Adventure trailer build thread.

gmanpaint · June 3, 2018

Not sure how Y'all spend your weekends, but around here, we work on goofy projects until the skeeters bite at dusk.

I was scratching my head, so it took me & myself, to figure out a way to get the lid skinned this weekend. (I is such a loser sometimes.)

Tongue box part 5-3:

Without a plasma cutter here, I cut out the skin by making a simple guide on the table. After tracing the skin on the frame itself, a 1/2"x1/2" sq tube was clamped to the lines, then the skin clamped to the table. 1/2" tube works well for the angle grinder. A 4.5" cutting wheel, goes fast, and you want to use as much of it as you can. These 3 cuts took one wheel. The spinner nut rides along the tube as you cut, keeping the cut straight as you go.

Now that the skin is cut to size, it was time to attach it to the frame, and see how my algeometry worked out. To my surprise, it sits flush all the way around. I am pretty proud of myself on this one (small stuff makes me happy, cuz I'm simple like that).

After seeing what a couple of welds did to the 16 ga hot gluing them to the tubes, I decided to plug weld this skin onto the frame. Going around the frame, I drilled 1/8" holes thru the angle and the skins, then flipped it over and drilled the same hole bigger with a 3/16" on the skin, and just into the tube face underneath. Starting in the middle of the 1/8" center hole, I worked the bead around until the puddle filled the 3/16" skin hole, (yes, I just said that).

Focus you Fu**!!

Ok, the plug welds got cleaned flush with a 60 grit flap disc, and then placed back onto the box (110th time) for the final time today. She fits like a used rubber glove (gotcha).

The overlap on the backside was made to go over the 3/4" tube added onto the 3/4" angle shown in part 5 post. This tube is now the breakover and the cure to the water runoff I was having a tough time with. Myself told me to use this to attach the hing on, so any water will now run off into the angle, making a rain channel, and keeping the inside dry. Corn-fused yet? Let me show ya...

I cleaned that corner up with the flap disc, and will cap the tube hole with sq plugs I found on the ole Amazonian website.

Here is the lid where it will sit.

Hinge placed just for your viewing pleasure.

The edges will be trimmed out with aluminum angle, just like on the trailer box.

Another sample pic for your viewing pleasure. Man you guys are getting spoiled today.

This is a pc of 1-1/4" angle used for the pic, but the real stuff will be a bit bigger to cover the frame completely, and the sanding marks from the plug welds.

Edit:
So I decided to put the hinge on before painting, and will most likely do some more too. I thought about the fresh holes/cuts into the paint, and the raw edges it would leave. The screw holes will still be stripped of some paint after placing them in, but some left behind, is better than none. The cut outs for the panel and other items will keep the paint on the edges, and that is a good enough reason to cut them now.

So... I am glad I decided this, as I screwed up with the back tube I added. I didn't think that one thru good enough. I noticed the problem as soon as I drilled my first hole, and about to put in the first screw. It would have attached the lid to a stationary part of the box, and the lid wouldn't open. Whoops.

I cut that 3/4"tube off, and replaced it with 3/4" angle. This worked out perfectly. It gave a true rain channel, a place to screw the hinge into, and a place for the weather strip to function.

New rain channel

Hinge on, lid works beautifully. Smooth as butter on a cows butt.

Paddle latch handles installed

Fulcrum latch installed

Nutserts installed, control panel cut out and installed

I need to get this painted soon, as the springs humidity is taking it's toll on the skins already. I will sand it all clean again before the primer coat. Going to try 3m's Gold body filler on this after the primer, as it is supposed to mix, spread, and sand a lot better. Anything that makes my life easier, is worth a few extra bucks. I also have some plastic metal finish coat for anything that gets past the gold stuff.

