4-Day Weekender - Toddler bed!

[absolutsnwbrdr]

You're further along than I am, John! I still havent ordered my next trailer kit

[Kharn]

I managed to insulate my garage door yesterday before my brother's wedding reception, I was scrubbing construction adhesive off my hands as my wife was yelling I had to get my tux on as we were already behind schedule, but the garage was definitely more comfortable today, I didn't even have to run the space heater. I used 2" rigid insulation on my garage door and I really lucked out, because I'd totally forgot to plan for the latch and the locking arms, but it turns out the locking arms have a bit of slop in them and they just rub against the insulation. I did have to carve out a section for the lock itself to move in, but I only use the lock when we go on vacation so it shouldn't cause any issues.

I also got the front half of the frame put together. I probably spent way too much time making sure that it was square, but I'm sure it'll pay off in the end.

[Kharn]

My stabilizer jacks showed up this week, I actually ended up with four 20" BAL jacks since I thought the "two pieces" on the Amazon listing meant the jack and the handle, not two jacks and one handle per pack.

The rear jacks should be easy to place, I'm going to angle them from the side rails to the rear rail, with the jack screws pointing to the side since they will end up underneath the 62" wide body and not be a shin hazard. The front jacks are going to be a bit more of a problem, I'm not a welder so I'll need to come up with a bolt together solution.

I've squared up the rear frame half, I hope I can get the frame on the wheels this weekend. I'm debating if I want to pre-drill the frame for the tongue extension, it would be much easier to add it later with that bit of work done, and delaying the tongue extension until later would also save me a whole bunch of jumping around and swearing when I forget its there in my cramped garage and try to walk through it.

[Kharn]

I walked into Home Depot to buy $5 worth of nuts and bolts to attach the (temporary) decking to my trailer frame, I also bought $40 worth of sandpaper for my orbital sander. I'm thinking I'll just save my receipts and add them when the tear's campable instead of do a running tally.

[working on it]

I walked into Home Depot to buy $5 worth of nuts and bolts to attach the (temporary) decking to my trailer frame, I also bought $40 worth of sandpaper for my orbital sander. I'm thinking I'll just save my receipts and add them when the tear's campable instead of do a running tally.

Been there, done that! Never once did I manage to go to HD or Lowes and buy only the item I had sought. The item previously sought also seemed to get replaced as I would find something I liked a little better; the new item would cause me to change the design slightly, on the spot, forcing me to buy the peripheral items needed to make the "new design" feature work. Days of planning, hours of construction, seconds of a change in direction : I ended up with enough parts/hardware leftover for another project (or two or three). I've managed to use up a lot of them for home projects (extra hardware at hand is always a plus) over the last 2.25 years. P.S. I saved my receipts for while, but when the items I had bought to get the frame to a "roller" stage (basic platform)

• from this to this

exceeded my initial cost promise (to the wife), I started paying cash for all items afterward, and disposed of the receipts. No money trail for her to follow, no problem. If questioned about "how's the trailer coming along, and how much have you spent"; I could truly say "I don't know" (plausible deniability). And since she never saw the trailer in construction (50+ miles away from home), and never saw this forum (my little secret), she really had no clue of what I had spent to make a "$500" camping trailer. Until I brought it home to finish it, 13 months into the build. At that point, I was too far into it to be coerced to stop, so I was free to openly get the items I needed from then on. I had followed much the same pattern I had perfected building/modding my restored (sorta) old pickup trucks/spare engines/Chevelle beater>daily driver>racecar transformation in the past. I don't know or care what all my projects cost: once I latch onto a project, I'll do whatever it takes to proceed (none are ever, truly, finished...I am always "working on it"). Ditch the receipts!

[Kharn]

I really need to get this brake out of my garage and back to my friend, it and the snow blower are cramping my style.
But my wife and I got the frame flipped upright, so now I need to add the axle.

Trailer Frame small.jpg (212.7 KiB) Viewed 3669 times

[Kharn]

The axle's on, now I have to dust off my CAD skills, measure the trailer and start planning my under-bed storage compartments and the rest of the trailer in general.
I put the axle in the stock location because I'm planning to build forward on the frame plus putting the battery, propane tank, etc, on the tongue.

And I just realized we flipped the frame without drilling the first two crossmembers for the (future) tongue extension...

[Kharn]

So I had to scrap a bunch of work I'd previously done, I realized I'd stretched the cabin too far forward in relation to the vehicle. I spent today loading the trailer frame into CAD, along with determining the right size for the wheel wells and sketching out the under-floor storage. Looking at the original profile, I really appreciated how much time Mike had put into saving plywood, when my stretched idea threw that out the window and wasted a significant amount.

I thought about going lower on the under-bed storage boxes, but my driveway has a rather dramatic convex lip to it when I get up to the street, I don't want to take it out for the first time and lose all of our extra blankets or find it high-centered.

The profile in the pic is the original Weekender, I may raise the rear galley roofline a bit, depending on how the cabinets and space claims work out.

Bed support, wheel wells, under bed storage planning

Trailer planning 20140125.jpg (128.16 KiB) Viewed 3581 times

Technical challenges and design choices ahead:
1) 3-door galley hatch or deal with the complex shape and the head-banging potential? My wife isn't the strongest, nor the tallest, so I have to remember to make it easy for her to use and not just me.
2) Front storage, I want to add extra storage by making the front vertical panel extend all the way down to the trailer tongue, inset maybe 6" from each sidewall, so that we don't have wasted space behind the tongue box. I also need to determine how to handle the air contioner, with the current nose design, the AC unit may stick over the bed about 3" when in the retracted position, if I continue with my plan to have a fully retracting AC.
3) Trolley top? Losing 2" of headroom to the raised floor doesn't seem like much, but my wife's insisting we plan on a traverse bunk for a future addition...

[KennethW]

I used mixing tubs between the frame members for under floor storage with 1/4 plywood on the floor to enforce the tubs

The bottom angle on the hatch should not be a a problem. It will allow your counter to extend out so you have nice knee room.

[Kharn]

The main problem with the bottom recurve is that I would need a lot of support to tie all three panels together, increasing the weight, complexity and intrusion into the galley area (plus I have to work out how high it would need to open for head clearance vs the available range of gas shock options). With a 3-piece hatch, the two lower doors would be just plywood boxes and the hatch would stop at the countertop so space would be saved plus making the hatch lighter.

[Kharn]

I wasn't happy with how the rough weight calculations worked out for the hatch, especially after I raised the rear 6" to give more height over the counter top while it is closed. I'm not very happy with how shallow the lower shelf of the galley is (~13 3/8"), but the main countertop is 19" deep so our larger items will have to be stored up there and the lower doors can be left hollow so bigger items can protrude into them. The biggest disappointment is that our current cooler won't fit in the galley, but I haven't been happy with it, and I'm open to replacing it with a different one (or two) that will fit.

The red line is the shape of the 4x10x3/4" plywood side, the galley hatch will be one upper hatch and two lower doors that swing 180 degrees. There is additional space ahead of the trailer frame and behind the tongue box that will be open to the front cabinets. The tongue box will be 4' wide where it meets the main tear body, tapering to a width TBD (I have to get the tongue extension on and see what I'm comfortable with vs my truck's bumper for tight turns, I suspect it will be about 12" wider than the HF A-frame tongue at that point).

I'd originally planned for the PD4045 converter to be located below the air conditioner (honeycomb rectangle, shown in the deployed position, the red dashed line is the interior/exterior boundary on the unit) in the middle of the front cabinets, but I've realized that is a horrible use for the space so I'm debating moving it in to the tongue box with the battery.

Trailer planning 20140202.jpg (186.88 KiB) Viewed 3473 times

[Kharn]

I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I managed to use an entire 14oz tube of grease while packing the bearings and putting the hubs on today.

[working on it]

I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I managed to use an entire 14oz tube of grease while packing the bearings and putting the hubs on today.

Been there, done that! of course, dropping the freshly lubed bearings in the dirt a coupla times (each), requiring another cleaning and repacking every time, does use a lot of grease....

[Kharn]

I completed all the wiring and the tongue last night, now I just need to figure out how to put the hitch assembly back together. I took it apart to replace the non-locking nut on the ball-retaining assembly, only to have the springs and plates fly all over the garage. I found them all, but now I have to figure out how everything is supposed to relate to each other. Once that is done, I can bolt it on and I'm ready for temporary decking and running those crucial final errands before I go buy all of the MDO.

[Ron Dickey]

I walked into Home Depot to buy $5 worth of nuts and bolts to attach the (temporary) decking to my trailer frame, I also bought $40 worth of sandpaper for my orbital sander. I'm thinking I'll just save my receipts and add them when the tear's campable instead of do a running tally.

I am keeping them all in one box. to count up later ..... after I get back from comping .... by then I will have missplaces the box. Might be worth marking on each rec. what it was some times they just have numbers and you are adding in that candy bar too. I now I am getting close to the $500 mark, You??

you are not alone in your thinking.
Ron