The Mid-Life Crisis Build

[grantstew8]

The build is looking good!

[climbnkd]

I managed to get a little done on the trailer today. As usual, not as much as I hoped.



I finished the bracing for the cabin bunk.



One big accomplishment done today. Got the entire trailer skinned, inside and out. I also started to fill in all the screw holes and imperfections on the outer skin so I can get it sealed.



Here's a shot of the rear hatch. I still need to trim the bottom but otherwise it is done.



Nothing too spectacular here, just a shot of the roof.

I bought a flush cut router bit today and I got to say WOW! It was literally awesome to trim all the edges and have it come out so good. Is it weird that I'm excited about nice clean edges on my trailer? I don't think so. If I wasn't enthusiastic about building a TD then why even bother.

Although I was hoping to be further along in the build, I can't really complain about the progress I have made in less than one month. I went from a couple of boxes from Harbor Freight to a tangible, almost done TD. I really need to get it sealed next so that it can go outside. My wife's ready to have the garage back and not have to scrape the car windows in the morning. Can't blame her for that.

Not really sure when I'll be able to make significant progress again. Next weekend is already shot so maybe in two weeks. I'll keep you posted.

[climbnkd]

I managed to get a little bit of work done on the trailer today. I didn't have a lot of time but I really wanted to get something accomplished since I haven't really touched it in about a week.



The first thing I did was install the second slide-out shelf. This one will be for a cooler.



When I got my galley all laid out I realized the space for the cooler wasn't tall enough. Here you can see how I solved the problem by cutting the opening a little bigger.



The second thing I got done was to finish one of the cabinet doors. There will be three of them when I'm done. I probably should have waited to install it until all of them where done but I've never been known for my patience.



Here is the cabinet door opened up.

I also got the rest of the holes and imperfections filled at least on the exterior. Not exactly a great photo opportunity so I didn't take any pictures.

I'm going to try to work on it a little bit each day this week and most of Saturday. I'm really itching to get it sealed but it is going to be hard to do without the proper temperature. Hopefully I can figure something out.

[climbnkd1978]

Lets see some more pictures.

[climbnkd]

Since my last update I have been working hard to get the trailer to a point where I can leave it outside and not work about weather damage. My main problem was that the temperature has been so cold that I didn’t want to try to seal the trailer unless I had a heated area. I just can’t seem to get my garage at my house to heat up as much as I want so I just happened to stumble across an ad for a shop rental that could be had for a day, week, or month. The guy only wanted $25 per day so I called him and arranged to rent the shop for a week. This has worked out really good for me. Not only is it heated but there is more room to work and I don’t have to worry about making room for my wife’s car at the end of the day. I really wanted to try spraying the sealant with a HVLP spray gun so I bought one from Harbor Freight and decided to give it a shot. I created a mixture of 25% polyurethane and 75% mineral spirits for the first coat. I really worked beautifully. For the second coat I added more of the polyurethane to the mix so it was more of a 50/50 mixture. Again, no problems spraying with the HVLP system. On a side note, I learned an important lesson while doing this. For the first two coats of sealer I was only using a regular dust mask. After the second coat I decided to go get some lunch and during that time I started to feel unwell. I quickly realized that I needed better respiratory protection so I went to the local HD store and bought the correct mask for solvents. I sprayed another coat after lunch with the mask on and it made a world of difference. During the first two time spraying a had a fan blowing and the door open but that obviously was not enough. I should have known better, but I thought I could do it without the added expense of the correct mask. Definitely lesson learned.

After I got the third coat of sealant sprayed I let the trailer sit for a couple of days to make sure it was completely dried. To finish the exterior of the trailer I decided to use Kilz primer and then exterior grade acrylic paint to top it all off. I only put one coat of the primer on and it seemed to coat it pretty well. Then I proceeded to put three coats of the exterior grade paint on the entire exterior. I ended up using a roller and even though the finish is not smooth, I am happy with the results. If (or I should say when) I do this again I’m pretty sure I will use either aluminum or some other sheeting to finish the exterior. Although the expense will be higher, so will the end result. As you can see from the pictures, the entire exterior has been painted white. I decided to break up the white a little and painted a 2 ½ inch black stripe of bed liner around the bottom. This also allowed me to spray under the trailer to get any area that may have been initially overlooked.
After the paint was applied I was able to install the carpet on the front wall and ceiling. Here is another area I learned a lot in. I had a bunch of left over glue from the lino flooring so I decided to just use that to stick the carpet to the wood along with a smathering of staples. Let me just say that putting that type of adhesive on a vertical and inverted surface is messy, to put it lightly. In the future I will definitely use a spray on contact cement with staples. It turned out ok, but there are some areas that didn’t adhere as good as I would have liked and there are some wrinkled areas as well. Tip number two for this operation would be to have someone help you. It was pretty difficult to do it by myself.

I was able to install the latches for the back hatch as well. It took al little backyard engineering, but I think they turned out pretty good.

Since I only had the shop for a week, I had to bring the trailer home and I will have to finish everything else there. I decided to finish as much of the weatherproofing as I could so I installed the corner trim over butyl tape. I also installed the roof vent. The trailer got the ultimate test over this last weekend. It rained pretty much all weekend and...no leaks!! Hurray!

I definitely feel like I got a lot done but there is still more to complete before it is done. I need to finish the electrical system, install the trim around the hatch door with weather stripping, install the rear stabilizers, finish and install the tongue box, and license it.

