I'll bet. I just broke down and bought a welder. Hobart Handler 140....should be plenty big enough for anything I'd want to tackle. (Up to 1/4")
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I'll bet. I just broke down and bought a welder. Hobart Handler 140....should be plenty big enough for anything I'd want to tackle. (Up to 1/4")
Nice work ! I miss my Jeep a lot I shouldn't have sold it in August.
Here are the latest updates...
Making the body mounts. 2" square 3/16 steel with a 1/2 inch grade 8 bolt. This is all epoxied together and will be gorilla glued to the floor. Should be able to remove the floor without having to get to the tops of the bolts.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer39.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer40.jpg
What the floor sandwich looks like. Bolt through 3/16" plate, then 1/2" plywood and finally 1/4" metal tab welded to the frame. With 10 of these, I don't think I have to worry about the body coming off the frame. :rotflmao:
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer41.jpg
Framing the floor and making sure the eletric parts will fit. The black box is a AC/DC power distribution panel. The metal box on the left is the AC to DC power converter with built in battery charger. The bare metal bracket is a hold down for an optima Battery. I will mount this to the floor and use it to hold my Optima Blue Top battery.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer42.jpg
Finally, it's always nice to have the right tools for the job. My wife gave me the portable bench for christmas a couple of years ago. The compound miter saw is from interior trim and molding work in the past.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer43.jpg
Looking good,You going to have a place for a propane bottle up front for heat and cooking?
Nevermind, I re-read the original post and forgot you have dual fuel camping gear. I have always been spoiled to the use of propane.
I have been doing work slowly over the last couple of weeks. I finished the floor framing, and started on the profile for the walls.
First had to extend the walls. Used the router to create a lap joint and glued the pieces together. This gives me a wall blank that is 9 ft. 6 inches long. I only need it to be 9 ft 3 inches for my profile.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer45.jpg
nothing like a bag of old concrete to use as a press.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer46.jpg
After that all dried, I marked out the profile and modified my design slightly.
I cut out the basic profile today. Need to still cut out the door, wheel well and the hatch.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer47.jpg
Went shopping for electrical and building supplies for the trailer today. While at Home Depot I found these hinges.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer48.jpg
They are enamled gate hinges. $6 a piece including screws. Better yet they are simular enough to the design on the Wrangler to look good with it.
Side profile is cut out.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer49.jpg
Remember this is only 4 ft tall and 9 ft 3 inches long from point to point.
Keep the pictures coming. It's looking great so far.
I wonder what bump stops that guy is running.Quote:
Originally Posted by cone-cerned
Great stuff! I like how you are taking your time to do it right, and not just throwing something together. One question occurs to me as I'm watching this masterpiece take shape: How much is this all going to weigh? I fondly remember altiain's coffin... ah,er,um... AX trailer, which was very nice, but very heavy. I suppose as long as the tongue weight is not excessive, the weight of that wood will only add to the camper's stability in crosswinds.
By the way, I understand you'll be putting shag carpeting on the walls, and may even install a mirror ball?
::hippi::
It will weigh less then 1500 lbs loaded for camping. The tounge weight will be around 150 to 175 lbs when loaded. This is all well within the capacity of my tow vehicle.
Naw, shag is to hard to clean up the mess. I am having trouble finding space for the kegerator and beer tap. ;)
Unfortunately the cold weather means I can't do a lot of work. The work pieces have to be a minimum of 45 degrees for the glue to cure correctly. With everything in an unheated garage that is a problem.
Finally after a couple of months waiting for the weather to warm up enough for the glue to cure properly I have made some more progress.
I finally decided on how I was going to seal the rear hatch. Had to make a failry elaborate piece to match the contours of what I wanted. This allowed me to finish up the framing of the walls.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer50.jpg
Test fitting it.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer51.jpg
With the rear glued and clamped, I was able to frame out the door opening.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer52.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer53.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer54.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer55.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer56.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer57.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer58.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer59.jpg
I will route out the frame to match the door opening and some electrical chases tomorrow for the marker lights.
Then need to pick up the insulation and skin the interior of the walls. This way the walls are complete when they finally get mounted on the frame.
Finshed the door opening out. Need to add reinforcements in the walls to support the cabinates and galley shelf.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer62.jpg
Routed out the wiring chases for the marker lights. There will be simular cut made in the floor to keep the wiring from chafing.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer60.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer61.jpg
Okay, finally getting the walls to the point I will be able to put them up.
Installing the inserts for the hinge bolts. I am using the same thing to mount the fenders to the body.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer63.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer64.jpg
Insulating the walls. Obviously the 3/4" insulation I picked up is just slightly thicker than 3/4". You can see the reinforcements that are built into the walls for the cabinate installs
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer65.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer66.jpg
Nothing a belt sander and a bit of time wont fix. The places it still looks like it's too thick is a result of the insulation bowing up.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer67.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer68.jpg
And finally the interior skin is on. The backwall will be where the interior skin ends. This is the first wall finished. The second wall is together and drying right now.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer69.jpg
This wall weighs 51.4 lbs. currently.
I hope you plan to put in a roof vent, preferable with a fan. I have slept in our uninsulated teardrop in 45 degree weather and still found myself waking up in the middle of the night to open up the windows and roof vent a bit. On nice nights, you can open the windows and roof vent all the way and with the fan on, you get really nice circulation.
Yep definately going to have a roof vent and vented windows in the doors. AC as well for those hot summer months in Texas.
Got to spend some more time working on the trailer today.
Wall 1 is Up.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer70.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer71.jpg
Followed Quickly by wall 2.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer72.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer73.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer76.jpg
I could not wait to see if the fenders would cover the wheels/tires. So I put the wheel back on and temporarily mounted the fender. It fits great. The fender is a stock Jeep TJ rear fender flair. They are cheap and can be found virtually anywhere. They just require a few minor modifications and then bolt on.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer77.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer78.jpg
Coming along nicely!
Looks like you'll have trouble keeping the rain/cold out, and the sleeping area seems uneven with those wooden bars across the floor. :(
Rough fit all the panels for the tongue box.
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer79.jpg
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/trailer/trailer80.jpg
:DYou better hurry up and finish so you can go camping this spring!!