Camper Without A Name

[GPW]

Doors are tough huh .... no matter how I tried measured and “allowed for” , I still didn’t get it Perfect...

Quote: "Good thing about foam; goof and you can glue it back!” Foam is so great in that fact alone , add or subtract to it at will ...
Now I don’t know how this relates to trailers , but with our little airplanes , if we crash (happens) , we can easily cut out the old damaged piece and add on a new piece (field repairs)... always a high temp hot glue gun in the truck and a small inverter to power it ... Quick and easy repairs and modifications ... foam being homogenous , the glue is always stronger than the foam ...

Multiple layering allows complex shapes to be carved out ... or lots of rounding ...

[Papi]

So, here are a few pics I took in haste. Not much progress otherwise, but soon hope to have a full weekend to play!
Here is the initial design for the door window. I need a window in the door so we don't whack each other coming out if the other person is standing there. But the wood did not bend into a circle, no matter how much I wanted it to.

These doors turned out to be much harder than anticipated! I framed it in pine (ran out of poplar) and then cut out a place to install some wood for the latch/lock mechanism. Took way too much sanding and planing to get the door to fit right!

Finally decided to make a little star, stain it, clear it, and sandwich it between 2 panes of glass. I think it'll work out all right. I plan to cover both sides with some birch panels. I filled the gap between the star and the circle with gorilla glue and water. Should be pretty solid when done.

I can't wait to have a whole weekend to work on it!

[eaglesdare]

so do you have this weekend off? can't wait to see your progress then. those doors are looking good though. wanna come redue my doors?

[Papi]

so do you have this weekend off? can't wait to see your progress then. those doors are looking good though. wanna come redue my doors?

Not this weekend, but next. I'm busy working double shifts this week but then I have a 3 day weekend next week.
As for doors, I dread making the next one because it has to be an exact replica of this one. And I used plent of TLCE (that looks close enough) on this one!

[GPW]

The “second” of most anything is always easier ...

[atahoekid]

I too should be able to make progress on my doors this weekend and I am beginning to fear it. I am taking a big chunk out of the sidewalls and while I'm not too worried about the structural integrity, I am worried about screwing up. I hopefully have a three day weekend without too many of life's distractions. As with lots of building projects, "The devil is in the details" The experience you're going through is going to make me very cautious when it comes to measuring and cutting of the door

[Papi]

First door frame I made did not work out right. "Measure once, cut twice" was my theme. But once this one is done the second will be much easier. Maybe. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.

[atahoekid]

For me, the door worked out pretty well. I just cut the door out from the existing wall panel. Now the trick is to re-fit it into the opening so that it opens, closes and locks properly. Again, the devil is in the details...

[Papi]

I too cut the door blank out of the existing wall, but I changed the shape of the door top from rounded to angled. I also added a door frame and frame aroudn the door, so there was a lot of revision going on. Hopefully next weekend I'll have it all taken care of, door mounted, and started on the other side.

[atahoekid]

I think I got lucky... I was going to make a frame around the door and a matching one for the door opening but every time I tried to create the curve, I snapped the wood. I'm probably doing the bending/laminating thing all wrong, but I ended up going "frameless" and I'm just going to smooth out the door and the door opening and fiberglass everything well. It sounds like I made life easier for myself by being unable to bend wood without breaking it. For once, being unable to do something worked out for me.

Hope your doors work out for you. I'll keep the fingers crossed!!!

[Papi]

I have been remiss in posting photos, mainly because I have been remiss in taking them! I get on a roll, and away I go. Anyway, between family emergencies, funds, and general life getting in the way, I managed to get the door skin put on and stained, and true up some edges that were not up to spec. I'll get some pictures up soon enough. Time to start on the other side. I also had time to build this:

Dodge 360

360.JPG (166.9 KiB) Viewed 518 times

Dodge 360, factory 4 bbl, windage tray, lots of little goodies. Built it to sell to finance our vacation this summer. Going to the beach with our kiddos. Meanwhile, slow and steady wins the race, eh? I'll have it campable soon enough. I hope.

[Papi]

I have finally caught up with my chores. Here is a picture of the interior side of the door, coated in a couple layers of Sedona Red Minwax and a coat of poly gloss. Gonna sand that sucker tomorrow with 400 and apply a couple more coats. I want it to be smooooth to the touch and durable enough to withstand the grandkids.

[atahoekid]

I think I got lucky... I was going to make a frame around the door and a matching one for the door opening but every time I tried to create the curve, I snapped the wood. I'm probably doing the bending/laminating thing all wrong, but I ended up going "frameless" and I'm just going to smooth out the door and the door opening and fiberglass everything well. It sounds like I made life easier for myself by being unable to bend wood without breaking it. For once, being unable to do something worked out for me.

At least I thought so. I trimmed the door too small and after I realized that there was no salvaging this mess , I had to go and build another set. Looks like yours turned out fine.

[Papi]

Hopefully your "mess" won't be so bad. I learned a lot on this first door and hopefully the next one will be simpler. Good thing about the foamies is that if you screw up you can just glue in more foam and keep going!

[GPW]

Doors are tricky huh !!! Lots of Time and Measuring multiple times to get em’ right ... Maybe we need a separate thread to address the problem ...