Superlegerra -ish 5x9 foamy - First Trip!

[KCStudly]

+1, use additional adhesive and a notched trowel.

[Shar]

Exciting progress on the trailer! Hope a bunch of stuff gets done fast this weekend!
Re. the spackling; where I live the vinyl spackling is called "lightweight spackling" and you can tell the difference by hefting the package, compared with regular spackling.

[lthomas987]

Well so far so good. I have made a bunch of progress this weekend. All of it involves avoiding cutting the door opening. Despite the fact it is smaller than the windows I have already cut it is somehow stressing me out. So I have trimmed like 85% of the inside curve GG ooze. I've vacuumed out the dust in the trailer (extra dumb since I am about to cut the door right?)

First off the shop foreman is very happy I told my friend the wrong day for large garbage disposal day. He got a shop chair out of the deal (for another three weeks anyhow)


I spent the late part of last night cutting 1" chunks of 1" oak dowel rod and then setting them into the foam for mounting some hardware later. I didn't get any pictures but if you're going to use a forstner bit in foam for setting plugs do a bit of testing (I didn't) and my holes with some tear out are bigger than they need to be. Gorilla glue surplus fixed it.. but it's a pain to clean up after.

I put the wood plug as close to flush as I could manage on the front side and taped it down with packing tape to control the gorilla glue ooze


They stickup a bit on the back side but nobody will see it and it will make it easier to find them for purposes of using them


I then used some spare 2x4s to clamp everything in place. *just sitting there being heavy.


This morning I got up cleaned up the little bits of ooze and then started prepping for canvassing. I've been getting great results by sanding with 80 grit paper and then going over it with that wall paper pricker roller. I haven't done any destructive testing but it sticks everything down REALLY well. Maybe I'll do a destructive test with a bit of scrap and when I go out to glue up the last bulkhead.

One of the two bulk head panels with holes is drying. The other I will go do before bed tonight. I can't work either of the next two weekends as the foreman is entered in a hunt test and a flyball tournament. I need to make sure I am doing SOMETHING every night or my goal of being buttoned up by winter will not happen.

I have a new plan for the door frame I think. I am going to rip a 2x4 to about 1.5"x 2" a hair under probably. I'm going to use that to make the vertical parts of the door frame. So it will be solid wood for hinges and and door catches and things. I am also going to use 1x4 for the bottom of the door frame and 1x2 (ripped out of 2x4) for the top of the door frame. I'll allign all the wood so it is flush to the inside wall of the trailer and use the foam cutter to inlet for the wood. This means when you're sitting in the door on your way through you'll be partially supported on the wood.

[GPW]

All looking very Good !!! Dog seems Happy !!!
LT, I’m beginning to believe we should mount/hinge the door frame temporarily (dry fit) , and then re-measure/ trim exact as to the opening ... It’s an extra step but assures a good fit ...

[steveonzakon]

Its all starting to make sense now. Thanks for your build thread and pics.

[atahoekid]

All looking very Good !!! Dog seems Happy !!!
LT, I’m beginning to believe we should mount/hinge the door frame temporarily (dry fit) , and then re-measure/ trim exact as to the opening ... It’s an extra step but assures a good fit ...

Since I had to make doors twice to make them work, I agree with GPW. I tried using the door cut out as my door but I screwed it up. Taking the extra step should probably help you avoid the extra work

[lthomas987]

At this point my hinges are only a few days away by mail. Also I have built my door frame as a free standing thing. So I can practice getting everything to fit. I will probably end up using my door plug as the door, but the way the frame works I will have to cut it down a lot. so not too much worry about fit troubles. And if it doesn't work I have the leftover 1.5" foam I bought for my galley hatch that won't get used in the hatch that I can make a door out of. It'll be a bit thinner than the 2" walls but it will fit a normal door lockset much better.

