Project Choose Your Own Adventure

[ScottyB]

My buddy around the corner has a teardrop, I'm sure I could bribe him with delicious hoppy beverage to arrange rental.

for real?  make it happen.

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roof's on and under 1 coat of poly so far.  90% there with the fine finishing.  dotted lines are where i'm reminding myself not to send screws into the wire loom, because i'd definitely do exactly that.


added a little brace on the floor behind where the water jugs will sit.  it'll keep them from skidding out of the cabinet and hitting the door but still allows enough room to tip them out and get water.  stereo's in and works properly now with the addition of a little antenna mounted above on the shelf.  the 3rd brake light/license plate lights are tucked into the pantry cabinets for now.


so the cabin, for various reasons, is 61" wide.  my birch panels are only 60.  i had to use my scrap birch to fab up some "filler strips" on the edges to not only fill out the width but also use them to smooth the transition from wall to roof.  the walls aren't perfect...they have some waves and dips.  the filler strips were built up in layers and then sanded down with a belt sander.  its a pretty blunt-force solution but i'm not a complicated man.

here's a before/after of building up the front radius with strips and then sanding to match the wall curve to the roof curve.  the holes are where i screwed the strip down to the curvature as the adhesive dried solid.


side view before grinding it down. you can see the wall flattens out a bit instead of being a constant curve...that won't do.


sand, wipe down, wood putty, sand, cough, repeat ad nauseum.

here's a good shot of the strips built up to smooth the various dips and dives in the wall shape.  you'd never see it looking straight on but from this angle its clearly a great improvement. 


close detail of the final result.  


acquiring pricing for the 4x12 ft .032" aluminum skin from a local sign maker to get an order ready.  "Mill" Finish (plain brushed silver) on the roof/hatch and i'll leave you all guessing on the side wall color.  gonna be bright.

[JPolen01]

Great idea on marking the area of the wire looms. I'm with you - I would sink the first screw so far into the wire even after continuously telling myself something important is under there.

[ScottyB]

used my hatch spar template to create about 12 identical spars.  thought i could speed it along by routing them out, but the router was skipping all over the place due to the various grain directions in the plywood so the first attempted spar went in the trash.  had to cut the rest out by jigsaw which took damn near forever and then fine routed after screwing each cutout spar to the template to shave off the slight overhang.

once they were all routed about equal, they got clamped and i did some freehand belt sanding to make them all exact matches.  this took damn near forever again and afterwards i felt like i massaged my eyeballs with a rusty spoon.



after sanding the ends exact i glued all of them together x2 for extra strength.  screwed together to make sure they stayed exactly lined up together + clamps on the ends.  then a test fit for shits and gigs


so far so good.  even wobbling all over a quick eyeball puts the "lip" above the edge just right so i have space to run weatherstrip.  somehow i cleared the counter by like 1/2".  as its stands i actually did my math right...trust me i'm as surprised as you are.

also shown are some self-etching primered up fenders.  got these in from etrailer.com and they should be perfect.  nice welds, good side protection.  once the temps come down again i'll get some 400grit on them and then a good coat of pewter colored paint.

[Goodspeed]

Progress is looking amazing! This is some serious artistry here. I award you 10,000 internet points, and you should be solidly in the running for Capable Suburban Garage Dad of the Year.

[Apoc]

How much will this weigh when finished?

[ScottyB]

How much will this weigh when finished?

my guess, because i used hardwood flooring, hardwood in the galley, and will carry 2 spare tires, is somewhere around 1200lbs.  most people that build these without all my artsy fartsy nonsense come in around 1000.  the guys that run fridges, microwaves, TV's, full propane and working sinks are closer to 1400-1500.

there's a Pilot Travel Center about 3 miles from my house so we'll certainly weigh it on a CAT scale when its fully loaded and roadworthy.

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i guess i'm due for an update.  its been obsenely hot here, to where my garage is well over 100 degrees and i've just lost any motivation to go out in it.  that said we had a few rainy mornings that took the edge off so i started working on completing the hatch.

started off adding plenty of torsional support with pine 1x2's.  i found that during the initial framing, it shifted diagonally a bit so i used a ratchet strap to bring it back to square.  lots of Kreg pocket screws later....


time to go ham and add the final piece of 1/8" birch skin to an outer surface.  i was pretty nervous for 2 reasons, (1) being that the structure of the hatch would be easy to warp so if i glued the birch skin down wrong, i'd (2) be completely out of second chances because this was my last piece of birch.  the nearest lumber dealer that carries this is a 5 hour round trip away in Atlanta.

