The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[GPW]

Certainly is PRETTY work !!!

[KCStudly]

Thanks, GPW.

[GPW]

Beauty work eh !!! I hate to use the term looks “professional “ only because the professionals only WISH they could make a trailer this NICE ... just sayin’ ...

[KCStudly]

Thanks again GPW.

Tonight I finished picking bits of tape off of the hatch, then did the same on the edge of the curb side galley wall (I had done the street side wall edge previously). Tedious and time consuming, but it sure looks better w/o the blue tape on it.

At one point I needed to flip the hatch back over, and managed to do it by myself, despite how awkward it is. Somehow I had the thing on my back like a tortoise shell and swung around. While I was looking down and back to make sure I didn’t hit the bench, one of the corners above my head, as I was hunched over, whacked into the side wall of the cabin pretty solidly. As I looked up to see what happened it was as if I could feel the hatch springing back off the wall, but I was in an awkward position and couldn’t really tell the extent of the damage at that moment. As I was getting the hatch situated and off of my back I figured I was going to find a good size split or dent, maybe even a puncture.

Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t even find the point of impact, at least not with any certainty. I was very pleased that the glass was able to take a shot like that, a pretty solid point load, too, and it shrugged it right off. That bodes well for incidental contact with branches and such that may be encountered in the deep woods. Sure, the paint may get scratched, but it won’t be easy to puncture and/or rip into.

I moved the doors out of the cabin from where they had been stored under the roof vent so that I could get in there and mask it with a piece of the plastic sheet. One of the doors looked like it had warped ever so slightly, curling along the header cupping toward the inner/plywood side. I don’t think it’s enough to hurt the seal, maybe 1/16 inch difference across the whole piece. Anyway, I shuffled the way they were stacked and laid them flat to each other inside the cabin again. I’ll flop a piece of cardboard over them before I glass the roof, just in case.

[Atomic77]

So... Are you happy with your decision to go glass?

Michael

[KCStudly]

Yes! Though I am still a believer in the canvas, and may still do that if I build another. If.

[ghcoe]

Yes! Though I am still a believer in the canvas, and may still do that if I build another. If.

You need to build another..... This one needs to go to a museum.

[KCStudly]

Not so much, but I do appreciate the very kind thought.

Part of me wants to build another just so that I can see what it's like to build one that is much more basic, strictly utilitarian. Compare apples to oranges, you know?

[peeler]

wonderful craftsmanship. i appreciate the attention to detail. and I can relate to taping issues, i've all but given up on leaving tape in place on anything, even if cured, for more than an afternoon.

[S. Heisley]

.

You need to build another..... This one needs to go to a museum. [/quote]

I agree!

[KCStudly]

That's very kind of you, both.

Welcome to the build, Peeler. Yeah, I'm sure some of my tape troubles have come from the occasions where I wanted to mask something and then the build sequence sort of mandated that this or that be inaccessible for a period of time; or the operation that the masking was placed to protect against was a multi-stage process.

If I can't get the affected areas to blend in well enough, some of it can be strategically hidden by accent paint "trim". For areas where that might not be appropriate I will do my best to refinish it.

[GPW]

“ This one needs to go to a museum” .... not the first time that glowing sentiment has been expressed... JMHO It’s probably the finest , most detailed Foamie' trailer ever built!!! .... yet ... truly a CUSTOM project and labor of Love ...

This one can go in the proper TD Museum and he can build another “plain vanilla” one to drag down the dusty bumpy highway and go off road with... built in 3 weeks too ...

[Ned B]

Another would be nice, we'd be sure of another high quality build for a few more Months (years?) of reading... lets' not distract KC , he's SO close to campable on TPCE! (KC, as always, ALL the admiration on your fantastic build )

[KCStudly]

Thanks guys, your kind praise is appreciated. I'm glad that I can offer some entertainment value.

I didn't get much done on the camper the last couple of days, but hope you still enjoy this post as much as I did.

A very special guest made the pilgrimage to Mecca on Friday. Anybody recognize this rig from central Texas?


It’s CapnTelescope (Brad) and his CNC Build. We shared a couple beers, gave each other tours of our builds, and had a meal together.


I especially liked the way he had a plywood cover on his horizontally tongue mounted spare tire. All he has to do is park, pull a folding chair out of the back of his truck, plug his propane camp fire into the jack in his vented tongue box where his propane tank is stored, and crack a beer; table's already set up.

That and the 12v truckfridge sourced fridge/freezer; gotta get me one of those. Lots of contained storage for all of the various utensils and galley items, with well thought out utility.


