Dusty Mark's 5 x 10 Build

[Dusty Mark]

I started cutting out 1/2" Baltic birch for all of the cabinets and the galley countertop last night. I realized that it would be best to dry assemble everything before gluing it for final assembly. This will lower the "drama" potential of having to resize a panel during the middle of a glue-up. It looks like my estimate of four sheets of 1/2" plywood is accurate.

We rode our tandem bike after work and took a break from camper building this evening. We'll be back to cutting and fitting on Friday and hopefully dry assembly on Saturday! We'll finally get a better idea of what this teardrop is going to look like...

[Dusty Mark]

I'm deep into the final decisions stage of the build as I cut the walls and cabinet parts. This is more painstaking than I anticipated, but our marriage is surviving the process!



The main cabin bulkhead face frame that houses the dog kennel, air conditioner, and a small storage space.



Here are the bulkheads/walls for the galley and the cabin cut and fitted. I have all of the secondary cuts marked out and am pausing to be sure this is the layout before proceeding. I still need to cut some cabinet floors and the galley upper cabinets. Notice that I've already laminated the Formica to the galley countertop.

I took the next two days off to work the final fitting to include all of the cleats. We'll see how close I get it to being ready for final assembly...

[Dusty Mark]

I made good progress today fitting the lower galley, headboard, and some of the cabin bulkhead parts.



My build is not symmetrical in the galley/cabin bulkhead area and that is proving to be quite the "mind-bender!" No major mistakes so far though.



I'm using a combination of dadoes in the walls, cleats, and pocket screws to assemble the cabinets and walls. Definitely looking forward to final assembly!

[Dusty Mark]

I made great progress today and found out that all of my walls and panels are fitting together nicely! This is the exciting part of the build where it goes from two-dimensional to three-dimensional.





Upper left=air conditioner. Below a/c=storage compartment. Entire upper right side=dog kennel. Below kennel=battery storage, power control, and a couple of outlets.



Left side=oven/stove on heavy duty slides. Middle=drawer and cupboard. Right=Yeti 65 cooler on heavy duty slides.



I need to build out the air conditioning compartment and then I'll take it all apart to finish out installing cleats and drilling pocket holes. I'm leaning towards varnishing a lot of it prior to assembly...

[KCStudly]

Coming along nicely and looking good.

[Dusty Mark]

Thanks! Hoping to be done in the first week of June.

[Dusty Mark]

I made some progress on the front storage module accessible through the headboard. This module is essential to us since we sacrificed almost all of our cabin bulkhead storage in favor of a 6 cubic foot dog kennel. We'll install a vertical divider and a single shelf inside the module to more neatly stack our clothes.



There is 17 degree bevel on the leading edge of the trailer floor that I had to match. I'm using cleats to attach the sides to the back side of the headboard.



I'm insulating the top of the storage module in the same way that I'll insulate the roof of the camper. This required a 1 5/8" ledge to support the ceiling and the roof spars. I used a 1" carbide router bit and it worked much cleaner and faster than the 1/2" spiral upcut bit I had used on the main camper walls.



Here is the base of the module with cleats to attach the sides securely and a cleat to support the ceiling as it hits the floor. Notice the five 5/16" bolts that attach this module securely to the leading edge of the camper. It is also held down with two carriage bolts attached to welded tabs on the trailer frame.

[KCStudly]

Looks good!

[Dusty Mark]

I fitted the front storage module sides.



This is the final side profile. I like the lines...

[TheOtherSean]

Is that the supervisor in the photo?

[Dusty Mark]

Yep, Copper explored inside the camper for the first time last night. I would have had him jump into his spacious kennel, but the floor isn't fastened securely yet!



Here's Copper tucked into a 14"x28" space in one of the three layout boats I built last year...

[Dusty Mark]

I skinned out the storage module, fabricated door tracks, and fitted doors and a vertical divider on the front storage module.



Mary checking out the progress.



I used plywood spacers to keep the door tracks parallel to each other while gluing them to the back of the headboard.



View from the inside.



I still need to attach the vertical divider and fit a shelf for each side.



Needs some sanding, but pleased with the functionality and look of the module.

[Dusty Mark]

I completed some my last bit of cleating in preparation for final assembly. The dog kennel, air conditioning compartment, and small bulkhead storage compartment are ready. I also prepared the drain for the air conditioner.



The dog hops up into the kennel without trouble even from the underfloor storage compartment.



Here's my drain configuration. Start with a shower drain then 2" to 1" adapter, 1" to 3/4" adapter, 3/4" threaded to 3/4" sleeve adapter.



I routed this freehand and am quite pleased with how it turned out. I'll seal the whole area with epoxy.



I dropped the floor of the compartment 1" from front to back to facilitate drainage.



I'll route the drain pipe through the ceiling of the cooler compartment, through the lower side of the kennel, into the battery compartment and out through the floor.

[noseoil]

Really enjoying your build, looks very good so far & well planned.

[Dusty Mark]

Thanks! My early layout sketches have helped me stay on track, but the detailed how-to parts have been by trial and error and researching other people's builds. I'm finding Oregon Trailer's web site quite helpful.