Back-country tear project

[greekspeedoman]

Good Find, I'll add the manufacturer's link to my blog. It looks like they make all sorts of trailers. I wonder if the Sundance is also made by retro traveler.

[greekspeedoman]

Well, after moving to a new house and sorting through the boxes of teardrop parts. Finally, some progress has been made. The new garage has almost 16' ceilings and room for both our vehicles and the jPod. I am loving this new space and I've only spent a few hours on a Saturday night in it but it will allow me to work through the winter on the jPod.

At last (after a move and a surgery), I got some work done on the jPod. here is a quick peek at my progress on the Galley hatch. There are more pics on my website.

Hopefully, Christmas can bring some more progress!

[Cliffmeister2000]

Very nice!!!

[greekspeedoman]

Christmas afforded little time for work on the jPod but some work was accomplished. With about 5 feet of snow in a week, I spent most of my spare time shoveling the driveway, street, roof, other people’s driveways & roofs, pulling people out of the ditch, & generally wishing I could move without aching. Plus, it was pretty cold some days (single digit’s).

I managed to rough out the bunk bed/shelf system for the inside of the cabin.

I installed the bottom of the cabinet for the galley & cabin.

In the past few weeks, Senior Management and I have re-thought the galley arrangement and have made some changes. I don’t have a drawn plan yet but I will make one and update soon.

As part of the build, I chose to sink the Camp Chef oven into the bulkhead wall about 1". This allows a bit more room in the cabin and we can still slide the oven in and out from under the counter for easy storage. I am pleased with this design change as it better utilizes space (Pic at bottom of this post).

Senior Management & I have come up with our counter top design. I am excited about it but I think I’ll keep it a secret for now. A teaser seems fun though.

I added a page to my site called projects. I usually have more than one project going at a time so I thought I could feature some other things I have built. I was encouraged to do this after Endo wanted to see my air filtration system for my shop. You can visit the newest part of the site by looking under “projects“

[greekspeedoman]

Progress is slowly being made on the jPod.

A while back, Senior Management began the doors for the jPod. Then life, for us, got really chaotic and the doors where neglected. Given the months that have passed since our move & my surgery, the original doors warped.
Recently, I have not focused on building parts for the jPod but rather disassembling the doors so I can flatten them out & fix them. This has taken some time but I think it is almost there. I have also reworked my original design to keep them more rigid. Right now, I am waiting for the glue to dry on the internal skeleton on the right door. If it works, as I hope, then I will do the left door. However, I will not work on the left door until I am certain the right one is functional. I am tired to delicately disassembling parts.

While working on the door process, I insulated the inside bulkhead between the galley & the cabin. I have also purchased Helmsman’s finish that I hope to spray on the inside walls as a sealer & finish once it is above 60 degrees outside.

I am jealous of those of you who don't live in the northwest right now. It is nice enough to work on the trailers. However, I'll get the last laugh this summer when I don't burn up (unless you enjoy it of course). But building in 100 degree weather is brutal.

Here are a few pics of the progress:

[Cliffmeister2000]

Looks like it is coming right along! Sorry to hear about the doors warping. I'm sure you will figure out a cure!

[Mark McD]

Looks good Mark. I like the profile and size. Looks real stout.

[greekspeedoman]

Thanks Cliff. I know you had some trouble with your doors too. It is nice to know that I'm not the only one.


Mark, I'm glad you appreciate my design & profile. You can find my plans on my website if you're really interested.

I visited your website and found that you're into custom home bars. I would like to pour a clear bar top polymer over some embedded steel for my galley counter top. What product would you recommend? and Is there a special process or unexpected surprises that I should anticipate?

[Mark McD]

Mark,
I pm'ed you the link for bar top epoxy and I'll post it here,too
http://www.epoxyproducts.com/bartop.html

[Cliffmeister2000]

Greekspeedoman - Mark, loved your jPod post yesterday!

[greekspeedoman]

Mark, Thanks for the link. I'll look into the product.

Cliff, Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying the posts. I need to make the jPod posts more frequent & the DO ones less (until I get the trailer done at least).

Cheers.

[greekspeedoman]

I'm re-framing my doors right now (waiting for glue to dry). I cannot decide how to trim them out (aluminum) to seal them when they are closed. I know I want to put angle aluminum & a seal on the inside but what about the outside?

What are some aluminum trims & methods that people have tried?

What is recommended?

I appreciate your advice & comments.

[greekspeedoman]

Recently, the weather has been so nice that I have focused on building rather than posting. So I thought I’d pause to make an update on my progress with the jPod.

First, I removed my cabinet on the inside & started over. I decided to make my electrical access box larger (possibly to accommodate a power inverter someday - if needed). Since I was doing that and the fact that I found some nice plywood in the garage, I decided to tear everything out and simply start over.

The major progress is on the doors. I shot a few pictures with the doors sitting in place (not installed) on my website. I like the finished look of the windows. The only picture that turned out badly was the one of me. I look like I’m sneaking into a bank or something.

In the midst of all of this cabinet reconfiguration, an idea was emailed to me by a friend who is also building a teardrop. This idea has caused Senior Management & I to re-think the galley.

My plan is to make a stainless steel counter that will fit directly over the camp chef outdoor camp oven. Then the counter will roll out & the oven will roll out of that. Take a look at this photo from the Northwest Overland Society (of which I am a member). This is the idea I'm toying with.

[Cliffmeister2000]

It looks really cool, Mark. How will you protect the stove from the wind? I keep my stove tucked well into the galley, and I still have the occasional wind gust blow out the flame.

[greekspeedoman]

Cliff,

Since the picture above isn't mine, I don't know how he protects the stove. For my use, I have the Camp Chef Oven which has a similar stove top to the coleman (lid & two wind deflectors on each side). I want to use this guy's idea over my camp chef oven/stove unit.

If wind is a really big problem, I guess I'll have to make an aluminum shield or something. For now, I think the lid & sides will help.