BEULA - a foam Winter Warrior with aero front

[cpowell243]

Gary,
I appreciate you checking in as I think I will need your guidance from this point forward. I am hoping that when I swing the upper wall down and it sits on top of the lower wall I can secure the upper and lower walls together with three latches, one on each side and one on the door, thus having the lower wall support the upper wall and hatch.
I was planning to hinge the upper wall to a 2 x 4 that would be glued to the underside of the hatch and thus attach the rear end of the hatch to the upper wall. The upper wall would then swing down to meet the upper wall. Not sure how I will attach the hatch to the lower wall in the closed position, however.
Did my sketch of the lower wall make any sense? The complication I am adding is to create a way for the galley to swing around and lower for outside access by creating three sections of the lower wall and folding them back as well as opening the door to create a 4 foot wide space for the galley. Thanks for staying with me on this.
Charlie

[RAYVILLIAN]

Morning Charlie
Ok I had to do some thinking. the first part of your post about the top wall mounting is in line with the way I build the WW, except the 2x4 might be a bit over kill. I usually get by with a 1x2 for the hinge mount but than I've never done one with foam. I used pull down latches on my first build, like they used to use on foot locker, to hold my top wall to the bottom wall with the hatch up. On the second I don't have anything and since my hatch is heavy I've found I don't need any. If we got the hinge height to back wall up and down geometry right you shouldn't have any problem with your hatch.

Now about your back wall folding and galley plans. I'm thinking that you'll only have the back wall folded with the galley out when the upper back wall is folded up against the hatch. Than You'll have to have someway to support your drivers side of the hatch when the upper back wall is up. What I'm concerned about is that the lower back wall is the only thing that keeps the back of the side walls stable and by hinging the drivers side of the lower back wall out you lose that stability. I'm afraid that you'll need to find someway to over come that to do what your planning.

Like I've told you before though if you can see it working in your mind you can build it.

Gary
PS i'm still thinking though.

[GPW]

Sometimes making a simple drawing helps sort things out ... details

[cpowell243]

Gary/Glen,
I will re-do my sketch in more detail and re-post. It was a little hard to make out, I'm sure. I also have some pics to post as this moves forward. Can always step back and re-do if this plan creates too many problems. I'm just really attracted to the idea of cooking inside on a cold or rainy day but cooking outside when it's decent out.
Re: support of hatch on the left side: if it makes any difference, the far left panel - which is 8" wide - will remain permanently in place. The two panels to the right will fold around it when galley is the "tailgate" position. Enough support given lower weight of the foam hatch?
If I'm getting this, the WW hatch was never latched to the main body in the travel position? Seems like it would bounce up and down on the lower body without some kind of latching system (?).
Today is a big day - all canvas pieces and reinforcing strips are wrapped underneath the floor and glued in place and can now bolt the box to the trailer with 5/16" carriage bolts. Then back to the rear wall.
Ch

[GPW]

Cooking inside may not be all it's cracked up to be ....(from experience) Stinks up the interior and bedding ,sticky grease gets on walls over time, may draw bugs inside ... On rainy days i'd expect to eat something easy like a sandwich and salad inside ... Leave the big meals ( camp cooking) for better weather., outside .. JMHCO...

[GPW]

QUOTE: " all canvas pieces and reinforcing strips are wrapped underneath the floor and glued in place" ... please make sure to "size" (paint) ALL your installed canvas with a highly thinned TB2 first , so the glue can soak in all throughout the canvas fibers ...

[cpowell243]

Think I soaked the canvas that pretty thoroughly with TBII. Pretty much committed at this point.
Re: indoor cooking - pretty much for coffee on cold morning and a way t make sandwiches, etc. Had a bad situaiton last summer with my TD when it rained and we had no easy way to feed ourselves.

Beula now bolted to the trailer in four places. Will add 4-6 more bolts and a half dozen self-tapping 3/16" bolts as I move forward.

re: rear wall - here we go:
I bolted a small bracket to the floor on the left side. Bolted since I want to add strength to the floor by transferring some of the load to the walls and didn't want too much weight on the Liquid Nails holding bracket in place- (or split the wood ).
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Then dry-fitted the first panel.

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Then temprorailry hinged the two moving panels - middle is 10" and far right is 7".

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Right wall will hold the A/C and found cargo door at used RV place:

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The door opening in the middle is 20 1/2"

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And the galley will sit in the opening sort of like this - height is 38".

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Drawers will likely be replaced with something more substantial, but with some reinforcing these might work. No cherry wood in this model. Galley will swing around the the left and rest on a bracket attached to the inside of the middle panel, then will have a folding leg to hold up the right front. Will get to that if doesn't make sense.

