Trails in the Sand new updates 9-28-11

[aggie79]

Well done - looking great. At this pace, you'll be ready a month ahead of LCG V.

[YuGun]

Ä°t is looking very well.
Great job. Good luck!
Sincelery,[/url]

[Alan and Lianna]

We started out the day by flush cutting the overhang on the hatch.

The we drilled out the screw holes and plugged them with poplar dowels.

We installed some interior trim.

Then we added another piece to the bottom of the hatch to extend it and then fiberglassed and epoxied it.

The roof edged where it meets up with the sidewall still had quite a few areas with air bubbles in it so we sanded off the top edge.

We installed one of the door latches.

Then we sanded down the whole thing and applied another coat of epoxy.


Alan and Lianna

[grizz]

This build is both addictive and pleasureable..... I keep coming back to look, and also grin madly at your incredibly neat progress.
Well done !!

[Alan and Lianna]

This build is both addictive and pleasureable..... I keep coming back to look, and also grin madly at your incredibly neat progress.
Well done !!
_________________
Greetings from England.

Rian.

Thanks Rian, we can only hope others can learn from our mistakes and successes. Good luck with the house, we were reading about it yesterday. It looks like a great place to build more teardrops...

Alan and Lianna

[Alan and Lianna]

Today we started out working on remounting the doors, I used these metal drywall anchors.

I figure that once mounted and epoxied over, when I mount the doors it will be a metal screw into a metal insert and less likely to get any water damage.
I installed these into the door frame and the doors.

Then we sanded down and epoxied the hatch again, and after it dried we started working on the hurricane hinge. We cut it to where there is a 3/8" overhang on each side and mounted the hatch side first. On this side, we used the butyl tape we purchased from the RV parts store. Then we test fitted the hatch with hinge to the body, the gap for the hinge was too small causing the hatch not to sit down like it should. After studying the situation, I got out the bar clamps
and strapped a board to the roof and using a 1/2" router bit, I routed off approx 1/2" off the rear edge of the roof.

Now the hatch fit much better, but since we had put two 1/8" pieces on the roof and only one on the hatch, we decided that using silicone on the top hinge piece would let us screw it down tighter than the butyl tape and give us a better alignment of the hatch.



Of course the next step was to open and prop the hatch.

And then to stand back and admire our hard work.

We will be working on getting it watertight tomorrow because we will be bringing it home and it will be out in the weather...

Alan and Lianna

[Alan and Lianna]

Today we started out by epoxying the door frames with the fill it epoxy to smooth out some the edges.

While that was drying, we installed the windows into the doors sealing it with the black butyl tape.

We installed the exterior lights, sealing it with silicone.

We cut a piece of red oak and mounted the hatch handle.

We installed the hatch latches.

We installed the door handles, they are still tight to turn and may need some more work, but they are functional and hold the doors tight against the rubber door seals we installed.

We rehung the doors.

We installed this swivel jack, well actually 2 days ago, because the original jack has a foot welded onto it.

We cranked it up and hitched it up for the first time.

Ready to roll into the sunset...

Well actually it was a little after sunset, but we did drive it approx 10 miles to show it off to some family and friends.

Alan and Lianna

[grizz]

Good progress again.

You guys do have a load of space.

[aggie79]

Ready to roll into the sunset...



Well actually it was a little after sunset, but we did drive it approx 10 miles to show it off to some family and friends.

Alan and Lianna

Alan and Lianna,

I bet your family and friends were impressed. Your build is something to be very proud of.

I'm trying to figure out my doors. If you get a chance could you take some pictures showing your inner door seals and strike plate, please?

Thanks, Tom

[Alan and Lianna]

Alan and Lianna,

I bet your family and friends were impressed. Your build is something to be very proud of.

I'm trying to figure out my doors. If you get a chance could you take some pictures showing your inner door seals and strike plate, please?

Thanks, Tom

Thanks Tom, yes everyone has been impressed so far, as for the details of the door. The inner door frame is a 1/2 x3 with a 1/8 x 2 1/2 inch spacer to create space for the seal.

We then covered this with a door seal.

When you close the door the seal compresses like this, it is pretty tight at this time.

And here is the latch detail, it is mounted on a spacer that is the same thickness as the door frame. There is no strike plate at this time, I will add one later.

I may add another 1/8th inch spacer under the latch before I install a latch plate.

Alan and Lianna

[aggie79]

Thank you.

With the pictures you posted, I can now see how the door latch works with door surround. I may borrow this detail if you don't mind.

BTW, I noticed y'all are in site #27 at LCG V. My wife and I will be in #49 just opposite y'all in the inside of the loop. (I hope we'll be there in our teardrop and not a tent.)

Tom

[Alan and Lianna]

After getting the teardrop home, we found the exterior lights in black, so we changed them out.

We installed the hatch struts


We installed some LED hatch lights

We installed the AC and rear outlets




We installed some interior lights

We installed the lighting switches, the exterior switch was missing here because we received the wrong ones, but have since been installed but failed to get a good picture.

Lianna pulled the sewing machine out of mothballs and in no time we had curtains.

We installed outlets at the front cabinets


Installed the shore power inlet

Applied several coats of polyurethane to the interior and galley, another coat of epoxy on the exterior, welded the fenders back on, finished up most of the wiring, sanded and painted the trailer, installed some led marker lights, threw in some bedding and supplies and went camping...



We camped July 5-9 at Powell Park on Lake Sam Rayburn, we slept really good, the camper towed with no problems, and the camper drew a lot of attention everywhere we stopped. We can't wait to finish up the drawers and cabinets and go camping again, of course if it is good weather they may have to wait..

Alan and Lianna

[grizz]

1111 points for a job well done.

Nicola loves the baby trailer.

[Alan and Lianna]

We, have been busy lately putting multiple coats of varnish on the exterior, so that looks the same. This last weekend we broke down and purchased a router table and wood to work on the cabinet doors. We framed them in red oak with birch panels and hung them today.
The Rear Cabinets


And the front

We're going camping again this weekend, so this time everything should not end up in a pile in the middle of the bed by the time we get there...

Alan and Lianna

[aggie79]

Alan and Lianna,

Fantastic job on the cabinet doors! Looks like you had a short learning curve on that new router table.