New build under way

[Funluvin001]

SO I started this out with inspiration from the foamie group, but after inheriting a job demolishing a 5th wheel, decided that I needed a full(ish) frame to re-use the fileon skin I planned to harvest. I picked a bad time of the year to start this Since when I started I was wearing shorts, and some 4 weeks later the weather has turned to single digits - centigrade, including a few sub-zero nights! Given the fibreglass work needed, it's been a struggle, but I'm making progress.

It will take me some time to build this thread, but I'll do the best I can. Thankfully I've shot a lot of pics along the way. The ultimate goal is to recycle as much of the salvaged material as possible

Here is the donor camper I agreed to strip:

Here's why:

Here's what the owner got back:


Salvaged:
All exterior mouldings & vinyl inserts, windows, door frame & screen door, EDPM roof membrane, interior and exterior lighting fixtures, interior cabinets, propane furnace, filon skin, window valences,roof trusses, and misc hardware.

More to follow...

[Funluvin001]

Some harvested materials:



Now the build begins. I narrowed the frame to 82" for wind loading considerations.


Floor framing:


Skinned aluminium underneath with plastic to keep away from pressure treated 2X2 framing.


Insulation & floor ply laid down:


Minimal stick framing begins:


More framing:


Cut down roof trusses:


Roof ply installed and insulated:


Now for some foam in-fill:


Spray foamed in place: (huge stability improvement here!


On suggestion - frontal ply added:


Nose skin alignment:

[Funluvin001]

Sorry so condensed descriptions, but these were taken over the last month.

More build:

fibreglass repairs to skin: (almost a week's worth of repairs & seeming.)


frontal skin epoxied on upper half:


Skin seeming. upper pieces added because of the decision to use salvaged roof truss system.:


Nose side-skins installed. Windows fitting:


Gluing up side skin. PL premium on frame, PL foam adhesive on the foam. Neoprene gasket washer screws used to
some mechanical fastening as well.:


One side skinned! (back is as well):


other side skinned. The pin stripes alignment makes it look broken! LOL They'll all be sanded off and the whole trailer will get a nice coat of poly urethane paint.:


Cleaning up the skin, and adding some trim pieces. Screen door and frame were salvaged but now I have to build a proper door to fit! Today's task possibly.:


Fibre-glassed nose corners:


Alas this is where we stand after a month. Spent last night scouring this forum looking for door ideas, but plan to use the same approach: XPS foal with a minimal framing.

I'm undecided what to final top the roof with. While I did salvage the EPDM membrane from the fifth wheel, it has many vent openings which I won't need and so while it may make a sort of second layer safeguard, it won't be my primary water proofing method. I'm debating fibreglass VS aluminium 4X8 sheets seemed, VS new EPDM, VS canvass & high bond primer/paint. TB2 is $40.00/gallon here - same price as polyester resin, so I will NOT be using that.

I'm sorta winging this build as I go, so I'm keen on any feedback/ideas/suggestions, etc.

[Funluvin001]

Since the parts donor owner had given away his door, I had to build one.
Here is the rough door:


interior, not yet skinned.


Trim to be harvested from:


Temp installed:



Those monstrous windows make this rig look tiny!

I'm still undecided what to do for a latch. I could harvest the one from the old door, and while I like the pocket mount, the thing weighs a ton, plus requires the installation of a dead-bolt as well. Always looking for ideas!

[noseoil]

It's a giant foamie! Do you have an idea of the before & after weight for a comparison of the two methods? Lookin' good!

[Funluvin001]

Well the before would have been the fifth wheel and this is an entirely different frame from one I tried to patch up, and thanks to underestimating the contraction of the aluminium roof in winter, we towed home a giant bucket of mould. At the end of the day this chassis is entirely different from the fifth wheel, and it's probably going to weigh in with at least a %30 reduction over the old camper that was sitting on it.

Here's a sample of the framework that was 'repaired' with the old one:



And a couple of the finished before & afters.
Front:



Rear:



It really sucked to have to demolish all that work, but the amount of mould which grew in just a few months was incredible.

As they say.. live and learn!!

[Funluvin001]

It's been a busy few days with some more fibreglass work at the seems, and finally decided to draft up a floor plan.


Here is the meranti sub-floor laid down. Almost looks too good to cover over!

[Funluvin001]

So the last few days have involved installing exterior lighting and pre-wiring for interior panels.





I burried as much of the wiring as possible into the foam, and then spray foamed in over top of it. Now I'll have to take care to avoid it when installing the interior panels.

[dales133]

Nice!
Big project and its realy starting to shape up nicely

[Mr. Lahey]

WoW!!

That looks great...and a huge project too!

New improved name for the board?

Tiny Travel Trailers plus a bigun too!

[Funluvin001]

WoW!!

That looks great...and a huge project too!

New improved name for the board?

Tiny Travel Trailers plus a bigun too!

Well, it's 13 X 7 so not that big really... but it's certainly a large scale undertaking. The interior is only 6ft high too. Good thing we're not tall. LOL

[rebapuck]

All those windows will keep it nice and bright. And you're right, the windows do skew the size perception.

[Funluvin001]

So after some gruelling messing about with wiring, a bit more fibreglassing in a couple of forgotten areas, and using a top coat of epoxy & glass along all the roofing seems, we finished those segments and were able to get on with panelling the interior:


And today we got the re-claimed overhead (kinda) cabinets installed!


It's starting to resemble the end result. I scored a buncha cushions from another demolished camper we helped a friend out with a few years ago, so building the bedding is up next, but first I'd really like to get some flooring down, and perhaps finish up some interior trimming. It's starting to come together! Also have yet to skin the inside of the door and add a deadbolt to it. So many 'little details', so little time!

[Funluvin001]

So we decided for sure that we're painting the interior white to maximize the trim options at our disposal. There is still some thought being given to another colour but for the time it's while base, before all of the trimming and interior stuff goes in.

We had the bulk of a gallon od CIL primer paint combo left over from last year so used it. It took 3+ coats to get half decent coverage, and it still needs another. This paint is as poor in the coverage department as is Behr. Never again will I use either of those!!! At any rate here is another foreshadowing pic of things to come:

[Funluvin001]

So it's been a few days since I posted.. work's not stopped, it's just that there's been little visible to show for it all.
I did more fibreglass work on seems I hand't originally planned to, and so now they're ALL glassed. (all exterior seems)

Then I laid down another coat of paint, did some rough trimming, did some prep work to place the fridge and inverter.
Also had to plan for the insertion of a regulator for all the LED lighting, but the wiring was pre-planned with that in mind.
With over half of what will be finally installed turned on, it draws only half an Amp!!
I Took the old incandescent fixtures and reloaded & hard-wired them all with LED banks. Also started on some of the rough trimming.
I'm tying down as much as I can while awaiting the flooring. I Also skinned the wheel wells with Meranti/Luan, and plumbed in the propane
feeds for the furnace & cook top. After all this I also gutted an old UPS, and used to to make something of a power bar and automatic power feed toggle,
between AC mains and the inverter such that as soon as you plug in an AC feed the camper switches to it, from the inverter.
Though it will primarily be powering the fridge. I will be left with 3 outlets which will similarly auto-switch, and 3 which will only be active from AC mains.
I patched into one of the inverter's sockets which will directly feed into the switch box, but unfortunately forgot to snap a pic of that setup.

I'll be building on a storage box on the rear frame to hold the battery & propane tank, if anyone's wondering why I did things the way I did.









Some pics: