The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[KCStudly]

just thinking you need to start on your second trailer soon

Oh, hell no! At least not another one like this. A detailed design is great for capturing the minds eye and helping it to become a reality (I love it when things end up looking like the plan), but man, there are just so many details that it becomes boggling. I'm 3 years into this (2 planning and 1 building) and the end isn't even close. (No one should be able to argue that I am not dedicated to putting build time in, either.)

after all the work/thought/expense you’ve gone through... it needs to be finished...

Amen brother, amen.

...signed and rolled out of the shop and directly into a Museum... More Art than trailer !!! You’ve managed to raise the bar so high...

Woodbutcher, Doug Hodder and other masters have more talent in their little fingers than I could ever dream of, with their build quality and artful design combining shapes and colors into "the whole package". I'm happy with my results so far, but still fearful that the final finish will be hack. (I guess that is part of what is taking so long... I want everything to be great, not just good.) That's one of the troubles with the mind set of building only one... no "next time" parachute cord to pull.

...the rest of us are left far below

Oh, hell no! None of this would be even remotely possible without the inspiration, technical background and input from so many people here. This is very definitely a team effort, and anyone who thinks differently can go...(censored)!

No offense intended, GPW, I sincerely appreciate the kind words. However, I am a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due. I have to thank Karl again, too. None of this would be coming out anywhere close without his generous support, tools, use of the hall, and encouragement.

[GPW]

One for Karl eh !!!

[KCStudly]

On the way to Mecca I stopped at the small hardware store to pick up some neats foot oil (for conditioning lantern and stove leather pump cup seals) and Coleman fuel. They had the neats foot in a quart size (life time supply!!!).


The only camp fuel they had was in small red plastic bottles, maybe a quart, for $7. What? That’s like only one tank full on a lantern and maybe half a tank on a stove. No gallon cans? The clerk tried to tell me that they won’t be doing the gallon cans anymore (I found that hard to believe). I told her I was boycotting the small plastic bottles.

On to the build.

This is the back bottom of the curb side wall where the galley wall edge meets the sill of the wall with the Kregg drill jig clamped on and another clamp to hold the joint flush.


Here it is screwed off so that I could dry fit the rest of the edge piece (no glue yet).


The back edge (lower right in pic) isn’t flush on purpose, giving a little bit for the router to take when I make it true to the CNC template.

Here’s the gap that needs to be closed up in order to spring the edge piece back into shape. It’s a strong 3/8 inch.


A little cleat made from a conveniently wedged shape scrap of maple screwed to the bottom of the wall sill gave a foothold for a long bar clamp.





Then I drilled a couple of more Kregg holes in the bulkhead wall blocking (on right) to draw in the last bit of the top of the wall edging (on left).


The Kregg jig wanted to pivot around a bit with the way I had to clamp it, so I shot a screw through the provided hole to pin it down.


Here it is upside down after screwing for dry fit. That last little bit was too rigid to draw in so I will count on the GG filling it in.


And here it is after taking it back apart and gluing it up. Few extra clamps and some weights as insurance to make sure it doesn’t skew from the glue pressure.

Also note that it’s a bit skewed on the table/floor. I needed the room to turn the crank on the bar clamp, so it had to be hung off of the edge.

A little while later I checked progress on glue expansion.



Back to fixing the other edge piece. Decided not to worry about which side the ply layer lands on. Clamped it in to the jig, as before, raised up to clear the jig lugs.



Fit the scab pieces of ply and routed the half laps, as before. This is the first void that I have found anywhere in the Okoume marine grade ply. Very small.


Here are the ply layers all dry fit and screwed down.


On the first one I screwed them down on the fly and they wanted to squish around in the glue while I was trying to start drilling the pilot holes for the screws, so this time around I used the spring clamps to hold them in place while I did the dry fit and predrilled for the first set of screws that pin everything in place.

Then I took it all apart and did the glue up using the same extra boards as before to screw/clamp everything down tight.


That joint had plenty of glue!

So I am very happy to be back on the upswing with this whole laminated wall edge method. Like I said, I learned a bunch of lessons on how I might have done it easier, but it is working out okay in the end.

