Travel trailer with slide out build

[Dmanrick]

Well this weekend turned out ok, I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted because I was working alone. The helper (DW) babysat the grandbaby all weekend so she was pretty much unavailable.

First of all I got the 3rd wall paneled and installed.



Then I took off the 2 sections of the front wall and paneled them. Before I got too far, I wanted to build out the bathroom walls. We just set the wall in the approximate place for now.



I have the outside wall leaning out in this picture to help get the front walls into place.



The we put the 2 front sections in and the outside is completely buttoned down





Next we buttoned down the bathroom walls.



Here's a view looking into the kitchen area.



View from kitchen area to the living room.



I also temporarily placed the door on just to make sure it will fit.



Then we started on the roof. The joists are 3 1/2" in the middle and 1 1/2" on the ends.



You can see here where the last one is flat and the next to the last one is less taper so I can make a smooth transition.



In these views you can make out a little of the ceiling. It is just luan with primer on it. We will paint it when it gets time.





These last two are just a couple of views from the outside.





I want to thank Fromeo again for posting his build topic. As you can see this one is really close to his. Without his very detailed explanation I wouldn't have gotten motivated.

There are a few differences but not that many so far. Mine I am sure is no where near as nice as his. Working by myself this weekend has had it's drawbacks. The most being the fit of the rubber beading. Without help on the inside while I was outside screwing it together, it don't look that great in a few spots. Hopefully we can adjust it this week.

I am going out of town next weekend so the main thing I want to do is get it covered in plastic. That's why I wanted to make sure the door fit because I am going to cut the plastic for the door to make it easier to get in and out of while I piddle.

[fromeo]

Real nice work, Rick. It's coming along great!

With that welt bead, if you staple it to the panel first it'll make for a can't miss fit when you put the panels together. Cheap 1/2" air stapler makes it a real piece of cake.

- Frank

[Dmanrick]

I did staple it but I stapled it about halfway from the edge to the bead and in some places it just got folded over and stuff. I messed with it today and it looks much better.

Looking at the pics of the ceiling joists, I need to do some belt sanding. Apparently one end is 1 1/2" and the other is about about 1 5/8". Oh well, I can't cut very good with the bandsaw obviously. About the only thing I do seem to be good at is shooting myself with the nail gun. That's twice in 2 weekends.

[Dmanrick]

So we got back into town this evening and my bead roller dies were in. I am making my own siding out of coil stock so I asked a friend of mine in Illinois to make me some plastic dies for it to contour the coil stock for the siding. We are still playing with the spacing but I like the lower half better. Once we get the spacing down like we like it, I will build a jig to make it easy and the lines straight.

Here are a couple of pics of what we are doing.


This one is looking at it on the side of the trailer to see if we like the spacing and how the seams will look.



This is how the seams are built. The top slides into the lower part of the upper piece and the bottom is stapled so that when the next piece is slid in, the staples are covered.




And the last one is a picture of my bead roller. Once we start doing the siding I will make a jig and put my motor back on it and we should be able to crank them out pretty quickly.

[fromeo]

Nice work Rick! Is that vinyl or aluminum coil?

Have you seen Len's siding tutorial? He does something similar, with a trim brake and aluminum stock, then rolls the bends flat. Cool process.

- Frank

[Dmanrick]

That is aluminum. Yeah I seen his tutorial, that is what gave me the idea. I wanted a different pattern though.

Around here I was getting prices of about 2k for rv siding (delivered) and I just couldn't do that. That thing is way too small for that kind of money. I bought enough coil stock to do it all for 340.00 including tax.

[fromeo]

That is aluminum. Yeah I seen his tutorial, that is what gave me the idea. I wanted a different pattern though.

Around here I was getting prices of about 2k for rv siding (delivered) and I just couldn't do that. That thing is way too small for that kind of money. I bought enough coil stock to do it all for 340.00 including tax.

I hear ya. My quote was $2200 + the trim pieces and that wasn't happening. I bought twice what I needed in Elkhart for $400, but it was a week long trip, er, I mean vacation

- Frank

[Dmanrick]

I'd have done the same thing in a minute.

[Dmanrick]

Well we didn't get to work on this thing today but we did get to work on it a little friday and yesterday. We got all of the wiring done on the front wall and the side with the door on it. We also insulated those two walls with 1 1/2" styrofoam.

Here's my buddy getting the marker light wires finished up.



Here we have put some of the homemade siding up.



All of the front is sided except for the very bottom piece. I will save that and do all of the bottom pieces at the same time.





This is what the siding looks like close up.



We also couldn't get a nice brake on the bottom for the joints so I hit craigslist up and brought me a new toy.



The homemade siding doesn't look too bad at all. There is a slight ripple in the panels from going through the bead roller but you really can't see it very well unless you are standing and looking straight sideways at it.

It's good enough for me anyway.

[Dmanrick]

Well life has gotten in the way and I haven't been able to do much the last couple of weeks. Me and mama spent all day today on it so here's a quick update.

First we finished running the wires and got the side wall and the rear wall insulated. After trimming the expandable foam we made all of the side wall siding and started installing it.





Then we installed the window and the door.



After taking a break until the sun went down a little we formed all of the siding for the back wall.



In this pic you can see where I drilled the holes for the running light wiring already so we should be able to start hanging siding first thing in the morning.




I am hoping to get not only the rear wall sided but the other side wall done tomorrow too. That might be pushing it though. It gets really hot out there in the afternoon. I'm just ready to get it dried in so I can start on the inside with the ac going.

[Sam I am]

Great work! The siding looks really good. You have some serious metalworking skills! I'm eager to see it finished.

[Dmanrick]

Thanks! Me too!

Actually it shouldn't be too bad. We won't have a stove or anything so the kitchen will be simple. The main thing is the slide out and the bathroom.

[Wimperdink]

You had me at "bead roller"!


What kind of siding is this? Anything like roof flashing on a roll?

What does the jig look like to keep the lines straight and parallel?

Is there a die that you can use to fold the edges over then pound flat to make your female side connections, or does that require the brake?

Sorry for all the questions but I really like the way your siding is coming out. ok one last one... is it time consuming?

[Dmanrick]

It is aluminum coil stock that is white and kind of has a texture. It comes in rolls that are 24 inches by 50 foot. It is used to wrap trim boards on houses.

This clamp and 1x4 is what I use to keep the lines straight. It actually works pretty good.



I have a tipping die that we originally tried to use that will make a bend in it but it didn't work very well, if the brakes are not straight, it looks like crap and it's awful hard to keep a perfectly straight line in a 10' or 12' piece. The brake works great though. My original thought was to buy it off of craigslist , use it then put it back on there but I will probably keep it.

As far as time consuming, me and the wife cut the 4 pieces for the back, rolled the humps in them and got them all broken in 30 or 40 minutes. Once you get a system down, it isn't bad. The first piece I did took over an hour and looked like crap. With a 24" piece of metal, each piece has to be rolled 7 times and then do the braking but it isn't too bad.

[Wimperdink]

Hey thanks for the quick response. One last question for you.... How will you finish the top to keep water out of the seams or will you go for a full size sheet of aluminum on the top? You cleared up a lot of my misunderstandings... thanks... excellent work with your trailer.