but it worked.  as usual, all clamps went to work, used every strap i could fit, and bolted the wood temporarily down every couple inches into an underlying spar to try to keep it steady while the construction adhesive dried.




i added the long wood support on each side to resist the frame wanting to "relax" or stretch out due to the force of the birch skin trying to straighten itself back out.  teardrop builders call it "springback" and it plagues a lot of builds.  i'm very glad i added those as the adhesive cured.

that said none of my eyeballing was worth a damn if it didn't fit right so on to the moment of truth.  despite only weighing about 30 pounds it was a hot mess to position due to size/shape and just me lifting it.  from just a rough fit though, i could tell my seams all lined up and there was no diagonal warping or springback.  man what a relief.


a closer look at the edge.  the hatch is meant to "stand proud" of the camper contour slightly, this is so there will be room to run weatherstripping that will mate up with an overhanging trim edge.  as long as the edge is uniform, i'm happy.


so far so good.  as i mentioned, i'm out of birch skin but i still need to put a covering on the inside of the hatch.  for that, i'm just going to go to HD and buy some 1/8 Eucalyptus Hardboard.  its not as nice, or strong as the birch but thankfully for this part i don't care.  i'll run my wires for the overhead light, speakers, and 3rd brake light and then glue/screw it down to finish it out.  i think it'll add a little more rigidity too which is a nice bonus.

next up - one more sanding and poly coating on the inside and outside, sand/coat the hatch, and then i need to take delivery of the aluminum skin!

[CaptainHenreh]

So uh....you building an airplane next?

[JPolen01]

These updates are always so satisfying. Rock on Scotty!

[JustinG]

So uh....you building an airplane next?

I WILL invest in a go fund me, get to work Scotty....

[ScottyB]

well a lot didn't happen, then a LOT started happening in the last week.  

essentially i'm on a warpath to finish this in 2 weeks.  we have a camping trip planned for Oct 10-13, and i'd like at least a week of shakedown time (testing battery run time, leak checks, making sure the galley is equipped right).  its probably stupid but i need to see this thing roll, if not for at least the sake of my sanity after all these years!

last Friday, after a 3 month wait, i got to pick up my aluminum sheetmetal.  the color combo is going to be mill finish top/hatch and orange sides.  1 mill finish sheet was destroyed, in amazing fashion, in transit to the dealer and we had to wait for another which took an extra month.  we originally wanted blue, but then i bought a blue car, and we painted the house blue...starting to get a bit much.  can't do red because then we're UGA fans, wife didn't like yellow, green blended in with the woods too much, black would cook us, purple was out, etc etc.  orange felt fun, warm, and you can't beat the visibility on the road and when camping.  its loud and i'm cool with that.




unfortunately, even the new mill sheets had some blemishes.  the dealer was nice to give me half off of those.  mild creases, some scratches, and some tiny pock marks can be seen, but i just did my best to roll with it and try to be pragmatic about it.  if it was the painted side sheets, different story, but plain silver on the roof, you don't see it too bad.

the orange sheets were 4x10 and the mill finished silvers were 4x12.  the only way to get them home was via a huge double axle uhaul 6x12 utility trailer.  pretty beefy at about 1800 lbs dry and a good test on the soccer mommobile.  

so then i got it home, but what you guys can't gather from pictures is that our driveway is steeeep.  most people that visit us refuse to even drive up it.  i wasn't even going to attempt to drag the trailer up there for fear of dragging the tail all over the street on approach.  so i made a "sled" out of 2 tarps, and then proceeded to almost throw my back out getting it up the grass, and across the driveway.  



finally home.  between sourcing it, getting it delivered intact, and transporting it home, this was the most difficult material aspect of the build.  but here it was in my garage...oh crap, now what?


due to the only available sizes being limited to 48" wide, and my camper being 62" wide, i had to make multiple cuts to run sheet width wise to make it cover.  i was worried about how best to do this, and read a few people had success using a 24 tooth-per-inch jigsaw blade.  it seemed...i dunno, too easy maybe, or too easy to mess up, but i decided i had to try it since i already had a jigsaw and an old set of blades.  turns out it cut like butter.  not the straightest cuts you'll ever see, but once they're on and the edges are covered by the trim you'll never know!



took a step back and got a big shot of this circus


oh yeah, my doors came in too.  some minor corner re-working on the camper and they fit right in.  


currently already starting to dry-fit most of the trim and have made cuts to the roof panels for solar wiring, roof vent, and main wire loom conduit out to the tongue box.  getting there!

