Livin' the Dream Too

[ragincajun309]

Well, I've gone off and started building a teardrop camper. The HF trailer is constructed with the exception of running the lights. The floor is built, I just have to coat the bottom with the black ooey gooey stuff and bolt it onto the frame. I have pics but have to resize them, they will follow. A couple of quick questions:

1. As it sits the frame of the floor is sitting on the bolts that hold the trailer together. Should I drill out the wood so the frame rests flush with the frame or can I leave it resting on the bolts. If I shimmed it where it's bolted and left it on top of the bolts there would be a gap for air to flow and may help keeping the floor joists dry? I am using ripped 1.5"x 2.5" studs as the joists topped with 15/32 plywood. I used this size 2x's because I have a 4'x8' trailer and have it extended to 63" wide to accommodate a queen sized bed.

2. I glued and screwed the plywood onto the joists, should I run a bead of silicone at those connections before applying ooey gooey black stuff to keep water from finding its way between the joists and plywood? Or will the black gunk fill in the cracks?

3. I plan on using foam board insulation on the walls (alot of camping will be in higher elevations so a little colder). I would like to insulate the bottom after water proofing but how do y'all attach it to the plywood? Some adhesive like liquid nails? I have the nails with the plastic washer to hang foam board but it seems getting a good bite into my plywood may not be possible. I really don't want to have a second layer of plywood to keep the weight down. Will the adhesive stick to the black stuff?

I'll post more about my plans but its a "weekender" (not too up to snuff on technical terms) but 5' wide x 10' long, rounded on the front with a slight radius on the rear top. Mostly boxy so that I can have a bunk bed for my 5 year old. Not having a galley, the top rear of the tear will be the bunk bed with storage space under neath that will be accessible from the rear. Going to use skeleton 1x frame with 1/4" ply exterior and 1/4" cedar plank interior, skinned with aluminum exterior.

[ragincajun309]

Let me try these pics, I'll keep trying if it doesn't work

[Tommy2tone_1999]

You a long way from home mon ami

[ragincajun309]

Mais yeah chat!

There's a growing number of us coon a$$es up here, the winter is too cold and the food is too bland. I used to live in BR when in high school, off of O'Neil Lane area, what part of town do you live in?

[Tommy2tone_1999]

Shenandoah Estates, not far. Soon to be the City of St. George.

[ragincajun309]

Tommy,

Small world, I lived there for 4 years on Antioch Drive, I lived there and went to Woodlawn HS.

[backstrap bandit]

Just wanted to say hi to my colonies counterparts lake charles coonie here

[noseoil]

Since you have the frame made with 2x material, I would drill into it to set the bolts into the wood, so the platform bears on the frame. I used the black 2" PVC pipe-wrap tape between the frame & platform as a gasket, had some laying around anyway.

You could put the foam insulation inside the deck webbing, then just skin it with 1/8" plywood, glued & nailed to the frame. Once it's coated it should be fine. I used the Henry's white rubberized roof coating on the bottom side of my deck, not black asphalt. Anything will work, as long as it's waterproof (paint, tar, roof coat, asphalt emulsion, etc).

I think it would be easier to do the floor insulation prior to bolting it to the frame for the build. At this point you could lift the deck, flip it over, insulate, skin, counter-bore for the bolt heads, coat with some type of goo, let it dry & drop down for final insulation very easily, so why not? That way it's done & finished for good, no worries, waterproof & insulated.

[Tommy2tone_1999]

I have lived in both Old Jefferson and Shenandoah, and both my sons graduated from Woodlawn. Welcome to the Lake Charles Coonie!

[ragincajun309]

Yesterday was spent taking care of Christmas stuff so I was only able to make this wheel well to cover up the ugly gap in the frame.

Today I cut the walls and got about halfway through framing one side, ran out of clamps so I should finish the wall tomorrow. Well, I haven't bought my doors so I will not get the framing up for the door yet.

[ragincajun309]

Update on the camper:

I have the driver's side framed up and the passenger side only needs the curved edges framed up. Still have to frame around the doors but I want to buy them first and have on hand before I start cutting wood. You can see the horizontal framing in the rear, that will be the raised bed for my son. Below that will be a storage area for the tent, kitchen stuff, camp chairs, etc.

I still have to waterproof and attach the floor to the frame. We've had pretty much bad weather for what seems like the last year up here so I'll have to wait for a warm and tolerable day for this step. I did not run the lights on the trailer frame because the body of the camper overhangs the trailer. Do most of you attach the lights to the body of the camper as opposed to the trailer frame? It seems to make sense to me so that's the track I'll take at this time.

A couple of lessons I've learned so far. I plan on notching the roof spars to fit into the side wall framing for added support (you can see on the driver side where I notched the framing before installing. After trying to figure out how to notch the curved framing I realized that notching those out after it's built with a jig saw is how I'm going to tackle this. Also, a true nube mistake, I glued the curved framing to the driver's side before using the pieces as templates for the passenger side So it looks like I'll have to figure out the passenger side as I did the driver's side, at least I have a little experience at it now!

Also, my wife asked me if we are still building a "tear drop" camper, is there a more appropriate term for the shape of the camper I'm building?


I'd love some feedback, I hope you all like the pics!

[KCStudly]

TD's with your profile (a small simple radius at the front and a larger simple radius at the rear) are typically referred to as a Benroy profile, after the guy who was credited for using this profile first.

Looking good. Keep up the good work.

[ragincajun309]

Thanks KC.

[KCStudly]

Actually, I'm having some sort of recollection that the word 'Benroy' may be a conglomeration of two guy's names that were partners in an early TD manufacturing effort, back in the '50's.

I sucks getting older.

[ragincajun309]

Not much happening on the project due to work, yuck! I did figure out that I could accomplish something while on the grind...I ordered my doors and windows! I went with 26"x36" prefab doors from Vintage, once they arrive I'll be able to cut out the doors as I was leery of cutting anything without having the doors on hand to make sure my template was correct.

Also, after some negotiations with the boss, we've I mean my wife has decided on a name for the camper. I was leaning on a "Three Wolf Moon" airbrush job and calling it the Wolf Den; however, she was concerned with the potential problems associated with that much power associated with our on-road habitation. I told her that we may not ever have to fill the car up with gas due to the power of the wolf moon, but cooler heads prevailed. Many years ago, while on a self inflicted marooning on a Caribbean island I helped put a kit boat together. After much use we took this boat across 20 miles of open ocean to a neighboring island, it was a fun and entertaining journey and we christened the boat 'Livin the Dream." I hope this new project will provide the same level of fun and adventure as the first.

Ok, down to business. I've been building in my dreams and trying to plan ahead as much as possible and have a couple of questions to pose:

1. I plan on putting 4"x1/4" cedar tongue and groove on the inside. My walls are 1/4" plywood, 1x2 framing, and foam inset. Can I install the cedar planks before raising the walls? My thoughts on doing it this way is that the cedar is going to add rigidity to my walls so this rigidity will help when getting the walls plumb. Also I believe this method will make the install easier. Thoughts?

2. I planned on using aluminum skin on the exterior. After some thought and conversation with my father in law I am wondering if an exterior coat of paint will suffice. Dream will be kept in my basement so it will only see the elements 4-6 weeks of the year. Will a good exterior house paint keep it water proof? Maybe a two-part epoxy paint? My width is 64" so painting would allow me to avoid odd sized or lap jointed aluminum on the roof. I know there are lots of woodies out there so I feel confident it will work but the experience of this board will either reinforce or correct my confidence!

Thanks as always to everyone reading this, all input is greatly accepted!