Check my young Montana logic

[claw73]

Wow it's been a while since I was on here. We are still possibly getting snow so I haven't done much work. However, I'm ordering plastic piano hinges from mcmaster carr for both the one door hinge and the galley hatch. I'm starting to look for the hardware to have door latches. Any tips?

My doors right now will need a plate on the inside to stop them. I'm thinking I'll run some aluminum angle around all the corners and continue to use this for the inside. Does anyone have any recommendations for a rubber (read less expensive) molding for the edges?

The windows are being worked on right now with pictures to come later!

Thanks!

[claw73]

Well...I got a bit carried away with the router when cutting my windows. When someone makes their own window, how do you normally trim it? I was hoping for a plastic ring that would clean everything up nicely. My "circle" is a bit wobbly with two spots where I made little bumps. The trim would be nice to make an even looking circle and cover up the bumps. If there is no trim and people just seal it with caulk, I can use some filler in the bumps and it will be covered by the CPES and paint just fine

Any other comments for this?

I have the street side wall done now (with the crappy window) and I'm ordering the hinges for the door and the hatch today! I'm using the plastic harsh environment hinge from Mcmaster for both the door and the hatch.

Thanks for following along and any advice is appreciated.

[Ageless]

People have been very creative with trim; cutting the center from a hubcap, the trim ring for stovepipe, etc. Pictures of the situation would be helpful.

[claw73]

That is the best I can do with no camera at the moment. I made a decent circle about 10.5 inch diameter, but in two spots the bearing lost the edge I was following and the router went wonky, making two little "growths". If there isn't a great idea for trim I can just fill with fiberglass filler and sand smooth, but I was starting to think about trim anyways so thought I'd ask what others have used.

Also, we had a massive rain yesterday that was preceded by a wind that blew the tarps off my beautiful work of art. Over the last month or so when I've been working on the trailer, the luan only has a minor warp in one spot but I'm worried that this storm had more direct contact. Is there anything to do if more significant warping has occurred? I'm building this all at a friends house so I"ll be going out to check it tonight. He was kind enough to cover it back up as soon as he noticed it but there was quite a bit of rain falling....

I hope I don't have to start over from square one!

[claw73]

Ok, even bigger issue. I was planning on using plastic piano hinges for my trailer, but I can't find anything local. Instead of ordering straight from Mcmaster, any suggestions on something I might be able to find around here? I also need to finally decide on my outside sealant. Between fiberglass epoxy, polyeurathane, and the Behr waterproof stuff, what do you all suggest?

I want to get the walls up and start sealing this week, and realized I'm not comfortable on either of the decisions!!!

Thanks for help!

[claw73]

Alright, I think I'm going to use elastomeric coating for the exterior tomorrow. There were three to four brands at the Ace downtown. Any tips?

[parnold]

Claw:

I've been following your posts, but can't give you any clues about the sealant you are using. I used polyester resin (similar to epoxy resin) because I planned on painting the trailer.

How did the luan hold up to the rain? It seems like completely untreated luan holds up better than luan that has been coated on one side or the other for some reason. Maybe its the way its able to dry from both sides.

[claw73]

Well there was a little bit of mold, easily sanded off and not detrimental to the structure, and one area was noticeably warped. Other than that everything else was good so I'm hoping that I don't have to redo anything. Big day tomorrow. My roommate is back and willing to help so I'm hoping to get the walls up and a few stringers across!

[claw73]

Well I've been working on my trailer the last couple of days after work for a couple of hours. My roommate was around to help me and I feel like I'm starting to have a tear drop. We have the walls vertical, the door cut out, one window in the other wall, the bulkhead framed, and the roof started.


Now the spars are all across and the skylight is framed on top, but we just started putting the outer most roof skin on today. We had to use a ratchet strap to help pull the luan down to the spar and one was getting pretty tight. My roommate was starting to add pressure by pressing on it and (by the way we were having a big storm move in for the afternoon, we were more concerned about that than anything else today) and he pressed too hard. He snapped the luan at the last attachment point to the spar. Since i will be using elastomeric paint on the roof and outer surface, I decided I will putty up the seam between all the outer roof pieces and no one will know. However, we did decide that was a sign to take a break for the day and have a drink. Hopefully next week the storm will be done because it is really holding up my work for tomorrow!!

[claw73]

Working on the tear still, just taking my sweet time. Latest things is the lights that are all wired up now. See the build on those here:
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=38534

[claw73]

Well, I made a lot of progress but haven't kept up with this site! Here is a bit of pictures of my "finished" trailer (When are they ever REALLY finished though?)

Unfinished hatch and interior shot:


Painted side shot:


Hastily finished back area:

I like this least of all the trailer and it may be redone before next summer...


Skylight and the two solar panels, these are the only source of power for the entire cabin:


Straight shot from the door to the other window:

I may also just make square windows. I feel they would work better in the long run, though these work perfectly fine. You can also see the two LED spotlights which also hold the large rechargeable batteries. These suckers light up wherever you point them. Very easy to read by.

Shot towards the foot of the bed:


The bed ended up being two 2' wide pieces of 3" foam, 6 feet long and a 2.5" memory foam topper, full size, all trimmed to fit. If you shop for the sale at Joanns and look at Walmart/Ross for the cheaper toppers you can get it set up for $160, which was about the prices of inflatable mattresses for this size. After two nights on it, it was pretty comfortable. Don't confuse this with my mattress at home but for camping, much better than anything I've had before. And I didn't cause the fiance' to roll into me like on an air mattress.

Again, the lights worked wonders! I couldn't be happier with them. And I think they look pretty tidy.

The sealant on the outside is Koolseal, an elastomeric paint meant for RVs that I rolled on the sides. I used two gallons to get good coverage and so far no leaks, but also no real storms. It will be outside without a garage all year long so I'll through a tarp over it most the time.

I finished the floor by just dumping fiberglass epoxy on it (after mixed). It made a fairly thick covering that is very easy to keep maintained.

Let me know if you have anymore questions but after a weekend in Yellowstone with GORGEOUS views of stars one night and a storm another, I'm pretty happy with it!

Thanks!

[claw73]

One more note, I rummaged through a junkyard for about 30 minutes tearing into old subaru's to steal the jacks. These jacks are scissor jacks but have a very friendly loop on the end that goes along nicely with the rod to turn them. I used these as stabilizers on each corner and could have all four up or down in a matter of minutes. Not bad for $40 total!

[doris s.]

Hey Claw,

I love those lights. Where did you buy them? So glad you have been out camping in your teardrop. We were just in Yellowstone two weeks ago...beautiful.

Doris