CapeBuild Build Journal

[halfdome, Danny]

John you might want to consider contact cement to hold the roll pan aluminum.
I bend the aluminum over underneath and screw it in tight.
I clamp a 2x4 along the top edge overnight.
Danny

[Bezoar]

I love the look on your face when you are sitting in the trailer - It appears to say "What have I gotten myself into?" I recognize it because I've had that look for the last 6 months!!

Your progress looks great and I love the work-arounds when you encounter a problem. No matter how much we plan, some overlooked detail sneaks in!!

[Capebuild]

John you might want to consider contact cement to hold the roll pan aluminum.
I bend the aluminum over underneath and screw it in tight.
I clamp a 2x4 along the top edge overnight.

Thanks Danny. I haven't yet thought about how to go about adhering the alum skins but I'll remember your tip for the roll pan. I remember seeing some posts about having the alum skins "float" or tacking them.... and another post about doing the roof first or the sides first.... but just haven't gotten to that point yet. But thanks again! And for the help on the pans.

No matter how much we plan, some overlooked detail sneaks in!!

For sure, Bezoar! Years ago (like 40 years ago) I worked in a prototype development shop. The saying was "a good model maker's a person who can correct their mistakes, and fast!.......And that look on my face, I think you hit the nail on the head with the quote "what have I gotten myself into" All joking aside, I am enjoying it. Rather obsessed with it as I'm sure everyone who subscribes to this forum is. But not to say there are times you wonder. It is a lot of work and I suppose anyone who undertakes building one of these lightly would be in for a bit of a surprise. But thank you for your comments.

John

[Capebuild]

Took a few days off from trailer building to do a bit of tent camping at the Watkins Glen State Park this past week.
The gorges and waterfalls were pretty incredible, especially after the huge amount of rainfall on Wednesday night.

falls.jpg (183.35 KiB) Viewed 1201 times

Our tent took a bit of a beating with all the rainfall. Not enough tarps could protect us from the unseen low spot
we pitched our tent in

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Great beer/breweries and wine vineyards too!

We visited the Curtis Museum which is all about the inventions of Glen Curtis. Mostly engines, planes and boats. But there was a great
"fifth wheel" trailer he developed called the aerocar which was towed behind a vehicle. Kind of an early teardrop . He developed bicycles and
motorcycles. Great museum if you're in the area.

aerocar.jpg (203.11 KiB) Viewed 1201 times

[halfdome, Danny]

That reminds me of Douglas Heister and his books on trailers.
I have his Teardrops and tiny trailers book with some owners signing their page in the book.
Danny

[featherliteCT1]

Reminds me of The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in 1973, a rock festival that once received the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "Largest audience at a pop festival." An estimated 600,000 rock fans ... just sayin!

[Capebuild]

Reminds me of The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in 1973, a rock festival that once received the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "Largest audience at a pop festival." An estimated 600,000 rock fans ... just sayin!

The last time I was in Watkins Glen was for that concert in 1973. Allman's Brothers, The Band and The Grateful Dead (from what I can remember ). I was living/going to school in Philadelphia at the time and somehow wound up there. When I told a friend I was going there (recently) he sent me this:

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One rainy day, while there this past trip, we took a drive up to the race track. I was trying to remember where the concert actually was held. There was a big field right across the street from the track stadium.... maybe it was there. While we camped this past week we could hear the drone of race cars going round the track. Was cool, a right of passage, I would say.

WG track.jpg (171.8 KiB) Viewed 1174 times

[Capebuild]

Tomorrow I'm planning to get the door panels, hatch struts and inner door moldings CNCd.
I was still not sure how much clearance was needed for the doors (how wide to make the doors)...... so I built a mock up of sorts which I'm hoping will provide a better idea.
Luckily the Trim Lok seal I had ordered arrived just in time to help with the mock up. There's another seal I had order that would go on the cabin opening (on top of the aluminum trim
moldings) but not sure I'll use it, or order something else.

[tony.latham]

John:

I assume your doors will only compress the seal about 50% or less?

