5X8 Modified Benroy Build (Flat Back)

[KCStudly]

Nice work. The pillow light/shelf bracket turned out nicely.

[Eulalia]

Saturday I got the outer plywood on my trailer. It went surprisingly well. The 2.7mm meranti plywood bent my 19" radius in front with a little help from some large ratchet straps and some boards laid lengthwise in the tightest part of the curve. It really looks like a teardrop trailer now!

Next up, building and skinning the hatch. I may be doing fiberglass this weekend, so things could move along rapidly.


I made a little stereo enclosure to stick on the front shelf.

Out of the shop for the first time in weeks. Turned it around and wheeled it back in again all my myself, so I suppose that means it's still quite lightweight. (I'd guess tongue weight around 60-80 right now. That will go up with a battery in the tongue box.)

[PoppaKohl]

Lots of detail on the Fiberglass PLEASE

[Eulalia]

I'm supposed to be having a friend help me with the fiberglass, but that's dependent on whether I am ready for them. They are going to be gone for a few weeks at the end of this month, and I want to be camp-able by Memorial Day (if I'm not ready I'll be doing filon and trim). If I do fiberglass, I'll make sure to get as much info as I can. I'm as interested in learning about the stuff as you, I'm sure

[ratrod71]

Nice work. Looks like you and I are building similar teardrops at about the same pace. I really enjoyed your photos. Bryan "Alaskan Benroy"

[Eulalia]

PoppaKohl I'm going to have to disappoint you. The guy who was going to help with fiberglass has to work Saturday so it looks like I will have to be going with something else. One bit of advice he did have was if you plan to do fiberglass, the best case scenario is to do the walls when you have them flat and not attached. I can see where it would be very belpful. Sorry I couldn't be of help but search the forum, I know a few people here have done some nice fiberglass skinned trailers. You could also check out info on kayak or surfboard making videos or websites as the process is very similar, from what I understand.

I guess there's always the next one...

Jesse

[Eulalia]

A bit of "con"gress going on in this picture... After doing some research, I decided to remove my home-built frame and purchase a 5x8 frame from Northern Tool. Here in Washington, licensing the manufactured frame will be much easier. This is now to become a clearly removable teardrop pod mounted on a utility trailer, especially since a trailer of this size does not need to be licensed at all in Oregon, where I will be camping, so I'll take my chances with the risk of an overly particular traffic stop on the Washington side.
That leaves me with my other 5x8 frame to work with on a separate later project.


Here it is up on (makeshift/rickety) stilts after removing the frame. Don't worry, it is now sitting much closer to the ground on jack stands, and the stilts have since made some rather functional sawhorses.


See aforementioned bit about more stable support. It should be easier to cover the exterior from this position and allow for a good wrap with my PMF (Poor Man's Fiberglass - canvas, Titebond II, paint). Tongue box is done, but for the door. Still need to complete the hatch.

The decision for canvas covering was made mainly by my purchase of the manufactured trailer, which was an unforeseen cost that kind of put me in uber-cost-conscious mode. I have since looked through most of the 400-some-odd paged post here: http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=39373 from the Foamies section. I was impressed by the canvas tears out there that I saw, and am willing to give it a shot. I am in about $60 for materials, which I call a major win. I just need some free time, which I should have soon, as finals are this week. Summer Break! (well, apart from work, but I get paid for that, and don't have to take it home in the evenings) I should add: Another reason to do the canvas covering is I can still apply panels and trim (filon, FRP, aluminum, etc) at a later date if I really got the urge to do so.

So stay tuned for hatch and canvas. Oh, the tires are weights for my adding another layer of 2.7mm to the roof in the flat section. Strengthens the roof for potential future cargo rack, and covers the butt joint between the other two exterior sheets.

[KCStudly]

So if you are not going to register it anyway, why would there be a hassle over a home built trailer?

[Eulalia]

Oh I am going to register it, the process is faster for the manufactured frame -a matter of taking the MRO to the DMV.

[Eulalia]

With the help of my brother, I got one wall covered in canvas. A tip for anyone who wishes to use canvas: go buy some thumbtacks, they helped immensely for holding it in place as we applied thinned out Titebond II. Once it dries, I'll trim the overlap evenly and cut out the door. NT frame was scheduled to arrive today, but it looks like it'll be tomorrow.


