constantly on my build as most of you are doing or have done in the past. I have been ordering things here and there so I have them to know hole sizes and location that need to be accounted for and what not. The electrical and wiring is what I am currently working on. I have it all laid out in my head, but decided to mark it down so I am sure not to forget a light fixture or outlet and free up some mental capacity for my actual job. So here is a picture of my electrical layout. Actual wire routes are not accounted for, but just wanted to note what would be connected to what, switched, voltage etc. The only change I plan from this is to have three different runs for the 110 outlets. 1 for the fridge, one for the galley/interior outlets, and 1 for the exterior outlets. 1 would be fine i am sure, but this way will allow me to better diagnose a problem if one should ever arise. I will wire all three runs with gfci in mind.

Now I can finish ordering light fixtures and get some wires. Axle is supposed to be here Friday. My hope is to be painting the frame next weekend.

Adam

[Jiffypop207]

Just ordered some lights and realized I forgot a couple things on there. 1 power for my fantastic vent, and 2 a plate light. Ooops...glad I wrote it down for who knows what else would have been forgotten.

Adam

[caseydog]

Looks like you are off and running. That is a nice looking frame.

Like said before, be careful not to overbuild. So many first time teardrop builds are overbuilt.

I can't tell from your electrical schematic, but your shore power at pretty much any park will be on the driver-side, so you will want your inlet to be on the driver-side rear of the TD. You probably knew that, but just in case, I thought I'd say something.

Keep the pictures coming. We love looking at each others builds.

CD

[Jiffypop207]

I can't tell from your electrical schematic, but your shore power at pretty much any park will be on the driver-side, so you will want your inlet to be on the driver-side rear of the TD.
CD

Thanks for the heads up. That is where I placed it on the schematic.

Adam

[Jiffypop207]

Got some work done last night. On my way home I picked up my material for my floor, which will be made out of 1"x2" actual dimension PT joists on the flat and 3/4" Advantech T&G for the sheathing. For the joists I picked up some 5/4"x6" PT decking. I had to first cut them to the lengths that I wanted being sure to square up the factory edge in case it was out of square. Here is this process on my tailgate mitre bench.

Once every thing was to length I ripped the to be joists to my desired width of 2".
Here you can see the before and after of the board ripping.

And my wife took some "action" pictures of me ripping the joists to width.





Not the best shot

After that I welded up the receiver hitch.

After a quick phone call earlier in the day I learned that my axle would not be here until Tuesday, so I flipped the trailer over and finished burning in the top side of the entire trailer. I will have to flip in back over to put the axle and stabilizers on when they get here. Oh well. While I am waiting the plan is to build the floor so I can coat it and let it cure for a bit. I will also drill all the needed holes on the trailer and add any needed brackets here and there. Good time to cap off the open tubes as well.

Here are the pictures of how I left the project last night. The trailer mocked up to how it will sit when finished. I am liking how it is progressing. Should still be on track for paint next weekend.





Adam

[2bits]

Looking good! I like how you put the tires next to the frame, it fooled me for a second!

[Carter]

Adam,
Frame looks bullet proof. Love the 5 gallon bucket fixtures, a man after my own heart.

Chip,
Your mention of Tail of the Dragon made me smile. Did it in 2002 or so in a Regal GS with the wife. Would be fun on a bike. Did a good chunk of the Blue Ridge on a BMW 1100 about the same time. Also done a lot of the area in a car hauling rig that was 72' when loaded. Kinda cuts down on the fun but you get lots of shifting practice. You live in a great twisty part of the country.

Jim

[Jiffypop207]

I was able to get some mork wore done over the weekend and after work last night. Over the weekend I built the floor and flipped it over in preparation for the undercoating.

Here is the floor sitting on the frame upside down.

Here is the stamping on the 3/4" Advantech in case anyone was interested.

Last night I avoided the undercoating and went for something a little more interesting and cut the sides for my rig. I got one side to the shape I wanted then cut the other using my new toy and the first side as a template.

Here are some shots of the first side mocked up in place



In this shot, using the third brake light on my truck (TV) you can see that the roof height of the teardrop will be near identical to the truck's

Here is my new toy

And some shots after cutting out the matching side





I hope to start framing the "guts" of the walls tonight.

I will report again when there is more progress.

Adam

[aggie79]

Looking good! I like how you put the tires next to the frame, it fooled me for a second!

Air-ride suspension?

[Jiffypop207]

Looking good! I like how you put the tires next to the frame, it fooled me for a second!

Air-ride suspension?

Magical air ride.

[Jiffypop207]

Well my stabilizers finally came in yesterday.

And my axle did come yesterday, but despite requesting no signature from the shipper (I knew I would not be home for the delivery, gots to work), I arrived home to find that oh so fantastic FedEX door tag, "sorry we missed you." Called the number on the back to schedule pickup at there facilities (a whole 5 miles from my house) and the agent states that it would not be available yesterday for pick up, my assumption anywho, and they would send it back out for delivery today. I was like, NO, leave it there I will come get it or else I would be making the same exact call today and would be without the axle for another day. Well went there this morning and we have axle.

Thew it in the truck and verified the measurements I gave the gentleman who took my order. Spot on.
Now, since I started all this wall and floor work I am torn. Do I give up my work table (trailer frame) or just continue on my wall work. I will probably dig out the trailer I guess so I can finish it up. May still be able to paint it this weekend. I guess that would be best so I can work on the wall stuff and bottom coating while the frame paint is drying.

So I guess the plan when I get home tonight is to un-bury the frame, sweep up some serious sawdust, make some axle brackets like Thomas used on his TD for easy axle removal if required in the future, get the axle in place and weld up the brackets, mount the stabilizers, install a couple mounting tabs for the tongue box, cap off some tube ends, flatten some welds, and then the frame will be ready for paint prep.