Tom & Shelly's build

[Tom&Shelly]

OK, this idea of joining the skin with epoxy didn't work out very well for us. I undid the screws tonight and moved the panel, but it's clear the panel joins didn't glue together sufficiently. Worked for Steve Fredrick, but, for whatever reason, it isn't working for us, with quarter inch Baltic birch. The glassed and epoxy side didn't fold, so we can put some temporary sticks down the sides to support it, but the joins are still raised a little, despite putting weight on there while we glued them. So I'm not confident we can successfully attach this panel to the skeleton, and have the whole thing hold together and look good.

I have a feeling we are heading down the wrong path here, and this business needs a re-think!

I'm now thinking we should cut the pieces of skin separately using the template, cut the pieces of skeleton as well, glue them all together, and only after assembled and rigid should we put on the epoxy and fiberglass. Curious for any of your comments or suggestions.

I know some have not used epoxy and fiberglass on the walls, and would be interested in hearing how you did it.

Thank you in advance!

Tom

[tony.latham]

I'm now thinking we should cut the pieces of skin separately using the template, cut the pieces of skeleton as well, glue them all together, and only after assembled and rigid should we put on the epoxy and fiberglass.

Exactly.

Glue them on the skeleton and then glass.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

I'm now thinking we should cut the pieces of skin separately using the template, cut the pieces of skeleton as well, glue them all together, and only after assembled and rigid should we put on the epoxy and fiberglass.

Exactly.

Glue them on the skeleton and then glass.

Tony

Thanks Tony!

Seems obvious with 20/20 hindsight, but at least we got some practice with fiber glass.

I'm looking forward to this weekend! Rather be cutting wood than waiting on epoxy to cure anyway!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

This weekend I (finally) cut the skeletons for our walls. Also cut the foam (only half shown in the pictures).




(I really need to find something without wood grain to use for a backdrop! )

Right now the skeletons are the size of the outside skins. I need to cut off a few inches from the bottom (where the skin will form the skirt to hide the trailer), and the ledge on top where the ceiling will be attached. I also need to notch the skeleton for the headboard bulkhead, which will go between the storage door and vertical foam in the front picture.

I used separate skeletons for the galley, since the galley bulkhead will go all the way from bottom to top. (Saved the issue of joining two pieces of 3/4" ply.) The shelves in the cabin and counter in the galley are intended to be structural elements and will help keep the walls and bulkhead square. (Keeping in mind, I'm an electrical engineer, and may not know what I'm talking about!)

Also, in the middle picture, I set in the porch light switch to check on fit (also why the door frame is there). Found some switches by Wiremold that are only about 7/8" deep. They are supposed to be for 120 VAC circuits, but they'll work for a 12 VDC LED porch light just fine. I may need to make a spacer out of scrap 1/8" Baltic birch to put behind the switch plate, to give enough clearance.

Have to think through the next steps. I may temporarily screw the three pieces (each side) of outer skin (1/4" Baltic birch) onto the skeletons and route them to fit before cutting the bottom and ledge out of the skeletons.

Also have to figure out the best way to cut the ledge. Steve Fredrick found a way to use a 1/8" cutter bit in his router, but I haven't been able to find the adapter he used. I may instead cut the template to match the ledge with a jig saw and sanding, then draw two lines an eighth inch apart on the skeletons, cut between them with a jig saw, then use the template to route the skeletons to perfection. Then I can take the scrap 3/4" ply, cut carefully to the other eighth inch line with the band saw, and use them for spacers between the 1/8" BB ceiling and the roof.

I did figure out how to draw lines to match the contour of the teardrop. This was an idea from somewhere in this forum that I found while lurking several years ago:



I bought the two bearings at Surplus City in Albuquerque. Simply glued them to a scrap of 1/8" BB with 5 minute epoxy, then drilled 1/16" holes down where I want the line. Just run the bearings along the contour with a pencil through the holes.

Tom

[tony.latham]

Good looking wall skeleton.

