Tom & Shelly's build

[KTM_Guy]

Heard on the radio the other day a Survey of kids 12 and under 80% didn’t know who Smokey was. Didn’t say where the survey was probably New York City.

Tony and I think you go with orange Bedliner.

Todd

PS I got the break controller hooked up for our Colorado trip and it really was handy. Wish I got one a long time ago.

[tony.latham]

:thinking: Tony and I think you go with orange Bedliner.

Reminds me of a Henry Ford quote about Model T colors.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Tony and I think you go with orange Bedliner.

Todd

Yikes! I mentioned this to Shelly, and she likes the idea

I told her they won't let us into Canada with it: Orange campers are illegal up there! But I don't think she's buying it.

(We're dreaming of a long trip to visit my Mom in Upstate New York, from New Mexico via Canada.)

Heard on the radio the other day a Survey of kids 12 and under 80% didn’t know who Smokey was. Didn’t say where the survey was probably New York City.

Yes, it's probably the culture and environment they are growing up in. If the local TV stations don't run those public service announcements, they won't know.

Moved here twelve years ago and I'd never heard of a favorite New Mexican critter until Shelly mentioned him. Now, we're trying to attract them using treats:



Hopefully, they'll eat our mice!

When Tony posted the sax playing Sasquatch, I searched the web for chupacabras chanting around the campfire--nada! Bigfoot gets the big PR!

Tom

[tony.latham]

Now, we're trying to attract them using treats:

T

[Tom&Shelly]

Got out the hot wire cutter this morning, and finally gave the teardrop a haircut! Before:



and after:



Tomorrow, we start putting on the roof.

Think we're done with the blue foam until we work on the galley. We're thinking about building our own cooler for a custom fit. It'll have about 2 inches of blue foam all around, and be removable so we can put it in the truck or a bear box while camping in Bigfoot country. If I can figure out how to do it, we'd also like to have a drawer for ice and another with a rack to store items above the ice, so they don't get water logged. We expect to have enough 1/8" Baltic Birch left over after the main build to make shells for the inside and outside of the cooler.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Ran out of time this weekend, as usual, so I didn't glue any roof panels down. Did get the first one positioned, and drywall screws in to hold it against the PL Premium (which we'll probably have to wait until next weekend to apply):



I used the screws with finish washers, so the wood isn't too damaged, but we'll still have about 50 holes to fill with epoxy and phenolic.



Before gluing, we'll trim about 6 inches off of this so the join is over a spar. Next panel will run down to the vertical front, and then the last piece will be about 18 inches on the front, entirely vertical.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Glued the two roof panels down this weekend, using a combination of 3x and 8x PL Premium.



Screwed the panels down using drywall screws and finish washers, weighted, and clamped, to try and keep the expanding glue from pushing up the panels. I was planning on cutting and gluing the front panel this afternoon, but the clamps are in the way, so that'll have to wait until an evening this week, or next weekend. (7 Mondays to go until retirement--then I'll have time to get some work done!)

I'd put masking tape down around the first panel, but discovered any squeeze out of the PL Premium was better handled simply by waiting about an hour, then scraping it up with a plastic scraper and paper towel.

Spent yesterday afternoon going to 5 hardware stores in Albuquerque looking for some 3M 5200 Marine Grade caulk. Didn't find it, but one of the guys working in a True Value suggested MasterSeal NP1. It's another polyurethane based caulk, so decided I'd try it to seal our utility compartment



Perhaps not as neat as I might have been, but if it adheres to the painted floor and varnished walls, it seems like it'll do what we want it to, which is to contain any water that gets spilled, or makes it out of the air conditioner, somewhere other then the intended drain hole.

We'll give the galley the same treatment, after we build the shelves, etc.

Tom

[noseoil]

Looking very good, I like the wire cut on the foam, makes for a nice solid bottom support for the skin!

[Tom&Shelly]

Looking very good, I like the wire cut on the foam, makes for a nice solid bottom support for the skin!

Thanks Tim.

I like working with the foam. May build a few hot wire cutters of different sorts, in the future, and try and find more uses for foam.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

We're not doing too much with the teardrop this weekend, but we did glue the last roof panel on this afternoon



We'll give the PL Premium a few days to dry and then take the clamps off and screws out. Shelly put LOTS of glue on, and that may be why it tends to push the wood out as it expands. We will have a slightly wrinkled roof. Oh well.

We used the last quarter of a tube (8x) and then opened another, which exploded along the seam when Shelly used our electric caulk gun. (She said later she thinks the tube may have been damaged.) We finished by troweling the glue in, which I don't like as much. Wasted most of the tube, because we had to throw it away. At least the viscosity of the glue meant it didn't go everywhere, so no particular mess to clean up!

It was the right type of glue to use on the front like this, but I'm happier with Titebond III when I can lay the substrates horizontal.

Incidentally, the 1/8 inch Baltic birch does seem to stretch a little, so as the PL Premium expanded it pushed up on the wood, leaving it raised where we didn't have screws. It is more noticeable on the flat part of the roof, so teardrops will all curved roofs would do better in this regard. If we did it again, I would have used PL Premium on the curved and vertical surfaces, and Titebond III on the flat horizontal part.