Last night I practiced cutting foam with a new tool. We'll it's an old tool but a new way. I heated up a putty knife (the painting kind) on my coleman stove. It cut literally like a hot knife through butter. Experimentation showed that it was easier to go perpendicular to the foam if I had a guide. a ripped strip of 2x4 that was square on all 4 edges worked pretty well. Line the board up on the outside of the cut (away from the waste side) and slip the knife in. Repeat. It made very fast clean cuts.

[atahoekid]

Good idea!!! Just watch the fumes, they are nasty!!!!

[lthomas987]

Good idea!!! Just watch the fumes, they are nasty!!!!

I was just going to drag the whole thing out in the driveway. With my giant window openings and such it shouldn't be a big deal. Thanks for the reminder though!

Laura

[atahoekid]

I think Mike posted a thread about the danger of the fumes from the cutting of foam, so just to be safe, I would use a fan to blow the fumes out of the area while you're cutting the foam. You can't be too careful when the effects of the fumes can cause a real health problem. (I don't mean to sound like an alarmist, but I'm a safety professional by trade and I made sure I had adequate ventilation and used a fan when cutting the foam)

[The Teardrop Nanny]

Hi Laura!
Great progress and way to go! I bet when you drag it out to the driveway you will get a few people stopping by to see what you are up to. Best wishes in accomplishing your cut out. Joanie

[lthomas987]

I have my bulkheads all basically ready for paint. I'm going to prime them and paint the backsides before they go in the trailer. So that I don't have to do any tricky painting in holes or blind corners etc.

I still need to pull the staples holding my glued edges but that won't take but a few minutes some time when I need to think about a step.

I also decided on a door frame method. I built the frame almost like the diagram above. I had my vertical pieces (jams?) rotated 90 degrees. Fortunately I was explaining my plan to someone and held everything up next to each other and realized it looked wrong. So I ended up making it again. But no big deal as I hadn't cut anything but some pine.


Tonight I've got somebody coming over to help me cut the door. Really they're just there so I can't back out of the plan again. I mean pending me explaining the plan and not discovering any more issues with my plan of course. That was the plan for Tuesday night.

Once I get the door frame set I have only the hard points for the galley hatch to work out before I can start canvassing!

If only I could work on the trailer this weekend. But NOOOOO the foreman says we're going to a hunt test so he can hunt some birds.

[lthomas987]

Well thanks to peer pressure and delivery pizza I got my door opening cut this evening.
I did some of the trimming and finer work with some putty knives that were heated on my Coleman Stove. I think there should be bonus points for that. Well or at least it should make it clear I wish I was camping.

I cut the hole more or less large enough to hold the wooden frame but only expose the vertical bits.
In this picture you've got the top of the doorframe. You can see where I used my solder gun foam channel cutter to cut the relief for the 1x2 header, leaving behind the foam curves for the door!

There were some tricky bits.

Also the foam where it joins to the trailer floor came detatched when I was working with the hot putty knives. Gorilla glue also melts at high enough temps. That's what's laying over the 1x4 footer there diagonally. In the big picture I've got it propped in place. Some glue and it will be just fine fit into the doorway.

I am sorry the photos look so terrible. My garage is very dim and I use a coleman lantern to bring the light up enough to work. (I only work with the garage door up and a big fan running so I don't have to worry about fresh air)


Up next!
* Glue in Doorframe
* Glue in lower foam bit that came from doorframe
* inset remaning hardpoints
* Spackle divoits and other imperfections inside trailer
* Sand and prick inide of trailer
* canvas inside of trailer
* paint areas to be blocked off by bulkheads
* install bulk heads
* build round off solder gun jig to round over the outside edge of the roof wall join
* round off outside edge
* spackle exterior imperfections outside
* sand and prick exterior
* canvas exterior (be ready to do this on 9/20 because I have help then)
* paint outside!
* build hatch
* build flip out table

[atahoekid]

Nice to see the cutout happened without too many issues. It is somehow disconcerting to cut a hole in a perfect wall. I know i had to take a deep breath before making my cutout for the windows. Well Done!

[GPW]

Really coming along Nicely !!!