The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[KCStudly]

I’ve been futzing away at the roof fairing and taking a day off from the build here and there to figure out the details on the Jeep axle swap. There are a surprising number of them, but have been finding answers to my questions on the interwebs, so, since there seems to be zero interest in that here, I won’t drone on about it.

Pictures of incomplete bodywork are boring, too, and don’t really show anything well, but to prove that I have done something…

I did the spline drag thing on the curb side with another round of filler, but the middle portion of the roof next to the fan opening wasn’t too bad, so I just did the areas in front and behind.


Here’s something interesting for the record. We all know that foam expands and contracts with temperature changes, but I kind of half thought that the fiberglass would contain this somehow. When I did the spline skim coat on the street side of the roof it seemed like the foam was high and the spars took more filler. That was in 90 deg weather. Now that I washed the amine and blocked it down again in 70 deg weather, the opposite is true; the spars are high and the foam is low, as evident by the darker and lighter strips visible in this pic.


Link to another vintage camping equipment purchase, and somewhat of a miss.

[GPW]

Since Foam is mostly air , maybe atospheric pressure affects it too ...

[ghcoe]

Foam definitely has a different qualities for sure. I think we just have to live with the issues though or it will drive us mad......

This is where two pieces of edge flashing come together. I even at one time cut back the flashing so it did not come in contact. Unfortunately, the only fix would be one continuous piece of flashing, but they only come in 10' lengths so this is what occurs during expansion and contraction. Sometimes it is unnoticeable and sometimes it is worse than what is pictured. I just have to "Let it go!"

Joint

DSCF4613.JPG (155.92 KiB) Viewed 2170 times

[KCStudly]

Hey, is anyone going to the Ross Hill Gathering here in CT? That's this coming weekend and it's close to me. I thought I might scoot up there on Sunday and have a look around, maybe meet some fellow TD'ers. Give a shout if you plan to be there.

I hear you, George. Some things you just have to let go. That camo paint option is really starting to look like the best option for me. Just have to figure where to draw the line on bodywork. I think I want to be done messing around with the roof. I have a couple of ripples on the street side wall outside of the galley that may require sanding thru the glass and a couple of small patches, and other than the big shallow dip in the curb side wall top... that I have more or less resolved to ignore... I think it is all pretty straight forward. Just have to "get 'er dun".

I have been laying low taking a few days off from the forums and the build, hopefully just "recharging my batteries". I have been feeling run down lately, perhaps due to regular job and summer heat, although the weather hasn't really been that bad lately, I'm not getting much sleep.

On Saturday the chunk team is getting together to build a new trailer for the ballista. Seems like a drastic move to me, but it will solve issues of getting good braked axles underneath it, and we revealed a structural issue with how the dump frame is supported last time out, so will solve that problem, too.

Guess I better get off my a** and get moving again.

[aggie79]

I have been laying low taking a few days off from the forums and the build, hopefully just "recharging my batteries". I have been feeling run down lately, perhaps due to regular job and summer heat, although the weather hasn't really been that bad lately, I'm not getting much sleep.

KC,

During my extended build, I found it necessary to take extended physical and mental breaks, so I could maintain my motivation when I was in build mode. This is probably necessary reality for folks trying to mix in building a trailer with working full time,home duties, and life in general.

Recharge and take care,
Tom

[KCStudly]

Thanks Tom. The wife and I have also scheduled a short get away trip in the near future, so I guess I'm just practicing so that I'm ready for that!

[GPW]

“ That camo paint option is really starting to look like the best option for me. “ .... Really ???

[S. Heisley]

Have fun at the gathering, KC!

[KCStudly]

Thanks Sharon. I think I will.

Karl and I started cutting 8 inch channel for a new trailer for under Mr. B tonight. 82.25 inches wide x 20 ft long at the deck. Anybody interested? I could take some progress pics.

So hot and humid here I was totally drenched.

[GPW]

BIG trailer pics ..... Yes Please !!!

