Muircockhall Build Log

[KCStudly]

I've not seen too many people do the deep rib thing, but I have seen lots of people have problems building hatches. The reason I used solid wood ribs (mitered and jointed) was because I didn't want to have to screw in between the edges of the plys; no good that way. If you do decide to use ply ribs, screw solid blocking between them from the face of the plys and screw your hatch skins into those. Of course, you probably were already aware of this, but it doesn't hurt repeating for others who are lurking.

[grantstew8]

The weekend was fabulous. The weather was outstanding, it was around 23 or 24C (mid 70's) and not a cloud in the sky. This is Scotland....so this is exceptional. Andy Murray also won wimbledon, the first Scot ever and the first Brit for 77 years.
anyway I digress....

Cut all the timber and glued and pinned it to the ply



Then in sheer haste, I stood them up to get a feel for the size and shape of the TD.


In hindsight, I think I'll lay down the walls and put in the electrics, switches, doors, insulation and then stand them up. It will be easier to do on the deck of the trailer rather than crouched down working on a vertical wall.
There are a few house builders (particularly German) that do complete wall installations.http://www.hanse-haus.co.uk/typo3temp/pics/911514e4c0.jpg

[KCStudly]

"Work smarter not harder", is a good motto. I think you have a good plan there.

My build theory on TPCE has been to try and do as much work on "the bench" (or cabin floor, as the case may be) before jumping to the step of building the box.

In my case it doesn't seem to be taking any less time, but at least there is a lot less contorting and I feel that I am able to keep the quality level higher than it would have been "inside of the box".

[grantstew8]

Below was my original idea to build the walls. The studs on the inside and the ply wall on the outside. Pretty much how they build houses. Obviously the reason the external skin is put on first when building a house is because of tradition and weather.



Using this system all I can do is add wires and insulation before I attach the inside walls. Then I'll need to drill holes and fish out wires etc. The same process when fitting plasterboard in a new house.

I had one of those "middle of the night ideas."

I have almost no perforations in the outside wall (light switches etc) so why not switch the walls around. In essence in the photo above; the walls swap sides.
This means the plywood wall you can see is now the inside wall, not the outside. If the walls are erected, (with 6mm for the external skin) I can add switches, wires, cut slots for the roof spars. It also means I'm standing and working outside the trailer and not crouched inside it. Rather than erect it, I could lay it on the deck of the trailer. It allows me to put in additional timber, cut holes from the inside out and align switches/speaker.

Another though crossed my mind. Thinking out loud...

It is possible to leave the outside wall off until the trailer is almost complete. This would mean the shelves, cupboards could be easily lined up with studs. More importantly if an additional stud is required, it's easy to add.

At what-ever stage, I can pack it with insulation, one or two holes for an outside light and then glue and screw on the outside walls

[KCStudly]

Sounds like a good plan, so long as you are happy with the new inner ply thickness.

[grantstew8]

Like you all, I've been telling everyone about the project and bouncing ideas of technical folk. Stewart, a maintenance engineer I work with, is no exception. We had a long discussion about sound. Turns out my radio does not have an input connector as I thought; it has a subwoofer output. We discussed the options at length and I decided I would hunt for a 240v mini sized HIFI in the local tip. They have a skip designated for electrical waste. This morning he walked in and donated a radio to the TD build. "It was cluttering up my shed" he said. It's ideal as it has an aux in port so I can connect Ipods and pc's into it.

My trips this weekend to the dump should realize speakers. The good stuff people throw away is frightening.
Last weekend, I picked up a rusting towbar, with a good towball and a well used griddle that needs a 2 seconds work with a welder. I've since seen the same "antique" griddles for £30 or £40 .....

[aggie79]

Nice find!

We use our radio and iPhone for music all of the time. (We keep the volume at very low level so as to not disturb anyone else's camping experience.)

Keep the build moving along!

[grantstew8]

You're right, there is nothing worse than blaring music when you have escaped to enjoy peace and quiet.
I was thinking if the weather was inclement and we could watch a movie in bed on the laptop, the sound would be a little better than the tinny speakers on the laptop.

Today is my last day of my 12 hour shifts, it's that time of year with staff and holiday cover. I'll be back on the tools this weekend.
My plan unless I'm asked to do other things is:
Cut spars
Fit some spars
Fit 12v and 240v electrics, plugs and wires

I also have to fit in a few bbqs as the weather is unusually hot for Scotland at the moment.

[grantstew8]

I've started a video log showing build. I'm new at this technology so please be gentle.

http://youtu.be/InkPQN-Io4M

shows my design ideas starting with version 1 using a standard 8x4 sheet
As I'm pretty far down the design route, I'll try and back-track and talk about the issues I thought were relevant to the design.

As for the build itself, this weekend I've put up walls "inside out" and put in roof spars.
I've made a short video showing how I've installed the spars and includes a mistake.
http://youtu.be/vU4gcXG9oEE

[grantstew8]

The depth of some of the socket I cut were not perfect and needed some packing to level up the spars. My initial thought was to use a plastic packer.


Over night I changed my mind and decided it would make sense to use timber glued to the ply as it is easier to do, would spread the load and also act as a packer.


.

[grantstew8]

http://youtu.be/4kjpPCGjm5c

Remarkable as it is, I am building a teardrop trailer because I wanted to have a full sized (Class A) RV to tour around. Obviously if budget was not an issue.....

[grantstew8]

Another wee video about supporting ribs and cutting a template for the galley ribs
http://youtu.be/Qy5nJOvb4TA

[grantstew8]

Made up some ribs for the rear galley, once cut with the jigsaw I was pretty disappointed by the wavy cut but a few passes with an electric planer sorted out the issue
http://youtu.be/o9vGok3tN0M

Let me know what you think....

[grantstew8]

This morning was not my usual 3 hours as I needed to take the Rav4 to have the tyres checked. It turned out to be the valves, phew.....

Anyway, the hatch shape was pretty easy to put together using kreg screws. In the video it's amazing how strong the structure is just using these screws.
http://youtu.be/GxAGYafOxYs

Hope you find it useful.

[S. Heisley]

Hi, Grant:

I'm thinking that maybe you made your latest video "private" so that you could see if anybody was watching!
We're blocked from seeing your latest one.