Re: New TTT - The Boxcar - New Sliding Bed

[Catoosa Grani]

Bruce, thanks for the pic., yes it is pretty good. I really like the looks of your new trailer. I am anxious to see how the inside is laid out.

LOOKIN GOOD!
Betty

[Mike C.]

Bruce,

Looks really good. Can't wait to see it done.

[bdosborn]

I made some more progress this weekend - I finished the wheel wells. Boy, the decision to use 14" wheels comes back to haunt me with a 12" high wheel well. I wanted tires with enough weight capacity to carry everything safely at highway speeds, I just didn't realize how much interior room it would take. Oh well. I used leftover CDX since its pretty common for a blowout to trash the wheel well. Everything will be replaceable.



Now I'm starting on the inside cabinets (before I make the walls!). First cabinet will hold the fridge and stove. It took me forever to figure out all the measurements to make it all fit.





There's still a lot of work left with insulating and finishing but it fits pretty good so far. I need to make the fridge compartment airtight so we don't suffocate when its on propane. I also made it too deep so I need to take about 2" off the depth. Its held together with pocket screws, which makes it easy to tweak things until you get it right.

Bruce

[Elumia]

I am curious as to why you framed the steel frame with wood and the then ply on top of that framing. What is the advantage of doing that over putting the ply directly on the steel chassis?

Mark

[lvrdrm]

born, are you insulating that floor? If not, did putting a wood frame help minimize the amount of drilling to the actual steel frame. How many "fastners" did you actually use to attach the floor? I couldn't tell but did you have gussets welded on the steel frame? Also wondering why you didn't prep/seal your frame before adding your wood floor, might be a little more difficult now. maybe I missed something

[bdosborn]

I am curious as to why you framed the steel frame with wood and the then ply on top of that framing. What is the advantage of doing that over putting the ply directly on the steel chassis?

Mark

Mark,
This is going to be a standy and 1/2" ply will not span more than about 16" without bending *a lot* with me standing on it. My wife and I will both be standing in about the same spot (at the stove) so it needs extra bracing. I tried spanning 18" without any bracing and it was pretty crackly when I walked on it. I could have braced everything with metal but the wood is tons lighter. I wouldn't have braced it so much if it was a tear; the weight would have been spread out a lot more.
Bruce

[bdosborn]

born, are you insulating that floor? If not, did putting a wood frame help minimize the amount of drilling to the actual steel frame. How many "fastners" did you actually use to attach the floor? I couldn't tell but did you have gussets welded on the steel frame? Also wondering why you didn't prep/seal your frame before adding your wood floor, might be a little more difficult now. maybe I missed something

- Yeah I'm going to insulate the floor. I'm just going to screw insulation to the underside and leave the insulation exposed.
- I didn't drill into the frame, I used gussets (about 8 a side) to bolt to. I was going to use 4 gussets a side but realized I'd put the first four in the wrong spot.
- The floor is temporarily bolted to the frame so I could glue the decking down. I wanted to make sure all my bolt holes lined up while the glue was drying. I'll unbolt it and flip it over to prep and seal the floor.

Bruce

[bdosborn]

Worked on the bed platform today:




Maple with baltic birch plywood inserts. It hardly weighs anything but its very strong. On to the cabinet for the sink next.

Bruce

[doug hodder]

Bruce...I really like that paneled look!!! I can't wait to see this baby at the IRG 2.0. Looks like you have all the nice "accessories" to go with it!! Nice job!!! Doug

[bdosborn]

I made the sink cabinet this weekend:





I also added the paneling to the side of the refrigerator cabinet and the front of the fridge. It's getting so you can see how everything will layout. I've got the shower pan sitting where it will go. I'll work on the wardrobe cabinet next. It will go across from the shower.

Bruce

[bdosborn]

I had a drawer making party this weekend.




1/2" baltic birch plywood for the sides and 1/4" baltic birch for the bottoms. I used the HF dovetail making jig for half blind dovetails. It takes forever to get the jig setup right but it works pretty good once you do. I needed a new dovetail bit but the one I got was too small so I used an old one. It chipped the ends off the pins on the front of the drawers but thats okay because no one will ever see those. I'll start installing the drawers then move on to cabinet doors.
Bruce

[Miriam C.]

I'd say you will be very comfortable in this one. So much detail already

[Steve Frederick]

Nice design, great progress!
I like the cabinet build!

[bdosborn]

Miriam,
Building the interior before the walls makes it sooooo much easier. I can walk around on the floor and figure out where I can fit everything.

Steve,

Thanks, as you can see I'm using your favorite tool: a ROUTER! I've got your build manual and plan to use a variation of your wall building technique when I get to that point.

Bruce

[bdosborn]

This weekend I got most of the cabinet doors built and the drawers mounted. Its starting to look pretty cool but I sure do have a lot of sanding to do.





The door frames are oak with baltic birch inserts. I've got some of Doug Hodder's aniline dye I need to start experimenting with to see what color looks good but I won't do any finishing for a bit. I've got more to build!!!

Bruce