My build: Finally underway!

[videographer]

So after a winter of thinking, my build is finally in motion. After going to a few meetups and RV dealers, my wife and I agreed on several parameters:

1) - Larger than a normal teardrop - we are both tall people and need elbow room.

2) - As light as practical, because if all goes well we will be towing this trailer behind an electric car.

3) - No need for a built-in galley. We were both amazed that the #1 reason people seemed to want galleys is because they need coffee in the am. Well, we don't drink coffee, and I figure a campstove, cooler and possibly microwave will suffice.

I finally whipped up a plan that looks like this (apologies for the chicken scratch - I tried SketchUp and couldn't make head or tails of it.)



Another parameter is that it has to fit into my garage, which has a 6' 4" HVAC trunk that it has to fit under.

I laid out cardboard in my garage and we decided on a plan with two transverse beds on either end of the camper. I'm trying to keep the foamwork as simple as possible, but am already dreaming of a nosecone on the front to get more aero.

Lightness demanded an aluminum frame. I had a very hard time getting anyone to build me a frame - all wanted at least three to five months lead time. Finally found a guy that built me a 6'6" wide by 10' long frame. To keep the camper as close to the ground as possible, I bought stub axles:

http://www.southwestwheel.com/store/p-5201-1400-lb-torsion-half-axles-with-5-45-bolt-circle-hubs.aspx

...and adjusted them so that the bottom of the trailer is only 9" off the road:



I've started making the floor, practicing my new skill of routing slots so the pieces can overlap:



Glued two pieces together, went waaaay too big on the Gorilla Glue:



After a day of work, it's starting to look like something:



And the dog likes it so far as well.

More pix soon - I'm trying to make this build move so I can actually try it out before the end of summer.

[hartk1213]

Great start man looking good

Sent from my Galaxy Note 5 using Tapatalk

[GPW]

That’s going to be a very Comfortable size !!! Plenty of room !!!
Point #3. That has been one of the BIG issues all along ... I totally agree with your simple needs ... I don’t go camping to Cook ... Coffee yes !!! Banquets , NO !!!

In addition ... When we do cook we much prefer the taste of food "cooked round' the old campfire" ... Just not the same any other way !!! ... ( even Solar)

[videographer]

Funny how these things go in spurts. After about ten days away from (the future) Campy McCampface, I got a lot done over the weekend.

I got a chance to stand up the walls with a front stub wall and a proposed front bump-out...



...and wow, does this thing look huge inside. I want to make the front a little more aero, and while a curve would be pretty, I think a straight-line panel might make a good place for a solar panel. This angle looks promising:



After the test-fit and dreaming session ended, it was time to get more realistic. You'll notice in the top photo that my garage is VERY short. I have been thinking about how high I could make the trailer without hitting the ceiling, but had totally underestimated the height of a Fantastic Fan, which is about 4 1/2" inches. So I'm going to have to take 2" off the sidewalls. Not going to cry over it, though.

I had been going back & forth about how to hold the foam to the floor, and decided to make a 1" square cleat for the foam to wrap around.



I made the cleat by ripping and Gorilla Gluing some scrap 1/2' ply from the floor...



Looks like it'll fit tightly.



Note: You all probably already realize that running a router thru foam creates a pink foam blizzard. Easy to carve, but whatta mess.

To hold the top to the trailer base, I cut a scrap 1"x1"x2" piece of cleat and doubled it on the foot, and then capped it with a 2"x2" top:



A T-nut will go on the top and stainless bolts will hold the camper from the bottom. Hope 16 of these are enough!

The foam will have to be notched to accommodate the foot.



Once I figured that out, I took the whole deal apart (all tape and skewers) and set upon waterproofing the floor. In removing the floor from the trailer I managed to break off the back 2' of the floor, but that's no biggie, I'll reglue and reinforce that joint when it's time to start assembling. I waterproofed with The Mix...



...first a few coats of 25% urethane to 75% paint thinner, then upping it to about 50/50 for another two coats on the bottom (only put one coat on the top, which I expect to stay dry.) Anyone think that's good enough?

Once that was reasonably dry, I glued and screwed the front cleat to the floor, which is drying right now.

Oh yeah, in the downtime I replaced and tested the trailer light controller on my minivan.

Not a bad weekend overall! Any advice from the Olde Masters?

[GPW]

No real reason you have to put the fan in the roof .... I think people do that just because others have done it like that :roll: ... But sometimes as we find out the fan is the only thing that keeps the trailer out the garage ... A lot of the Old Timers put the vent up high on a wall , not the roof ... And if you live in a wet area , the hole in the roof is a major potential for leaks ...

[mezmo]

I agree with GPW on mounting the fan as high on the sidewall as you
can instead of on the roof. TDs and TTTs are so small that that mounting
location would not make any difference in ventilation performance. I also
think it is a huge advantage to not have a hole in the roof and thus eliminate
a big water entry area...

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[videographer]

Here comes the next batch. I have to say, the picture size limitations on this forum really keep me from posting more - if I didn't know how to program Photoshop to shrink my pics I probably wouldn't bother.

So I got the two walls together to match them up:



and was reasonably close, no more than a 1/2" off in any particular place. For me I call that a win.

At the same time I finished the rear cleat:



...and practiced a bit with a roundoff bit in the router:



I'm going to round off each 90 degree edge on the trailer to make it look at least a little finished.

I glued on the front panel, which stuck really well:



...and test-placed the door and one window:



I bought the window from TNTTT member Prototear! Great packaging, man!



Framing the door and then cutting the foam out was the most harrowing thing I've done yet. I worried far too much about this job, tho. The door fits snugly...perhaps a bit too snugly, when you add in canvas and glue. I think I'll sand this hole a little bigger before the canvas stage.

