It was Christmas in November this week, the driver side and passenger side doors arrived, received the star gazer window and the wheels and tires arrived. Excited to get started on the cab
Over the course of the week, I continued to inlay 2 each fiberglass strips into each of the 3/32 inch grooves on both the interior and exterior of each wall panel to strengthen the joints for my 9 ft long x 4 ft wide walls. Tedious work, as the resin needs to cure then sand and then level up the surface with Bondo. 2 coats of Bondo,and even a 3rd will be required on the exterior to get rid of minor imperfections.
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| Fiberglass and Resin for Joint Reinforcement |
So before I started into cutting the curved profile on the panels for the teardrop, I routed in the cabinet recesses for both the galley area and the sleeping quarters. By doing this first, I have the straight / square edges of the stock plywood to measure from and to clamp on my straight edges.
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| Route-outs for Sleeping Quarters |
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| Route-outs for Galley Area thru Splice |
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| Straightedge Clamping for Router Guide. |
Not everything goes smoothly, and I expect more to come throughout the build. As I was routing for the headboard cabinet in the sleeping quarters, the router bit began to walk out of the chuck which I didn't notice until I was half way thru the cut. Within a foot and a half, the bit dropped from a 1/4 inch deep cut to 1/2 inch deep. I adjusted the bit and finished the route. These slots are not only to make a clean joint for the cabinetry, but they also serve as part of the x-bracing to make the cab transversely rigid. I didn't want to start over splicing a new 9 ft sheet together so I figured the resin used to fiberglass the seam together could be used to infill the depression.
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| Dark area in route is 1/2 inch deep |
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Placed dam at end of panel
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Added Resin
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| Routed to 1/4 Inch Depth |
I prepped the areas of the galley and cut an additional panel for each side to glue onto the area in the bottom left photo to cover the seam area and I will also have 2 layers of plywood to support the galley hatch and hatch seal.
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| Area to be covered |
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| Added Panel Installed |
I laid out the curve cuts and got the cab panels to start taking shape.
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| Curve layout |
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| Home Made Beam Compass |
I hate using a jigsaw for cuts, but if you want curved corners, you don't have many choices. Make sure to use good blades. Once the other side is cut out, I will marry-up both panels and belt sand the profiles exactly to each other and get rid of the ridge from the blade deflection.
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| Cut with cheap blades - 1/8 inch deflection on 3/4 inch material |
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| Cut with Bosh Blades - only 1/16 inch blade deflection on 3/4 inch material |
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| Use the good blades |
I laid out the doors for positioning and moved the doors 2 inches further toward the rear from my CADD drawing to give me a little more space between the headboard cabinet and the door trim. This move still gives me adequate room between the door and the fender that will be installed later in the build.
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| Door Layout |
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| Door set in the cutout |
Tires arrived and mounted to rims.
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| Method Double Standard Wheels with Atturo Blade MT Tires 285/75 R16 |
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| I had to mount the panel to the trailer and check out how the wheels look! |
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| Another angle of the side panel |
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| Interior view of side panel |
I will trace a mirror image of this panel on the other side and begin belt sanding the profile.
I have made minor adjustments to the design on the fly, but it helps to see the trailer take shape to get a better perspective on making minor tweaks.
More to come!
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