Scrounger

[Dirke]

Here are some updated pictures. Right now I am working on the door and bending some plywood over the ends so I have some time while I wait for the wood to take shape.

Here is a side view. You can see the bunk I made in the front (5' x 2') for the little one to sleep on (until he is taller than 5'). I threw the futon mattress in there just to see how it fit. Works so well I was tempted to take a nap.



Here is the view of the sleeping area and the galley wall. At the top of the wall I put a screen window for extra ventilation when the hatch is open. Above that is a storage area (no doors yet).



Here is a view from the other side. I put the window in just to see how it would look. The door (only one) is next to that.



I hope to get things on the outside finished up to go camping in about two weeks. Can't wait!

[rebapuck]

Looks good to me. That's a tight radius at the corners. Go slow and steady.

[Dirke]

You are right about that radius. It is taking a while but coming along. Trying to be patient.

I'm learning that there are a lot of little details to figure out so I am drinking a lot of coffee and doing a lot of head scratching at this point.

[Dirke]

Well, so far all I have purchased is, 10 2x4s, tires, bearings, windows, and taillights. The rest has all been scrounged up to now. Today I made my first big purchase and got my first two sheets of frp to start skinning the outside. Yesterday I was able to build the hatch and waterproof everything. Pretty soon it will start looking like a trailer.

[Dirke]

I glued my first piece of FRP on the wall this afternoon! Pretty exciting stuff. I am pretty impatient but I don't want to rush things and screw something up so I am going to let it go until tomorrow before I put the other side up.



The trailer is 10 feet long so I have a couple of 2' sections at the back to fill in. I think I can do both sides at once so in three days I should have all the walls up and can start attaching the roof. Then it will be time to mount the door and finish up the trim. Slowly but surely.

The FRP is delicate stuff but a flush trim bit on my router works great and leaves a nice clean edge. Also great for making artificial snow.

[pchast]

I hope you are wearing a dust mask when you trim the edges.
The dust is BAD stuff.

[George Taylor]

Looking good. Just read you posts. The title caught my eye. I do the same thing, free stuff is great. One of my favorite artist , Igor Medvedev, creates some of his painting with paint from what he is painting. He believes it gets part of the items sole. Deeep!

[Dirke]

Looking good. Just read you posts. The title caught my eye. I do the same thing, free stuff is great. One of my favorite artist , Igor Medvedev, creates some of his painting with paint from what he is painting. He believes it gets part of the items sole. Deeep!

Yeah, I did pretty well so far. Unfortunately, I want the outside to look like a trailer not a fishing shanty so I have had to spend some money to finish it up.

[Dirke]

Well it started out very stormy but then cleared up and the sun is shining. I didn't think I was going to get anything done because of the weather but luck was with me. I trimmed out the first corner and one window. It was very nerve wracking as I started my router up but everything worked great. What a fabulous tool! Without it I would have had to trace the window onto the FRP and then cut it out before putting it back up to glue in place. With the router I just glued the entire 4x8 sheet to the side of the tear and waited for it to dry. Then I drilled a hole in the window and ran the router around the edge and presto! I can tell you I checked the depth of the bit about five times before I started cutting. The FRP seems to be glued on pretty solid. Here are some pics of the first side and window:





A buddy of mine came by and I recruited him to help me glue on the other side. I also put some stick on tile that my sister gave me into the cupboard above the galley. Looks pretty nice and it was a lot easier to install without the roof on.

Tomorrow I hope to put the remaining pieces on the sides and maybe install the windows.

[Dirke]

Well I have been steadily making progress. Today I cut out the door and window openings, finished the siding and installed both windows. They look great and at only $20 a piece! Tomorrow I hope to cut off the excess siding on the galley end and then start attaching the roof. Unfortunately, I think we may only get to camp once or twice before the baby comes. Oh well, at least we will be ready for next summer and by then the baby will be big enough to do some camping and hiking. Here are a few more pictures:

Here is the side without a door. This window was different from the other one in that it was a bit longer on the bottom than the top. I figured since it was a bit bigger it would work on this side.




Here is the interior view. I am not planning on finishing the interior right away. I just want to do some camping first. Besides, I need some time to scrounge a bit more.



Here is the side with the door. I'm glad I don't have to cut out any more holes. It is a bit nerve wracking hoping that I don't screw things up. Note the leaf blower. It works well to get all the flakes of FRP off of me. I keep my goggles on of course.

[stonykill]

[Dirke]

Well the sides are complete. Now it is time to put the roof and the ends on. So far things are looking great. It is cool to finally get a complete view of the profile.

[Dirke]

Well, today I got the roof on, and put FRP on the door and front window cover. I still need to put some roofing cement on and then add the white vinyl on top of that for waterproofing. I think it should work fine. I got the vinyl from an old billboard tarp and I have a large bucket of roofing cement left over from a repair job. Unfortunately it is raining again so I have to stop for today.

[stonykill]

moving right along now! Looking good.

[Dirke]

moving right along now! Looking good.

Yep, things are almost ready for the first camping trip. The plan is somewhere local this weekend hence the motivation and mad progress. I finished the roof today and mounted the door. I found a nice stormdoor handle with a lock and key at Lowe's. I had to do a little bit of modification (made the push pin on the inside of the handle longer to fit my wider door) and it works great. Only $10 and it comes with two keys, not to mention that you can't lock yourself out of the trailer accidentally!

Now to put the FRP on the hatch and install the roof trim.