Reworking Lil’ Wood. Dog Bunk Installed

[Junkboy999]

Reworking Lil’ Wood.

Ok, Where to start.

I bought me a little Woody Teardrop last month off craigslist. I figured this would be a nice starter camper to get into the Teardrop camping mode. If I use this for a year or two, I can hopefully just make ONE TD when it is comes time to build mine own. That way I’m not making three or four to get it right for my needs. Here is the camper as posted on Craigslist.

I now call her Lil wood.



















Now to give her my own touch.

[Woodbutcher]

That should work great! Good looking teardrop. Have fun making it your own.

[eaglesdare]

i agree! very nice....now the fun starts.

[Junkboy999]

Reworking Lil’ wood.

I noticed that the forward bent plywood was bowed out in two places. After removing the inter cedar paneling ( headboard area ), I noticed that the plywood was not in contact with two the ribs going from side. I was not able to clamp and pull the bowed plywood to the ribs because of dried glue on the ribs. I cut out the two ribs and made new one. Applying glue to both the new ribs and to the plywood surface and using the Caul clamp method ( see illustration ) I was able to get even pressure in the of the bow and at the edge of both ribs. Sorry i did not take pictures of that process.

Caul clamp. A caul is a slightly curved or bow board. As the ends of the board are drawn tight with the clamps the middle bowed area starts applying pressure in the middle and then the ends will will apply pressure if needed



Picture shows the new ribs and the nice bead or squeezed out glue on the two new ribs.



This picture is the nice new flaten front of the camper.



EDITED to replace the word Cawl with Caul.

[Junkboy999]

Reworking Lil’ wood.

I removed the rake handle that was holding up the back galley hatch and installed some supports on both side. I remember reading in a few build logs that some other builders started and finished their galley before giving the hatch support any thought at all. It would've been better if the supports were incorporated into the build itself.


I installed some ½” nut insert for the support to pivot on. I had to place in a small night vision baby monitor camera in the gallery so I could close the hatch and see what was in the way on my first attempt. ( the extra hole ). second attempt was a better location




Next was the top of the support and where it would rest when folded and in the up position. I’ll round off the support a bit to make it look better but it does the trick.




The support block on the hatch will not been seen after I cover the underside of the hatch Just the small aluminum tab will been seen.

[M C Toyer]

I like it. Some interesting details like the hatch seal.

The pine cabinets and interior trim are simple but graceful. Are those rods on the top shelves removable?

Can you post a close-up picture of the doors and how they are sealed?

M C

[Junkboy999]

M C Toyer Thanks for the comment

Yes the Dowel rods are removable by sliding them a little bit one way until one end pops out of the copper loop, then lift a bit and pull out the other end. It was a cheap and clever way the builder did to keep small containers and cans from falling while towing.

As far as Hatch seal goes.... there is none. What you're seeing in the pictures is Gorilla Tape cut to ¾” strips and put on the raw edge of the play wood. Once I get a neighbor to help me remove the hatch by sliding the Hurricane hinge apart,( I don't want to take all the screws out ) I’ll rework the raw plywood edges with an end caps and a seal.

The two side doors are being reworked now. They were warped and not sealing at all. Note the attempt of the builder to add a small metal tabs to try to get the door sealed. ( Pic in first post Pic #7 ) I'll post pic’s when the new hinges and trim is installed on the entry doors.

[Junkboy999]

Reworking Lil’ wood. New toys arrived today


Woooot UPS just dropped off my New Coleman Hot Water on Demand. No sooner than it arrived I had it plugged in to charge and took it’s measurements so I cloud model it and install it in my Virtual Lil Wood camper. If I put in as much effort working on the camper as I do modeling it, I would be finished already.

Here you see my modeled Lil Wood with the Coleman HWOD system in the galley. it is bigger than I expected. Too bad the spout did not swing the other way so I can put hot water in the sink. Also testing to see what it looks like on the fender of the camper. I guess i should take it outside and see if it will really fit.

[M C Toyer]

M C Toyer Thanks for the comment

As far as Hatch seal goes.... there is none. What you're seeing in the pictures is Gorilla Tape cut to ¾” strips and put on the raw edge of the play wood. Once I get a neighbor to help me remove the hatch by sliding the Hurricane hinge apart,( I don't want to take all the screws out ) I’ll rework the raw plywood edges with an end caps and a seal.

Actually I meant the way the hatch lid and outermost spar formed the inverted U and the sidewall fit up into it providing an inch and a half of overlap. Was there any evidence of leakage there?

M C

[Junkboy999]

Reworking Lil’ wood.

M C

Ok.. Yes the frame of the Hatch is the same profile as the side walls. The skin of the hatch attaches to the frame and extend over the sidewall enough to attach a ¼ “ trim strip. it will stop and water that is falling straight down or blowing sideways. But the outside trim is sticking out from the sidewall by 1/16” ( so it does not rub while opening and closing ) . This small gap might be enough to let water in while driving down the road. Water that is on the side of the camper might get pushed back into that U shape tract because of the airflow.

There is a leak into the galley but that is do the the hinge placement.

Here is a Picture of my problem area. I removed the trim in hopes or sliding apart the top and bottom hinge to remove the hatch. The hatch was just too much for me and my 70 year old neighbor to slide off.

[CarlLaFong]

Dumb, I know, but it's a "caul". Sorry, but I'm sorta anal about spelling.
Now, back to our regular programming

[Junkboy999]

Ha

That explains why google show me a lot of knitted scarfs when I wanted a Clamp. heheh

( I fixed the above mentioned spelling error so any one going back and reading might think CarlLaFong is going nuts, I
mispelled Caul clamp with cawl ).

[Junkboy999]

Update..Most all of this was done just before the September Crawford lake gathering 2012, I just getting
around to posting it and starting the other door.

The old door were cut out with a jigsaw and was uneven. The sides were not parallel to each other. Same with
top and bottom. I made a jig to sit inside the TD on the floor and use the floor as a flat reference so I could mark
a new top edge on some tape. Later I used a router and straight edge to smooth that out. With a new top edge I
used a carpenter's square to mark out two new parallel side edges. Again I clamped on a straight edge and a router
to cut then. The bottom was extremely bad. I have to add extra wood and fill in gaps before routing it parallel to
the top.

In this picture you can see the newly cut opening. You can see 4 holes on the left side where barrels nuts will be
placed to hold the door hinge. This again might be overkill but if I need to take off the door for maintenance I can
with out striping the screw holes in the wood.




Here you can see the top barrel nut in place, a jig I made to center and drill the attachment screws holes, and the
screw in place.



The B nuts stuck out a bit so the outside trim has a recess to allow for this. Another hole is drilled in the trim to allow
the hinge attachment bolt to line up.

[Junkboy999]

After the first piece of trim went on the rest were simple cuts.
Now the hinge is test fitted



Next I made matching trim for the inside. This trim is the same as the outside trim, but extends into the door
opening ½ inch to stop the door from swinging in. This extra lip is also the place for the 3M hard foam seal will go.



I mounted the Right side of the new door to the installed hinge. Next I worked my way around the door taking care
to get a ⅛ gap around the whole door. I did this by placing a spacer for the correct measurement.

[Junkboy999]

Finally I got a new door frame all glued up.





I guess the removable door set up took a little bit of time but I think it will be worth it. I now can remove the
door, install the old windows, and work on a better door pull. Next I just need to do it to the other side.