[GPW]

As they say “ it all works out in the end , and if it doesn’t , then it’s not the end yet ! “

[bonnie]

As they say “ it all works out in the end , and if it doesn’t , then it’s not the end yet ! “

I like that attitude! Having fun watching and learning.

[KCStudly]

Thanks GPW and Bonnie for the encouragement.

Today is another day, so let's see how far I get. Off to snag a cuppa and hit the barn/build!

[Ned B]

KC,
keep on keepin' on! Can't wait to see the express as it gets closer to completion! How much 'further' do you think until you are going to be doing assembly?

[KCStudly]

Thanks a bunch for the enthusiasm, Ned. It shouldn’t be too much longer now (although back when I moved up into the loft I would have said that I would have been there already). I still need to figure out the optional strut anchor point up near the hinge; I need to figure out my wire routing (which I am doing in my head a bit as I go along, but have still not figured where the main circuit panel will go); and I need to get the inner panels on. One step after the other. Need to keep putting time in and keep productivity up.

On to the build. Today was the second of two fabulous spring days. Loft got up to 63F. Had all of the windows open and still wished I had worn shorts instead of jeans.

Reached a big milestone on TPCE and I’m very pleased with my progress today! Read on.

Peeled the clamps, weights and freezer paper off of the curb side galley wall edge glue up, then decided to use the chisel to trim the excess glue squeeze out. It worked great using the hard surface of the edge piece as a guide.


Then I hit it with the hard sanding block and cleaned it all up nice.




Next I laid the CNC template back into position and marked the margin that will be trimmed off with the router later.



Then I flipped the wall over (still amazes me how light it is) and cleaned up the glue that had squeezed out on the other side.





Then the only logical thing to do was to trim the rest of the profile into rough shape! Drum roll, please.


I had to sit and stare at it for a while. It really is looking like the plan, and I just love it when that happens!

This was just the rough cut made with the jigsaw. The final edge will be trimmed to the template with the router and flush cut bit.

Here are a few more pics that I took of the wall before the top arc and front radius were trimmed.

(That is the street side wall edge piece under the clamp blocks in the foreground.)



Then I turned my attention back to the second (street side) wall edge piece. When I went to unscrew the clamp blocks three of the drywall screws snapped off at their heads.


So I extracted them with vice grip pliers.


When I pulled the clamps it only sprang about 3/8 inch (down from 7/8 inch). Here it is laying on the plywood side while I moved the jig off of the out feed table.



Then I went to town scrapping the excess glue so that the router bearing would follow a relatively smooth surface.


As before, I ran the carpenter’s pencil around as a reference for the jigsaw, as well as a sharpie mark as a dumb idiot reference so I wouldn’t run the jigsaw into the table top.


Took a few iterations of clamping to the edge of the bench, cutting and repositioning to get all the way around both sides, during which I noticed that the gap at the saw cut had opened up considerably.


The laminated part continued to move back more and more (closing the tips together) as I trimmed the excess ply off, but I did not check it against the jig to see how much.

Here it is all trimmed close ready for the router with flush cut bit.


After running the router around it I found this area of delamination near one of the half lap joints. I suspect that it was either from backing the drywall screw out, or more likely from pushing the jigsaw too fast and having the blade dig in and lift it. It goes all the way through to the other side.



No problem. I’ll just squirt some TB2 under there with a hypo and clamp it down to set…

which is about the time that I realized that I had forgotten my glues at home. Drat. It sure will be nice when I can be sure that we won’t have any more freezing weather and can safely leave my glues in the loft.

Swapping things around, I couldn’t help but take another picture of the curb side profile.


Moving on to the street side wall. The two solid sharpie lines are the desired profile. The dashed outer and fainter inner lines are tracings of the wall edge piece from before the plywood fix.




I did it a little differently this time. After laying out the bottom trim detail I clamped the part and a 2x6 support to the bench and made the little notch cut first.


Then I used the miter saw to cut it to length.

Here it is after rough cutting away the recess in the foam and starting the dry fit.

