4th of July

Spent the morning at the beach, but still managed to get the new counter and table plywood cut.  The front of the trailer isn't as square as the plywood, but a few screws and a little gimp and everything will look fine.  Need to get the laminate and perhaps a new sink before the interior is finished enough to button up the outside.

3rd of July

Got the bunk totally finished.  This includes the patched area where the dopey Previous Owner cut a hole for his TV tray table.

Bunk got installed.  Yay, more space for trailer parts!

Next up, the kitchen counter.  Originally it did not extend all the way across the front, as the icebox was on the upper left.  It also had a hole on the right side, we assume for a gravity feed water tank that was not part of this trailer's options.

We framed in the counter supports today.  Tomorrow, if there is time, we will cut the new counter from 5/8" plywood, to be covered in laminate.

We did find at least one member of the family who likes gimp.

2nd of July

Before stapling the skins, we decided to do a little more work inside this weekend.  That way, if we find a framing problem, we can always peel up the skins and fix the issue easily.

First project, the rear bunk.  We had to patch some dopey Previous Owner cuts, then fill in some water damaged ash with putty.  Finally, 2 coats of amber shellac and 3 clear and tomorrow we will reinstall.

The Skins

We started to fit the skins this weekend.  Of course, this just revealed all the thing we forgot, so we installed a few new framing members for holes and reflectors to attach.  We also needed to finish up the roof insulation.  Originally, we used foil bubble wrap insulation for the curves.

The bubble wrap seems easier, but it's expensive and not that much easier to use, so in the rear, we just kerfed the back of the remaining foam insulation and it just curved right over.

Tired of tripping over the mess in the garage, we needed to get these skins on.

Both sides actually went on pretty well.  There is a little overhang on the top that can be trimmed or bent over.

After fitting the upper sides, we put the roof back on.  Before rolling it out, we added some waterproofing tape to the back of any holes, dings, seams or cracks.  This will help back up any roof sealer we might have to selectively add before painting.  The roof ended up about 1/4" short after the insulation was fully installed.  Hopefully we can ratchet strap, tug or trim this back down into the right spot.

Skin time

We dragged the roof skin out of the garage and test the fit. A few tenths of an inch here and there and we were able to route out the windows and staple the birch to the framing. By the 4th, it might look like a trailer again...

Curbing

We want to get the roof skin on this weekend, so we need to finish up more of the exterior framing. In a vintage trailer, the skins are attached to curb boards that fit between the rafters. For curved areas, you use laminated strips of 1/4" plywood.

Getting the interior wiring sorted

Wife is a lighting designer, but wanted to keep the electrical pretty simple.  First thing we did was install the fixtures and controls.  The lights will be turned on using an RV switch in the stove cabinet by the door.

Our final lighting is all 12V, with 3 pucks under the kitchen and 1 over the dinette table.

For safety, we added 2 small step lights to light up the floor and act as nightlights for the kids.  I snuck a few spare circuits in to the cabinets in case we decide to add reading lights in the rear as well.

 We have also been doing a bit of driveway camping as the kids get more excited about the possibility of actually using the trailer this year.