It's starting to look like something:



And there's plenty of room inside, especially before you put anything in the space:



And all of this so far is brought to you by the awesome power of... bamboo skewers!



Next to come - a roof vent and two more larger windows for the aft area. Stay tuned.

[videographer]

So my latest challenge: The wood piece that makes up the floor doesn't lay flat at the point where it is glued together. This slight arch presents itself about 3 feet farther back as the side wall hovering about 3/4" above the floor. I'm kind of at a loss for what to do, but one thing I really *don't* want to do is take the plywood off again, at least not until I absolutely. What do y'all thin would happen if I lifted the back of the wood up to meet the wall, glued it up, and then tried to bolt the whole thing back down? I'm guessing the strain would eventually crack the foam, right?

I guess I'll jack the trailer up and try to get eyes on what is really happening. Gotta run conduit for the trailer lights anyway.

[KCStudly]

What you are probably seeing is a sag or flex in the trailer frame. The proven technique for a foamie is to wrap the canvas around the foam and under the wooden floor prior to attaching the cabin to the trailer. With the strength of the canvas, the walls will be very sturdy and you will probably be able to draw the trailer up to the floor with the attachment bolts (if yours is a bolted trailer, perhaps loosening the trailer assembly bolts temporarily to let it flex a little).

If the trailer is particularly rigid (most flat trailers aren't) you could make tapered shims to compensate, but it is best to figure out for sure where the error is before committing to a solution. Use a large level, straight edge or string with some shims to see what is straight and what is not.

[videographer]

After a drive to the East Coast (in a rented Tesla Model S - wow, whatta ride) I got back to working on Campy McCampface this weekend, and made some good progress. Here goes:



It's roof time. Here is an 8'x8' blank being glued up...



...with a lame yet functional lap joint to (hopefully) strengthen the joint.



I decided to add plywood to each side of the roof section to add stiffness, and routed a channel along the top of the roof to accommodate a 3/4" tab. After this, we GGed both walls down to the deck. They seem to be holding well.



When we test-fit the roof it was a bit saggy, so I added two home-made Micro-Lam type "joists" to stiffen it up.



I figured it was going to be the last time I would have easy access to the top of the roof...



...so I pre-scored it with a Paper Tiger.



I love using these nylon anchors in drywall, and figured they could be useful in Styrofoam too. To better clamp the roof to the walls, we dry-fitted the roof and I drilled three holes per side through the wood skirt, removed the roof...



...dipped the anchors in water and GG, and screwed them in carefully. Once they dried, I GGed the rest of the roof contact surface, slid the roof into place and fastened into the anchors with flat-top stainless steel screws. The anchors hold very well, and have given me confidence to use them in another way later (see below.)



While my router and plywood cuts don't fix exactly, TLAR is in full effect here. A little hard to see is the half-round router corner I routed on the plywood on the top...a slight nod to looking finished.





The dog is not too impressed.

So my idea for another way to use drywall anchors is this: Screw and glue them in at specific intervals (like a grid pattern) all around the interior and ceiling. Mount self-stick carpet tiles to either 1/4' or 1/2" foamboard (or luan if necessary.) Trim the boards to fit as exactly as possible, and mount them to the walls and ceiling with screws and finish washers. I think the ability to remove the walls could be very useful if I want to add any wiring after the fact, Anyone else tried this? Am I a fool? (Rhetorical question, sometimes.)

Not bad progress for a weekend!

[videographer]

OK, I've been gone so long that I totally forgot to post progress that happened *before* I went East. So consider this post to be before the previous one. Sorry about that.



I spent far more time than I wanted to just installing frames for the door and four windows. On the one hand, it's real progress. On the other hand, it's really tedious, especially when you only have the floor to work on and the router likes nothing more than to take off in an unintended direction at random times.



But it got done, even fitted the windows and door a couple of times.



Once I skewered most of the pieces into place...



...I really got a sense of what it's going to look like. Seems to have a decent amount of volume inside.



Here's my mock-up Fantastic Vent...



...and the real thing on my daughter's head. The fan came with a internal trim ring that is over 4" thick! Going to have to do some careful Dremel-ing to make it fit.



I spent several hours underneath the trailer running conduit and wires for the trailer lights...



...and made damn sure to have a good solid ground.

More later!

[kudzu]

Nice progress and...

Campy McCampface

Best camper name ever!

[Ned B]

Nice progress and...

Campy McCampface

Best camper name ever!

X2! Let me guess you voted on the British science vessel name contest, right?

Where did you rent a Model S? Need details on that, it sounds great! What model, ludicrous mode? Autopilot??

[videographer]

Where did you rent a Model S? Need details on that, it sounds great! What model, ludicrous mode? Autopilot??

There is a service online called turo.com that acts as the middleman between private individuals to rent cars. There are all types to choose from. As I may have mentioned before, I'm a solar energy geek,and one of the reasons I want to build a foamie is to be able to tow it behind some (future) Tesla and travel from Supercharger to Supercharger to campsite and see the US and Canada.

It is a 2014 Model S, 85kWh pack, two-wheel (rear) drive, no Insane or Ludicrous modes, just as close to basic transportation as you can get. And that's all I want. Believe me, even in this relatively "stripped" state it's still plenty quick. Also sadly, there was no Autopilot - this car left the factory two weeks before they started installing the sensors.

It's a great ride. I'm putting together a series of videos of our trip and there will be scads of info and interviews with other Teslans.

[Ned B]

Very cool! If you make it to NY sing out!

Did you see this article on teslarati? http://www.teslarati.com/canadian-coupl ... r-trailer/

They're using solar on the trailer to help range extend the car!

Also in case you missed it:

Can Tesla Model X tow? Maybe not.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=ht ... are_type=t