4-Day Weekender - Toddler bed!

[Kharn]

So now the major painting is done, and I have to get moving if I want to be done in time for our trip next month.

The lid fit back on the tongue box surprisingly well, there's just one 1/2"x1/2" area that is rubbing at one of the forward corners that I'll fix over the winter.

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You can also see how close I played it with the tongue box vs AC door, and when I built it, I'd thought of using a piano hinge and hadn't thought of how high a hurricane hinge sticks up above the surface...

Then I moved over to the galley doors, I really should have thought ahead and rabbeted the shelves for the sliding door track, because screwing the stuff in is not easy, both getting it flush with the edge and also countersinking the track just enough to recess the screw but not blow a hole through the track are not very fun things to accomplish.

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My wife still hasn't picked the Formica (she's narrowed it down to "about 40 options" ) so at this late date, I doubt we'll have a finished countertop for our first trip.

Then I started working on the power panel to go inside the tongue box.

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The PD4045 is upside down when viewed from the front of the tongue box because all of the terminal strips are going to be underneath the power switch and single gang box, so putting it in that way makes for the shortest runs to the strips and thus the most slack so I can move the panel around while doing the wiring. There's also the battery selector and the single gang box is a stand-in since I can't find the low voltage ring I thought I bought for this spot, but it will have two switches to control the galley 12v outlets (needed since the outlet box also has USB chargers so I want to be able to kill that load, and I didn't want to add an entire electrical box in the galley just for that switch) and the tongue box's 12v external outlet. The panel took a lot more time than I'd intended, mainly because I'm running out of mid-sized 1/2" plywood pieces, I have two 3'x3'+ pieces and a whole sheet but didn't want to use any of those and a ton of small pieces with no side bigger than 3", but luckily I found a single 13x13" piece to use for the right side of the panel so I planned the panel around the piece. It's also nice that with the PD4045 oriented that way, our chairs should be able to fit behind it in the tongue box. Then I had to figure out the right angle to cut and do it by hand since I had to return my dad's digital protractor and Kreg miter guide.

Not pictured:
-Making the floors for the battery cages, the batteries needed 1/2" panels to sit on so they don't rub on the bolts that hold the cages together, also to protect them against debris.
-Cutting the roof panel for the two porch light runs
-Drilling the galley divider and countertop support for the trailer wires that must pass through them.
-Preparing the cabin interior for touch-up paint, had to sand a few spots and give it all a close look to find poor coverage areas
-Making wire covers to go in the headboard shelves, I need to figure out a graceful way to get the wires out of the runs for the switches and outlets that go in that area.
-Drilling the nylon wallplates for the 12v switches, the new wallplates worked great and didn't break like the cheap ones did.

I'm currently behind on painting a few things, but those I can catch up during the week since my schedule only calls for painting Friday through Sunday. The next big challenge is getting the hatch up to the garage and figuring out how I want the prop rod to work.

[Kharn]

So we hit the stores last night and ended up with a few items, two 84x50" blackout curtain panels (one to make the two door panels, the other for blocking off the bunk in the future), two drawer pulls and a replacement low voltage ring.

Now the question comes, how long should I make the door curtains? I will be using a 6" thick mattress and the RV doors begin 3" above the floor. Should I cut them 1/2" above the mattress for clearance, or go longer so they can be tucked between the mattress and the door to block out all light? I've thought about adding door skirts like on Camp-Inn trailers, but I wouldn't get around to adding them until the winter.

[Metalhead]

So I cut the 2x4s for the bed support frame to length, but ran into problems when the only table saw blades I had were 72 teeth or greater. Suffice to say, those did not work very well for ripping the 60.5" boards, but I did all of the shorter ones. I hit Home Depot for a 24 tooth ripping blade, but by the time I was back, it was too dark to work in the driveway so I had to call it a night. My brother's coming over tomorrow to help with ripping the boards down, I'm not sure what else I can "Oh just one more thing!" into getting his help with.

20140322 cut wood small.jpg

And I swear I'm going to fix the big missed spot on the trailer rail the next time I have the tire off.

I've read through your build a few times at this point so let me know if I missed it somewhere.

What size did you rip these 2x4's down to? I am planning on doing a raised floor as well and wanted to compare our designs.

[Kharn]

I ripped them to 2", then stood them vertically with the cut edges against the floor. The remaining chunks were used with their cut edges against the walls (or each other, for the ones that were ripped at an angle to cross the roof) to keep a 1.5" spacing for insulation and wiring in the ceiling.

[Kharn]

Over the last few days I finished up the white paint on a lot of the smaller objects, today I focused on the tongue box. First up was mounting a non-metallic exterior box underneath the tongue box, and then drilling through the box and the floor so the battery cables and the trailer wiring harness can get to the outside without letting moisture in via waterproof strain reliefs.

