Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

...ask your questions in the appropriate forums BUT document your build here...preferably in a single thread...dates for updates, are appreciated....

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman: IT'S ALIVE!!!

Postby plectrudis » Sun Nov 20, 2016 6:46 pm

Check it out: it's perpendicular! (ish)

Image

Here's the front. The bottom half of the nose will be a storage area. The top half will be an open shelf. (Ignore the dividers--they're just temporary braces for the dry fit. They do show will the bulkheads will be, though.)

Image

Here's a 3-quarter view.

Image

And, lastly, the galley.

Image

Mr P & I loafed inside for a while, which was happily a little more spacious than expected, and mulled over various wiring issues. The weather was cool, the sun was warm, and everything was all right.

So far, the only thing change I think the setup needs is to have a little space dug out in the underside of my walls to accommodate the boltheads that hold the floor onto the trailer--the walls won't sit perfectly flat because the bolt heads stick up too much.

Now that we're getting into the holiday season, Ferdie's going to be on the back burner for a while, but when I have the time, I'll mosey out to the garage, sit in the trailer, and think about wiring and light fixtures.

Other than marking where the wires and fixtures will go, the next steps will be to take down the walls and unscrew everything, use the flat trailer to pick up the remaining luan sheets and poplar 1x2s that we'll be needing, and then reassemble everything, only this time slathered with TB3. Should I put anything inside the screw holes as well, or is covering the surfaces in glue enough?

Side note: I fear that once I install my fan, the Little Ferdie will be too tall to fit though our freakishly low garage/shack door. I've known the day would come when we'd have to tear down that moldy, leaky, varmint-infested, and termite-riddled mess, but that day may come a bit sooner than originally projected...

:vroom:
User avatar
plectrudis
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 117
Images: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:12 pm
Location: central Texas

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby pchast » Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:10 pm

Have you measured the door height? You may be able to either lower the road or... Provide a
rafter support a foot or two into the shed at an increased the height. The existing door header
could be then removed.

:thinking:
pchast
Platinum Donating Member
 
Posts: 2023
Images: 97
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:47 pm
Location: Athens, NY

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby KCStudly » Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:15 am

Some people find they can cheat the fan height a little by dropping the tongue way down as they transition under the door header. Other people have gotten away with just letting some air out of the tires (if it is close). Another option is a smaller set of wheels/tires, or even dummy wheels made out of aluminum plate, just for storage. Last idea is wheel dollies purchased from places like Harbor Freight; remove wheels and set axles/hubs on dollies (if your floor jack will go that low).
KC
My Build: The Poet Creek Express Hybrid Foamie

Poet Creek Or Bust
Engineering the TLAR way - "That Looks About Right"
TnTTT ORIGINAL 200A LANTERN CLUB = "The 200A Gang"
Green Lantern Corpsmen
User avatar
KCStudly
Donating Member
 
Posts: 9610
Images: 8169
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:18 pm
Location: Southeastern CT, USA
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby brx017 » Mon Nov 21, 2016 10:07 am

Looking good! I like KC's dolly idea. You might could get by with a few of these, they are rated for 1000 pounds: http://m.harborfreight.com/18-in-x-12-in-1000-lb-capacity-hardwood-dolly-61899.html

Don't forget a 20%off coupon!


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
User avatar
brx017
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 126
Images: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 4:28 am
Location: Taylorsville, NC
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby KCStudly » Mon Nov 21, 2016 11:40 am

Out of concern for cracking the wood, I was thinking more like these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-lb-capacity-vehicle-dollies-2-pc-60343.html
KC
My Build: The Poet Creek Express Hybrid Foamie

Poet Creek Or Bust
Engineering the TLAR way - "That Looks About Right"
TnTTT ORIGINAL 200A LANTERN CLUB = "The 200A Gang"
Green Lantern Corpsmen
User avatar
KCStudly
Donating Member
 
Posts: 9610
Images: 8169
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:18 pm
Location: Southeastern CT, USA
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby plectrudis » Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:27 pm

Wow, thanks for the suggestions, guys!

It's good to know we've got options. I think I can redo the garage for somewhere in the $8-10K range using a steel building kit, which is doable as a long-term project, but isn't exactly something I want to have to throw together at a moment's notice.
User avatar
plectrudis
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 117
Images: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:12 pm
Location: central Texas
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby Hitec4you » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:50 pm

It is coming along nicely. Looking forward to watching the continued process.
User avatar
Hitec4you
Teardrop Builder
 
Posts: 26
Images: 1
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 1:41 pm
Location: Lavon, TX
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby Nobes » Wed Jan 04, 2017 12:28 pm

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Glad to see you are progressing--hope you are camping in 2017!

We are in the process of moving to Dallas from west Texas, so the Bear's Lair is currently stored in my son's garage in McKinney. We look forward to spring camping in Oklahoma, east Texas, and Arkansas. We will miss being able to easily get to Big Bend, the Guadalupes, and Santa Fe. I still have a list of things to do on my TD, but none of them keep me from camping.

