The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[daveesl77]

KC, your build is an absolute work of art and precision! And while I am not a "Bad Brad" fan, almost anyone winning over Kurt or Kevin works for me. I've been a NapCar fan since the 60s, you would not believe who taught me and some of my buddies how to drive a race car because he helped us in building one when we were 16.

dave

[KCStudly]

KC, your build is an absolute work of art and precision! <snip> ...you would not believe who taught me and some of my buddies how to drive a race car because he helped us in building one when we were 16. dave

Thank you for the very generous complement. I appreciate it greatly! I'm going to guess Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart?

It doesn't say it in your avatar, but I seem to recall that you are from down under, correct? Hence the Iron Man guess.

BTW, if you go to your user control panel and select "profile" you can add a location. It doesn't have to be specific, but it is nice to give people a general idea where you are from; helps with communication, parts sourcing advice, weather related advice, etc.

BTW, I've been meaning to ask about the image in your avatar. Looks like some ancient archeological ruin viewed from a rock cliff?

[KCStudly]

Despite not having much to report, let’s get caught up.

On Monday I pulled the big white kerosene heater (Karl’s Kero-Sun Omni 105) apart to change the wick and found that I had gotten the wrong one. I hadn’t noted the Type letter (‘N’) so when the guy at the hardware store said there were 4 out of 5 letter types that did not have pins, and only one that did, we figured the odds were with the ones w/o pins. We were wrong. Anyway, I had spent a good deal of time “consulting” with Karl on the pizza trailer (translation: BS’ing), so it was getting late and that’s all I did.

Wednesday I had errands, including exchanging the wick for the correct one (in the other direction to Mecca), and stopping by the house for the can of poly that I had forgotten to bring with me; more BS’ing; rebuilding the heater; and done.

Tonight was more errands; bank, refill kerosene can, and renew CCW permit… fortunately all along the way. When I got to the shop I gave Karl a hand handling some pieces of sheet steel in the shear and break (he’s making a large hydraulic tank for a customer; about 45 gallons (?)).

Finally I got to the build. I have struggled with the option of sealing the wood that will eventually have foam and/or canvas glued to it, or leaving it raw for best adhesion and relying on the glue layer and final paint job to seal out the weather. What I decided to do was use the mix along the edge of the ceiling skin and end grain of the spars, but leave the rest to be sealed with the adhesive and glue. Since the edge of the ceiling ply will be recessed under the edge of the ceiling foam (the gap to be filled with GS latter) it would be better to do this before attaching the foam.

Weather was wet and rainy, but warmer, so I pulled the rest of the dry fit foam off of the roof and mixed up a pot of 50/50. Here I have brushed the edge of the ceiling ply where it meets the wall, the ends of the spars, and about an inch or two onto the top of the ceiling where the screw holes are that hold the ceiling to the walls (Yvette stopped by to check on my progress).


I had already attached the foam on the front wall to either side of the locker bump out, but was able to run the chip brush down the groove (where the GS foam will be added later) and saturate it pretty well. While I was at it I swabbed the recesses for the side marker light wiring pockets at all four corners.


Once I had made it all the way around, I did another lap with a second application, essentially wet on wet. On a roll now, I went ahead and slapped a coat on the side door seal flange; the outside face, inner edge, and edges of the two layers of ply spacer for the flange. I left the cedar part more or less raw for the glue where the canvas will wrap into the jambs.


And that’s the name of that tune for tonight.

[daveesl77]

I live in a little town in central Florida, about 60 miles north of Orlando. And the guy that taught us to drive and how to build a race car was Junior Johnson, but we weren't racing ovals instead we were drag racing. To this day I still remember most of the specs on the '55. 572 HP out of a stock bore/stroke 327 (that was the only thing stock on that engine). MT rods, Forged True pistons, Valley heads, one of the first Isky roller cams, Hollie 4500 Dominator carb. At the age of 16 we were 4/10ths second off of the Nat'l A Modified record.



dave

[KCStudly]

Awesome! Very impressive numbers for a 327. What about the avatar pic?

[daveesl77]

I took that at one of my favorite places in the world, Chaco Canyon (Chaco National Cultural Park) in northwest New Mexico. It is one of the most important ancient sites in the world. Whenever I go I get permission to go up on the canyon rim for the dawn, especially during the equinoxes. If you ever get a chance, you have to visit, but you carry everything you need, as nothing except 5 gals of water per day is available and nothing within 25 miles minimum.

dave

[KCStudly]

I thought I recognized it; I think there was a documentary recently on the tube. Very interesting celestial calendar rivaling, if not surpassing Stonehenge, IIRC.

[KCStudly]

Tonight I made another lap around the cabin coating the ceiling edge, marker light recesses and door flanges with the mix, but first I hit the frame around the roof vent opening.


Earlier in the week the forecast looked better and I was hoping to be able to start gluing the roof foam down tomorrow, but the weather isn’t exactly cooperating. Forecast now is for colder weather tomorrow with possible snow.

[GPW]

KC, while you have the mix out, be sure to get all the “edges” really well .... The big flat open areas are OK cause’ they’ll get glued to the foam . and then the skin will "sock” all that eh !! Curious thing about a foamie trailer , Once the canvas is on and painted , as it drys it shrinks slightly , making a tighter contact over foam and frame. And , parked in a good summer Sun , the foam inside will expand against the already tightened outer skin , making an even tighter connection. The skin looking better/tighter over time !!!
I think this was the reason it healed itself from the Hail storm , the roof looking like the surface of a Golf ball for a while ...then magically Gone !!!

Ps . Apologies for being so obsessive about waterproofing , just here it’s always WET !!! ... Lately I use the Mix on EVERYTHING around here ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

...being so obsessive about waterproofing , just here it’s always WET !!!

I hear that - here on the left coast it was 17 degC yesterday and by late afternoon everything was soaked. Still, it beats yet another bout of snow from the winter that just won't let go. Hang in there KC, soon enough you'll be in shirt sleeves and wishing it was cool enough to run the heater !

I remember you kicking it around - did you settle on what you're going to glue the foam with ?

[Sheddie]

Hi KC, I have been working through your build journal (it has been taking me a while) and what a lot of work you are putting in to this project
I am not yet half way and I am afraid that you might be gaining on me. I just spotted the New Zealand inspired wall hanging at your mom's place, she sure has made a nice job of it
The craftsmanship must run in the genes.

[KC's Mom]

The quilt is one I made from a kit I bought in Rotorua, New Zealand. My husband and I spent six wonderful weeks there in Oct-Nov 2011 with a dear friend who's from Gisborne, but has lived in Rotorua for many years. The three of us toured as much of the country as we could from top to nearly bottom. Six weeks was not nearly long enough. I loved looking through some of Sheddie's blog.

[dales133]

Nice area around the central plateau, the drive from rotor ya down to Napier is a realy memorable trip but so is the national park hi way. ..great spot except for the smell

[KC's Mom]

Nice area around the central plateau, the drive from rotor ya down to Napier is a realy memorable trip but so is the national park hi way. ..great spot except for the smell

We didn't get to Napier due to car breakdown and other problems, but did do the East Cape trip to Gisborne where we stayed several days visiting our friend's family. We also did Pahia, Auckland, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin, Hamner Springs, Kaikoura (sp?) and a bunch of other places. We tried to do the ferry from Picton to Wellington, but it was running late, so we had to fly back to Wellington in order to catch another flight. We originally planned to drive with our friend's car, but the car troubles forced the three of us to use rental cars and flights instead. I was also nursing a broken arm that happened three weeks before our trip, so that slowed me down a bit. I did manage to do the Shotover jet boat near Queenstown, however. That was quite a thrill.

[KCStudly]

Was curious to the specs on you actuators as well

I was looking back to see about my experiments with gluing the foam to the roof and realized that I never answered Dale's question about the hatch actuators. They have a 10 inch stroke, and are rated for 100 lbs dynamic (ability to lift) and 500 lbs static (ability to hold) load, each. They are 12vdc motorized screw operated and call for a 10 amp fuse. Although the tiny little wires feeding them from the factory connectors belie this amperage rating, I am feeding the pair with nice big 10awg stranded wire up to the splice inside of the bulkhead, then 12awg after the splice to each unit.

They are SPAL IMD3 Series (discontinued), 15.5 inch long retracted, 25.5 extended. IIRC they happen to have the potentiometer feature, meaning that they can be connected to a readout or feedback indicating the position. Not stated in the literature, they seem to have limit switches that kill the power to the motors at the end of the stroke so they don't kill themselves if you hold the (not included) momentary activation switch down. By using a marine grade DPDT momentary/off/momentary rocker switch, I will be able to wire them to go up or down from a common switch.