Then I put the latches on the sides of the tongue box. Instead of dealing with the manufacturer's wonky dimensions (even the metric numbers were not nice round millimeters...), I realized I could use one of the hatch's mounting plates and a few small nails to transfer the hole pattern. A little downward pressure on the lid while doing the hook sides made sure the latches would draw the lid onto the gasket.

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Next up was mounting the power panel on its new legs and making sure that it fit nicely. Turns out I was right about our chairs and the dog's tent being able to fit inside.

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I put two barrel bolts on the lower hatch to hold it closed before the upper hatch can be lowered and overlap it. The oven's drawer isn't installed, we needed it out there to decide on the Formica pattern for the counter top.

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[Kharn]

And then I finished up the day by putting the first coat of varnish on the ceiling panels.

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I really don't like how much work has to go into polyurethane, but I think the light color of the wood will really lighten up the cabin.

[capnTelescope]

I really don't like how much work has to go into polyurethane

I'm with you on that. Mine would take 2-3 days per batch to get the job done. Just think what a PITA it would be trying to do the ceiling after it's installed.


Here's a tip I found made it easier/quicker to get a nice finish without all the little nubs/bumps: Use a sharp (new blade) paint scraper with VERY LIGHT pressure to take off the nubs between the first few coats. Don't do it after the final coat, of course. Faster and easier than sanding/steel wool!

[Kharn]

Are you dragging the blade, or pushing the edge into the bubbles?
Luckily I just bought a 100 pack of single edge blades for my little scraper.

[capnTelescope]

It took me so long to get you an answer that you probably figured it out already. You would drag the blade, maybe 30 deg off the vertical in the direction of the scrape stroke. I was thinking one of those handled scrapers for big jobs, but you might even be able to use just the razor blade without the holder. Careful not to dig in the corners.

[Kharn]

Gotcha, hmmm.
I didn't do much on the build yesterday, had to attend a birthday party out of state. But I did stop in Cabela's and drool over some new camping toys. I resisted buying anything, figuring our needs will change when the trailer's done and I don't know the space limitations. I did start thinking about adding a Drawervault in one of the interior cabinets so we could lock up anything valuable while we're away from the camper. Sure, it wouldn't stop a dedicated thief from ripping the shelf out, but it'd keep a punk from running off with my wallet, etc, since I've heard people mention RV locks aren't as unique as you'd hope.

We did hit Costco for sheets, a 120v electric blanket (my wife has demanded I install a smoke alarm before we use it a few months ago I saw really tiny smoke alarms the size of a golf ball at several stores but I haven't recently?), regular blanket, pillows, and dish towels.

[capnTelescope]

I think some sort of lockup is a good idea. That Drawervault is sure spendy. I found something similar at Tuesday Morning for about $20, but they are probably all gone by now. Cheap sheet metal and a key lock, but good for keeping sticky fingers off your valuables. Or a good place to put stuff you can't afford to lose, like car keys.

I love Cabela's. Got my camo-themed bedding there. The smoke detector is a good idea, too. I'm glad your Mrs. thought of it.

[Kharn]

I like the combination lock since if all else fails (lose my keys or whatever), I could still get it open to access a spare set of keys to get us home. The MSRP is $229, but the going rate seems to be more like $140.

[capnTelescope]

I misspoke. mine's got one of those cheap combo locks like you see on a briefcase.

[Kharn]

I got a ton done today, but skipped around a bunch vs my project file.

Second coat of varnish is on the ceiling panels, the three smaller ones for the forward cabinets need a third coat but the other five should be done.
I drilled the five electrical rings and the headboard shelves for their wires to come up from the lower cabinet.

The hatch is now on the tear.

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I need to figure out the prop rod, I'm thinking a piece of 3/4" plywood pivoting near the top of the galley divider, going into a pocket made from 3/4" ply on the inside of the hatch with a pair of aluminum angle bracketing it and a push-button quick release pin going through both pieces of angle and the rod to lock it into place. The 2x4 is cut to hold the hatch where I want it when resting on the prop. It's low enough to be opened when stored in the garage with about 2" clearance from the bottom of the garage door (I store the tear with the hitch in so it can go under my table saw and save a bunch of space), but the garage door must be open in order to open the hatch, I'm about 6" short on garage space for that. That should make loading the tear easier in the rain, the only time we'd have to get wet would be while turning the tear around and hitching up.

Then I attached the latch plates, I'll have to trim the body sides of each to not interfere with the marker light and I'll need to relieve the inside of the hatch piece that overlaps the body so that it doesn't rub on the paint (there's a ~1/16" mismatch on one side of the camper) which will probably be done with a file vs making a trip to use the milling machine.

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I cut the two halves of each plate apart with a hacksaw and I'll break all the edges later this week with a file.

I also put the first side table on.

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All of the blue tape is point out imperfections in the paint that I'll need to go over again. The other side table will be mounted with the long side against the wall and two legs so we can put the cooler on it, but I can't decide if I should put it up at the same height as this one (top of the table is 30" high) or drop it down 6" to make going in the cooler easier.

[KCStudly]

Looking good!