notre larme - Modified Gruman 2

[Strop]

Well I believe it is time to start. I have been lurking for a long time and asking many silly questions. I am sure that I will be asking some more. I am building a modified 5'x10' Grumman 2 with what I think is a a Benroy influence at the front. During my lurking I have stolen many ideas and I am sure you will see them come through in the build. Just hope to finish it as well as many of the build journals I have see here.

This is what I have come up with so far in the planning.





My intention is to have it covered in fibreglass sheets 1.6mm thick. As you can see from the images a bit of checker plate at the front and a large checker plate box on the tongue.

I have not finalised the design of my trailer chassis as yet but I have been getting some help and you can see what has been discussed so for by visiting this thread.

Up front thank you to David McCam and Ryan for the inspiration. I keep coming back to your builds.

Anyway let the adventure begin (and hopefully end successfully)

[Strop]

The front Cupboards designs are in. They are a combination of a couple of other builds and Ann's (the wife) desire to have somewhere to put her glass of water and book of a night. The plans need tweaking a bit but almost there I think. The plan is to build them out of 12mm Marine Ply with A/A faces and 4mm Ply with B/C faces. The 4mm ply is shown as the darker timber in the plans. In fact after looking at the plans I might stain the 4mm ply to get that contrast. The idea of the 4mm ply was to try and save as much weight as I could but knowing it to be more work. Also it is a LOT cheaper than the 12mm ply.

The raised pieces on the shelf section will house USB charger and cabin light switches. As we both use only usb charge style electronic devices I could not see the use the old cigarette lighter style power plug.

Doors will be on piano hinges. I am planning on using the lift up bin closest to the walls on each side as a shoe repository and the rest as needed.




I told you I was going to copy those great designs out there.

Now onto the front cupboards

[KCStudly]

Nicely detailed plans. That's what I like to see!

[Strop]

Well I have done a bit more planning for the back of the tear today.




As you can see two cupboard doors with an open space in the middle. Still thinking about a door on the middle but not sure. The white square is a 240v power point and the two grey circles represent 12V power plugs. The top view shows you how I have taken a bit of space from the centre cupboard to allow a number of electrical devices to exist. The only component that is wholly within the centre section is the fuse box. You can see on the top part of the photo I have also planned to add another wiring space. It will have a 3mm ply piece hiding the wiring that will only be screwed in so able to be removed for maintenance.




Thes images show where I am drilling holes into the sides and into cupboards. The highest one on the left will be for 240v to come in from outside. I intend to buy an extension cord with safety switch built into it (as shown in another thread here). The safety switch part can sit in the small wiring section and then go to the two 240v power points I have, covering them both. The other holes allow wiring to come from other parts of the camper to either the fuse box and from the battery to the fuse box.

The bottom hole on the right is for water to the tank I hope to mount under the trailer.



The final photo shows the galley. Again the white square is a 240V power point, I have a red master switch to turn all 12V on and off. A volt gauge connected via an instant on/off switch. 2 x 12v power plugs and two switches to turn power on/off for any fridge used and the water pump. You can see that there is a small sink on the left. Under the sink I have a 120 A/Hr battery and hidden behind the sink is a Ctek D250S unit to charge the battery. The holes you see in the floor ore for 12V cables from the tow vehicle, water to the tank and wast water (using a bucket to collect). The centre cupboard area will be used as drawers. Finally on the right I have an area for the 12V fridge.

I have left a gap of 50mm at the rear of the cupboards open to allow air circulation around the galley cupboards for the benefit of the 12v fridge (if I ever buy one).

Top cupboards are sliders and of course the little control panel up the top will fold down (great idea Ryan) to allow access to fuses etc.

You can see the cut outs on the front edge of the galley bench. That is to allow the gusset used in the hatch sealing process to fit.

Forget the square sided that was only put in place so I could see thicknesses etc for the hatch process. I have also attached the Sketchup File if anyone wants to have look.

Have I missed anything?

Rear Cupboards.skp

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[KCStudly]

Great planning!