Here’s Brad trying TPCE on for size.


Suffice to say I valued the visit, conversation and comradery highly.

Since I’m doing a camera dump, we can get caught up on the other things I mentioned previously.

Here’s the hatch hinge spar after removing the masking tape; yup, peeled a bunch of poly varnish off and probably could have gotten away w/o having bothered. There really wasn’t much for drips and the front face of the spar is hardly visible anyway. I will refinish it, or paint it with the black enamel trim paint later.


Same thing on the underside of the hatch rib sill, the maple piece that ties the ribs into the bumper; masking removed.


And that last little bit back on the street side that didn’t get removed before Karl and I flipped the hatch the first time.


The curb side wall edge naked.


Finally, I cut a piece of plastic sheet to mask off the roof vent opening. The inside surfaces of the opening will be completely enclosed by the fan trim, so no worries about damaging the finish here; it’s already been soaked with the mix previously.


Today Brad, Larry, Karl and I got together to go to the spring tractor swap meet, despite the very wet weather we’ve been having. We kidded with Brad for having ‘brought the rain with him’, and with Karl for forecasting that the rain was supposed to stop early this AM. Poor Brad, he’s on a lap of America and it has been raining on him for at least a week, including everyday he’s been in New England, but seemed to be having a good time and trooped on.

We started out with pastries and coffee from the bakery in Colchester, did the swap, and had lunch afterwards at Harry’s burger stand.

We were hoping to find a fuel fitting for Randy/Wolffarmer’s tractor, which Brad could have taken with him to the Mordor event; but alas, we had no luck this year.

I was glad to have worn my rubber boots (with cozy alpaca socks) and carried my big umbrella. Most of the field is grass, but there were still some muddy areas. Surprisingly the weather didn’t seem to thin the crowd out too much, and the venders seemed to be giving good prices in order to help stuff move. Some sellers weren’t too well equipped to deal with the wet conditions and it was a shame to see some of the old stuff getting wet, but among us we managed to pick out some treasures.

One of the first items that caught my eye was this 10 inch slicing knife. Good quality, with stainless steel blade; I gave $2 and the guy threw in a second knife (of lesser quality, but still in fine shape) for free.




Sabatier is a French knife maker that appears to have a good reputation, and Robinson is still around. I assume it was a collaboration, made in France and imported.

Didn’t see much for stoves, lanterns or cast iron, but there were a couple of white gas heaters, including a matched pair, one Coleman and a nearly identical Sears. The only difference I saw was the label and slightly different colors of green. Weather was poor and I was struggling to figure out how to take pics with my phone, so only got a pic of the Sears.


This little heater caught my eye, Bunsen Davy. Turns out to be a kerosene heater used like a block heater to keep your car engine from freezing up overnight; like a smudge pot. Sorry, there was water on the lens, as well as the heater.


Another seller had an even earlier one that I got for $5. Even if I don’t restore it it makes for an interesting shelf decoration. Apparently the pics I took didn’t happen, so I will offer a link to the instruction sheet I found online instead, with future pics to follow.
Auto Motor Heater Instructions

There was another booth with a large collection of kerosene lanterns on display, with many of them burning, but again, hard to take pictures with one hand holding the umbrella.

Once back at the shop Brad gave Larry and Karl’s wife Chris a tour. He mentioned that he was getting a drip thru his reading lights that was landing on his head while he slept, so we broke out a screw driver, a few tools and a tube of silicone, removed his external light fixture over the tongue box, and recaulked around the screws, wire hole and all of the rivet heads along the front skin seam. Hopefully that stops the rain for him.

From here he was headed back north for Maine lobster, then out to Mordor and on to the IRG, mostly boondocking and bouncing from place to place.

If you get a chance, crack a beer with him. You won’t meet nicer folk.

All I got done on the camper today was to tare a couple of empty epoxy cans and weigh up the partial cans I am working on now to make sure that I have enough epoxy to get the roof done. I have enough epoxy, but am marginal on the fast hardener, and don’t have near enough of the slow to do the job. On the fast I have more than 1.5x my base calculated need, but not 2x. The foam had been taking half again as much as my calcs, but on the last layup it was more like twice. On closer inspection the front upper wall/roof radius did get more coverage than other areas, so I guess it was a little fatter, but not horribly so.

Humidity was high, so I didn’t even do any patching, just went home and cat napped.

[Wolffarmer]

His rig will do good out there on the desert. Yours will also.

Yours is coming together and looking more like a camper every day ( or so )

Randy