teardrop - sides

Comment:

October 25th 2003 - Sides are 3/4" birch plywood. Made a quarter inch hard board template of the profile and then used a router with a 1/4" carbide bit and 7/16" collar to cut the shape. Made a couple passes on each side and they are virtual clones of one another. Note: The template was made 3/32" smaller than the finished wall size to account for half the difference between the collar & cutter size. Doors on each side of the cabin work great for two people and making the bed is much easier.

October 16th 2003 - OK . . . frame's finished so it's time to put away the welder and dust off the woodworking tools. The Toyota truck (same bolt pattern as Ford) wheels came from a wrecking yard with these old tires installed which will be replaced on completion.
Note: when finished the tires were replaced with P205/R75-14's

October 23rd 2003 - Floor is 3/4 birch plywood with 1-5/8 X 2-1/4 frame rails glued and two inch screws every three inches.

October 23rd 2003 - Took lots of pains to get the floor and frame to size which makes the rest of the building go so much easier. The six carriage bolts mounting floor to frame have double nuts locked together which should stay tight.

November 14th 2003 - Several coats of marine spar varnish before bolting to frame. After priming the frame received three coats of gloss black Rust-O-Lium.

November 16th 2003 - After the floor was built it got three coats of marine spar varnish on the underside before bolting to chassis.

November 1st 2003 - Extra wood around where the vent will be so as to have some material to attach the vent with screws.

November 1st 2003 - Ribs are 1 X 2 clear poplar. This wood is very stable and strong. It also glues, holds screws well and is very resistant to dry rot and termite damage. They are held by two screws on each end and Tite-Bond cement.

November 1st 2003 - Headliner is 1/8 birch and crossed my fingers when bending the radius.
Addendum: On the next tear I will first glue the ribs to the headliner before and then install them as one unit which should make the bending easier and safer.

Wiring for remote vent with fan and halo light. November 3rd 2003

Drilled small holes in the ribs for wiring and wrote down distances from the side so when installing the Masonite I could avoid shooting brads into the wires. Instead of notching, I drilled in the middle of the rib so as not to compromise it's strength.

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Album last updated on Jul 28, 2008 - 12:43 PM

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