Once I get my doors and my side boxes back from my friends shop, I plan on painting all of this at the same time. Have to turn the garage into a spray booth, and really only want to set that up once. He skinned the doors for me, and I have yet to see them. The anxiety of not seeing them is torture. lol

Mbrooks420 · June 3, 2018

Looking good. All the hard work is really shaping up.

gmanpaint · June 14, 2018

I used up a full 80# tank of welding gas, on the tongue box, and am out for at least a weeks time. Busy work schedule coming up. So no fabricating right now. Time to think other stuff out, ahead of time.

Electrical conduit mock up.

All 1/2" PVC hard line, except a section of 1/2" flex line for the tongue box. Being that it swivels out for the spare tire access, this section needs to move just a little with the box, as the box moves. Made for an interesting thought process. The flex connector is made for a pass thru, and has rubber seals on both sides. If I drill them out right, I won't need to jack it all up with silicone.

Going to fish tape all the assorted wires from the T-box thru the conduit to keep them all safe. I just hope that they all fit coming thru the boxes, until they split up inside at the front Dr side corner. The bundle is going to be thick. The only thick Ga wire being ran back is for the fridge, and all the lights are Led's, and do not require a heavy Ga wire. I think they will all fit... I think. If not, I will run the Fridge wire separately.

Power ran from flex conduit thru front Dr side box wall:
4 upper corners / Led pods outside of box / Rear door interior Led light (pass side exit)
Front compartment, center top & middle of wall (above/below shelf) / Led interior lights
Dr side middle center of main box / Fridge
Top center of main box / Cabin center (roof) Led interior light & Side box exterior marker lights ( cross conduit & Tee, not shown in pic)
Rear, center of corners / Brake/Tail/Reverse lights/ Tag light
I have battery Led lights that look like a wall switch in the house, for a few areas I do not want to run wire too.

Not shown is the connector for the flex conduit at the box wall. The rear brake/reverse/tag/side marker wires coming from the trailers 7 pin J-box will be entering here, and ran inside the box, instead of under the box on the frame. I do not feel like drilling a bunch of holes thru the cross beams to fish the wire thru. 2 reasons: 1) This opens up the frame tubes to moisture, and 2) I would have to run more conduit thru the frame tubes (5 of them), & feed the wires up into the floor at the rear. This is the plan at least, and we all know how things can change as you go. lol

Been gathering a bunch of parts, materials, for different aspects of the build, for the last few weeks. Figuring out the order of each step is easier for me, once I visualize materials, and parts in front of me. I can figure out what will work, what will get in the way, or what has to be done first that way. Like this conduit mock up. I now know, exactly how it will lay out ahead of time, and all I have to do is cut the conduit to size, between all the fittings. If I did this everyday, I wouldn't have too, but hey, I'm still a newb at this stuff. This is part of the reason it will take a year to build this beast.

gmanpaint · June 17, 2018

Got the side boxes and main box doors back from the body shop. He didn't have time to finish them up. I worked on the boxes yesterday, and finished grinding about 100 plug welds, cleaned them all up with lacquer thinner and scotchbrite. Today I will clean the box doors, and get the hinges set.

Bad news is, he didn't take the big doors to get them bent with a brake, and did them by hand instead. A hammer just doesn't make clean bends, and the brake was the entire reason I hired him to do it in the first place. Because of that, they do not fit, as the bends are not tight. I have to remake them. I will get more tube, and 16 ga sheet, and start over. I just wont wrap the tube frames, and face them off flush. I just need to get a new bottle of gas, and some free time.

This pushes back the painting of everything back a couple weeks. Which in turn pushes everything else back, as it has to be done in certain steps. Afraid I won't be posting much here for a little while. Plans can & do get broken, and it's part of the process. I can live with it. lol

BKennedy · June 17, 2018

Great trailer build. My RV has those pancake latches, two for each storage door and its a pain to open (both hands required). The previous RV had one latch per door and it was much more convenient to open. Seems like you always have something in your hand when opening a storage box.

gmanpaint · June 18, 2018

Thanks Brian.

The paddle latches will be connected to each other via a rod. When you open one, the other opens as well. The lid is fairly big and I wanted 2 latch points to secure it.

