The 5x8 RollsRice begins...

[RollsRice]

The door template/position

[RollsRice]

The cut...

[donnan]

Great start there. I love the cabin already it has a real friendly drink kind of feeling.

As the saying goes: "a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step".

In answer to the question from Dean in Ct

I like your attitude!
Just a question, as I have no experience with store bought trailers, is it normal for the tires to stick out beyond the fenders as they appear to? (Given your experience it might be for others to answer that) Anyway...
Good luck!
(And where are you from?)

Normally tyres should not stick out beyond the fenders. I would probably pick up a few metal washers or shims and bring those fenders out to cover the tyres correctly.

Good luck with your build. I will be following and look forward to more pics.

Paul

[RollsRice]

Actually, some of that was the frame being up on jacks. I recently lowered it and it is not nearly as bad. But let's face it, it's not a terribly expensive frame. The fenders are welded, so it would be a real pain to fix.

[celticquetzel]

Thoroughly enjoying your build. I love how each TD is unique. Somebody had a nice cutout in their build to hold small stove canisters and keep them from moving around in transit. You could do something similar for the decanter. Cover it with velvet and you wouldn't even need to unpack them. Fit your ready to go criteria!

[RollsRice]

Much has happend on the teardrop. I will try to put it all in order.

The next picture is the cut I made for the hatch.

IMG_0006.jpg (93.9 KiB) Viewed 1889 times

[RollsRice]

As I buttoned up the walls to the floor and frame I realized that the galley shelf was short. So I had to redo it. I picked red oak and paid a lot more attention to my cut. I then built a slide out table to give me more working space inside the cabin. With the cut right on the money, I went ahead and glued and screwed the walls to the floor and the cabin shelf.

[RollsRice]

With the walls secured, it was time to screw int he roof struts. Once that was done, it was time to measure off and place the fan and lights.

[RollsRice]

I was feeling down right skilled at this point. So I went ahead and cut the interior roof panel. I realized that I needed to make the interior roof exactly like the exterior roof so the fan would line up and I would know where to put a strut to secure it. So I traced out the fan on some 1/8 inch red oak and made the cut. I slipped that into the cabin. The cut was so tight it was hard to move around in place. I finally decided to pull it back out, sand it down some and try again. It was much easier to handle and the gap by the wall is hardly noticable. I secured the top piece starting at the hatch side going towards the front. ONce that was in place, I cut the other piece that would go down to the floor. I overlapped the two pieces and you can hardly see the seam. I then attached the lights, drilled holes for the cord and wired it up. I spent about two hours making custom light switch holders because they were too thick and would push up my exterior roof panel. BUt once I had the interior panel in place, I didn't need it after all.

Lesson learned: Don't make any decisions after 6 hours of work in the hot sun. Call it a day, have a drink. There is always tomorrow.

In this picture you can see the red oak roof, the flush mounted dimmer switches just above the door (so they are easy to work while standing outside), the swivel lights, and the fan.

[RollsRice]

So the cabin is basically done. I will probably come back later and stain the wood. My custom cut mattress should arrive this week and will be wall to wall inside the cabin.

[RollsRice]

My electrical system consists of two power strips. It does the job. I have left room to add batteries later. My guess is that most, if not all, of my stops will be in a park with hookups. I finished out my portable table. I can use it for the stove when I need extra room. It fits directly on top of the shelf. So when it is not being used, it doesn't take up any space.

[RollsRice]

So...call me crazy, but I think I can see the remainign tasks from here. Next weekend I will finish the exterior roof and start building the hatch frame. The weekend after that will be securing the hatch and finishing up any exterior tasks. The weekend after that will be the finish out. I will seal, chalk, bondo, sand and otherwise get the thing ready to paint. The paint job will be two tone to match the car.

It is getting hot in Texas. I plan to be through before August. I think I have a pretty decent chance at it.

[ksmack01]

Really looking forward to seeing this thang done. Id rather read this thread than the daily news around this joint. Keep um coming, coffee will be ready at 6am.

[RollsRice]

OK, I have a question. I'm looking into sealing/painting my trailer. I have read about Elasta-Tuff™ 6000-AL-HS. It sounds good. My question is can you mix pigments into it so get the color you want? If not, can you paint over it with the color paint you want and still have it work? I have not found anyone who sells this stuff yet, does anyone know anything about stucco paint? It apparently has some give to it.

[Ron Dickey]

got any drawings of what this is planned to look like at the end??

Looks like you have the right start.