I'm pleased with the texture of the canvas, and I'm getting excited to do the rest.

[dales133]

Looks good so can you explain the process you used in a bit more detail if it's not to much trouble.
You used the thinned out tb2 over the already glued canvas?
And have you applied it over ply? If so how did you treat the ply prior to this?.

Sorry for all the questions but I'm considering going over ply on my walls

[Eulalia]

The questions are no problem, if you have questions, someone else is bound to wonder the same things.

My walls are made of a plywood with a sanded face, so the surface was smooth. To give the glue some better chances at adhesion, I scuffed the wall with some rough grit sandpaper.

After that, I test fit the canvas, tacking it in place with thumbtacks to ensure that it all fit, I then left the top tacks in and rolled the canvas up on the roof so it was out of my way.

Then I took the TBII glue and poured it into a milk jug, added some water (not very scientific or calculated, just until it seemed "runny" enough), and shook it up to mix it, which seemed to mix/thin the glue out well. I then used a foam paint roller (the dense kind like for painting cabinets and trim) to spread a layer of glue on the wall. Once I figured the wall was covered enough, we began to roll the canvas and work the bubbles out.

The wetter the canvas is, the better it will smooth out. According to the people in the Foamies section, the glue is mainly just to hold it to the wall, the paint layers actually are supposed to saturate the canvas and add the waterproofing effect. In order to get it smoothed out and work the bubbles out, we just slathered more watery glue onto the surface. From what I understand, it works just as well to use only paint and no glue at all if you have a wood backing, its just more messy. Once the glue dries some more I'm going to trim the edges and paint it with a few coats (just using discount mis-tint / "oops paint" for the base layers, and will go buy my finished color in a smaller quantity for the final layer).

My two bits, I hope it answered some of your questions, Dales. I'm by no means an expert or anything, as this was my first run at it. If you have concerns, try the process out on something smaller first... or just leap in headfirst on a full wall like I did . You could get some practice in by covering a plywood cargo box or something of the sort.

Jesse

Edit: parting thought before I head off to sleep--I'd suggest working outwards from the middle, it helps to cut down on the bubbles. We had to readjust the front corner, as might be able to see from first picture above, the middle ended up having too much "slack" around the door, so we had to pull it forward and down to tighten up the canvas.

[dales133]

Cool thanks for that,
It's kind of how I assumed it would be done on a ply surface, was it much of a drama getting the wrinkles out and did you pre shrink the canvas?
Did you wet the canvas prior to gluing it on?

[Eulalia]

Getting the wrinkles out was simpler than anticipated. Apart from having to adjust the one corner, it smoothed out nicely. I left the canvas dry, but if you have a flat surface, "priming" the side that goes up against the wall might actually work better. It seemed like the wetter the canvas was, the better it went on flat.

After I bought it I washed it with cold water in the washing machine and tumble dried on low, which did shrink the fabric.

[Eulalia]

This last week, I didn't have work, and school is over until fall, so I put in probably 40-50 hours on the trailer. I want to be campable by this next upcoming weekend (Memorial Day weekend) Current status is as follows:

Outside covered save for the front, to which I am going to be adding aluminim around the box. Trim still needed in areas.

Galley: hatch installed, need to at least put in a counter surface to useaebl (right now it's the bad side of some AC ply).

Electrical: battery needs wired up to my 12v stuff. Fantastic fan needs to be mounted and connected.

Interior: it'll do for now as long as I get some lights hooked up. If it really comes down to it, I could always use flashlight. I have some carpet to roll out on the floor.

Doors will mount quickly since they are the premade Vintage Technologies kind.

Frame is ready to go, I just need to bolt the body on it.

I didn't take lots of pictures during the last week, so the progress shown is not exactly gradual.



Coffee, new frame, ouch (had to break stuff-new frame is balanced differently than my original personally built one), hatch and sundries, and my start on the front end. Realistically, coffee should be inserted between all of those, but you get the idea.

There should also be one that depicts "now where did I leave that ____?" at an even higher rate of frequency.