BKennedy · June 18, 2018

gmanpaint said:
Thanks Brian.

The paddle latches will be connected to each other via a rod. When you open one, the other opens as well. The lid is fairly big and I wanted 2 latch points to secure it.

Is the rod going on the inside or the outside? I would think since they pull open, the rod would need to be on the outside. If you figure out how to connect both of the latches from the inside, please post detailed instructions so I can duplicate on the RV, X10.

gmanpaint · June 18, 2018

BKennedy said:
Is the rod going on the inside or the outside? I would think since they pull open, the rod would need to be on the outside. If you figure out how to connect both of the latches from the inside, please post detailed instructions so I can duplicate on the RV, X10.

Rod goes on the inside to the back of the latch. Check to see if yours have the cams with the holes to use these rod connectors. Very simple to install. Just cut the 1/4" rod to length, slip these dohicky's into the cam, and tighten the set screw. They can be found for a low as $1/ea, but etrailer.com has a great view with some pics of them installed.

Clickity click me...

UWS Rod-Connector UWS Accessories and Parts UWSRODCONNECTOR

BKennedy · June 18, 2018

OK, that's cool. I will be pulling the inside door panels off soon to check. I can see putting them on 5 of the RV storage doors that I use the most, 3 are under the front slide and you have to basicialy crawl under there to access them with the slide extended.

Hijack over, resume build

gmanpaint · June 22, 2018

Been a crazy work week as expected. All I have been able to do, is forage for materials this week.

The welding gas "Gittin" place, closed up before I could "Git" there today. There are others, but they are all double/triple in price. I think I might have just enough left to get some new door frames built...maybe.

So about them doors...

4 of the 7 doors I had skinned out of town, will not work. All 3 main box doors, and 1 side box door. Like I mentioned previously, the skins was not brake formed for a tight fit, and they can't be manipulated by hammer, because of all the welds. I tried, didn't work out so well, as the panel, just buckled/contorted in the center. That train just won't chooch.

I used the grinder with the cutting disc, and surgically removed one door skin off the frame, and 80g flap disc, ground it clean. That took me a few hours of tedious back pain work. I decided heck with that, and am remaking the other 3 doors from scratch.

All 3 Main box doors that are now useless. Even if they did fit, they wasn't cared for much, and would need a ton of bondo, skim coating them, so the choice to trash em, was very simple to make. Again, no chooch.

Cut, and pried the old skin off like a raised tumor. Saved the frame, but it wasn't worth the hassle. I am not a fan of the metal used on these anyways. Will work fine for the small side boxes, but not really the best for the main box doors. It is some kind of electrolyte-galvinized cold rolled, and only around 20 ga. They won't be missed. Did I say, I didn't like em much?

So one day after work, I managed to get to the steel gettin place, before they closed. I decided on a heavier gauge steel, then the old skins was. While Knowing this shop has a few nice Accushears, with digital measuring, I had them cut the 4x10x16ga sheet into much smaller sheets, at $2/cut. Super clean cuts, straight, and no waste. The operator only called in half the cuts, he did for me. Nice guy, I owes him a beerzski.

The 3 main box door skins in waiting. (Glove smears was free of charge)

Ok, so I had them cut the rest of the sheet for other stuffs. 3pcs of 24"x48", a 4"x48", & a 6"x48" strip for some other dealios down the road.
I now have the big main compartment upper storage shelf. This area will be 12"H x 45"W x 48"D. I am burning in some angle iron for brackets, just like the front, only this will have a center support, going side to side. Also have the shelf for inside the side box.

Had them find me two 24'L sticks of 1/2"x1/2"x.063" sq tube, and cut em in half. Only way I could haul them home on the roof rack. lol Tape over the front ends, eliminates road whistle BTW.

