Day 34-35: Finishing Touches Hatch Gas Struts

Day 34 I went and got the temporary registration for the state of Texas so we can get it weighed and get the full registration on it to make it road legal. We took it on its first ever drive around the block.

After that we decided to work on the little detail projects we've been putting off. We wanted to install two, 12V outlets, one for the interior and one for the galley. We use a 1" spade bit to drill through the cabinet base and then a sanding dremel bit to widen the hole. The outlet fits and you can plug the car charger type cord up into the bottom of the interior cabinets.

The second 12V charger comes out the back galley cabinet in case we need it for anything in the kitchen. They are run through the solar converter so it should pull from solar power first before pulling from the battery. We tested it and it worked!

Our next project was to get the cabinet doors on. This has been a couple day process as we ran out of 1 1/4" wood screws. In the meantime, I made an attachment piece for the cabinet hardware. I used 2, 1 1/2" wide pieces of 1/2" plywood and glued the faces together. I then made a trim piece out of 1/8" luan to make a pretty face of the attachment point. If that makes sense. It should clear up in the below photos.

While the glue was drying, I checked out Dan's electrical work. He did an amazing job getting everything fitted in the tongue box and he built a battery holder out of wood so the battery doesn't shift around in the box.

Went back to Northern Tool and got a wheeled 1,000 lb jack for the front of the trailer. It's definitely not incredibly stable so we use the jack in combo with some trailer jacks that sit on the ground (plus a bucket) to keep it stable. The jack is bolt on so no holes had to be drilled or anything had to be welded.

Once my plywood pieces were dried, I added the "face" to the thin side that's facing outward.

We cut the doors out of leftover 1/2" plywood. 16 1/2" tall and 23" wide. We kind of winged it and super thankful it worked out.

We used flush hardware so you don't see the hinge and the face of the cabinet is right up against the bottom of the counter. We used the drill press with the 1" spade bit to drill holes like we did with all the other doors on the teardrop.

So glad all that is done. Cabinet builders are insane. That's a tough job. And we had an easy version...

After both the cabinet doors were on, we had $1 latches and just figured out how to make it work for what we wanted it for. We will still need to figure out how to secure the cooler so it doesn't slide around.

Got some cute doormats at World Market.. a llama one and a bee one. I thought we could put our shoes on it so they don't get the inside dirty. A wonderful idea until Dan informed me, "until scorpions take up residence in your shoes." Touche, Texas.

Our solar panel came in! We have a cord house that mounts on for where we drill it in, but it looks stupid so we are going to engineer another way to cover and keep the cords safe and waterproof the area where they go into the cabin. If you have any ideas, feel free to drop them in the comments!

Lastly is the gas struts to hold open the hatch. We've been using a hatch calculator and thought we had it all figured out and then the struts didn't hold the weight of the hatch. We ordered a new pair that are the same size but twice as strong, those should be in shortly.

Total time spent Days 34-35: 5.5 hours
Total project hours: 129 hours

Day 30: Installing Doors & Mattress

AHH we are almost done!! 

Today it felt real. It's mind blowing stepping back and looking at this and thinking, "We BUILT this." I'd like to say we're a good team. I'm an excellent micro manager and Dan is a hard workwr. 😂 But in all seriousness, I think we work well together, his strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. 

We installed our custom doors from Challenger Doors by covering the edges with butyl tape, sliding them into the sidewall holes, and putting in pan head 1" screws and tightened them until about 25% of the butyle tape squeezed out. Then I took the little scraper and scraped off the excess. Incredibly easy process. We still need to install the rain guards but that involves a self tapering screw. Which we don't have yet. 

Since the fan is installed and we can close off the interior from bugs, we put the mattress in. We ordered a custom size mattress half an inch shorter than the interior dimensions from Love Your Mattress. The customer service there is phenomenal!! The mattress was pre rolled so we were able to unroll it inside with minimal effort. There will be a problem whenever we need to remove it but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

It's actually crazy comfortable and it's made with natural fibers, no bad chemicals, or by products. 

Not much else to report on, but it looks like it's almost ready to go!

Total time spent today: 2 hours 

Total project hours: 119.5 hours 

Day 29: Skinning the Hatch Part II & Installing Trim & Fan

Today was one for the books! After getting started, we had our only fluke (the front of the aluminum didn't quite adhere and popped off) but the rest of the day went completely in our favor! We kept working to get tons done.

We cut the 4'x8' aluminum sheet down to roughly the size of the hatch and cut it with the jigsaw. (It worked eons better than cutting the diamond plate.)

After that was done, I applied a liberal amount of contact cement and we let it dry for 15 minutes and then put the aluminum on and clamped it since the strap was being used on the teardrop.

The aluminum had popped up in the front of the teardrop so we took an aluminum trim piece and installed it on top of the aluminum and diamond plate to hold it in place.

We finally got to put on the trim! We first ran butyl tape for a waterproof seal on the edge of the whole side and then place the trim on and pre-drill through the aluminum and into the sidewall. Dan then drove 1 1/4" exterior screws into the molding every three inches. After cleaning it all up and using a scraper to clean the butyl tape that pushed out from under, we added the black trim and we were done with one side.

