A Tiny Travel Trailer for a Family of Four

[Bruue1]

Thats a good idea GPW and thanks for reminding me. I honestly might have forgotten. Thanks.

[DaddyJeep]

It's coming along nice. As a One Eyed guy myself..... I don't know what to think of your signature. Who am I kidding, just look at what I have for a replacement eye.

[Bruue1]

Is that eye metallic? Looks cool. I'm sure its a pain in the arse but it does look cool. Like a terminator eye or similar.

Working as a nurse and with my family history and all of the stupid things I've done myself, I've seen so many injuries. The signature speaks to myself and my personal friends and family more than anything. Its not meant to be a judgement on anyone else. It really describes how I charge through life, it is good to be careful but without some risk there is minimal reward. If you don't try, it doesn't happen. I have learned most things by experience.

I've had deep cuts sewn together by my mother at times when I didn't have health insurance. ( she keeps lidocaine and sutures in her purse) When I was sixteen I was under a 1980 Dodge Aspen (my first car) on some cheap jack stands, my buddy says "hey this is moving" I barely got out as the whole car fell straight to the ground, axle to cement, no tires on. They were just old rusty thin metal jack stands, its all I had at the time. They just crumpled up. I have put bricks and tires under the cars ever since.

I have these awesome respirators, the 3M masks, they're sweet. I have them because after all the cigarettes and pot I used to smoke as a kid and all the saw dust I have inhaled, my lungs don't work like they should, I'm not even forty. I'm trying to get skinny so I don't have to breathe as much. This is something I totally could have prevented, I did it to myself, knowingly, but not really knowing.

I am careful with my saw, but I could see myself being that guy none the less, when you use something soo much, it only takes a moment of no focus and you can cut off half your hand. It scares me. Even Mathias Wandel ran the tip of his finger into his table saw blade.

So I hope I didn't offend you too much. Thanks for the comment. Thanks for having a good sense of humor about it. I can see the shine in your eye.

[Bruue1]

Here are some photos of my roof. One pic shows the roof without the 1/4 plywood skin. Another pic shows with the 1/4 plywood skin. The last picture shows the roof vent opening a little closer. Around the roof vent I doubled up the 1/4 ply to raise the profile and to provide more "wood" for the roof mounting screws to grab. The interior of the vent hole is rounded over with a router bit. The white stuff is lightweight spackle. I also spackled around the edge to blend it down to the foam wall panels. It's all ready fro canvas now.

[Bruue1]

Here are some photos of jacking my camper off the frame. They are self explanatory.

[Bruue1]

Here are two pictures of my salvaged wheel wells. My wheel wells need a little help. They have sharp edges, I'm afraid they will cut the canvas either right away or over time. So I picked up a little fiberglass resin and cloth today. I'm going to fiberglass right around the edges of these wheel wells, cover all the cracks and build up a little bead right around the edge.

My wife teases me, says she hopes we're not driving down 101 with pieces of our camper flying behind us. I told her she'll have to get out and clean it up. She already did that once, we both did, the day we destroyed our pop up camper. LOL

This camper is already rock solid. I'm surprised by the structural integrity. The box didn't even flex when I jacked it up. If you thump the side it resonates like a drum. I can't wait to hear it in rain.

Friday will start with fiberglassing and will move into canvassing. Once the canvas is on this thing is going to fly.

[DaddyJeep]

Is that eye metallic? Looks cool. I'm sure its a pain in the arse but it does look cool. Like a terminator eye or similar.

It is actually an 8 ball.

I am careful with my saw, but I could see myself being that guy none the less, when you use something soo much, it only takes a moment of no focus and you can cut off half your hand. It scares me. Even Mathias Wandel ran the tip of his finger into his table saw blade.

Being scared of our tools is what keeps us safe. I do a lot of metal work and my angle grinders are by far the scariest tools I have ever used. I will never own one with a switch. I like to know if that thing gets ripped out of my hands and I am no longer holding the trigger that it will stop spinning.

So I hope I didn't offend you too much. Thanks for the comment. Thanks for having a good sense of humor about it. I can see the shine in your eye.

