The Beaver Build (Updated August 30/10)

[Cliffmeister2000]

Built the front box. Didn't have enough fiberglass to do the front box.

Very nice.
Do you have enough room to crank the handle on the tongue jack?

[lindstrand]

Built the front box. Didn't have enough fiberglass to do the front box.

Very nice.
Do you have enough room to crank the handle on the tongue jack?

Good catch, i was wondering if anyone would notice. To answer the question no and now yes. After I built the box set it on went to crank it up... crap. I had to grind the jack barrel off of the plate that it was welded to and reweld it after rotating it about 45 deg. Not ideal but it works.



This is after it was rotated.

[lindstrand]

Another weekend gone. The goal was to have it campable for August 14 which is less than a week away.



Door trim installed. Wires run for my switches. Insulated and Paneled.



Just another shot



Box fibre glassed.



Shiney door.



Box lid fibre glassed.



Fuse box and a mess of wires.



More wires and roof vent installed



Window installed. Would like to get some trim to cover the screws.



Tail lights installed. Roof vent installed. Rubber strip reinforced with aluminum strip and screws with liquid silicone underneath installed over piano hinge.

[Cliffmeister2000]

You are working fast!

[Wild Bill]

Great job and lightening Speed, I thought about building longer that you took to build, Any friend of the Beaver is a friend of mine. Enjoy Sleeping in the Beaver. Bill

[lindstrand]

Finally got the lights working right. Tip: If your signals,brakes and running lights all work correct. But, when you left signal and brake and then your right signal flashes bright with the other 3 flashing dim and a whole bunch of other weird things happend when you do combinations its probably your ground wire.



Door complete. Aluminum trim was salvaged from the old camper. That thing was truly a gold mine as far as salvaging. Wish i had a little more time to shine up the aluminum.



Box painted and installed. Had to move and reweld the jack again. PITA, should have extended my tongue from the beggining. O well works now.



Installing the struts with my dad helping hold up the hatch. Went to NAPA and told the guy what I was doing. He responded with a "oh well it doesn't matter where you put them it only depends on how much the door weighs", with a duh are you stupid kind of attitude. Nothing bugs me more than when old guys talk down to me like I am stupid. This goes against what engineering school taught me but also what 22 years of common sense has told me. It can be as simple as a thought experiment with a rusty nut, a wrench, and a snipe or as complicated as a static force analysis of the free body diagram. Both of which you will end up with the conclusion that the longer the stroke, the further you can put it away from the hinge, the less force you need. Anyway as you can probably tell this kinda bugged me and to summarize this long story 60#er's were not enough had to go with 100#ers and they work like a dream.



Hooked up and ready to go. First trip was about 180 km round trip to my future-wife's grandpa's 90th birthday get together. Pulled great on the highway, bounced around a bit on the gravel but not to bad. Some of the relatives had pretty fancy units, you know the type wind sensored awnings and like 400 sq. ft. But mine was still the most talked about.


Next weekend get to start the fun part for me, finishing the inside.

[David S]

Look's good

[S. Heisley]

Just like a beaver dam! It went up seemingly overnight!

Congratulations on getting it camp-able!

[lindstrand]

Finally got my door latch from ebay. Inside shot of the latch.



Outside shot of my latch.



Sink installed. Countertop being made.



Countertop made. Cooler draw made.



Stove and stereo installed.



Plate made for my reading lights with a switch installed.

2 weeks till our big camping trip of the year. Still lots to do. Need to finish the cabinets, make doors for them, varathane everything, install knobs, put laminate on top of stove, .... ya i could go on for a while. Need a productive weekend next weekend.

[lindstrand]

Very productive weekend. Got lots of the finishing stuff done. We are leaving on our big camping trip this wednesday. I think I have pretty much got everything done I needed to. Minus a few things I wanted to but didn't have time. Should be about 1500 km total so should be a good test to see how it holds up. It is getting pretty cold at night so going to have to take lots of warm clothes and blankets.



After I had attached the 5 piece doors to the cooler pullout and the under sink storage. I made them out of 1x2 spruce and 1/8" rotary mahogany. Pocketed holed the frame together and inserted the middle panel into grooves I had cut with the table saw. Stained the spruce dark and then everything needs to be Varathaned.



Sleeping storage framed in. Will be 2 areas accesable from the sleeping side. The left and the right side. The middle area will be accessed from the galley side.



Doors on the sleeping side.



Like above.



Reading light installed



Kitchen sink is sunk in. Countertop piece made to go into hole and make everything flush. Middle storage with sliding door. Zinc U-Channel for a track with an 1/8" door. Some shelves for spices etc will go behind the sink.




Stove all done. Drawer front on. Will upload another picture of the propane attachment. Took a lot of messing around but worked out very well. Put arborite onto my stereo box. I have a stero, a 6x9, a 4x6, and a cigerette lighter for my FM transmitter. Works great. Sounds ok could use new speakers but i have long since passed my budget.




Cooler Pull out. Can see the fuse box tucked away.



Undersink storage. Needs a shelf but that will come later. Sink is routed straight out the side of the trailer. I will have a hose and a pail so I do not have a place to store water and waste space.



Installed a magazine rack from the old camper i got. You can see the storage beside the bed. Will have another ciggerette light there to charge our phones.

[lindstrand]

Missed 1 picture in the last post.

[Ratkity]

Great job!

Hugs,
Ratkity

[Alan and Lianna]

Nice quick build, I am sure it will make your trip more enjoyable. Just wordering what size fiberglass cloth you used on the corners and did you get any air bubbles there?

Alan

[starleen2]

Lookin' good so far!