My first build "Ruby Red"

[LDK]

I like your build profile. It's a good feeling when you get the sides on and the spars put in.
All down hill now.

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

I have made a little progress so i'm posting a few pictures. i primed both side walls inside and out and put a first coat on inside walls before i start putting the galley walls/etc in. I'm using paint i already have so the blue was the best option. I also got my wiring under the floor in that will feed the AC unit I will place in the front only when at campsite. I have the 3/4 ply floor top cut and laid in but not secured. I still have the 6.5" extention to the floor left to cover.





Time for a beer

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

A Couple of pictures from my work over the last 9 days.

Seem like little progress based on pictures but I accomplished a few things:
1. Floor in
2. second door cut
3. headliner in. A few screws remain as seen in the photo, but they will come out

The headliner is made of 1/8 bendable birch. It is really pretty and I think will look good once the finish is on.

I replanned the galley configeration which can take lots of time and measurements. I also bought many electrical parts from Camping World, Walmart, Bass Pro Fishing Store.

Next I will apply CPES to floor and headliner, prewire spars, insulate, then start finding my bendable plywood.

Does anyone know a good place to find 1/4 ply (bendable) I can find luann but not sure which is better? Seems like I recall some sad results of applying CPES to the luann

[CliffinGA]

Looking great with what you've accomplished!! I would not cpes the floor because you really don't want to keep smelling the fumes and are you looking for outer skin? I would 1/8" luan or birch for the skin or do 2 layers if you want to have 1/4", and cpes the outer skin as 1/4 is a pain to get to bend. Check Suwanee Lumber and see what they have in stock, usually very reasonable.

Cliff

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

Thanks Cliff for that advice. That is why I love thisvforum

[Forrest747]

Lay down some linelium carpet or go anatural Some day i may lay down a coat of paint i just havent picked out a color yet. No need to CPES the interior, it was bad enough doing it on the outside.
1/8th inch exterior should be enough. wish i had. always the next one.

[CliffinGA]

Anytime Angela, if your up this way you can drop by and see how strong 1/8" is when epoxied and good support under it.

Cliff

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

Cliff,

Did you do a double or single layer of 1/8? I'm not opposed to it at all. I think it is much easier to work with. I have some pretty 1/8 birch. I'm thinking of double layering it. I wanted one piece to cover the whole top and mine comes in 5' sheets. I'm 1.5" shy of covering the top (side to side) I'd have to seam it. Does that place you mentioned have larger sized 1/8 material than 5 x 5?

Angela

[CliffinGA]

Mine is just the single layer of 1/8" and they carry 4 x8' sheets. If you do 2 layers you will need to rethink your spars as you will want the seams of the 2 layers to end on different spars so the pieces will over lap each other. Mine I had to have 2 seams running side to side across the width of the tear because it is 67" across.

Cliff

[PanelDeland]

Progress looks great.Since the theme is "Ruby Red Slippers" or WOO,you will need the Kansas national bumper sticker.

[color=#FF0Auntie Em,Auntie Em,Hate you,hate Kansas,I'm taking the dog and the house. Signed Dorothy.040][/color]

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

I'm not sure that Ruby Red is going to be red. The jury is still out. I had painted the interior a dark blue i already had in the garage, but it was too dark for the light birch ceiling. I also found some material for the interior comforter and decided to lighten to a lighter blue. It is call 'stratosphere' . I love names of colors.

I'm much happier with this shade.

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

I spent a lot of time the past weekend trying to find the Rust-oleum Performance Enamels in the colors I wanted and wound up striking out. None of the box stores had the colors needed and I even went to Granger who didn't have them in their catalog. I think i'll be happy with the Rust-oleum TopSide marine paints i found on Amazon. I'll let you know once i've tried them.

I'm posting a few more pictures from the weekend's work.

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

More pictures from weekend of Aug 18





I found some .50 mm ply at the Lowest Box store. They come in 4x8 sheets and with some relief cuts curved relatively easily on the front curves. I screwed to hold until glue dries, then most of the screws will come out and i'll fill the holes. I only bought one sheet to see how well it would work. They cost $10 and some change which i thought was great! I went back and bought two more sheets to finish the top. I even got them to cut for me which makes it easier to slide in my vehicle and less cutting at home. I realized I could not permanently attach the top until i have a battery to test my wiring, so I had to break down and order my Optima ($$ouch) I will be leaving for vacation in two days so I won't get back to working on the tear until Labor day weekend. I hope to have a lot accomplished by the end of that weekend. I've got to get a test run in before my big trip Oct 18th.

[CHUNKYMONKEY]

Seems I never accomplish as much as I hope to and the same was true over the Labor Day holiday. I did get my 12V wiring run and tested but I had some good learning experiences while doing that. As I learned from my mistake, I hope someone else can learn too. I have done home wiring myself before but never 12V. I bought the RV Electrical book someone on this forum recommended and read as much as i could of that but found it pretty technical and not enough pictures. It is probably very valuable to someone more electirically inclined than me. If anyone is interested in buying it PM me.

I am using a WFCO-8714 Panel.

Can you find the wiring problem in the picture?


The problem is I have the black ground wire from the battery connected to another positive hub. The panel is designed to take two batteries, but I didn't realize that right away. After several incidents of sparks flying, I called on my resource for electrical help. He helped by saying I have something crossed, but i finally figured it out when I closely reviewed for the 52nd time the diagram provided by WFCO. I removed the black wire from the second positive hub and connected it to the ground block on the rear of the panel. PROBLEM SOLVED. So everything is working fine now.

I have read as much of the electrical information on this forum as i could find over the past few months. What helps me most is pictures so I hope you find this helpful too. Thanks all who have posted!

Any questions?

[CliffinGA]

Sorry you had such problems Angie, thats the reason I bartered my electrical out to a friend thats an electrician by trade, he got a new 60" vanity and a laminate top for his basement and I got all the wire, wiring, outlets and recepticle and the wiring of it all! I thought it was a great deal considering I paid $15 for the vanity and got the top free! Do what you can, when you can and don't get in a rush, because when you do thats when you have mistakes. I'm trying to get mine complete for a tearjerkers gathering up at Cloudand canyon in just over a week and a half and still have lots to do to get it done, but decided as long as campable its good for now and I'll finish it as I go. BTW if your interested check out the Tearjerkers site and look under GA and you'll see info on the gathering! Keep it up, your doing great on her!

Cliff