[Nodrog]

Hey Bruue1- The trailer is coming along nicely, for sure it is very sturdy. The roof looks strong, too. I didn't brace my roof much, we don't get much snow. I think you might see some there! The discussion about safety- well, brings back too many memories. Years in steel fab with heavy objects flying around on overhead cranes, years sawing wood after I quit the steel fab shops...nicking thumbs, etc. Still have all my digits through no fault of my own! I think I'm more afraid of the wood tools, too sharp! ok enuff...

What are your plans for interior furniture? I'm spending quite a bit of time trying to get organized storage in a little trailer, spose it will be worth it in the end....

Anyway, keep up the good work!! Oh, and it's great to see you talking about visiting the left coast, Oregon ( where we live) is indeed a Pacific Wonderland. Maybe visit the Columbia Gorge? Trails, waterfalls, views! You have to really watch the kiddos though on trails, don't want any tumbles! Anyway....project looking goood!! Later, Nodrog

[KCStudly]

Trailer work looks great!

I realize that your cabin probably doesn't weigh very much, that we all make our own judgements about safety everyday, and your jack feet have nice flat wide bases on them; but I feel compelled to comment for the sake of onlookers that have never been made aware.

It is considered to be unsafe to use concrete blocks, pavers or clay bricks as cribbing. Although a good material for taking widely applied structural loads in compression, when point loaded they tend to crack and/or crumble. Just saying.

[Bruue1]

You are probably right. Just as a disclaimer: I would never tell somebody else that anything I do is how to do something. I am only showing how I do it.

[Bruue1]

Daddy Jeep: Yeah I've ground myself before, grinders are scary as hell. My 4 inch grinder scares me. I don't think I'd want a bigger one. I almost no expeirence with metal fab. Mechanics: I change my own oil, Ive never swapped and engine or rebuilt a transmission. I have a nine year old boy. I could see the two of us picking up a v8 rwd car or 4x4 truck in a couple years. We'll learn together. That jeep in the backrground of your pic looks sweet. Like a lot of work too.



NodRog:

I bet thats a fun place to live. I've never been. My wife and I have been as far as Colorado this side of the mountains, for skiing, but never went through. On that trip I'm gonna be looking for bigfoot. Looks squatchy out there. (I prefer the world with Bigfoot in it) We'll keep your suggestions in mind. Our timelines pretty tight, even with 18.5 days. It is a lot of driving. We're gonna rush Washington, just get a picture of Ranier. Then we are going to river gorge in Oregon, probably the one you're talking about, supposed to have huge beautiful waterfalls, one spot is called Hood point? Then out to Astoria to head south on hwy 101. We'll watch The Goonies the night before. Down through California and back through the desert.

Yeah its been snowy here this spring. when I was a kid we always had a lot more snow all winter long. These days we don't get nearly as much over all. The snow this year didn't bother me much but I am ready for summer. I think we finally beat the snow this weekend. Warm and sunny, the snow is melting fast. Yesterday was the first day I was comfortable outside in just a tshirt, and I run hot. MN is cool too, lotta trees and a lotta lakes. Ski all winter and swim all summer.

My furniture is going to be all thin little plywood stick frames, 1/4 walls, 1x2 plywood faces. It's just faster. Seating surfaces will all be slats. The wrap around bench will become a small bed too. I'm gonna have storage for the dining table under one of the bunks. I envision not having the table set up most of the time so its just a seating bench. Then we can pull the table out to play a game or turn the dinette into a bed. I'd rather have space than the table all the time. We have a pass through outside storage compartment under the front bench too. The bunks, the dinette and the kitchenette and some overhead cabinets. We're going to be a little light on storage. I nixed the idea of a floor to ceiling cabinet because I wanted everything to be open to the middle, I didn't want to cut up the small areas flow. Once I get everything in place I'll start adding little cubbies and boxes here and there.

I started gluing canvas up, its going good, so far I am pleased over all. I like the look of it. I'll have pictures soon.

[Bruue1]

I got my cushion cover making team assembled yesterday and we have one seat cushion and one mattress fully covered. Thanks to the three most important women in my life. I think they did an awesome job!

All the foam is cut to shape. I used and electric carving knife from Walmart ($13). I couldn't believe how well that knife cut the foam. No tearing, clean and straight cuts.

We have 7 more seat cushions and 3 more mattresses to go.

[Bruue1]

Two sides of the trailer have canvas! Two more will get covered today. Then let it dry. Then paint the bottom, Then drop the box back down onto the frame. Drill some holes and bolt that sucker to the frame. Then drop the frame to the ground to lower the camper as much as possible. Then canvas the roof. Then paint, windows, doors, interior etc...

Putting this canvas on is a mess. I end up covered in glue. When I was looking at my first batch of Titebond 2 and water mixed 50/50 I was skeptical. I thought it looked very thin. I watched a couple videos and re read some blogs on this site. I then went ahead with it mixed 50/50. I'm really pleased with the results.

For tools I am using a bondo spreader, a small foam roller, a few 8D finishing nails, a razor bade, a five gallon measure bucket and an air powered stapler. Its a cheap tool shop stapler ($20 years ago, I'm glad because it is now covered in glue).

The wall canvas has been going on in two courses:

The Bottom Course I am hanging it with finishing nails pressed into the foam walls like tacks. Then I use the bondo spreader to smooth it down and out to the sides. This little squeegie works awesome.

The Top Course begins on the roof, I have enough of an overlap to hold the canvas in place once pressed in the middle with the bondo spreader. Then the same, work from the top middle, working down and out. It is not an exact science the way I am doing it. I'm happy with how the seams are laying down but they are not perfectly straight. I can live with what I am getting. I'm just excited to use this thing.

I have huge overlaps from the top section to the bottom. I am on the roof 12 inches and at least 12 inches over the bottom piece. I figured bigger is better in this case and there is no reason to be cutting off 14-18 inch strips of canvas, I wouldn't use them anywhere else.

The very first piece I cut for the rear 82 inch span was 88 inches long figuring on a 3 inch overlap each side. I thought if it shrinks a little 2 inches will still be fine. I ended up getting no overlap at all. In fact it was an inch or two short. I still used it, I am patching the corners before applying the side pieces which will overlap the other way. The second piece for the back I cut 95 inches. I ended up with about 2.5 inches of overlap on each side. So this canvas shrinks when you soak it in glue and water all crinkled up.

I cut out the windows and doors with the razor blade leaving about an inch of overlap, I use the staple gun to wrap the canvas into the windows and door frames. The canvas does overlap the underside of the camper a minimum of 4 inches, I am also using staples here in addition to spreading the canvas with the spreader.

These huge sheets of canvas are a mess and a pain the ass. That said, application is pretty easy and goes pretty fast. With the squeegie it lays down pretty flat. It hides the imperfections in the body pretty good. I'd take this canvas over fiberglass. If I had wanted to spend more money or if money wasn't an object I may have preferred to fiberglass the roof and put aluminum on the sides. Looking at these two sides done I do think this canvas is going to work great! As long as I get a good paint finish on it and seal up the seams.

I'm going to paint this whole thing with roll on Rustoleum oil paint. I'll probably thin the paint 10% with some mineral spirits. We'll use primer underneath and put a roll on clear coat on top of the color. We were thinking about different paint schemes, I wouldn't be surprised if we just end up one solid color. Maybe try to match our tow vehicle. Maybe one lighter base color and one stripe to match the tow vehicle.

Maybe name it Box of The Wild and paint a Master Sword, Hylian Shield and a Triforce on it. Thats my son's vote.

[KCStudly]

Way to go! Get 'er dun.

[dancam]

Daddy Jeep: Yeah I've ground myself before, grinders are scary as hell. My 4 inch grinder scares me. I don't think I'd want a bigger one.

Lol, ive used a lot of power tools and gotten more comfortable with them than i should have. Used angle grinders with a 12in cut off wheel. Used a very old massive grinder thats so big you cant hold it steady when you turn it on no matter how hard you try.
Yet the only scar i have if from my little 3in grinder. 40grit disc spinning at 22,000rpm but its so small it didnt seem scary... that hurt a lot and i still have the scar 10yrs later. :/
Guy i was working for at the time was changing the 6in wheel on his grinder with it plugged in. It somehow slipped, spun around and turned on. Cut his leg and hand real bad.
Always be scared of your tools, lol

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