Purchases are on hold right now until I replenish my funds but luckily I don’t have much left to buy (battery, mattress, a few odds and ends).

I have enjoyed this build immensely and already want to build more. I tried to convince my wife to build another one to sell but she is a bit resistant right now. I feel like I have learned a lot from this build and that I could really make a quality product. I have a cousin who has expressed some interest in either buying my current build or having me build him another one so we’ll see. Right now I just can’t wait to go out and try this one out.

I will get pictures upload soon.

[climbnkd]

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks.


I got the tail lights hooked up correctly on the first try.


Hooked up and ready to go to the shop for sealing and painting.


All tucked in for the day at the shop.


First coat of primer.


Between coats of paint I installed some tiedown points for the cooler drawer.


After all the paint and installing the corner trim and roof vent, there she sits ready to take on the rain.


Another shot of the "finished" product.

[climbnkd]

After looking at the trailer in my driveway for the past few days I think I will paint the frame with black bed liner. This is one of those moments where I get to say "I sure wish I had thought of that in the beginning". Chalk this one up to another lesson learned for next time. When I do build the next one, I think I will use a local manufacturer to build the frame versus the Harbor Freight route (not that there is anything wrong with that). I would have preferred having a 5 foot wide frame.

[KCStudly]

Looks good!

[Modstock]

Welcome to the site.
Cool to see another Utah'n .

[Forrest747]

Looks good and wow a fast build

[S. Heisley]

I'll echo the others: It looks good!

[Forrest747]

question I have is how is that cargo door working for you?

[Starseeker]

Wow, I turn the big 40 in a couple of months! Guess I need to get me a trailer fast!
You did a good job. Are you camping yet?

[climbnkd]

Holy Smokes! It's been a long time since I posted anything. This is because I haven't actually worked on it since February. My wife informed me a couple of weeks ago that I was taking my two younger boys camping on May 30. I said "okay, as long as it's in the tear"

She gave me the green light to continue working on the TD and make it camp worthy.

My goal back in February was to make it exterior weather proof so I could park it outside and my wife could have the garage back. When I got back to work on it I noticed that right by the door on the bottom of the side there was a little bit of de-lam going on. I guess I didn't seal the bottom edge very well. Luckily it is very minimal. To combat this in the future I am installing 1.5 inch aluminum angle around the bottom edge with butyl tape under it. So far I have one side done.



I also got the LED side marker lights installed on the side that is finished.



I knew I had to finish the edges around the galley so I went on the hunt for some aluminum channel. I ended up getting some 1"x1"x1/8 that fits nicely over the edges. I was hoping to use 1/16" but the supplier only had 1/8". Turns out I will need to trim a little off my hatch to clear the channel.



I this picture you can see the channel and the angle I used for the bottom edge of the galley. I also covered the countertop with FRP and used the leftover channel for the edge.

I had to experiment a bit with the struts for my hatch. I originally got 2 60# struts but they would not hold the hatch up. I was going to try some 90# ones but the store only had 100# so I got those. They work really good. The way that I originally placed the struts caused them to continually push up on the hatch even when closed. I knew that wasn't going to work very well so I looked around on the forum to find some good examples of strut placement. I ended up completely repositioning the struts and now they work awesome. They hold the hatch up without any problems and in the closed position they actually pull the hatch closed.



The hatch stayed closed throughout the last part of winter and early spring (read plenty of snow and rain), and I didn't have any leaks. The way that it opens gives me lots of room under it to work.

I have definitely learned the hard way to plan, plan, plan and then execute with patience. In my haste to get my TD skinned, I bent the exterior curve too quickly and ended up with some smallish cracks. Luckily they didn't spread much so I cut out the top layer of the ply and I will fill them in with Bondo and then repaint. Hopefully in the end you won't even be able to tell.

[climbnkd]

Okay, here's part 2 of my "catch-up" story.

I originally had a solid bunk that I built for my kids to sleep on. I was cruising the forum and came across a couple of other ideas that I like much better. So in true home built fashion I tore out the existing bunk and started over. I am going with a hammock style removable bunk. What do you think?



I finally got around to installing my stabilizer jacks in the back. It only took me like 5 months to get around to it. This step would have been so much easier if I had done it before building the cabin.





Last thing for now is the tongue box I bought from HF. I originally made my own but I wasn't very happy with the way it turned out. I figured that time wise and money wise I am ahead to just use a prefabbed box. It will house the battery and all the electronics.



So that's where I'm at as of tonight. I have given myself until the end of Memorial day to finish and make it campable. The to-do list is not small:

Install the bottom edge trim on door side
Fix the hatch so it will close
Install carpet on bulk head behind bunk
Install the LED cabin lights
Install the switches in the cabin
Install the other set of marker lights
Wire marker lights
Install rock guard on front of TD
Bondo and paint
Install the 120V plugs
Install the tongue box
Complete all wiring

I'm sure that I have forgotten a bunch more stuff but if I can get this much done, camping will be a reality.

I have totally fallen in love with building this thing again. I think in the beginning I got a little burned out trying to do so much in so little time (not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy building it).

I have already started making plans for my next TD. It will be a total custom build from the ground up and will be more of an offroad capable TD. Not hard core like Moby1, but a little better than my current set up. I am planning to camp in it this summer and see if I can sell it to finance my next build.