Be frank - I can take it.
Ch

[GPW]

Frank sez’ .... Coming along Dude !!!

[RAYVILLIAN]

Good morning Charlie
that small back wall staying in place fixes the concern I had with supporting the left side wall. From your drawing i thought it looked like you were putting hinges at the side wall to back wall joint.

We have latches to hold the hatch down when traveling but with the weight of my hatch, 80 lbs., I found I didn't need latches to hold the top back wall in place when the hatch is in the up position.

Looking at your pics your doing great. So I don't have to be Frank. Keep up the good work.

Gary

[cpowell243]

Gary,
I'll be checking our build thread to see how you lined up he hatch with the lower wall when in travel mode. The raised position should be no problems since it will be hinged and easily placed on the lower wall. I plan to latch in both positions using the same latch with a catch on the hatch and a catch on the bottom of the upper wall.
Managed to create the A/C opening today with the cargo door. Beula is also bolted the the trailer. Will caulk before cinching it down.
Ch

[cpowell243]

Been playing softball in Las Vegas but I'll be back to work on Beula tomorrow night Monday (9/28). Been working on the hatch and will post pics on canvas covering/painting of inside walls - thought it best to do that part first, then assemble, then cover exterior. Think I've figure out a way to install/attach spars. Will again be using 2 layers of 3/4" poly for ceiling.
Ch

[cpowell243]

Back at it.
I decdied to cmmit foamie heresy (again) and attach a strip of 3/4" ply along the top of the hatch wall on the inside. several reasons: increase lateral stability of the 3/4" poly, creat a solid attachment surface to secure spars, and a place for hooks. The main reason was spar attachment - veryone out here who has looked at it or heard about says the same thing: how will it hold up in a 70pmh Wyoming crosswind. Guess I'm erring on the side of caution and adding few pounds.

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Here is the profile with hatch raised. I temporarily hinged the hatch and propped it up with a furring strip in the middle of the floor and under one of the spars.

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Creates this interior space

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Right side view where A/C will sit:

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And the left side where galley will sit:

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Here's the spar attachment - will also fill with GS before permanently attaching brackets.

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I will install 3 spars - one at halfway point and two others that will create 3 equidistant runs for poly. This way I place one layer of three 30" sections in the spaces between spars, then two layers on top with a spar in the middle to secure clamps to while GS dries. Joints of the two layers are thus offset. Curve is not major but will still need to end the poly and hold in place while it sets.

This was not easily seen in the pics, but I screwed an 8' X 1" x 1/8" aluminum plate on top of the ridge that hatch sits on top of. I will also add an aluminum U-channel to the bottom of the hatch to create a good surface for attachment of rubber molding. Molding will then sit between the aluminum plate and the U-channel in travel position.

Next up: attach the 2 1/2" piece across the top to connect the hatch walls in rear. This piece will then be attached to the upper sections of the rear wall with a living hinge and swing down to meet the lower sections when in the raised position. More pics to follow.

Q - as I plan to cover the hatch with canvas - has anyone used the dop cloth as is with the factory seams still in place? Seems a lot easier than cutting and reworking seams, and the factory seams would be on the roof (???)

[GPW]

Cool ! looks Bigger on the inside ... Great room with the hatch raised ... Nice !!! Factory D Cloth seams have been used before , and on the roof ... turns out to look good if you incorporate the seam into the overall design , as if you intended to do it that way ...

[RAYVILLIAN]

Looks good Charlie
Have you dropped the hatch to check if your hatch down landing spot is out side the hinge point on the the top back wall? It looks like it will be in the pic .
Gary

[cpowell243]

Gary,
My hatch came down 1 1/2" short of the wall, but a simple fix involved gluing a 2X1 piece to the bottom of the spar after ripping the piece at a 20 degree angle so it lines up with the top wall in the down position.
I rechecked your Schooner build and see how you overlapped the hatch so it would sit on the wall when you brought it down to the travel position. I maybe should've done the same, but my rear spar seems to land in the right spot with this arrangement. Your thoughts?
Charlie

First I glued a small bracket to the inside of the foam wall:

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Bracket secured with a hard point and a 1 1/4" screw from the outside of the foam, as I have done with floor and nose attachment:

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Then I built the rear spar with bottom piece attached in horizontal position:

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And it sits on the rear wall thusly:

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Seems like it should be tight with a 3/8" foam molding piece and a solid clamping system at 3 separate point along the rear wall (???)