Just one comment to consider. A lot of people prefer to have access to their storage w/o having to move stuff off of the counter. The way you have your main cabinets over the counter (or "bench") on sliders means that you will have to clear away anything sitting in front of them in order to open them. The one on the left will have to clear any faucet that you use for the sink. This is why a lot of people use sliding doors, or bins directly on the rear of the counter top.

[nevadatear]

I totally agree with KC, we put in sliders just for that reason, and am really glad we did. I really like the design, but just curious, why the need for 240?

[KCStudly]

Debbie, in Australia 230 is the common household voltage for all wall outlets.

I wonder if when strop wrote "sliders" he meant sliding doors. I took it to mean drawer slides. When I look at it again that would leave the front panels in the way, having to reach up and over to get stuff, so maybe I got it wrong. The center mullion is what had me thinking drawer slides were intended.

[nevadatear]

Thanks, i obviously didn't pay attention to the location of the build!

[Strop]

Hi all,

Debbie, the cupboards at the back of the galley bench will be sliders - sorry sliding doors. I have picked that one up from my reading, but thank you for the reminder. Very helpful this group. The 240V (our household voltage) - well I have someone in the family who likes their hair dryer so I have put it in for those occasions where we decide to stay somewhere there is power. I don't know if it will get used much but I had the opportunity to put it in so why not. I might in the future add the ability to charge the battery from 240V so it is there if I ever want to use it. I have to consider how to fit a second battery if they find out there are 12V hair dryers.

Yes KC the centre location is for the drawers.

I am not sure of the floor thickness. I keep changing my mind between 12mm, 15mm and 18mm. It is only because I am thinking of the ability to fasten into the floor. The question I keep asking myself is - is 12mm enough. I keep forgetting about the glue though. Probably stronger in the end than screws.

I also found a mistake I have fixed - I meant a master switch for the 12V system not the 240V.

I haven't drawn it up but I plan to put a swing out table (like in the image) in front of the sink instead of a door.

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[KCStudly]

The fold out tables are pretty ingenious, and has the added advantage of built in storage when the table is not in use.

However, I want the ability to leave the table(s) up when the hatch is closed, so I am going with wing tables that will be mounted on the outsides of my walls using those extruded aluminum cleats and modified wooden crutches as struts that angle back to points at the bottom of the wall. That's the plan anyway.

[Strop]

Hi all,

You cannot believe the surprise I got when I returned to this thread - wow how time flies. Almost 12 months.

Well I have started. The biggest delay for me was finding someone to build my trailer frame. Well, to build it and still have some money left for the rest of the build. Well I have started and got to a stage with the trailer where I can move forward.

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Got it home and I have a floor.

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My original design had a water tank in front of the axle and my spare tyre behind it but I had to change them around because of the trailer design. The cross bracing for the springs did not leave enough room for the tyre at the back. If you look at the photos of the trailer being built you will see a wind up device to support the spare tyre. Taken from a 4WD wreck and attached. I left myself 25mm to get at the nut to wind it up and down but found that the tyre wants to swing up on the side of the nut so I will have to get some spacers welded on when the build is finished (as it is not registered I can't tow it anywhere.

[Strop]

Here are some photos of the rear end where I mounted the water tank. I was going to put a plastic tank in but my wife was a bit worried about the taste of water from plastic so stainless steel got the nod of approval. 85 Litres. The price was right compared to custom made tanks, the only downfall being no baffles. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

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[Strop]

I also put some supports in for the trailer at the rear. Each capable of 1000lbs. Funny how we still get things measured in pounds here - been metric for so long.

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Laurie

[Strop]

The other good thing about this project is that I have joined an organisation called the "Men's Shed". Open to all sexes by the way. It is a national organisation that was originally formed to assist men with life difficulties. Well the one in the town where I live set up shop in an old joinery. So I have some people with a lot of experience with woodwork but no idea what a teardrop is.

Like the saw?

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It makes cutting sheets very easy.

Well this is where I am up to at the moment.

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A it hard to see but the front cupboards are progressing.

All the best

Laurie

[Strop]

Just re-read my posts and the photo with the tyre bracket is missing - another try

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Laurie