Plan is to use the 1/2" tube to make the new door frames, and then attach them to the new skins. these will have very little welding to the skins themselves, as I ordered 200ml of 3m panel bond epoxy, and the double tube gun. The type I purchased has a nice working time, and a decent cure time. The best part about 3m panel bond, is you can shelf it for years, and use it again, even after it has been opened. The special mixing tips are re-usable as well, you just have to clean them out before they set up once removed from the tubes. I got 2 tips, just cuz, I know me, and myself warned us.

Wanting to see what it is going to take for these new door skins, just had to have dry run tonight. Cutting 2 sides off, one of the 2x4 panels to frame size, then clamping it to the frame. Doing it like this is going to take a turd ton of clamps, that I just don't have.

new side box door skin clamped to frame.jpg

That's only 4 clamps, and it would take at least another 4 to do it like that. So, instead of buying 2 dozen more clamps, I think I am just going to use some 3/4" sq tube to clamp the skin tight to the frame, with 4 clamps, and some sq plates at the corners. so I only need to buy 6 more. Little easier on the ole folding leather spine misaligner.

I will work on the frames and skins, in between all the outdoor house chores this weekend. We have been getting hammered with rain for a couple weeks straight now, and it is supposed to be sunny out. Darn grounds keeper wanted a raise, so I gave him the boot. (Ok, that's a lie, I do it all myself)

Stay tuned, and remember.... When shopping, keep your flopper bits covered. Nobody wants to see that crap.

gmanpaint · June 24, 2018

Long weekend on the ranch. Many moos fell on deaf ears, as I was busy mending fences, hoggin the brush, shoeing the chickens, and most importantly, working in the shop.

It took almost all 48 feet (2 sticks) of the 1/2' sq tube to make the main box door frames. 45* cuts all around, clamped to the pre-cut skins, and welded in place on one side. Center bracing added to all. Skins removed, frame flipped, more welding, some grinding with flap discs, and Bam.. Bobs your MF'n Uncle.

So the panel bond arrived yesterday, but the double barrel gun was a no show. I was outside working from 8am until 6pm today, and no delivery. I cleaned up shop, called it a night, and hopped in the shower to clean all the hard days work off me. That's when the doorbell rang. Of course that's when they show up, when I have frigging shampoo burning my fracking eyeballs, from the shock of the doorbell scaring the lunch out of me! :splat:

Dressed, found the package outside, and in need of some vittles, and wasn't about to get all nasty again, I just got out of the shower for Peter Frampton's sake! :smokin:

So I will get them skins on over the week, during the evenings.

This is the stuff that works as good as welding, and if your not versed in this, it is used by body shops to attach 1/4 panels, and the like. They also weld in certain areas, as you can weld thru this, but for these, I don't believe it is warranted, and will hold just fine. It mixes itself as you squeeze the trigger, so no measuring, no hand mixing on a board, and no mess. I can make the bead as big as I want, and a small bead, down the center of each tube. When clamped tight for 4 hours, and let cure for 24 hours, it can be welded, cut, ground, paint, etc...

After 9pm now, and I just got back in from the garage. The top overhead door panel, decided it couldn't take life's pressure any longer, and folded in half as it was shutting. :censored:

!! Out came some angle iron, the drill, and some self tapping bolts. That should hold for now. As fate would have it, I need another shower after all. :crazy:

Stay tuned, and remember.... Your only as good as your word, so cuss often, and let them guess, as to what the hell your talking about. :shifty:

CDW6212R · June 25, 2018

That, was a good day, I'd be happy with that. Well done.

gmanpaint · June 28, 2018

So glad I have ongoing projects to work on. Stress from work has been at an all time high, and working on this takes my mind off it.

The heat & high humidity here right now is not an epoxies best friend for curing, as moisture will get trapped, during the osmosis process. I set up shop in the nice cool basement, and got the skins on last night. They will sit for 24 hours before I remove all the clamps.

Used every clamping device I owned to do all the doors at the same time. Used scrap pcs of steel to help force the skins onto the frames evenly, and used some weights on the centers to push down on the center frame tubes. I stubbed my toe on them weights, and said.. Oh yeah, well, just for that, your getting used for something other than torturing my body!!