Knocked out side two in about half hour since Dan had to keep changing bits.

Last step with the roof was to route out the hole the MaxxAir fan is going to sit in. You always need to have air flow in a teardrop as since it's a small, airtight space, it can totally kill you. No bueno.

We used the recommendation from Vintage Technologies and used the rotozip drywall bit with guide point and it worked like a dream! We sprayed it with the silicone WD40 and it went perfectly.

We're getting SO CLOSE to being done and we are SO THRILLED with how it looks!!! 🤩🤩
We are hoping to be finished in around 10 more hours. I also realized I'm not dual counting hours where both of us are working on it. I count my hours and then Dan's and then our joint hours as the same so I suppose it's not incredibly accurate. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Total time spent today: 6.5 hours
Total project hours: 117.5 hours

Day 25-26 Trimming Hurricane Hinge and Installing Luan

Day 25 was a hot afternoon and Dan had a long day at work so we figured out the workings and how to install the door latch and then trimmed our hurricane hinge correctly and drilled holes in the flat bar. Contrary to my prior thought of the 3/8" offset of the galley hatch door, it needs to be more like 1/4". The flat bar was cut so it will sit up against the aluminum molding trim and the other vertical "foot" was trimmed down to match as well. The picture below is how it will be installed.

Total time spent Day 25: 1 hour
Total project hours: 95 hours

Day 26 I finished the interior cabinets (after messing it up AGAIN and installing it backwards 🙄🙄) and NOW it finally is finished.

I used the orbital sander and sanded the galley hatch frame so everything is smooth for when we skin it with the Luan and aluminum.

That took most of the afternoon and when Dan got home we cut more of the radiant barrier insulation and installed two layers between the spar on top of the interior roof.

We purchased a Brad nailer and decided to skin the teardrop with our first layer of Luan (1/8" plywood). No pictures of this part because it took both of us plus our roommate to get it done.

Since our trailer is only 4 foot wide, we decided to bend our luan the long ways so we only needed one sheet to cover from the back where the hatch attaches to the front. We started in the back with everything clamped and released the back clamps on the spar where the hurricane hinge will be and covered about 12 inches back with polyurethane glue. Then, we clamped it back down and use the brad nailer to put in about 15 nails on each spar and along the sidewalls. Then we moved forward and put polyurethane glue along the entire top and then took turns using the Brad nailer to secure the top and then we did the front curve and bent it slowly so the wood wouldn't crack. Once we put a bunch or nails in, it hit us that we FORGOT about all our wiring. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

We figured with all the nails that we had hit the wiring and there was no way to check it so we got a tip from a friend (shoutout to all_i_do_is_hobby on IG) to put in 1-3.5 amp fuses in and connect everything to see if the circuit had shorted. Nothing blew and we measured the current and every wire still showed 12.7v so I think we're okay!! But we probably have nails through our wires...

During that time I got the spar urethane layer on the galley counters to protect them and now all we need is cabinets on the bottom and the galley interior will be finished!

Dan tested all the wiring for the fan, solar, and 12v outlet and none of them shorted. Thank goodness. We really wouldn't have any good way to fix it if it had and that would have been many hours down the drain. Big lessons learned today.

Our interior reading lights have a blue light setting. Cute.

Dome light works and is surprisingly bright! It will work really well as a game light. We will be installing a pull out table under the lower shelf.

We finally have the first roof layer on! It's looking real now! We've passed most of the hard busy work and now it's on to finishing and securing the electrical in the tongue box. We are going to cut a layer of the Luan to install on the front with a hole for the wiring. We figured that would be easier than cutting it in a giant 8 foot sheet of the Luan. We are going to source our aluminum from Wrisco I believe and hopefully get that on Thursday! We've also broken the 100 hour mark!

Total time spent Day 26: 7 hours
Total project hours: 102 hours

Day 22: Interior Cabinets and Hatch Part I

This was a very productive day!! Went to Home Depot and got another 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" plywood to start the hatch and to build a frame for the interior cabinets. I got about 5 hours of busywork done while Dan was at work since I had today off.

I drew out the dimensions and had a 1" frame. Cut it all out and found out that it wasn't going to work due to our light placement. This is the second time I've messed up or broken the cabinet frame and was basically fed up with it.

Since I didn't want to figure out the frame business again, I took 20 minutes to make another set of sliding doors in the same three-sided aluminum that I used in the galley for the cabinets.
I used the 1/8" plywood so the doors would slide freely past each other. It's very thin wood and I'm expecting it to warp. I'm going to coat it in the sealant and press it while it dries in hopes it hardens flat. Who knows what's going to happen. All I care about right now is that I have cabinets. :)

I used the drill press to pre-drill holes into the angle iron and the three-sided aluminum piece. The reason I used the drill press was because I was using the hand held drill and managed to snap the drill bit in half!

I used 1/2" screws to attach the three-sided aluminum on top of the angle iron and into the shelf and did the same into the roof with just the three-sided piece. Then used the 1" spade bit to drill holes so we can slide the doors open and closed.

