The scenic II.. (Last update --April 9, 2010) Hatch Struts

[S. Heisley]

John:

Your teardrop does not look home made at all. It looks professional. I'm betting some people asked you where you bought it!

Your trip was one fabulous tow/ride. I'm envious but glad you had the opportunity to make it. I only wish some of us would have known and could have met you and seen you and your TD first hand.

Thank you for giving us all a look at your finished teardrop and for sharing pictures of your trip.

[WarPony]

...We're a fortunate nation and "nice" is a poor adjective but no adjective covers our riches...

You said it, brother!! This is a beautiful country with lots of stuff to see and do. Bully to you for taking the time to build a camper for your family to use while you explore the best country in the world!!

Jeff

[john]

S. Heisley said

John:

Your teardrop does not look home made at all. It looks professional. I'm betting some people asked you where you bought it!

Your trip was one fabulous tow/ride. I'm envious but glad you had the opportunity to make it. I only wish some of us would have known and could have met you and seen you and your TD first hand.

Thank you for giving us all a look at your finished teardrop and for sharing pictures of your trip. Applause

Sorry. But I was utterly disconnected during the trip. I gave up on the internet. No TV. The radio while driving was used primarily for audio books. We kept our phone off except for calling out on the rare times we had a signal.

I enjoy being engaged with the world but I sacrificed that for a total engagement with that little piece of the world that I happed to be in at any time.

[john]

Of course the kids enjoyed the trip...Tuolumne Meadows

Elise



Ian



Trey



Picnic






But they MADE the trip for my wife and myself.[/img]

[teardrop_focus]

^ ^ ^ Four pictures of perfection right there...



A nice family in a gorgeous place on a beautiful day... while traveling along the way with a trailer you built. Well done, sir.

[kennyrayandersen]

sweet pics

[haul-all-day-rambler]

awesome camper.....that's in the art realm for sure.....

[john]

thanks

[Jerry Bleeg]

I really like your trailer. I especially like the profile and the fact that is will fit up to 5 people.
My 3 kids range from 11 - 15 right now and in the early years we did a large Coleman Pop up. We had a lot of fun doing it but the size and weight seemed to be so much to me. My wife always wanted to go with a large (dark side) trailer and I never really liked pulling even the pop-up.
Now that the kids are bigger, I am building a tear and kicking them out to fend for themselves in their tents.
Questions on your build. How did you do such a nice job on your cabinet openings? Were you using a router and template or saber saw. I love the simplicity of the cabinetry. Perfect for a camping trailer.

and question #2 . How much does it weigh?

[Jerry Bleeg]

Oh, I forgot the third question. The windows - how'd you do 'em?

[john]

The cabinet holes were made with a variety of kitchen plates, cans, or anything that would give the desired arc. I used a straight edge for the straight parts.

I used a circular saw on the straight cuts and a jig saw on the rounded parts. I went very slow with the saber saw usually following the outside edge of the line so the marks would not show on the cabinet.


I was concerned that stuff would fall out of the cabinets while riding down the road. Although some stuff did fall out on the worst of roads,(Montana construction) most of the time nothing fell out. I was pleased with the function.

It weighs around 1200 pounds. I used a bathroom scale, 2x4, and bricks to get the number so it could be off.


I bought the windows off Ebay without trim rings. They are cheaper that way. I drilled holes in the edges and screwed them on with stainless screws. (the pretend kind from lowes).

The three little porthole windows also came from ebay, they were new and had trim rings but no screws. Easy fix. They fit my 1" thick walls being that they were made for boats.

[ktm_2000]

can you describe your issues with exterior luan a little bit more?

I built my exterior with luan and am hoping to avoid any issues with the skin. I also covered everything in glass set with epoxy. I used microballons and cabosil as my fairing compound.

I have the camper at the stage of glassed but not completely faired, still needing paint. I'd like to fix any potential problem before I fair it out and paint it.

Also did you paint it silver or white, I cannot tell by the photos. I'm wondering if you did paint it silver it is a epoxy problem by overheating it in the summer sun and maybe a white paint would reflect more heat than it would absorb. My wife wants to paint our camper fighting lady yellow (boat color) but I am concerned that I will have issues with heat.

[Lou Park]

John, the camper looks great, but you have one heck of a nack for
taking pictures.
Lou

[High Desert]

Wow, what a great trip made with a very cool build. Thats the kind of trip you never forget. Well done!

[john]

I have had two issues with the skin.

The first is my fault. I fiberglassed all the corners and all seams where the luan skin met another sheet. The rest of the luan was just epoxied. On one side and on the roof bubbles developed under just the ares that were fiberglassed. The fiberglass separated from the luan. I believe this happened as a result of building in the rain. The areas I fiberglassed must not have been as dry as I thought. Most of the bubbles developed while in Death Valley this summer. Most of them then deflated on their own. I don't think this problem will effect you if you glass only dry wood.

The second problem I had no control over. The luan developed many circles of cracks that followed the grain. None of these circles exceeded the size of a quarter. There is one on one side of the camper and none on the other. The roof developed 8 or 9 total spots on some sheets of luan but not others. The rear hatch developed the most spots and they are evenly spread over two sheets of luan. I believe this is a luan issue as some sheets are affected while others are not.

Some of the spots (second problem described) developed after I primed but before I painted. I left the camper in the sun to help dry the primer. It was after this I saw the first cracks develop. I fixed them by sanding and filling the repaired area with micro balloons.

I suggest you leave yours in direct sunlight for a day or two. What ever this problem is that I have had may not affect you at all and if your luan was susceptible to cracking it would likely show up with a little direct sunlight.

The paint I chose is silver. I don't think the color had any impact as the issue developed before it was painted.