Modified Grumman 2 build

[Team140]

I'm building a modified Grumman 2. Modified for length...

My wife and I love the idea of a teardrop, but we both like to have plenty of room to sleep, so I opted for a design that could house a queen size bed. The length modification came in when I was interrupted while making the wall cutouts for the fenders and mistakenly put them 4 1/2" further to the rear than they should have been. Since I'm dealing with $60 sheets of 3/4" Birch, I decided to see if I could fix it in the design before I started over. I then had to go back to the drawing board (literally!) to make the rear section of plywood flow with the now misplaced front piece of plywood. Everything in the following image rear of the line marked "40" was created new with a little bit of time and a French Curve. With the front sheet of ply inadvertently moved forward 4.5" and the redrawn rear curve, the overall length is now 10'6" on a 9' trailer frame.



As you can see in the plans above, it's going to have a microwave and refrigerator. We don't plan on primitive camping with it at the moment, so it will have shore power and other utility hookups, as well as a camp stove and water storage tank so we'll be ready for the primitive camping spot.

Also, I should mention, this is my first camper build. First structure build as well, although I did watch dad pretty closely when he built our house many moons ago.

I started out with a standard Harbor Freight folding trailer stretched 1 foot and with the folding function disabled. I also relocated the axle further to the rear of the trailer to be more in line with the Grumman 2 plans.




I didn't get any progress shots, but I welded 1.5" angle iron extensions at the front of the trailer, rear of the trailer, and each side of the fenders to support the 5' wide plywood on the 4' wide trailer.




It was at this moment I was the most nervous. I was getting ready to mark and cut $120 worth of hardwood plywood and still had a sheet to mangle for the rest of the trailer sides.




The first wall was cut and it was then that I realized I moved my axle centerline on the wall when I was interrupted. The wall is sitting 4.5" further forward than I intended.




I build things the way Bob Ross does. There are no mistakes, only happy accidents! I stood the other side up and ran some stringers between the two walls. Time to go back to the drawing board and design my way around this happy accident.




This is how she sits as of last night. I redesigned the rear curve so that it flowed with the top curve of the front panel.






I'm currently in a holding pattern until the fridge and microwave come in as they'll determine the Galley layout. Once I have those, I can build my bulkhead, inside cabinets, etc.

Also, final design goals: Cedar tongue and groove exterior walls. Hunter Green trim. Aluminum skinned roof. Still up in the air over the entry door - standard Grumman or the pre-made door? I'm leaning toward Grumman style for aesthetics.

[KCStudly]

Looking great! Nice save on the fender cut; looks like you planned it that way!

...and welcome to the forum. Are you in the south or the west? Palm trees and Spanish moss; the neighborhood architecture looks like Socal.

[Team140]

Looking great! Nice save on the fender cut; looks like you planned it that way!

...and welcome to the forum. Are you in the south or the west? Palm trees and Spanish moss; the neighborhood architecture looks like Socal.

Thanks! I took a quick browse through your build thread.... incredible!

I'm in the south. Gainesville, FL to be exact. Palm trees, Spanish moss, and alligators!

[KCStudly]

Thanks.

Gainsville? Kool! Are you a drag racing fan? Pop, pop goes the nitro.

[Gunguy05]

Looking good. Also after seeing the grumman rear today, it made me go back and look at my design. Mine is 5 high, but just looks too boxy. I like the smoothness of that back curve. Smoothed mine out to be a little more shallow of a curve, I think it help the design a bit. So, thanks for the inspiration .

I'm in the south too.. but N of you, up in Brunswick, GA, on the coast.

Good luck and keep us posted.. and remember if there aren't pics, it didn't happen!

[Ron Dickey]

you have a good start, looks like you will be camping in it very soon!!

Ron D.

[Team140]

Thanks.

Gainsville? Kool! Are you a drag racing fan? Pop, pop goes the nitro.

Yep. I was the ripe old age of 12 and could pick out the big block cars before the hoods were opened Sadly, I've yet to go to a GatorNational since I've been here. I guess I see all the traffic and decide to go do something else and just listen to it at home on the front porch 6 miles away as the crow flies

The microwave came in yesterday. The fridge should be here tomorrow.