After the cabinet business was done it was time to move on. (I still have to seal it, but I was losing focus so decided to move to a different part of the project...the dreaded hatch.)

We've been researching hatch stuff for what feels like forever and it's still a daunting task. The folks at Vintage Technologies were incredibly helpful sourcing everything I needed to finish the TD and getting it sent to me ASAP. (Everything was at my front door within 5 days and shipping was reasonable.) I clamped the wood up against the side of the TD and drew the first line to begin my template. I then built a little tool and drilled a hole in it 1 1/2" down and slid it along the top of my cut with a pencil in the hole so my template rib was 1 1/2" thick. The photo shows what I built.. Hard to explain I guess.

Once I got the template rib cut out with the jigsaw I clamped it to the galley wall and did a bit of sanding to make sure it was flush with the wall. Then traced it 5 times (for a total of 6 ribs).

We got all the ribs cut out with the jigsaw. (Using the router would have been impossible with the way the clamps were situated so we figured this would cause much less drama in the garage.
Once the 6 were cut out I fit them against the sides and made sure the all matched (mostly.. it's not easy perfectly matching 6 hand cut boards). We then glued two together on each side as those will take most of the weight on the gas struts we will install and the remain two ribs will run down the center as shown.

Tomorrow is Saturday with a high of 107 degrees. Yay Texas! We're hoping to get a lot of work done on the hatch and the electrical. Fingers crossed we don't roast!

Time spent today: 7 hours (including 2 home depot trips)
Total time spent: 90 hours

Day 4: Designing the Profile

After the trailer was all good to go we started designing our profile. I wanted a mix of a benroy style and kenskill style. I prefer the kenskill but the edges had to come in perpendicularly which makes a full kenskill a problem. We did a first side with a front radius of 30" and rear of 40". We lost a lot of vertical space with that and I wasn't quite loving the "blob" look.

Stepped back for a day and tried to do some more measuring and ended up doing a 25" front radius with a mixed radius in the back (39"-ish plus some hand drawn). Much more room. I still might drop the rear a bit to make it more "teardrop" shaped but I'm not sure. Dan doesn't care. He just wants it to hold. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We carefully measured out the 26"x36" rough cut hole with a 4 3/4" radius for the custom teardrop doors we are having made! Those should be delivered around May 3rd. (Happy Anniversary!!)

I spent some time measuring out galley dimensions as well as interior cabinetry dimensions. So many ideas! So little space!!
Drop some recommendations in the comments if there's anything you think
 is a "must have"!!

Time spent today: 3 hours
Total project time: 21 hours

Day 3: Trailer Frame and Floor

After the trailer frame was *mostly* finished, we took three, 2x4" 8 foot long boards from Home Depot and used the band saw to rip them in half. Then we built a frame that covered the metal parts of the trailer. We laid it out and made sure everything was square (which we came to find out that our trailer wasn't the squarest thing ever. I have a feeling this could be a common theme). The plywood underneath is just for a flat surface to line everything up on. We secured the long rail and the two side rails and then removed the plywood to accurately copy the cross member locations. Then attached everything flush so the floor can rest on  it evenly.

We used 16 brackets and fastened with exterior screws as support.

Then inserted a 2 inch exterior screw in all of the areas where the wood beams joined.

We then had to brainstorm on how to drill the holes for the bolts through the frame so we clamped the frame and Dan took one of the smaller bolts and hammered it up through the bottom of the hole to leave a mark where to drill. Surprisingly, in all the guides, no one decided to go into detail on how to drill these holes!

We then flipped it over and drilled through the frame and counter sunk the holes using a countersink  so the tops of the bolts would be flush with the frame so the floor sits nicely on top. 

Tada! Frame! Also, it was 45 degrees this morning hence the hat, wool sweater, and vest. Brr.

Then we took some Lumber-Seal and did 4 billion coats to the whole bottom and insides of the cross members. (Actually around 6.) We did not seal where the floor was going to be glued on or the sides where the walls are going to be glued on. We chose this sealant instead of the normal emulsion asphalt because it was the least toxic version of sealant (also that CPES is toxic as heck!) Here's hoping for good results! Dealing with MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity is hard when working on projects as I need to use things that aren't going to trigger reactions).

Next we had to install the bolts. We used between two and three washers beneath the cross members and the frame to keep everything level since the cross members sat inside the frame rails. That way the floor wouldn't dip with our butts inside of the trailer. We used a ratchet to tighten the bolts as much as we could but we couldn't get the ratchet into the countersunk hole. So we took a screwdriver and wedged it in there and a wrench to tighten it the rest of the way. Exhausting. 

After the wood frame was completely installed on the trailer, I had to crawl under the trailer to trace the gaps between the cross members to apply the waterproof sealant. 

Three layers of sealant on (don't want the sealant where we are going to glue) and we are good to flip it over and screw it into the wooden frame. 

10 hours of work done today and we made some mistakes and learned some things! Now, on to the fun part of the project!

Had some friends come over the next day and we flipped the trailer and I added tons more sealant to let it harden. No water rot here!

Time spent today: 6 hours
Total project hours: 18 hours