The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[KCStudly]

Thanks for the added info, Randy (WF). If we find a need, I will more than likely go with a "profane" lantern and do something similar to your hook.

Thanks Bonnie. I guess I've been putting about 8 or 10 hours of hands on build time a week (not including material sourcing). Not keeping track, really. Not the blistering 30+ hours I was doing before, but it is all good progress. Thank you for the encouraging words!

[Wobbly Wheels]

A profane (lol) lantern is great heater. One night, I was mapping out the floorplan an had one on the go. Not sure the outside temp, but there was a definite chill in the air. After about an hour I had to turn it down - and that was with the wheel wells and door open. I kiboshed the plan to put in a heater after that, and I've got probably twice the interior volume as your PCE.
I'm figuring now on using one of those parabolic catalytic heater when needed (with CO and smoke alarms) so I can have heat at night without light.

[linuxmanxxx]

Go to Walmart and get one of the small ceramic heaters under 20 bucks no glowing element with a thermostat works fabulously well and no carbon monoxide or co2 dangers.

[KCStudly]

Go to Walmart and get one of the small ceramic heaters under 20 bucks no glowing element with a thermostat works fabulously well and no carbon monoxide or co2 dangers.

That would be my first choice for camping with a hook-up, but how long before it runs a typical 12v wet cell battery down?

It is extremely unlikely that the wife will have anything to do with camping in other than the warmest months. I am even worried that it will be colder than she would like in the evenings at Poet Creek elevation in the summer... but then a well insulated cabin with nice layered bedding, and a cozy campfire are what that is all about!

[Wobbly Wheels]

...but how long before it runs a typical 12v wet cell battery down?

The last thing you want to do with a battery is heat up a wire. Look at the efficiency differences between LEDs and the incandescents they replace. Something tells me that wherever you're building your rig to go (besides Poet Creek), there are no hookups !

Forgive the momentary hijack - Steve, have you tried IR heaters instead of forced air ?
They warm the substrate (you) rather than the air, so you don't lose all your heat when you open the door or through a cracked vent.

[linuxmanxxx]

I haven't but I'll look those over. I'm not going anywhere without my propane generator so no hookups aren't a problem. Found if you weld a standard muffler pipe flange over the generator muffler oulet and use flex exhaust pipe and a car muffler makes the generator almost silent.

[KCStudly]

Just a quick update (maybe). When I left work today it was 58 deg F on the Ford's outside thermometer. Balmy. By the time I got to Mecca (away from the warming effect of the coast and up the hill) it was 50. In the loft it was still 55, so I got to work mixing and spreading Bondo to fill the staple indents and any small gaps/edges in the panels on the underside of the floor. Walnut sized batches gave me plenty of time to use the whole batch without going gummy, although it was a bit more work to blend than it was at 70+ deg F back in the summertime.

One of the panels had a slight raised edge that was quickly and deftly faired using the tiny hand plane; shaving the outer ply back by about an inch over about a foot of length. Sweet. Nice clean fair. Same species inner plys. Good factory glue bond with no spauling of the feathered edge. Nice.

I know that I said that I was not going to spend anymore time fairing or filling the bottom of the floor (at least I think I said...), ... but, well, but... it only seems logical to make sure that all of the small edges and breaks in the outer ply from the staples and panel edges are well faired and sealed before applying diluted TB2, then black stuff. Can't be too careful sealing the under side (...your climate and opinion may vary... my climate is mostly wet).

Took about 3 walnut sized batches. They took a little more effort to blend than the batches that I had done last summer, but the working time was nice and long and I was therefore able to use most all of it before it started to kick. Then I sat and admired my work for a while... and a bit more... and gummed up some sand paper... and waited a bit more, then just kissed it a bit with the small sureform and it was perfect.

Spent some time measuring the work area for plastic sheeting. 24 ft long x 19 ft wide x 9 ft 6 in high. Will need plenty of plastic. Am considering using cardboard strips and staple tacker to apply... or lath and drywall screws.

The galley light bar came in. Not as bright as I would like, but in the deep dark back woods of Poet Creek, probably sufficient. Difficult to tell just touching the leads to an 18v drill battery momentarily in the dark. Might get another and run two. Still considering puck lights under the shelves as well. Need to get further along and test.

Still no sign of the router collar set yet.

Have decided to leave the floor bottom side up while I work on the wall recessing/blocking, applying the inner panels, setting the doors, etc. Should keep slop and damage on the good side to a minimum.

I feel like I am on the verge of a major transformation with TPCE. Like it is all going to start to come together in a major way very shortly.

Okay, now over to GPW's Foamstream to check on progress! (Gentle ribbing intended in the spirit of encouragement.)

[GPW]

KC, you’re waaaay ahead of me Dude !!!

[bonnie]

I feel like I am on the verge of a major transformation with TPCE. Like it is all going to start to come together in a major way very shortly.
(Gentle ribbing intended in the spirit of encouragement.)

You go! How cool is that.

[KCStudly]

Catching up a few pics.

Sunset view from up on the hill.

Had to pull over and look for a minute, and I wasn't the only one. To you folks out west in the open spaces beautiful sunsets are common place. Here on the east coast we get them too, it's just that it is hilly and with lots of trees it is much less common to spy them. (Thought I had gotten a clean shot, but the power lines seem to have snuck in.)

The galley hatch light.


Underside of floor all filled and faired.


Filled a bunch of staple indents.