... I may temporarily screw the three pieces (each side) of outer skin (1/4" Baltic birch) onto the skeletons and route them to fit before cutting the bottom and ledge out of the skeletons.

I cut the outside plywood with a jigsaw to within about 3/16" or so of my traced pencil line and then clamp it to the pattern and true it up with the router and a pattern bit.

Here's my wife making some dust:



I cut the bottom of the skeleton off with a circular saw.

I can't recall how Fredrick's suggest you cut off the roof ledge but I just use a jigsaw. Works fine and I have yet to have an issue with a gap between the interior wall and the ceiling. Any sliver of a 1/32" gap will get filled with PL Premium when the ceiling goes down and nobody knows.

...then draw two lines an eighth inch apart on the skeletons, cut between them with a jig saw, then use the template to route the skeletons to perfection.

I think you're over-thinking this... But don't let me dampen your planning.

Then I can take the scrap 3/4" ply, cut carefully to the other eighth inch line with the band saw

I think I've done it that way before but you can glue the blocking between the ribs leaving the 1/8" proud and trim them down using a patterning bit. (Anything to make more noise and sawdust.)

Looking good.



Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Good looking wall skeleton.

Thanks Tony! And thank you for the advice!

I cut the outside plywood with a jigsaw to within about 3/16" or so of my traced pencil line and then clamp it to the pattern and true it up with the router and a pattern bit.

I found I do like making a rough cut with the jig saw and then routing with a pattern bit (or other jig). I'm guessing it prolongs the life of the bit.

I think you're over-thinking this... But don't let me dampen your planning.

Could be! When I use a jig saw on thick material, like 3/4" ply, especially around curves, the blade tends to bend a bit, so the cut isn't perpendicular to the face. Probably something wrong in my technique, but I've never been able to discover what to do better. All of that over-thinking is really to mitigate (or eliminate) that problem.

...you can glue the blocking between the ribs leaving the 1/8" proud and trim them down using a patterning bit. (Anything to make more noise and sawdust.)

I like that idea! No problems holding the router "sideways" with the weight bearing down instead of holding the plate to the material? We'll have to try it. (We own the same brand router your wife is using--nice, but not real light.)


Tom

[tony.latham]

When I use a jig saw on thick material, like 3/4" ply, especially around curves, the blade tends to bend a bit, so the cut isn't perpendicular to the face. Probably something wrong in my technique...

Or maybe it's the blade? I find the jigsaw "close enough" for the skeleton. Here's my wife gang-cutting two skeletons:



And for the record, I went to Plan B and did not attach the fenders to the walls on this teardrop ––as the pic would suggest. A fender catching a stump in a boondock site could easily damage the wall.





Tony

[redbicycle]

Looks great. I am doing the same thing right now-making the 3/4" plywood skeleton. Soooooooo much of the wood is removed!

[KTM_Guy]

Buy good jig saw blades. I only use Bosch blades now. That is if you have a good jig saw. If your saw uses blades with the hole at the top it's time to upgrade the saw. Actually it was time 20 years ago.

Todd

[Tom&Shelly]

When I use a jig saw on thick material, like 3/4" ply, especially around curves, the blade tends to bend a bit, so the cut isn't perpendicular to the face. Probably something wrong in my technique...

Or maybe it's the blade? I find the jigsaw "close enough" for the skeleton.

Well, I've had this problem with jig saws and thick material since I was in Jr High using my Dad's circa 1960 sabre saw. So yes, maybe it's time for a new blade. (Just kidding! )

Actually, I'm using a Bosch JS470E jig saw and Bosch T101 BR (10 tpi) and T101 AO (20 tpi) blades, so believe the equipment is fine. Did some research over the interwebs at lunch time and I may try experimenting with slower speeds and concentrate on not pushing the saw through too hard (not that I think I am, really).

It could really be important when I'm ready to cut the sides for the hatch, since there doesn't seem to be any alternative to the jig saw if we want to use both sides of the cut.

