How did you line up the sides?

[asianflava]

There may be a simple answer to this question but it seems to have me stumped. How do you adjust your sides so that they are square?

When I was installing my shelves, the edge of the shelves did not line up equally with the edges of the sides (I did a corner to corner measurement on the shelf and it was equal). The Left side was 1/2in too far aft. I managed to remove it with minimal damage, now I'm trying to put it in it's proper place. I want to make shure that it's in the correct place.
It seems that when I use a different method, I get different results. I've used lasers, spirit levels, tape measure.

High tech:
The Right side is still attached to the floor, I used this as a reference since it is fixed. I installed a front and rear bulkhead and measured 30in from the Right wall on both. I installed a shelf on the rear and checked it for level. Then I put a laser on the shelf and shot a laser beam. I adjusted till it hit both bulkhead marks. This insured that I was parallel to the trailer sides. The perpendicular beams shot against the side walls, I measured them to the side and adjusted the Left side till they were equal.
Low Tech:
Clamp a straight edge to the nose and placed a carpenter's square against it and one side wall. Moved side till square is touching along it's entire edge.

I'm gonna try this tomorrow, pop 2 perpendicular chalk lines on floor. Line up the trailer side to X-axis then drop a plumb bob off the nose and adjust the sides till both plumb bobs touch the Y-axis. Sounds easy but I'll probably have different results.

I did put the 2 sides together and they are the same size. I'm stumped. I started yeaterday and even slept on it, no progress today.

[SteveH]

I used an even lower tech method than your low tech. I made shure the floor was square and then installed each side reference the floor. Hasn't been a problem.

[Denny Unfried]

The floor must be absolutly level from left to right. I blocked the four corners and used shim stock before installing the sides. If this is done all the joints will be at perfect right angles to one another.

Denny

[Jiminsav]

I just snapped a chalk line on each side and made the front edge equal across..seemed to work well.

[asianflava]

I did the chalk line with the plumb bob method (actually it was a lag screw) and then I verified it with my original laser method. After I aligned to the front and rear marks, I moved the laser up. What do you know, it hit both strings. I checked a mark in the galley area from the first time I tried and it agreed. It wasn't the 1/2in off that I had originally thought, only a 1/4in.

Don't know what the differences were, maybe I was more careful. Maybe I wasn't out there long enough for frustration to set in.

[Arne]

I put in a roof joist to hold the top spacing, then did it by measuring from the floor/wall on one side to the top of the other side..... when both sides measure the same, it is square, assuming the floor is flat.

I put a brace in to hold it in position.

But, plywood is usually pretty square, and the method that Steve and others have used looks good (scrap ends placed between floor and walls)..

[roger-c]

I use the low Tec. I used a square and a part sheet of plywood to aline the sides . The roof panels went on just fine. So I think I'm OK.

roger-c

[Ken]

I screwed two pieces of plywood together and cut both sides out at once. After sanding the cut edges smooth with a belt sander I made random reference marks across the edges and bottoms of both sides, then separated the two sides. When it came time to install I measured from the reference marks to the corners on each side of the floor. I am 3/16 off somewhere.

[shil]

I installed one side, with the galley wall in place to hold things square. I then installed the other side. If the galley wall is square you're laughing. If it's out a hair, well, some things it's best not to know.

Lasers?

Have a look.