[dales133]

Sounds like a good deal on the diff package.
Air lockers are the best part of 2,500 here fitted.
Ive just done a heap of work on my 80 series myself

[bonnie]

KC, how's things? Nearly melted here, but the next few days are supposed to be much nicer.


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[KCStudly]

Things are fine, I guess. I just decided to lay low for August. In the first week it was HHH, then I had a practice week for our vacation, then vacation, then just got into the relaxed mode and was not anxious to get back into... bodywork.

I have the rear end project for the Jeep lingering and am a bit "stuck" on doing the bodywork on the camper. I've been discouraged by the process; seems like 1 small step forward and 20 little steps back; and there are many more 'rows to hoe' before it is done.

Karl, and Atomic/Michael previously, suggested that I might be at a stage where I could skip straight to a high build spray on primer (HBP). I already spent the money for another gallon of epoxy, so would not look forward to having that not be used and then spending yet again more for the primer. However, at this point it does seem as though it could offer more control applying a more consistent and even buildup with less self induced flaws. I've never used it before, so was thinking I need to at least get some of the "trouble" areas taken care of, but Karl says not really.

At this point I want to at least finish what I have started on the roof; get those sags/high spots on the street side wall knocked down and repaired (will burn thru the glass and have to patch with thick (maybe feather in a graft of cloth)... just 2 or 3 small areas not more than pinkie finger size in area, but enough to where I don't want to build the whole area out to match them in height; and then I might try a test with some HBP.

I had actually thought I might just say WTF and go straight to paint without filling anymore weave, but Karl pointed out that I have already filled the weave on the side doors so that kind of means I have to keep going on the walls.

Either way I don't think I'm going to keep posting minutia details on the body work. Maybe cover the patch work on the wall and the nacelle work on the hatch, but not all of the gory details trying to get it "nice enough but not perfect".

[bonnie]

Understood. Plus there's pumpkin chucking to think about. I'm beginning to think that the frustration also has to do with almost being finished. So many little things to get right. I quilt and there's always a time in each project where I don't think it will ever be done. But I push I and low and behold I finish a really nice thing.


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[KCStudly]

Yeah, I think I have gotten a little "saturated" with the bodywork thing, but just for a "minute" (month). When I was studying up on the repair manual and procedures for rebuilding the rear end I kind of am reminded that I have other interests, too. Have spent some time watching knife forging videos lately.

I'm still neglecting other chores, as well. The wife got fed up with the tall grass in our yard and mowed it (gotta love that!), but she was brutal with the mower and may have killed it, bogging it down hard several times until it quit. I was otherwise occupied "in the library"...ahem... or I would have tried to stop her. Brand new mower with only about three turns on it. A coworker suggested that I check the shaft key in the flywheel, says that they are making them out of aluminum these days as a shear feature to protect from this sort of abuse. I'm more of a mind to just take it back and ask for another one, but I suppose that is a little dishonest; says right in the manual not to tax it so hard. Guess the wife didn't bother to read the manual.

Another time suck will be hanging our replacement bird feeder this weekend. We used to have a window sill feeder in the kitchen that we could refill by opening the screen, but the screens on the new windows we had installed a few years back are fixed and don't slide up. We have a walk out basement to the rear so it is a ways up from the ground. I installed a pulley system on a bracket to run the feeder up and down sort of like a flag pole. Well the paracord recently gave out (may have been chewed by squirrels) and the new/old feeder crashed to the ground in a heap, so I have to hang a new feeder. Sounds easy enough, but my ladder is hanging from the rafters in the garage and there is a bunch of crap in the way, plus I have to add a pan to the feeder we selected and figure out something to keep the squirrels from climbing the cord. Took them several years to figure that one out, but one of them finally did. Convenient having the faucet sprayer right there, the wife just opens the window and sprays him right thru the screen! Little sucker jumps all the way to the ground.

Wow, I'm way off topic.