Trailer is (looks) done...from the outside

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next year, new tent

On the road! 53 days from demo to road trip:

confession time. since march 30, the shop has gradually become a true disaster. my MO is to clean just enough to accomplish the next task. so far, the table saw has been cleared twice. rest of the te, just give the fence a healthy shove, make room for the cut. nothing significant has been shoved off yet. 

view of the inside of the front, showing the carry bearing for the crank handle. under the plywood, between the cleats, is a chunk of rock maple, about 3.5 inches cubed, with the curve of the trailer front cutting away just under half of the cube. the hole in the maple was machined on a cnc milling machine, is just slightly over sized for the crank. 

btw, thus is un unfinished storage space, hence the glue drips and rough cuts. don't have time to be neat in there. 

machinist's trick: how to enlarge a pilot hole in sheet metal with a fluted drill bit, without turning the hole into a triangle (you know what I'm talking about if you ever tried this. not iust sheet metal, also other thin materials.)

Drill through 4 layers of tshirt rags, or 2 layers of terry microfiber rags. The rags fill the spaces in the flutes and keep the drill centered. 

Result, perfectly round larger hole. (original hole size below).

new door latch installed. man, is this better than the craptastic original latch. solid. 

inside latch. teak plywood panel inside door. i love teak. only place we covered the frameing, had to for stiffness. against philosophy of keeping all spaces open on one side, for better damp prevention, and better access for repairs, with no finished surface to replace. that's the high labor part, for what, vanity? right. 

new crank hatch. just an electrical weather proof outlet cover. installed upside down for angle. needs a gutter above to deflect water. on the list, after this trip. 

you can see bolts in weird spots around the cover. they hd down the rock maple carry bearing, needed for the new longer crank, to keep it in line. weird spots due to funky angle of winch crank axis after deer hit. got it as straight as we could. winch was split open, had to weld back together, couldn't get it back to original geometry. character, history, i like it. 

actually installed thr maple bearing( just a block with a close fitting hole) on sunday. forgot to mention it. 

ALMOST road ready. can drive now, and camp in it, but it needs exterior corner trim to keep moisture out of the corners.

Sunday Monday

3 days till we leave to go camping. 

Sunday got the other bench back in, now theres one on each side, the table can sit on them and make a bed. 

Got the front slide out bed installed, after figuring out the offset mounting. 

Worked on the lights a bit, and built the front bench/ shelves. Had ripped out the kitchen and a cabinet, so had to replace with something for stability. 

(looking back at both benches). Reused the bench frames, re skinned with nicet plywood, and added strategic access holes

Lights all done, wired. Today I finished the taillight standoffs, had to bandsaw the curve of the back into the cylinder Dad machined for me. Fun using an angle plate to hold the part on the bandsaw. 

Also assembeled the door, using the teak plywood, and got all the old door trim back on. Took a bit of head scratching to figure out what to do with the pile of parts. 

3 days left, and one night have a kids concert. Still have to install rear bed, door, door lock, trim at edges, and vent hatch. 

Will finish front bench later, got one shelf in, still debating the rest. 

Saturday PM, 5 days to go

Well, it looks like the bulk of the work will be done tomorrow. This week was hit and miss, got the marker lights wired, top sides skinned, some minor fussy bits here and there. 

Today, finally got a full day without rain so I could skin the top. Glue drying:

Rear end, minus tail and license plate lights:

Waiting for dad to finish the tail light standoffs, and glue needs to set overnight before I raise the roof. 

I'm supporting it on a bench so it drys with the correct camber in the top:

Sunday

Skinned it (bottom anyway):