Project Choose Your Own Adventure

[ScottyB]

made a bunch of sawdust this weekend while it was gray, rainy, and miserable outside

i was happy with my sidewall profile from the prior weekend, so i put the remaining spliced 4x9 plywood sheet on top of the profiled one, steadied it solid with a bunch of clamps (you can NEVER have enough clamps, this is a natural law), and was able to exactly copy it with a simple flush trim bit run all the way around with my router.


then i went back to the first profiled wall.  i wanted to finish this one completely so that meant step 1 was to route out the 4-3/4" skirt that will cover the side of the floor and side of the trailer frame.  1/4" deep with a straight bit, going back and forth about a half inch at a time until i made it to the straight-edge fence.


next up was to follow around the front and top edge with a 1-5/8" route, using the same bit, to give the roof stringers a ledge to mount on.  the trick was i needed a flexible fence to help guide the router.  we don't do cable TV anymore so i found some old coax that was stiff but flexible enough to bend the radius.  then i Griswalded it into place.



worked awesome.  cleaned up any small irregularities by freehand routing it very carefully in tiny sections where needed.


i hired a day laborer for jobsite cleanup.  payout in animal crackers.


then i held my breath and started cutting out the cavities for insulation as well as the side door with my jigsaw.  the door will be 26W x 36H. this process not only makes room for the insulation, but also serves to take at least 50% of the weight out of the slab (without sacrificing any meaningful strength) and will make handling/wiring/mounting way easier.


hit my dinnertime cutoff so had to lay everything back up on the trailer, but it was so cool to see the 2 identical wall profiles and 1 essentially done.  what I'll do next is lay the "no holes" wall exactly lined up on top of the holed one and use the router again to cut out the holes with the finished one as a template.  this will ensure both walls have cavities/cutouts in the exact same place.



i'm taking "off" on the 15th for Christmas but reality is that i'm actually buying myself 3-4 pure teardrop workdays before the Christmas holiday with the goal to officially raise the walls on the trailer before Christmas hits.  whole family's pitching in.  goal is to have both walls cut/routed, inside walls skinned with some of the 1/8" birch plywood, and all routed areas hit with polyurethane to waterproof from condensation.  at that point they're ready to mount to the trailer and will be held up straight with the galley bulkhead!

things are going to start moving fast now.