Look at the size of that gap, oh my!

I trimmed a little too much off of the vertical edge where it butts up to the corner of the cooler slide block, so I will need to glue a little shim in there where the bit of blue foam shows for now.


This is all with the recess cut in the foam just rough cut. I will creep up to the line with the sanding block to get a nice tight fit. But for now I wanted to get the clamps dialed in so I can start checking the dry fit.

Just like the Grand Canyon.

If I had worked in sequence and made these edge parts right before I needed them, I don’t think I would have had nearly so much of a problem. No problem really, just a little more effort.

Here’s the top (top to left in pic).


And starting to clamp up the dry fit.






All in all I was very pleased with the progress today. Quite chuffed to have the profiles taking shape.

On the way home I snapped this pick of the front yard at Dow packed to the gills with blue foam.

This is just a small portion. The pile down in back by the railroad tracks is still just as big as it was before.

[Wolffarmer]

Nice progress. Love it when a plan comes together. My plans usually bite me in the butt.

Like that stack of foam. lots of trailers in there. Put america on wheels, going mobile.

Randy

[KCStudly]

Thanks Randy. Yeah, I'm really pleased to have the wall edge issue solved and to be moving on.

The profile cut is a big visual milestone and I am quite pleased to be at this stage. I could have cut them out months ago. You know, jump right to that step like so many people do, but it just made sense to leave them rectangular for measuring the blocking locations and keeping the finished edge from being damaged while handling.

[S. Heisley]

As I scrolled down to see your progress, I was wondering if the walls were uP yet and there it was, standing up and taking my breath away!!

WooHoo! P-R-O-F-I-L-E! The walls will be up SOON!!!!

[KCStudly]

Thank you Sharon for the exuberant enthusiasm!!! It means a lot to me to get such positive feedback, and to know that my efforts are entertaining and, perhaps, inspiring others.

Thank you.

[Wolffarmer]

KCS That is a good point on not cutting the profile before you really need to for construction. Will have to keep that in mind. Not that I will be able to hold back and cut the profile right away but I will at least be thinking about it.

Randy

[KCStudly]

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that made sense, Randy. Sometimes I wonder.

Got a couple of hours in tonight.
Sanded the street side wall notches to square to the face and better fit the galley wall edge piece to my layout line.



Tools of the trade.


Worked on the corner fit some more. After double checking the baseline measurement I found that I had a bit more to work with than the older sharpie lines had indicated.


Drilled the Kregg pockets and screwed it for dry fit.


After adjusting the foam to the line, I had to work a little harder with a few more clamps to draw the edge piece in.



Drilled pockets at top.


Once that was all set and fully dry fit, I pulled it apart and turned my attention to repairing the small area of delamination that I found on the edge piece ply layer. Propped the gap open with my steak knife, drizzled some thinned glue down into the opening, and clamped between some freezer paper.


And that was it for tonight.

[KCStudly]

The glue up of the street side wall edging plywood scab plate worked just fine. Tight as a drum.


Glued the galley wall edge piece into the street side wall.




The pieces of luan, cardboard and freezer paper are all strategically placed to protect the floor and foam from damage from the clamps, and are to keep it all from being glued to itself.

Then I sat and admired my work while contemplating the wire routing, making a rough sketch, and doing a rough calculation of how much wire mold surface mount trim I would need.


I have a wiring schematic in the works on the computer, but have not gotten far enough along to have anything printed out.

The plan is to run the interior light wires down channels routed into the inside of the foam, covered by the inside wall panels, pop out into surface mount wire ways that are screwed into the wall sill (the 2x2 cedar rail at the bottom of the wall) and have the surface mount trim all be hidden by the mattress. That way I have easy access to the wire routing for maintenance, repair and modification. I should be able to easily pull new wire through the channels whenever I want or need to.

Cleaned up the out feed table bench, wiped it down with a damp cloth, thinking that I might start applying finish to the cabinet frames; but then decided that I should wait and do a dry fit when building the cabin up first.


Stopped at Ho-De-Po on the way home and picked up some PVC wire way track. Pic’s next time.