And shaved a small step between panels. Look closely. You can see the ring around the area on the right where the top ply has been totally shaved down, as well as the lighter area around that showing the extent of the fairing on the rear panel (right side in pic). The darker area on the left is where the glue squeezed out onto the middle panel (left in pic) during the original glue up.



This was caused by the slight variations in thickness in the foam sheets. That last corner of the galley was the start of a second sheet that was a bit thicker than the first, and I did not figure out that it needed to be fairer before gluing up the skins.

This evening I swung by ho-de-po and picked up a 20 x 100 ft roll of clear 6 mil plastic sheet. $104 smackers. Gonna seal the loft up.

When I got home I found this on the porch.


Progress is progress!

[atahoekid]

KC, been reading the last few pages of the thread and I gotta say your attention to detail is unsurpassed. That bodes well for your finished TPCE. I missed a lot when I was building mine, gotta go back and read from the beginning. I think you're right about your progress, there are just certain points during the build that make you feel like you've reached a milestone. Keep up your excellent work.. Cheers

[KCStudly]

Thanks, Mel. I do appreciate the kind words.

[CharlieL]

Just lurking, but very envious of your skills and dedecation to thebuild. I think i would have just chucked it all long before this. Gives me the "want to" to start planning my own TD.

Thanks man!!!!!!


Charlie ( if it wasn't apparent)

[KCStudly]

Thanks, Charlie. The fact that you were motivated by TPCE to make your first post means a whole lot to me!

You may have already read my thoughts on first time building (as I am doing), but I will summarize again:

1. Read all of the build threads and stickies that you can stand (stickies are the threads that are always at the top of the particular forum subjects). Bury yourself in them. Learn from other people's experiences and mistakes.

2. Plan, plan and plan some more. Document your plan well so that you don't lose track of your efforts. Lots of things hinge off of many other things so the further ahead you plan the better, but it is easy to lose track of your efforts over the long periods of time that it takes to get there.

3. Don't underestimate the level of effort, time and money required to execute your plan. Everything takes longer and costs more than you planned it would. First you must plan, then source material, then figure out your tooling method (even if you have the tool, it may not be set up for the task and you WILL have to buy/adapt/make more stuff just to do the task that you want to do). Then once you actually do the thing that you thought you were going to get done when you started doing it, you will have to fix the things that didn't come out good enough. Start over for the next task.

4. However complicated or simple your build plan is, plan on running 20 to 30 percent over budget cost wise, not including tools that you buy along the way.

5. Go back and reread 1 thru 4, above. If you have just stumbled onto this fabulous TNTTT forum and are caught up in the excitement, go back and read it again. You can do it, take lots of pics and I would love to follow along with your build, but... be realistic... think about it for a while and compare your options. If you are thinking that you can not afford to buy, so you must build, do it... but realize that it will take longer. Be realistic.

I have a mechanical/technical background, welding experience, access to a huge array of machine and fabrication tools, and the facilities and support of a great friend and master fabricator to help motivate and encourage me, so take that into consideration when trying to decide how big of an elephant you want to tackle. I must confess that I sometimes wonder if I should have planned a simpler goal that would have cost less and taken less time, but then I have no regrets for building with the best materials that I can afford, and it is a very special thing to behold the reality of a thing that comes out just like the plan.

I can't thank this forum enough, with the support of so many members, nor my best friend Karl, for the motivation to do this thing.

Now back to "get 'er done".

Quick progress update with pics on the next camera dump:
- Router adapter plate has been modified and fits great. Need to turn down one of the bigger guide collars to work with the thinner template material.
- Plastic sheeting up on the two long walls of the loft and ready to do the end wall and part of ceiling.
- My back is hurting from moving the floor upstairs and subsequent stuff.
- The old net pad/lap top power keeps getting interrupted (same one that I replaced the charge jack on the circuit board, no battery backup, could be a short in the cord...who knows) and I keep losing my compositions (frustrating). Wife has insisted that I get an early Xmas present and we have set a date for Saturday to go shopping for new hardware.

All for now. Thanks all for watching and for your support.

[KCStudly]

It’s probably just me butchering the proper terminology. They are "router guide collars" that fit into the base of the router, or in my case, an adapter plate attached to the base of the router.

The extended portion of the collar surrounds the cutter and can be held against a template "guiding" the router shoe around a profile.

The advantage over flush cutting bearing bits is that the cutter can be set at any depth and the collar always stays in the same relative position to the shoe.

For the templates that I have been making out of thin underlayment ply, this is a big issue. With the thin templates each flush cutting bit can really only be adjusted to a very narrow range of depth and still ride on the template, and even with a cutter the same length as the depth that I want to cut, there always seems to be a space between the bearing and cutter, and the double sided tape raises the template off of the work a little, too, so it doesn’t always work out with the bits that I have on hand.

When making deep cuts in wood (or other firm materials) it is not such a concern because you can just go deeper on the next path and follow the cut you just made. But what if you want to make a shallow cut and the only flush cutting bits you have are longer? I haven’t tried it, but I doubt that the bearing will ride on foam well without deforming it and wandering off.

I could make the templates out of thicker material, but that costs more $$$ and takes a lot more work to do (the thin ply can be cut quickly with a razor knife and straight edge, vertical band saw, or router with just a little clean up from sanding.

The disadvantage (although minor) is that you must make your template offset (smaller or larger) to the shape that you want due to the diameter of the collar being bigger than the cutter.

I have some pic's that I haven't downloaded yet, and will get some better ones tonight, too.

Now I’m on pilgrimage to Mecca to thrash on hanging more plastic sheeting.