Tony

[Capebuild]

I assume your doors will only compress the seal about 50% or less?

In the second photo it shows (an estimate) of the seal compression. I'd estimate it to be less than 50%. However the aluminum trim I'm planning on using on the door edge will have a return on it that wraps around the edge of the door that would also contribute to compressing the bulb another .060, I'd assume. But I'd think, even with that, the compression would not exceed 50%.
But thanks for making me think about it

John

[Capebuild]

October 4, 2021

Over this past weekend received some additional CNC parts (like the doors, interior door and window moldings... few other parts).
Starting to glue up the door assemblies. Now that I have the interior door moldings I was able to finalize the tracks the bed platform runs along
(actually needed to bump it out a bit to clear the door moldings. So now the bed platform is fully installed in place.

I was going to install the headliner but there always seems to be other items popping up that would be easier to install now prior to installing the headliner.....
so taking care of those items (like some electrical work.

Speaking of electrical.... had a real screw up the other day when I accidentally drilled though the data cables feeding the battery monitor and the solar monitor.
They were buried in the side wall. Really annoyed at the time (duh) but ordered a couple of new cables and will run them an alternate way with some other cables I'm running
though the galley walls. So be it

[TimC]

That's a bummer for sure.

On your next build, because I know you will have a next build, after installing wall wiring and anchor points, etc. use a cheap plastic drop cloth taped to each wall and mark off locations of all your important bits. I keep these schematics under my mattress folded up and inside an envelope. I did this on all my builds. These photos show my son's foamie. After installing roof spars and wiring I made a set that shows all framing and wiring inside the roof.

[Tom&Shelly]

Took a few days off from trailer building to do a bit of tent camping at the Watkins Glen State Park this past week.
The gorges and waterfalls were pretty incredible, especially after the huge amount of rainfall on Wednesday night.
...
We visited the Curtis Museum which is all about the inventions of Glen Curtis. Mostly engines, planes and boats. But there was a great
"fifth wheel" trailer he developed called the aerocar which was towed behind a vehicle. Kind of an early teardrop . He developed bicycles and
motorcycles. Great museum if you're in the area.

aerocar.jpg

Now you have me envious John! Two day trips we just didn't have time for this Summer. Hopefully there will be a next year for us.

(Maybe with slightly cooler temps, as I remember from boyhood, and slightly less rain, despite what I remember from boyhood!)

Tom

[Capebuild]

On your next build, because I know you will have a next build,

Tim, possibly if I were a young man with unlimited resources it would be great to use this build as a learning experience and then build "some more" teardrops. But I'm pretty sure this will fall into the category of one and done.

Now you have me envious John! Two day trips we just didn't have time for this Summer. Hopefully there will be a next year for us.

It was really very nice up in that area, Tom. We just kind of drove around quite a bit to explore. That Curtis Museum was quite the find.

Yesterday glued up the 2 door assemblies and installed the 2 interior door moldings. Put a bead of Proflex RV around the door molding where it mates with the inner wall surface. My first time using that (Proflex). Sticky stuff. Hopefully today the replacement cable for the battery monitor will arrive so that can be installed (already now have the solar monitor cable)....and I can put that unfortunate errant drilling behind me


John

[Capebuild]

10.8.21

I was struggling with how to get a good, precise measurement for how long to cut the ply for the headliner. I tried a couple of different tape measures, a plastic coated flexible tape a seamstress would use.... but going around the curved surface of the side wall I wanted to be sure of the measurement. I knew what the width needed to be and cut a 2 inch + strip from the 10 foot ply I had to be the necessary width measurement. Then had the idea to use that 2 inch strip to wrap it around the rabbet where the headliner will fit. I slowly kept cutting it back till it fit nicely and will be able to take the measurement from the length of that strip to determine how long the headliner ply should be.

The clamps are holding the test strip down against the rabbet.

The two pieces at the front of the trailer are moldings that go around the interior side of the window in the doors (they're drying for the night from just being urethaned this afternoon)

John