With the ceiling now in place, I laid in the roof spars. Next I ripped up a bunch of nice 1/8 steaks from a 2x4, applied TB to both sides, and slipped them under the spars, to help hold up the ceiling.
This worked just fine. I had originally designed for a 1/4" ceiling, before I found my 1/8" source. It was too much work to revise the drawing, so I didn't.
Before putting the insulation in, the few wires in the attic needed to be placed and holes drilled thru the ceiling for dome light, reading lights and Fan-Fan. Once I got the holes drilled, there was nothing stopping me from mounting the light fixtures. So I did. I now have working battery powered dome and reading lights. One step closer to campable!
Fan-Fan goes here:
Next step was cutting attic insulation to size between the spars. I went to HD and got 2 sheets of the white foamboard, got it home and cut to the trailer width, so all I needed to do was slice off pieces from the side. So what did I do on the first piece? Cut off the end. I realized my mistake when I put the piece in its place and the between-spar width was good, but it was almost a foot short.
So I set that sheet aside and started with the other one. I got it right from there and only a couple panels had to come off the goof sheet.
My "attic" is only 3/4" high, so only got one layer of insulation. My decision to do this is based on over 50 years camping in tents in snow, tent and truck dry camping in the desert, and whatever in between without any insulation. If none was good enough, some should be just fine.
I had just finished cutting roof insulation when RandyG stopped by on his way home from San Antonio. He got a good close-up look at the CNC Tear and the shop. We got to shoot the breeze about Tears and swap ideas. It was good to meet another teardropper in person.
Today, while starting to skin the roof, I made a disturbing discovery. I laid down a 5x5 sheet of 1/8 ply on the roof and the galley end did not square up! Across the width of the Tear, it was out of square with the ply by about 3/8".
You can see the galley spar peeking out from under the roof skin in front, but the far side is even.
The aft bulkhead is square to the wall on the right side, but not on the left. BUT the walls are parallel to the point where the 1/8 ply fits between the walls as planned. So the walls are parallel but not square with the bulkhead on both sides? This makes no sense.
Whatever the cause, there's no fixing it. Everything is tightly screwed and glued, and solid as a rock. There's no taking it apart now. I just hope it doesn't show, 'cuz that's how the roof is going on.
I started at the rear and worked forward, cutting to size lengthwise, gluing and stapling. Once the glue sets up, it should be good and strong. The first 5x5 sheet went on just fine.
On the second sheet, I mismeasured. The end should have hit the middle of a spar, but ended at the edge nearest to the rear. Worse yet, I didn't discover the problem until the sheet was half glued/stapled on, and there was no going back. I got out the handsaw and tried to follow a line, but the cut came out wavy and ratty looking.
So now the last piece wasn't going to match up at a neat seam, no way, no how. So I cut the last sheet for best fit, installed it, and I'll have to apply some spackle before the Al goes on.
Since I had the Tear out to work on the roof, I took a couple of glamour shots:
The Al for the right wall is up on the CNC for a rough cut, so that should be the next big step. I'm saving the hatch for last.
Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned!