Dusty Mark's 5 x 10 Build

[Dusty Mark]

We're officially making sawdust on our 5' x 10' teardrop build!



Here's the plan I sent to the welder based on Frank Bear's advice from Vintage Technologies.



Here's the final product from the welder. I've got more holes to drill in the frame and then I'll take it to the powder coater.



This is our plan for the layout from the side view.



Top view.



Front view.



Galley view.



Progress on floor this weekend. The frame is hidden by a lamination of two layers of 3/4" plywood that is 2 1/4" tall. This provides a good surface on which to fasten the walls. However, it does rob us of 2 1/4" of headroom...



Close-up of underfloor storage. I plan to slip in a divider whenever we are sleeping on the mattress or sitting on it in the futon mode. I can take the divider out during transport to utilize the full size of the compartment.

I'll finish drilling holes in the frame on Monday and take the frame, fenders, and rain gutters to powder coating on Tuesday. I'll seal the underside of the floor while the rest is out...

[KCStudly]

Looking good!

[Dusty Mark]

I drove the trailer to the powder coater this afternoon. I could get it back late next week. That gives me to time to work on other necessary steps.



I sanded the bottom tonight and then sealed it with CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer) that I purchased from Rot Doctor. I've built seven wood boats in the past and have done a lot of fiberglass and epoxy work. I'm impressed with this product. It soaked into the end grain and the nasty "C" side of the ACX plywood floor quite well. I'll let it dry two days and then fill the knot holes with thickened epoxy. Once the epoxy fillets cure, I'll apply two layers of Elasta-Tuff™ 6000-AL-HS elastomeric coating.



First step toward a sealed floor completed!

[Dusty Mark]

The product literature says that CPES takes 2 days to cure fully at 70 degrees. It feels cured to me, but I decided to give it the second day before doing the epoxy filler work. In the meantime, we flipped the floor over and sanded and sealed the top of it and the interior of the in-floor storage area. My goal is to have the floor completed before the chassis comes back from powder coating.

[Dusty Mark]

Made some good progress today. 1) Scarfed the wall panels to make 4' x 10' plywood. 2) Filled knot holes on bottom of floor with epoxy putty.



A scarf joint is basically feathering the edges of plywood panels that are to be joined make a larger panel. I've use these while building boats and couldn't help myself but to use them (unnecessary overkill perhaps) to make 4' x 10' panels out of 4' x 8' plywood for the walls. I stack the layers of wood to plane the entire batch at one time. I draw lines every half inch in order to guide my progress.



In the early stages I removed a lot of the wood with a power planer. I cleaned up the joints with a hand plane as needed.



The final joints terminate in paper-thin edges. I'll show how I glue these together in a future post.



I used thickened epoxy from Rot Doctor to fill voids in the plywood, cover screw heads, and seal the joint between the underfloor storage and the floor. This was my first time using this product and I was pleased with the thick consistency of the putty. I've used colloidal silica to thicken my own epoxy in the past and this is certainly more convenient.

[Dusty Mark]

I sanded my epoxy work from last night. This material was much easier to sand than my home brew of epoxy mixed with colloidal silica powder.



I applied the first coat of elastomeric to the underside of the floor tonight. I obtained better coverage than anticipated, likely due to prior sealing with the CPES. A second coat is needed and maybe a third in a few spots. I'm not sure this was worth the extra expense compared to the adequate protection roof sealer would have provided, but I'm taking the long view on this trailer and want it to last until my camping days are over! (I built the plywood kayak at the top of the picture 20 years ago...)

[Dusty Mark]

I worked on a custom car cradle for the tandem kayak I sold to my friend this weekend and didn't get quite as far on the camper build, but there's plenty of time before summer! I applied the second and third coats of elastomeric to the underside of the floor. We also purchased porch paint to paint the top side of the floor.



I glued the scarf joints to form the walls. Taping before assembly should eliminate sanding and decrease the risk of going through the veneer.



I screwed a cleat to put pressure over the joint. I supplemented this with dead weight. Wax paper prevents gluing the plywood to the support table and the cleat.



The scarf joints turned out pretty clean. I didn't account for the thickness of the glue on the first joint and there's a corresponding lip. I slid the two pieces about 1/32" apart and achieved a better joint on the face sides of the second panel. Either way, the joints are hidden behind cabinets on the inside and by the aluminum skin on the outside.



I laminated two layers of 3/4" plywood to make the roof spars. I'll rip these down and get two spars from each blank.

[ELM]

I't looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Dusty Mark]

Picked up the trailer from the powder coater tonight. It turned out pretty good. I had him use matte black for the trailer and gloss black for the rain gutters and the fenders.



Hopefully it was worth the extra money in the long haul to have it all powder coated.



I'll screw a piece of white oak between the floor and the leveling jack to be sure these brackets don't bend.



It was kind of late by the time we got home tonight, but I had to bolt down the floor!



I'll slap a coat of black paint over the grey elastomeric along the edge of the underfloor storage if it looks horrendous to me against the black frame and the red sides of the camper.

I've got 4' x 10' walls ready to be cut to their final profile next...

[TheOtherSean]

More photos of progress - that's what I love to see! Keep up the hard work.

[Dusty Mark]

I cut the sides today.



I used my track saw to cut the straight portions of the door openings.



I cut the rounded corners next with my jigsaw.



I spent a lot of time sketching out the cabinets on my full-size pattern.



I transferred My "ciphering" to each side. I'll sleep on it and triple check everything in the morning before routing dados in the sides.

[Dusty Mark]

I've been a multi-tasking machine lately. We decided to sell four boats we weren't using much to pay for our ridiculously expensive teardrop build. That involved some level of maintenance or repair to all of them. We sold the last boat on Saturday and I'm anticipating making quicker progress on the teardrop from this point forward!

I spent most of the day routing ledges and dadoes in the walls of the camper.



This is the 3/8" thick by 1 5/8" wide ledge at the top of the wall routed to facilitate installing the ceiling from the top. I liked the way Oregon Trailers uses this same method on their builds.



A closer view of the progress on one wall. I began at the outer edge and worked to full depth before adjusting the fence to make the ledge wider. I'm not sure that a 1/2" HSS spiral upcut bit was the best choice for these operations today, but it's done now.



I also routed grooves for interior bulkheads. I used the Festool track system and adjusted the router fence so that the edge of the dado began 1" from the edge of the track.



The clamps attach in t-track below the track. These hold the track securely during routing operations.



Setting up for another dado.

[KCStudly]

Nice tool.

[Dusty Mark]

Thanks! The Festool system is pricey, but I use both the circular saw and the plunge router a lot. The circular saw was particularly handy when we built three layout duck boats last year.

[dales133]

Yea those festools are very nice gear.
Hellishly expensive here though

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