My (re)Build journal. 5x10 ( Updated 5/5/18)

[jsnbergman]

Well I figured I would start my build journal before I get too much further into construction. We have kicked around the idea of a small camper for a few years and have always loved teardrops. After some searching we decided to buy a project knowing we would not find anything exactly as we wanted and would be better off. A friend at work is a forensic craigslist expert and found one in next door Indiana.

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The son and I took a trip after doing some negotiations with the owner and got it considerably cheaper than the advertised price. 5x10 nothing special, mostly the size, look and shape we were going for and title. Being in Illinois the title is very important.

We got it home, 5 hours and zero issues towing. The doors were hinged suicide that caused me great concern of the janky latches letting go and them swinging in traffic. They held and we got it home. I immediately started tearing it apart;

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The wife took more pictures with her good camera and I will upload those when I get on my home PC. In the essence of keeping the order I will do that before posting up to my current progress.

[jsnbergman]

After removing the interior I realized there was a second floor, not a second story unfortunately, but a second layer of floor. I made the call to lift the body to adress.

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The trailer has a torsion axle, that was one of the other reasons for my interest. But after removing the body I was not happy with the construction so I welded in a center support as I would be using a foam/ ply floor. I also put some angle to strengthen some points of concern. The Galley wall was also "restructured" to cover some water damage on the left side. After cutting that and addressing some other issues the wife and I were leaning to a complete rebuild.

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I tore out these cabinets and headliner. That's when I realized the roof construction might not have been the way I wanted either. This was taken before the other 2 pics above. Basically the headliner was screwed to the exposed spars, the spars were secured 1/4 inset to the top of the walls. Then a layer of 1/4 floor substrate over those flush with walls. On top of that was 1/2 pink foam over the 1/4 and wall edges, with the diamond plate "secured" with rivets that went through the diamond plate, then the insulation and into the 3/4 walls.

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[jsnbergman]

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We had no intention of keeping the flat galley and were going to reshape the back to a more classic look. After the extent of water damage and roof construction I took the whole thing apart, basically only using the trailer, windows, and the diamond plate from the original trailer. I did use the walls as a basic template, taking some curve out of the front as we are using a toolbox up front and wanted it flat behind it. Also adding a curved galley.The galley hinge was a piano hinge and leaked pretty bad, The second layer of ply and paint covered it well.

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Redoing the floor before destruction of the body. After I set the body back down the final decision to scrap was made.

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[Woodbutcher]

WOW, quite the project you have going there. It looks like you might have been better off starting from scratch. But when you are finished you will have a real nice trailer and you know you will not have any problems. Keep up the good work, and check out the Illinois gathering schedule for 2018. It would be nice to see your finished trailer.

[jsnbergman]

WOW, quite the project you have going there. It looks like you might have been better off starting from scratch. But when you are finished you will have a real nice trailer and you know you will not have any problems. Keep up the good work, and check out the Illinois gathering schedule for 2018. It would be nice to see your finished trailer.

Honestly im not too far from completion as our goal is to hit a few gatherings in 2018. After getting her good pics resized ill try to get this up to current status. But yeah, essentially we started from scratch and would have been better off with a brand new trailer. Financially i got this one at a cost that works out so I cant be too mad.

See you in the Spring

[Woodbutcher]

Good for you! Since you rebuilt it, you will always be able to fix anything that goes wrong, so that is a plus. Hope to see you at a gathering next year.

[jsnbergman]

So I have had zero luck transferring the wifes pictures so I just get this up to date. as best i can.

After using the remains of the original trailer as a sorta template and getting the sides cut. I went ahead and put them up. Like I said before We liked the profile of the original trailer and want the Diamond plate roof. It makes for a rather deep Galley but we will be able to run the Cooler sideways on slides and still have plenty of room.

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I then went on to Skin the inside 5x5 BB and pink insulation

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Ran my wiring, we decided not to go A/C power as we dont really use appliances so made the wiring pretty simple.

[jsnbergman]

Then I moved on to the Diamond plate. The previous build didnt do a great job sealing the seams, or attaching to the walls. The power grab ultimate did an amazing job holding down the panels even without fastners.

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I also annealed the trim pieces that overhang the edge, that allowed me to taper them in at the bottom. A little less of a foot catcher. Still keeping a 3/4 inch overhang around the top of the trailer. I have also started the PMF. I used the shipping tube from Vintage to support the canvas while working it. I was alone so 10 foot of canvas can be a little frustrating.


Just used TBII and then primer and paint in several layers.

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[jsnbergman]

In between coats of paint I started on the cabinets. When I build one from scratch I will use the inside out method, but with the dynamic nature of this one I was kind of forced around that. My biggest concern was the exterior structure being sound and tight. Headquarters has already given approval for a second build, after I finish the master bedroom that was placed on hold while I build this

HQ requested sliding cabinet doors so I am using the center for my electrical, fuse block behind switches and retro volt meter mounted on the door.

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I also ran two strip LED lights on the shelf above. We thought they wouldnt be enough after I hooked them up and started making plans to add wiring to the side walls for some more lighting. Then I realized the BAttery I was hooked up to might not be fully charged. 12v puts out a ton of light compared to 6.3.

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[jsnbergman]

The rear cabinet behind the windows will also hold a fuse panel and wiring connection for the trailer lights that will be mounted on the hatch. The only power for the rear will be a 12v recpt, USB plugs and some lights, either above the cabinets in the hatch or both.

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Also got our tongue mount trailer box delivered.

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[jsnbergman]

This weekend I focused on the doors, triming them out an setting gaps. Basically had to put everything together to tear it apart so I could PMF the doors. They will be getting their first coat of paint tonight, coats of Primer already applied. Its alot easier working the canvas on flat sawhorses rather then walls.

We also got our cooler and formica delivered for the galley. The better half is looking forward to a lot of staining while I build the Galley hatch. Both kids are in Basketball now so a lot of my time was shuffling kids from practices and the daughters holiday tourney.

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[KCStudly]

You are doing nice work!

[jsnbergman]

You are doing nice work!

Thank you! Means a lot, I hope the galley turns out as planned and we will be very happy campers

[jsnbergman]

Had a pretty productive weekend, especially since we cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the Families staying at the Family House on Wednesday. With my Charity organization http://www.frontninefoundation.com/ Yes thats a shameless plug, like us on facebook too. We do some pretty cool things for children at the Childrens Hospital of Illinois. Also smoked a turkey for my family on Thursday and it turned out awesome, OK on to the drop.

Got the doors PMFd trimmed and hung, latches and all. I was really sweating this stage, almost as much as the next, Galley hatch. All my hardware is from Vintage technologies.

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[jsnbergman]

Im going to add trim in front of the hinge to balance the look a little

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