In the meantime, I do well using the 20 tpi blades with the 1/4" and 1/8" Baltic birch, and the 10 tpi blades do good enough with the skeleton to cut the voids for the foam, and rough cutting to be cleaned up with the router later. I wouldn't get away with cutting two 3/4" sheets of ply at once, as your wife does Tony.

Anyway, thank you Tony and Todd for the suggestions!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Looks great. I am doing the same thing right now-making the 3/4" plywood skeleton. Soooooooo much of the wood is removed!

Thank you! Read through your build folder today. Looks great so far!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

And for the record, I went to Plan B and did not attach the fenders to the walls on this teardrop ––as the pic would suggest. A fender catching a stump in a boondock site could easily damage the wall.





Tony

Saw that you'd mentioned that somewhere else on the forum, which is why we decided to have the fenders made part of the frame.



You may have saved us from grief later. Thanks!
Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Busy week on the teardrop build. I cut the outer skins, trimmed the bottom off of the skeletons, made the ledges, and cut the inner skins.



Went with the method I described above to trim the ledges and it worked well, and didn't take too long. I'll trim the blocking (part of the pile of parts in the picture) when we decide exactly where we will put the spars, probably after we put on the ceiling.

I also trimmed the galley bulkhead height, now that we have the skeletons to know exactly how tall it should be. Cut notches in the galley skeletons to hold a final spar behind that bulkhead.



The hatch will start just aft of that, and the hinge will attach to the spar. (I may use maple for that one, for appearance and ability to hold screws, poplar for the other spars.)

Did some investigating to try and improve my jig saw game. Discovered for one thing that I'd been using down cutting blades on the 3/4" plywood. For Bosch the clue is the "R" in the number, for "reverse". You can see the difference in the direction of the teeth in the blades below



Guess we had the blades from a kitchen remodel we did a few years ago. The down cut blades do a cleaner job on the top surface, and we used one to cut the hole for the sink. However, that doesn't explain why I had a whole 2nd package (in much older Bosch style packaging) that were identical. The problem with the down cut blades is that they tend to lift the jig saw. The regular up cut blades pull it down against the plate. Soon as I realized what I had, I went out and bought a pack of the up cut blades, and find them easier for this job. Going slower, with moderate speed and with the oscillation turned off seemed to mitigate a lot of the problem of non-square cuts, but it still occurred around curves.

Anyway, had a lot of fun this week!

Tom

[tony.latham]

I went out and bought a pack of the up cut blades, and find them easier for this job.

Thanks for the tip.

T

[Tom&Shelly]

But right now we have trouble lifting just the floor ...

Build the dolly so you can get a car jack under the cabin. If you peek inside any of the commercial builders on Youtube such as Camp-Inn or So-Cal, none build on the trailer.

It's easier.

Tony

Hi Tony,

So once you jack the cabin above the height of the trailer, (2nd picture) did you just push it onto the trailer?

I'm starting to think about building a pallet to assemble. We could actually build it just a fraction of an inch above the trailer and not worry about jacking it up at all (at the cost of using step stools to work on the roof). Then I suppose we could push the trailer up to the pallet, block the tires and push the cabin onto the trailer. Somehow we'd have to do it well enough to get the bolt holes to align.

Thing I'm worried about is that our sides will have a skirt covering the trailer frame (quarter inch clearance on either side), and I'd hate for us to damage those. Using a pallet though, we wouldn't have the spare tire holder in the way (a problem with our trailer design), and I could get between the floor and the inside of the skirts to waterproof.

Todd, I like your idea of the pipes, but again, I think our skirt precludes that idea.

Just as a funny aside, I was daydreaming about the teardrop during a meeting at work today, and thought about assembling it on the trailer. Then I thought about using the router to cut a half round between the walls and roof. Then (in my mind) I went too far with the router and hit the metal trailer frame. That shook me out of my reverie, and I think some of my colleagues even noted the sudden shock on my face. Am I ready to retire, or what!

Thanks in advance.

Tom