I took the day off since the dog ate an entire (big) bag of twizzlers yesterday. She's been wanting to be let out more often than normal and she's letting it all out. Apparently twizzlers will give dogs the runs. Watch out.

In my down time - and since it's so damn cold outside (It's 40*) I bought some balsa and I'm going to build a scale model to help me lay out the interior and galley. If I don't screw that up too bad, I'll post pictures later. Heck, I may post them if I screw it up bad enough anyway!

[Team140]

So I spent the day building this:



It's not perfect to scale, but it's close enough to sort out the galley.

I'm going to recess the microwave, add a sink, and mini fridge. There should be plenty of room for a camping stove if I need to fire it up. Under the sink will be batteries and other heavy equipment. Going to try and hide a window unit under there if I can sort out the exhaust/vent situation.




I think the TV wall can be moved closer to the galley to allow more room in the living quarters. The floor space is measured to fit a Queen mattress on all four corners.



This weekend I plan on putting the headliner in and getting started on the galley since the mini fridge will be here.

[KCStudly]

That is a nice model

Make sure you leave enough room at the counter edge and face frame for the thickness of the galley hatch (ribs and inner skin).

[aggie79]

That is a nice model

I agree. Very nice model (and teardrop design).

Make sure you leave enough room at the counter edge and face frame for the thickness of the galley hatch (ribs and inner skin).

KC's above words should be printed in bold. I almost didn't account for the counter edge and it would have been disasterous.

Take care,
Tom

[Team140]

KC's above words should be printed in bold. I almost didn't account for the counter edge and it would have been disasterous.

Take care,
Tom

Thanks for the heads up! I don't plan on having the counter come all the way to the edge. I'll keep that in mind as I start laying things out in full size

[Team140]

The refrigerator arrived. Now I can work on the galley!

[Team140]

A quick update before I'm out the door and headed home!

I got the headliner partially installed. I do not recommend using this as a headliner by just gluing it in place. This was an absolute nightmare to get in place and stay. I'm still not positive it will last. It's PVC "tile board" made for bathroom walls. It flexes well, but it's also quite brittle and will break aprt in large chunks as you're cutting if you aren't careful. Ask me how I know...



Once the inner headliner was in place, I cut and glued some Styrofoam sheets in the voids.



While the Styrofoam was in place and the glue was drying, I decided to mock up the galley counter. So far, so good. (The counter will not be that close to the hatch, I would have had to notch the counter to make it sit further back and I'm not ready to do that yet.)



I woke up Sunday morning and was brave enough to cut out a door. That's about all I could do as it started to rain and our carport becomes a carpool in the rain!



One last shot before the flood!



I'm going to try and at least get the other door cut out and make some final measurements for the bulkhead. One thing I've learned as I look over at the ever growing scrap pile - building a larger teardrop isn't proportionate in cost as it is in size. It's exponentially more expensive!

[Team140]

We had a chilly and foggy Saturday this weekend so I spent most of my time indoors. Sunday I went out and completed a big chunk of the galley. The refrigerator fits quite well.




I need to decide how I'm going to build the cabinets around the microwave now. Maybe that will be next weekend's project.




A final shot of the galley all secured with the first coat of polyurethane on.




It's also time to make a decision about the wiring paths so I can route them into the exterior of the plywood (will be covered by the cedar)

My list of things to buy just got expensive:
Sink
Lights
Power panel
Exterior plywood and aluminum skin
Cedar tongue and groove
...it goes on and on!

[Team140]

It's been a while since my last update, but things have been progressing. I've ordered a few interior lights and have all but finished the galley. I'll be working on the wiring next.

I decided to try my hand at making nice cabinet doors. These are the first I've ever made and I'm pretty sure I can knock them out quickly now. They are cedar with birch panels.



The first cabinet door mounted up



The cabinet doors for the small cabinets on the counter top



The completed galley with some peel and stick tile samples. The back walls that can be seen will be covered in a tile back splash.



There's also an interior light with a cedar "hockey puck" I made to space the light out from the wall since it was too deep to mount as-is. Here's a close-up of it.



I'm going to tackle wiring as well as interior cabinetry next.