[HAULN-SS]

nice..you weren't kidding about the old jig saw..haven't seen a power tool in that color since i was a kid

[Apoc]

I think I have the circular saw twin of that jigsaw!

[Sijray21]

Great progress! I'm looking forward to the finished product!

[ScottyB]

nice..you weren't kidding about the old jig saw..haven't seen a power tool in that color since i was a kid

yeah its been in the family since AT LEAST the time i was a kid, and that was in the 80's.

i'm sure saws now are infinitely better but knowing this one was my grandfather's makes me really enjoy putting it to use.

[ScottyB]

i've been absolutely hammering away at this thing for the last week and have until the end of this week to really wrap it up.  i just keep re-running Jerry Reed in my head...."we got a long way to go, and a short time to get there..."

all the trim and aluminum roof sheathing has been dry fitted.  i have to remove and re-drill all the places the aluminum is bolted down with a bigger hole, so that the aluminum can expand and contract under the screw head without ripping itself apart since metal and wood expand and contract differently depending on heat and humidity.  time consuming stuff.

first prep your work surface


hold your breath and cup your balls as you cut a massive sunroof into your otherwise nice sheet of aluminum.  also measure and drill for the solar panel wiring hole


next up, finishing the inside of the hatch.  i ran out of birch so i used this thin wall covering from Lowes.  i hate working with the material (chipboard dust junk) but it bends nice.  threw a yard sale on it to weigh it down while the adhesive cured to the curve of the structure.


added some left over cedar.  finished result.


one tricky bit was figuring out how to mount the speakers.  they're deeper than the hatch itself, so they had to be mounted proud of the surface.  i decided it would be fun to put them in some matching cigar boxes.  added some wooden bulkheads on the sides where the hatch props will fit, and be secured with 2" lynch pins for safety. the hatch props are 3/4" electrical conduit bolted to door stoppers. the rubber collars are old sway bar bushings from the xterra that allow the props to rest on the surface and not scratch the wood.


ran into inference issues when i tested the hatch.  counter was still too far out and hitting the inside of the hatch when it closed.  because of the motion of the hinge, only being 1/8" off in the middle of the swing means 1/2" or more off at the bottom...so i had to grind it down and will re-stain.  in that shot that's also why the dome light got moved as i was trouble shooting what was interfering.  a lot of things bolted to the inside of the hatch share a very limited amount of empty space when its shut so i've been sweating my calculations.

needed to address my fenders next.  time for a test fit.  


love it.  this was a big motivator, just to see this on a day where i was feeling a lot of L's with the hatch issues.  it feels much more "right" and complete with the wheels covered.


started covering the outside of the hatch with aluminum.  this is a dry fit, no sealant involved, to make sure everything fits and lines up as well as running wires for the plate lights, 3rd brake light, and holes for the hatch door handles.


ran into some more hatch issues. the way i cut my hatch radius was too sloppy, and its not only too big a gap for my seal but also not consistent which you can kind of see in this shot.  currently stacking up some birch strips on that threshold to lessen the gap and then taking the belt sander too it to carefully smooth the bend and then hit it with some urethane.  i think they refer to this kind of screwup as "hand build charm"


and this is how she sits currently.  i've already removed the tongue box in prep for the final application of the roof sheathing this week.  today's goal is to cut out the fender overlap on the lower trim, shape/seal the hatch threshold, and then remove the hatch a final time tonight in prep for doing the final roof trim and also the final sheathing on the hatch.

[Beej]

Man it's really happening. Amazing amazing work, Scotty. It's so cool to see the finishing touches start to come together.

Have you tracked how many hours you have into this thing? I sorta hope not.

[ScottyB]

Man it's really happening. Amazing amazing work, Scotty. It's so cool to see the finishing touches start to come together.

Have you tracked how many hours you have into this thing? I sorta hope not.

yo thanks!

and no.  i've tracked my parts costs and that's enough for me.  no ragrets and all that but that isn't information i need in my life.

[JPolen01]

Every update is gold.

[Sully]

No offense to the Xterra but kind of glad this things maiden voyage will be behind the bawlin 4runner. This thing is gonna look hot rollin down the highway

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[ScottyB]

No offense to the Xterra but kind of glad this things maiden voyage will be behind the bawlin 4runner. This thing is gonna look hot rollin down the highway

nah we've been thinking the same.  the Xterra would have been able to do it...but not well, and not for a long time without eventually addressing some design shortcomings.  my biggest fear were the comically small disc/drum brakes.  i was prepared to have to take some roads very slow.

the Runner is so much more capable in every way its really a nice load off my conscience.