Not so much a journal but pics

[Bretster]

Hi all,
I have lurked and posted and asked for help a few times during my slow build of a TD based on Tony Latham’s book. I was true to the profile he used along with his hatch design and many of his construction methods, but also made quite a few changes. Many of the changes were to save weight as I will be pulling with a Subaru Forester. I weighed it yesterday using the bathroom scale/lever method and came up with 930 pounds. Pretty good for a 5x10.

I will split this up into a few posts so there are not too many photos per post. TD is fibreglass/epoxy with acrylic paint. Converted aluminum snowmobile trailer as the base. 1” rigid foam with skeletonized panels throughout.

Hopefully the pics tell most of the story.

Bret


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[Bretster]

Build Pics #1





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[Bretster]

Build Pics #2





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[Bretster]

Build Pics #3






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[Bretster]

Build Pics #4






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[Bretster]

Build Pics #5






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[Bretster]

Build Pics #6





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[Bretster]

She’s called Pomodora which is two concepts mashed together. Pomodoro is Italian for tomatoe which the color resembles, but the spelling change is a twist on Dora the Explorer, which we hope we will do a lot of.
BTW, my wife also picked the color which looks a lot like Tony’s but was not planned that way.

Bret


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[Tom&Shelly]

Oh no! You mixed pink and blue foam in the walls! You can't do that!

Nah, just kidding! Looks great!

Tom

[Hubert]

You did a great job! Thank you for posting the pictures.

[Bretster]

Thanks! I did my best but made a few mistakes. Most of my mis-steps were because I tried something I thought was innovative rather than doing something tried and true.

A few more details:
Baltic birch throughout except floor which was meranti inside and marine ply on the bottom. Spars are mahogany reclaimed from doorframes, cost some like $10. The exception was the hatch spar which I made by laminating hardwood flooring (maple or birch, can’t recall) which was left over from another project.

Not in the pics is a 100w solar panel. Also has inverter and agm battery. Lights and power points in cabin and galley.

The front box I repurposed as it was originally a semi truck tool box. The interior has 2 shelves and a box on the floor for shoes, and that is it. No headboard, etc.

Tires are commercial van tires.

Bret


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[Pmullen503]

What it the outside covered with? PMF, fiberglass?

[Bretster]

Fibreglass/epoxy covered in good quality acrylic paint. Was a bit afraid of the fibreglass/epoxy as I had never used it before but it was actually not much different than painting. Just need to ensure proper prep, correct temperature and humidity, and don’t mix too much at a time.

Bret


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[tony.latham]

Damn sweet! You even nailed the color.





Tony

[Hubert]

Baltic birch throughout except floor

Your first post mentions 1" foam. Did you use 24mm Baltic Birch for the skeleton and 3mm for the skins? What tools did you use to get the foam to the right thickness?

It looks like you got some weight savings with the galley seal lip and notched the counter to clear the gusset. Would you do that again if you built another one? How long are the drawer slides in the bottom right (I assume this is a drawer for the cooler)? I am trying to get more space in that area for the build I'm planning, and notching the counter was one of the options I was contemplating. The other (riskier) option I am looking at is to reduce the width of the gusset and use a different plywood to avoid spring back after skinning the hatch.

Are the doors you used the ones from Vintage Technologies? How do you like them? I'm leaning towards using pre-made doors vs. building my own.

Is there anything you would do differently if you were going to build another one?