I'm hoping the epoxy, if we put it on thick on the coats after laying the fiberglass, will self level and help fill in the ripple on the top. Shelly doesn't think the Monstaliner will hide it, though I don't think either of us know for sure.

Tomorrow, I plan to sand the top seam down--one of the panels got raised about a sixteenth of an inch relative to the other. I suppose the fiberglass over it will give it the strength, even with half the plywood underneath sanded away. Later in the week, I'll have to do the same with the front seam.

Anyway, later in the week, I'll route the overlap out of the roof and then use a 3/8 inch round-over bit to put in the curve, as I did with the hatch.

Our plans for the epoxy are to first put a coat on the bare wood, filling in the screw holes and other imperfections with epoxy and phenolic. We'll let that dry and sand it out, then put the fiberglass on and coat it with epoxy. (We'll get a mechanical bond with the layer underneath--everything I've read says that in theory a chemical bond is better, but in practice no one has ever seen a difference.) Before that coat cures entirely, we'll add more coats. This seemed to work well with our walls. We may take Thanksgiving week off, so we can do a coat a day. It is cooler these days, so we can control the temperature in the workshop.

Tom

[tony.latham]

I'm hoping the epoxy, if we put it on thick on the coats after laying the fiberglass, will self level and help fill in the ripple on the top.

I wouldn't think it would. You might fair it with something like this before you glass it:

https://www.amazon.com/Elmers-Products-E848D12-Carpenters-Filler/dp/B000LNR4XC/ref=asc_df_B000LNR4XC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198095900368&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3640594605938742537&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029516&hvtargid=aud-801381245258:pla-320205276191&psc=1

Depending on how deep the bottoms are...

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

I'm hoping the epoxy, if we put it on thick on the coats after laying the fiberglass, will self level and help fill in the ripple on the top.

I wouldn't think it would. You might fair it with something like this before you glass it:

https://www.amazon.com/Elmers-Products-E848D12-Carpenters-Filler/dp/B000LNR4XC/ref=asc_df_B000LNR4XC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198095900368&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3640594605938742537&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029516&hvtargid=aud-801381245258:pla-320205276191&psc=1

Depending on how deep the bottoms are...

Tony

Hmm I've used that stuff before, on door frames, etc. where there were nicks and gouges. Guess I'm a little skeptical of its holding power when I have 1/16 inch ripples over four or five inches of smooth wood, and even more skeptical of my ability to sand it much flatter later.

It does raise the question of why I didn't think to use it to fill the screw holes, instead of the more complicated, slower drying, more difficult to sand, and more expensive epoxy? Now that I think about it, the wood filler is a much better idea for that! Guess I was thinking about some similar screw holes in our walls, that we put in when we erected them on the floor, where we drilled through the epoxy and fiberglass already on the walls, and we needed an epoxy fix. Anyway, I'll run out to the hardware store this morning and buy some wood filler, and fill the screw holes.

Maybe then I'll experiment a little with it's ability to fair ripples. I put a straight edge across the roof this morning, and the worst case is about a sixteenth of an inch. Many are less than that, so I would think a thick layer of epoxy would tend to settle out, and would at least help. Nice thing about epoxy is that thick doesn't hurt curing time. Certainly an expensive solution though.

BTW, I'm five foot eight, so I only see the ripples when I stand on my toes. Shelly is five foot nine, so sees them every time she looks across the roof. Someone six feet or over might not even notice it.

Tom

[swoody126]

"I'm hoping the epoxy, if we put it on thick on the coats after laying the fiberglass, will self level and help fill in the ripple on the top"

pox really doesn't level well on it's own

no need to ask how i know and it wasn't pretty nor was it easy to resolve

pox is best applied w/ a squeegie in thin layers and hot layering is my preferred method when multiple layers are in order

when brushed or rolled on the stuff has a bad habit of turning a project into something looking like a relief map of the Rocky Mtns

when mixed w/ an appropriate filler(i like wood flour NOT SAW DUST for general filling like cracks n screw holes) it is more stable and resistant to producing wonky results

when using fillers it is always best to pretreat the spot w/ unthickened pox to prevent starving the wood/seam/hole/joint when the adjacent wood can/will absorb the pox from the putty leaving it dry to begin with

TB III shrinks during the curing process even when thickened w/ wood flour(take that for what it's worth)

sw

[tony.latham]

and even more skeptical of my ability to sand it much flatter later.

Use a long sanding board so that it floats on the high spots.

If you are hesitant about Elmer's holding power then use thickened epoxy* applied with a long trowel so that the goo is only applied to the valleys. If you go this route, give it a thin coat of unthickened epoxy first.

Tony

*I use cabosil for a thickener but micro balloons make for a relatively sandable epoxy filler. They also are used to increase the radar transparency of some aircraft and that would be damn handy if you plan on doing 65 in a 55 with your teardrop.

[Tom&Shelly]

...micro balloons make for a relatively sandable epoxy filler. They also are used to increase the radar transparency of some aircraft and that would be damn handy if you plan on doing 65 in a 55 with your teardrop.

Ah, stealth technology!





Tom