Central Michigan Canned Ham

[Danomite]

Since OSHA didn't show up, I guess I'll post this pic of my 12yo son running the pneumatic rivet gun while standing on the armrests of an old steel lawn chair. He's a pretty handy kid, apparently much more so than I thought. His shop teacher last fall kept questioning how he was so comfortable working with power tools. He told him he was always the cutter when we were hanging t&g knotty pine when we built our cabin. My oldest son (24) & I would be up on scaffold ladders and would tell him measurements, so he measured and cut them with the miter saw and handled them up to us.

[Danomite]

Over the weekend I got the insulation cut and stuffed into place. I also worked for several hours drilling & riveting all of the fill-in places. I had mainly just riveted the edges of the sheets when I put it on, but had not riveted every 6 to 8 inches on all of the crossmembers. I still have another couple hours to go on that, and then it's on to installing the 5/16" cedar tongue & groove.
BTW, the floor is 3/4 treated plywood. The reason I went with 3/4" is because I already had it. It was the sideboards on an old flatbed dump truck I bought to haul dirt, hay, and logs around the farm. The previous owner used it for hauling/holding grain, but sides are not of use to me on that truck. I coated the crossmembers with tar where they would contact the treated wood. After the interior is installed and polyurethane is applied, then I will install the vinyl flooring.

[Danomite]

Dodged the rain for a couple hours this evening and got a start at hanging the 5/16" thick t&g knotty cedar. It smelled soooo good when I was cutting the various angles with the miter saw.
BTW, it's crunch time. 6 weeks from today we are taking this on an approx 2000 mile trip, providing the Kia Soul pulls it ok.

[Danomite]

Ok, so I decided to decorate the inside with real beaver-chewed sticks and a talked my 77y/o mom into doing woodburning of a beaver chewing down a tree on a piece of a tree that a beaver chewed down. (Yes, let that sink in for a minute).
Yes, my mom rocks, and it took her about an hour to create this work of art.

[Danomite]

Well, after I got Mom to contribute some artwork, I thought I'd create some myself. I had the 4-foot long butt-end of a 40 inch diameter White Pine log laying up off the ground for approx 8 years, I decided to get it cut up to make a dinette. The sapwood was rotted on one side, but the other side was still solid, but full of ant holes. I liked the look, rustic is kinda my thing. I sketched out my design in pencil and routered it out. I bought a 50 pound bag of small pebbles intended for landscaping for $2.50. and filled the routered channels with some of them. I then covered the entire top with an epoxy called Glaze Coat

[Danomite]

And a different angle showing the 2-inch thick tabletop with live edge exposed.

[CAJUN LADY]

[Danomite]

Thanks Cajun Lady
Well, I got the framework for some fenders mounted today. I will add a drop down bracket at the back, just in case they get sat on or stood on. I used 1/4-20 stainless bolts for attaching them, but they were priced as if they were gold plated!

[Danomite]

And, I got the vinyl flooring down and the restroom framed in. The kid wasn't happy about me making him pose. I'm not planning on using the porta-potty all the time, just when the alternative is a pit-privy, vault toilet, porta-jon, or something else I find more disgusting!

[Danomite]

I installed the table and built the driver's side of the dinette today. I made the bench go from the restroom to the back, even though the bed itself won't be that wide. The space under it will make for a good-sized storage area for camping gear and/or canned food.
With the tabletop being the only part that has a finish, it sure makes the rest look pale in comparison. Once I get the reminder of the woodwork completed I'll go after it with the high gloss polyurethane and that should remedy it.

[Danomite]

I got the additional framing completed on the fenders and then stood on them to be sure they could handle some weight.

[Danomite]

I'm not sure how well you can make it out, but I went my own way with the trim. I work at a rubber hose manufacturing factory in northern Michigan, so felt it would be appropriate if I used rubber hose for my edge trim. And just to avoid office politics, I went to Tractor Supply & bought a 50 ft roll instead of jumping through hoops to try to get some from the shop for free. I used 3/4" diameter "pump hose" (which was epdm). I split it lengthwise and used butyl tape over the joint itself and stuck the hose over it. I then staggered my rivets every 2 inches or so from top to side. I bought the black rivets on eBay for a little over $20 for 350. They worked especially good for this as the heads are 5/8" diameter.
I just attended the Tin Can Tourists open house yesterday at PJ Hoffmaster State Park at Muskegon, MI and toured nearly 100 vintage campers and met some great people. I'm so glad I went.

[Danomite]

I got the door for the potty room built & hung today as well as working on getting a good start on the other side seat being framed in.

[Danomite]

Well, Friday I started jumping through the hoops to make this legal. I went to a scale at a local farm-related store and got it weighed. Came out to be 1100 pounds, so a bit heavier than I had hoped/expected. Monday I am going to take a stack of receipts to the Secretary of State (DMV) and hopefully I will walk out with a forever plate (that's how it's done in Michigan for trailers).
With the weight of the trailer coming in a bit higher than I had hoped, I started shopping the online classifieds and wound up buying myself a Father's Day/birthday present: a 1984 F150 project. Inline 6 with 4-speed manual, 2WD. Runs great, but hydraulic clutch is messed up. I'm having visions of painting it black and riveting polished Diamond Plate aluminum all over it to match the camper.
It seems hard to wrap my head around the fact that a 1984 is a 35 year old classic! Hell, I got my driver's license that year!

[Danomite]

Alright, things are winding down! Basically all of the woodwork is done. Still need put 2 coats of polyurethane on all of the wood except the tabletop.