New Camper build-update 8/5/12

[Rosey]

GPW and Atahoekid,
Thanks for the vote of confidence!!

Been working away this week, so here is an update.
Monday - the undercoating on the floor was finished.

Tuesday- my neighbor Charlie came and helped me flip the floor. I used Teks screws to attach the floor to the frame. These things worked great, and are self-tapping.

Once the floor was screwed down I layed out the "kitchen and bathroom"

The dropped floor section was routered out. I built a little frame under the angled section.

I'm using 4mm luan for the finish layer for the floor.

Last night the floor was finished!

This evening I'm going to try to get the wall panels glued together.

[GPW]

Whoa!! That’s looking SUPER !!! Nice and Wide too ...

[jeporter25]

I am new to this and by no means an expert, so if I am wrong feel free to ignore but it looks like the axle is mounted upside down. the way you have it it looks like the only thing holding the axle to the trailer is the tiny welds that hold the tabs.

image.jpg (47.33 KiB) Viewed 947 times

I think that if you sandwich the axle between the tabs and the springs it will be much safer.

[Rosey]

Jporter- Thanks for the input. I can see your point, but I don't know if it matters. I put it back together the same way it came apart. The U bolts that were on there before were much shorter and would not have fit around the axles. Does anyone else have an opinion? (I ask the crowd with opinions on everything).

Sent from my BlackBerry 9330 using Tapatalk

[GPW]

Rosey , if you flip the axle 180 degrees , all will be correct ... or well , better ...

Here’s my old one ...

[Rosey]

Glen,
It looks like you have a slightly different setup...ie: axle, springs, mounting plate.

If I flip my axle 180 it will go, mounting plate, axle, springs. There is no centering hole in the axle for the springs only in the mount. Maybe I'm just dense, but in my mind I can't think of a way to change that without cutting the mounting plate off the axle. It has been welded on there and working fine like that for many years. I guess I could add a second mounting plate on the otherside of the axle ..ie: mounting plate, axle,mounting plate, springs?

[GPW]

A second plate might make it more secure ... Just being Careful ...

[GPW]

Rosey , the more I think about this , the more I think the extra plates on the bottom would be good “insurance" ... Easy enough to do for more peace of mind ...

[linuxmanxxx]

I think you can just relocate the spring ends to a lower point and pass the spring under the axle as it is and then the U bolts reversed would look exactly like glen's mounting.

I think that would be easier to do actually than trying to weld directly onto the axle and flip it around. Seems that glen's pic has the plate just the same but the spring goes under the axle and not on top like you have it mounted Rosey.

[GPW]

Rosey, I’m guessing you’re Glad you made the Foamie boat eh ??? Stay Dry !!!

[High Desert]

Cool build Rosey. Just a thought on your axle set up following Glen's thinking;
If you were to get a different set of U bolts that were curved to the shape of the round axle tube, you can insert them from the bottom, around the axle tube with the ends pointing up. Push them up through the existing plate and add a second plate on top of the springs. Then add the washers and nuts and tighten it down. That way the U bolts are around the axle itself and not relying on the welded plate, sandwiching the entire assembly. And you don't have to disturb the right height or add welds to the axle. Like I said, just another option. Look forward to seeing your build come together.

[Rosey]

Sorry I've been slow to reply...I've been camping in Colorado for the last week and was off the grid for awhile. It was great to get back into my mountains for a minute.
Thanks for the suggestions on the axle. I really don't want to flip the axle and change the ride height at this stage, but I do have an extra plate so I'll probably go ahead and add it. That will at least sandwich the axle in.

Before I left for vacation I got the walls glued together and 1 wall rough cut. Tomorrow, I'm going to smooth the cut out wall and run the router around to cut the 2nd wall. I also got a door frame glued together. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow. Hope everyone has a good night

[KCStudly]

Looking forward to the pics. Glad you had a pleasant time in CO.

[GPW]

Nice to get away from the Humidity for a while ... clean mountain air ... Ahhhhhhhh NICE !!!!!

[Rosey]

Sorry to say, I've failed you. No pics today It was after dark when I quit. Oh well, tomorrow's another day