Raven's Nest update 12/28/2021

[Staryder61]

With the boat trailer history now. The build can move forward...

Just picked up the new trailer I had a small trailer company here in town build. It's everything it should be.
Took them a little more time to build it. Delay was on my part, waiting on the funds. Though, well worth the wait.

Definitely the way to go. Yes, having them built costs more. Wasn't as bad as I'd thought. But no stress of worrying about a trailer that night fail out on the highway.

Done, finished, ready to wire. And comes with a title that will make it much easier here in Texas to get it registered and on the road legally.

Frame is 5' wide and receiver to back is 16'-6". I went with 14" wheels with 6 ply tires and my deck height is at 18" Went with the 2" bulldog receiver.

So now comes to fun part, all the wood...

[Staryder61]

Edited drawing for the tear drop with drawing of new trailer ..



new trailer ready for the decking..





Picked up the plywood for the decking today at HD.. Along with the 1" foil foam board for the insulation.. and some Henry's plastic roof coating to seal the bottom of deck when built. Deck will have a 10" drop box, second section back from the front for storage..

[jsnbergman]

Id say the trailer was time and money well spent, that will ultimately save you time, money and piece of mind

[Staryder61]

Oh yes it was jsn..

With the old boat trailer turning over on craig's list fast. . after I put it all back together.. Traded it the next day after running the post for sale or trade..
Did a trade for a Honda 2500 generator.. in great shape..

To heavy to carry in the TD, but will travel nicely in the back of TV (Suburban).. so have power no matter where we go.. and it's very quiet..

After having to fix water pump etc. on suburban and other life interruptions..

Time with TD tomorrow for sure, finally... going to work on the decking for the trailer.. 3/8" inch plywood top and bottom, with sandwiched wood frame and one inch aluminum sided insulation.. Pondering if the aluminum should be up or down??? Thinking down, to keep heat out from the road or other hard surfaces....

The underneath of decking will be coated with Henry's rubberized roof coating.. with the aluminum on the insulation and then covered with the Henry's. Should I even put the plywood on the bottom side of the deck??

One thing always leads to two questions or more ...

[jsnbergman]

The underneath of decking will be coated with Henry's rubberized roof coating.. with the aluminum on the insulation and then covered with the Henry's. Should I even put the plywood on the bottom side of the deck??

One thing always leads to two questions or more ...

I didnt, I stuck my insulation to the ply with the henrys. The concern being that having the plywood under creates a moisture trap. There are opinions both ways on that. I just didnt think it added much structurally, not walking on the floor and all.

[Staryder61]

jsn, thanks about the comment of the water trap The top ply will be the 3/8" over the 1" high density foam insulation, so structurally will be plenty..
I will leave an over hang of the 3/8" ply pass the foam and wood frame on the sides.
Then dado the wall sides for the 3/8" ply to make a better secure glue lock joint.
With the 10" drop box, will run the insulation inside the box, as the not ever drag it across something that might damage it..

Thanks for your interest, it helps a lot.. Yours is coming along great, will keep watching it..

If you see Trailers, foam and wood in your dreams,,, "You must be building a tear drop"

[Staryder61]

Hadn't had much time with the TD, having a little health issue flare up every now and then.. Better now...
Yesterday and today was time with the TD, didn't have the new trailer wired for lights when they made it.. So I could wire it.. because of the extra splicing for marker lights and knowing where the leads should be...

So yesterday glued in some pieces of PVC pipe to run the wires through under the trailer..


Today with the help of family, my youngest son and adopted younger brother. We ran all the wires and made the splices for the side marker lights.. wrapped all splices then heat srink and taped..


Can start the decking next...

[Staryder61]

Today was a good day. Started about 7:30 on the TD..
Had a material list ready for the framing I needed for the deck. At HD around 8:30. In and out...
Back to shop with the boards, bolts, washers, nylon lock nuts, construction adhesive..

I decided to go with 1" x 6" treated decking boards.. They are a true 1" thick.. and the foam is 1" thick for underneath...
Started cutting the decking boards by 9:30. Decided to do lap joints.

Made a small jig for my router..

jig set-up to use 1/2" straight cut router bit..
Cut all the boards to size.

Then marked off where all the lap joints would be and spent the next couple hours routing all the joints.


Frame all cut and routed,, placed on trailer to dry fit pieces..


Trailer frame is 5' wide,, the wood frame for the decking is 1-1/2" narrower than the trailer frame to allow the 3/4" sides to sit on the frame and be glued and screwed into the side of the decking..

Will take back apart piece by piece to construction adhesive all joints together this evening. So they can dry over night.. Then tomorrow build the drop box.