Nobes
Nobes
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 214
Images: 508
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:01 am
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman: Back on the Case

Postby plectrudis » Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:17 pm

After a rather long lag, I'm back on the case. Last weekend, I mocked up where all the light fixtures, outlets, and wires will go (other than the ones in the roof, since we haven't got a roof yet.)

This weekend, I installed the stabilizer jacks on the back corners and estimated window size and location. I also tried to install some bolts from the middle of the floor (if memory serves, I was able to install the perimeter bolts, but not the middle ones because there is a slight gap between the floor and the central crosspieces, and my bolts were too short for this extra bit of length.)

Owing to tedious problems with the size of the pronged washers I had on hand, further bolt installation will have to wait till next weekend (or the weekend after, due to travel plans). I also ordered a bunch more silicone marine sealant, as having all these holes in my floor makes me very uneasy. I'm planning to inject heaping gobs of the stuff into each hole before inserting the bolts, so hopefully, that will keep everything nice and hermetic.

In the interim, I have a question about doors and windows. Commonly available window sizes are ~20x30 and ~14x20. I'm trying to decide which to use in my doors. I'd like the largest size possible, but I want to make sure my doors are strong enough. Here's (roughly) what they would look like with 20x30 windows. What do you think? Is that enough plywood around the glass?

Image

Electrical mockups:
Solar & shore power inlets
Image

Image

Reading light:
Image

Switches for porch light and dome light
Image

A/C vent + 12v outlet and possible 120 outlet
Image
User avatar
plectrudis
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 117
Images: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:12 pm
Location: central Texas
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby plectrudis » Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:52 pm

Forgot to say... Thanks for the good wishes, Hitec & Nobes!
User avatar
plectrudis
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 117
Images: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:12 pm
Location: central Texas
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby Wolfgang92025 » Tue Feb 28, 2017 8:36 pm

Hi,

Just read up on your built.
About your garage door issue....

My teardrop is 5' tall. At our old house I would have to crank the tongue jack all the way down and unhook the garage door from the automatic opener and push it all the way open. That would give me that extra inch to be able to get the trailer in the garage. Needless to say the process was the same to get it back out.
Still was better than letting the air out of the tires to lower the trailers overall height.

Keep at it and it will get done.
And yes, it is worth it. :thumbsup:
Wolfgang

Image
User avatar
Wolfgang92025
Lifetime member
 
Posts: 1059
Images: 651
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:16 pm
Location: Salt Lake City area, Utah
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby alchemist77 » Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:09 am

Two thumbs up. Great idea. You know exactly where things are going and can build a wiring map and schematic. Really helpful when putting screws in.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk
David Campbell
KF7SFU
RaDAR
SOTA
alchemist77
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 63
Images: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Middleton Idaho
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman: SECOND THOUGHTS

Postby plectrudis » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:46 pm

I'm having 2nd thoughts on those bolts I was going to install in my floor this weekend.

Do I need them at all?

To recapitulate: I bolted the floor via all the holes in my trailer frame around the perimeter of my floor. Then I kept right on going and drilled holes in my floor to match the holes in my crosspieces.

Which I kind of wish I hadn't, because now that I'm about to install the interior bolts, I keep thinking, Why am I doing this? It's got bolts around all 4 edges AND glue/sealant between the floor and the frame--how much more firmly affixed does this thing need to be?

Besides which, the crosspieces of the frame naturally don't match up to the crosspieces in my floor (I aligned them to the bulkheads, not to the trailer crosspieces). I'm worried about the bolts warping/cracking the top of my floor in those areas.

I'm thinking I should just fill up my holes with gobs of marine sealant, tar over them from the bottom, and let the perimeter bolts shoulder the full responsibility for holding the floor on. What do you think? Do I need bolts in the middle of my floor?

(I wish I'd had these second thoughts a good deal earlier in the process, but wth. You learn better when your mistakes are bigger. Right? Right?!?)
User avatar
plectrudis
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 117
Images: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:12 pm
Location: central Texas
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby KCStudly » Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:02 am

You probably don't need them at all. The perimeter (walls) is where the rigidity will come from.

On my build I liked the idea of unifying the field of the floor and xmbr's because I went with relatively light weight xmbr's (L1-1/2 x 1/8).

Rather than just gooping the holes full and risking partial fill, or sagging, etc., why not cut some dowels to do most of the filling and goop those in place like a plug? Then seal over.
KC
My Build: The Poet Creek Express Hybrid Foamie

Poet Creek Or Bust
Engineering the TLAR way - "That Looks About Right"
TnTTT ORIGINAL 200A LANTERN CLUB = "The 200A Gang"
Green Lantern Corpsmen
User avatar
KCStudly
Donating Member
 
Posts: 9610
Images: 8169
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:18 pm
Location: Southeastern CT, USA
Top

Re: Little Ferdie - 11-ft Grumman

Postby plectrudis » Sun Mar 05, 2017 8:33 pm

Great advice, KC!

I did exactly as you suggested and used sections of dowel slathered with marine sealant to fill in the holes. Worked like a charm. Thanks for the suggestion!
User avatar
plectrudis
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 117
Images: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:12 pm
Location: central Texas
Top

PreviousNext

Return to Build Journals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests