Benroy Woody

[S. Heisley]

It's looking really good, Bob. Thanks for sharing.

[Midget]

I finally got a day to work on the woody. We're finishing up the cut outs for the galley and cabin cabinets. The galley will have three openings above the counter with no doors. Just openings. The cabin will have three doors across that will have doors which open upwards. I finally got a new base plate for my router and was able to finish cutting out the holes for the galley. They came out a lot straighter with the router than if I had used the jig saw. I did use the jig saw and the blade deflects cutting the 3/4 inch wood. I found this out on the cabin storage piece and ended up cutting slim pieces and screwing them together with my new Kreg jig.

We now are in the staining phase and put down our first coat of varnish on some pieces. We're looking at doing 3 coats of varnish and seeing how it goes. May have to put down more. We'll see.

Bob

[Midget]

Work progresses! My job of 6 months didn't work out as I thought and now I'm on the search again. This means I have time to work on the trailer. We have been varnishing the panels. It's a lot of work. We're probably over half way done and it's time to get started on the outside woody trim. We're using white birch with a light stain to draw out the grain. This gets multiple coats of spar varnish. For the trim we were thinking about Teak but found the prices very high when factoring in the shipping cost. So we are going with Mahogany that will get a dark stain and varnish. We picked up the Mahogany locally and planed it down to 1/2 inch thick. Now we're cutting and fitting the first side. Here's a shot as we quit for the day.


We are still picking up more parts here and there as we go along. Still on track for a spring finish and hopefully get some camping in by IRG.

Bob

[Midget]

The trim on one side is done. At least the rough cut out. Need to do some finish sanding and then staining. Next week we'll do the street side. Came out easier than I thought.



Since we plan to tow with our Mini, The side stripes are kind of like those on the Mini emblem. Due to the shape of the trailer we inverted the staggering so the longer stripe is on the bottom.

Bob

[rebapuck]

That will be a pretty trailer.

[S. Heisley]

The stripes look good.

[Midget]

Spending more time on the woody. Still looking for that new job which leaves a lot of time while I wait for hiring managers to get back to me. I could write a book about the job seeking process. Interesting tid bits on how companies do not reply or give you lame answers as to why they are not considering you. But let's talk trailers!


We have sanded down all the trim and have it ready to varnish. Takes up a lot of room. Best storage we found is the hood of the old Bronco.



We also are on the final stretch for varnishing. This has consumed a lot of time. If I had been doing this on weekends it would have taken months. Next week we will start screwing together the cabinets and side walls. This is where we go 3D. I remember this was a big milestone when we built the midget. Stay tuned!

Bob

[Vedette]

Hi Bob
Forward is always good!
Keep up the good work!
And better luck with the job search.
Looking forward to seeing you guys again, and enjoying a chat over a bottle of red.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[lincolnlerner]

Great work! The old broncos anre worth a lot of money!

[Midget]

More work on the Benroy. We glued and screwed one side onto the trailer and started assembling the cabinet structure.


The wall between the galley and the cabin is the main piece. We made sure the this piece is 90 degrees to the floor so that it stands up straight. It's also the reference point for all the other cabinets. I put together some braces to hold up the other panels since we are not attaching the other side until everything is screwed in. This was pretty easy as there is a lot of leftover material when building a 5 wide.


We're finishing up the final coats of varnish on the doors and drawers. Once the cabinets panels are in, we'll be making up the trim pieces and these will also need varnishing.

Bob

[noseoil]

Bob, it's going to look like a miniature jewelry box with the finish & detail work you're doing. Very nice job! Sorry about the job search, but at least you have something to occupy your time & take your mind off of things for a while.....

[Midget]

Worked on a couple of small projects while the varnish dries. We mounted baskets under the door openings for shoe storage. These are metal wire baskets that slide onto a pantry shelf for more storage under the shelf. Using PVC pipe, the baskets slide in and out. During travelling, they'll ride inside the trailer.

Also under the door openings are LED lights for porch lights. We didn't want lights attached to the sides of the trailer so we found some lights used for mounting under RV awnings and screwed them in under the trailer. They shine out at a 45 degree angle and will light up the ground outside each door. I also found a remote switch for them. Using a key fob, the lights can be turned on and off.

I started attaching some 110V and 12v receptacles and did some wiring but have to wait for the big wiring job until the other side and the cross ribs get put back on.

With the colder temps it takes a little longer for the varnish to dry. Slowing things but we're still at it.

Bob

[Ron Dickey]

Dude,

you are doing incredible things.

Look forward to you new build

Ron Dickey
Los Osos, ca

[azgreg]

that shoe basket is very clever.

[OP827]

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