My make shift router table

1" Foam board ready to add after everything else is dried...


All lap joints glued and clamped..

Will let dry.. might take awhile to dry.. temperature droping for the night.. calling it a night and go get warmed up...

[Staryder61]

Well the day didn't go as planned.. Weather did get cool enough, that with the humidity it delayed the drying of the glued lap joints..
Propane heater also ran out of fuel.. Sure wish they had gauges on the tanks...
I know here in Texas we have mild winter weather to most others around us.. Can still mess up a lot of plans..

[Staryder61]

Bad thunderstorm rolled in here about 4:00 am. So I have been up since then..
Waited for the rain to let up to plan on anything.. Rained most of the day..
Did finally get a break in the rain.. So with help of my son. We gathered up the sheets of plywood for the parts of the drop box in one shop (shop we are using to assemble the TD) that needed to be cut, and took it to our shop..
Our shop at home has everything needed for building cabinets and other wood projects. Though, not big enough to build something as big as the tear drop in..

So once at our shop, we ripped all the 3/4" ply down to sizes.. Ends will be 11" deep by 27 1/4", sides 11" deep by 46 1/2". This will create the sides for the box.
Corners will be rabbeted, dado'd and glued together for strength. Ends and sides will be dado'd for the bottom to fit into.. The bottom 3/4" panel will be rabbeted to fit into the dado, then all glued together..

We made it back to the other shop, unloaded all the wood parts back into the shop, just before it started to pour down again,,
Started routing all the rabbets and dado's..

This being a drop box under the frame, I held the measurements of depth so the bottom would not protrude under the axle brackets. Figuring this would give enough clearance for the box not to drag on anything.
Just in case. Will also reinforce the corners of the box with 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" aluminum angle

This drop box will be for a couple things. Extra storage, and leg room for sitting on either side in the cabin.. The top of the box will be designed to be raised to become and use as a table in the cabin of the TD.. for inclement weather..

[aggie79]

Hey Staryder61,

Great design and great progress on your build!

Saw your post on the South Central section about the Beavers Bend outing. Don't worry about having the teardrop finished. We first camped in our teardrop when it was just a shell - exterior complete, but no cabinets, electrical, etc.

I would say that we'll see y'all at Beavers Bend, but unfortunately I just found out that I will be out of town that weekend for training. Hope to cross paths with you some day at another outing.

Take care,
Tom

[Staryder61]

Thanks Tom,

Build is slow, but getting there.. I'm happy with the progress.. Considering what life throws out there sometimes.. Any part finished is great at this time..

Your

Don't worry about having the teardrop finished

follows what 2bits said earlier. So, "Campable", has become my new word here..
Will keep working on it when I can, and we'll see what's done by April at Beavers Bend.. Not going to rush it, just to get it done.. May not not be completed, but won't be sleeping in a tent either..

Your build of the "Silver Beatle" is one that I have read through several times. The pictures and detail have really helped me. So, do you rent that garage out?

We were thinking about the PET Cool, but after reading your comments and those of aggie79 and others, think we will go with a regular a/c when it comes time for that. Might have some questions on the hack for it when I'm ready, if you're available?

Sorry to hear you'll be missing Beavers Bend. We will catch up together some where I'm sure..

[Staryder61]

Beautiful day out today. All the rain finally past through..
Went to carpet store first thing this morning and picked up linoleum for the TD deck..

Back to shop to finish routing the rabbets and dado's for the drop box. Little brother was there shortly to give a helping hand..

All routing finished we started assembly of the drop box.. the extra hands was a plus..

Started with one side, glued and nailed first end on with nail gun.. Then the second end..

Carefully applied glue to the bottom dado's of ends and sides and inserted the bottom..

Added the last side with all glue where needed.. we clamped the box together and then shot with nail gun..


Made a couple temporary legs for underneath the box, shimmed and aligned it with top of frame. Glued and screwed into place..

Tomorrow will fill in spaces with solid wood..
And start covering with the 3/8" plywood...

another good day on the TD....

[pchast]

Well the day didn't go as planned.. Weather did get cool enough, that with the humidity it delayed the drying of the glued lap joints..
Propane heater also ran out of fuel.. Sure wish they had gauges on the tanks...

They make a tape to adhere to a grill tank that does a color change to show liquid level.....
Like https://www.amazon.com/GrillPro-00030-M ... tank+gauge

and then there are weight gauges to hang the tank by.

[Staryder61]

Thanks pc,
will check into to those.. This is first heater or grill I've ever used with one of these tanks..
Easy enough to replace the tank. Thankfully...