Main box doors epoxy skins to frames.jpg

Next step is to get the hinges installed, & doors mounted on the trailer box. Then the door handles can be mocked up, and skins cut out for them.

gmanpaint · June 28, 2018

Long crazy day between work, 100* temps & 80-90% humidity, T-Storms, Tornado's, power off/on/off/on, and finally this project to cap the night off. I'm beat. Sleeps should come pretty easy tonight at least.

Anyways... I feel a little victorious tonight. After months and months, this thing finally has a door on it. Ok, it's just one door, but still...

Shimming out the door on all sides to center it best I could, I marked it for the 1/4" Nut-serts (aka Riv-nuts). These seemed the best option for mounting the doors, as they are strong, and no need to drill completely threw sq tubes to get nuts onto long bolts. They also work extremely well for thinner panels. After all, they was invented for skinning planes back in the day. (I think. Sounds good to me)

Tricky part about these, is you have to drill dead on, for them to work when using multiple bolts for a single item. These hinges bolt holes are all offset, so marking them correctly the first time is crucial, as you only have one shot at it. Screw up, and your left with the task of removing these things, and a big hole to deal with. The hole drilled also has to be snug for the nutsert, or it wont work correctly or not at all.

Using a special tool for these, it compresses them (like a rivet), and creates a lip on both sides of the metal they are going threw. (Thru, Through, WTF ever dude)
They are threaded on the inside, and after installed, just put your bolt in. They come in a variety of sizes, both standard & metric. the tool uses a matching tip, for each size. This tool happens to have 8 size tips in the kit. Makes crimping these a breeze, and takes about 5 seconds from start to finish.

This little job of getting one door on correctly, took me a couple hours figuring it out. The rest of the doors shouldn't take long at all, now I have this train chooching like, Sally faking the big O to Harry at the diner.

The Nutsert tool in use

The nutserts installed (yes, I slipped and chipped the damn paint with the bit on one of them. I suck)

Stainless steel hinge

The door on!!! Woot woot!

Slowly but surely, a little at a time, it's getting there. Until next time ladies & germs, have a good night!

gmanpaint · June 30, 2018

Baby steps.....

I learned I work slow in high heat, high humidity conditions. Took me about 6 hours to install the other side door, and the rear door today. I called it quits, when I realized I was talking to myself, and answering myself.... out loud.

The rear door had an issue I didn't see until it was time to install the hinges. After shimming it to get it centered in the opening, I started marking the hinges for drilling. That's when it hit me... The tail lights was in the way of these fancy stainless flush mounts. Ugh.

So.... Lucky for me, i ordered some thick HD aluminum 2" piano hinges for the side boxes, and tongue box. I had to order them in a set, and only used one of them. So... yep....it got cut to size with the metal chop saw. Instead of 12 holes to drill I had over 20. It actually worked very well, and I used the same bolts with rubber washers, used elsewhere on the main box. It fits right in.

Led lights are just loosely placed for hinge placement.

So now I just have 1 door left to install on a side box, then I can start the tedious chore of installing 7 locking door latches.

Until next time..... Don't wear socks with sandals....ever.

gmanpaint · July 1, 2018

Sunday, Sunday! Sundaaaaaay!!!!

Farted around with this for a few hours today. Ringer off, and Pandora blasting my Thumbprint channel in the shop. Extra bass from all the fireworks being blowing off here today. I actually needed the jams cranked, to keep me from jumping in shock, from a boomer exploding while I was working the grinder & Jigsaw. Needs to keep all mah digits, right where they at, dig?

Anywho....... Got that last door on the side box, and managed to get started on the latches. I was right, slow & tedious as expected. I need to get some more DeWalt jig saw metal blades. The Medium seems to work well for the 16 ga, as the fine Bosch blades are garbage. Went thru 5 of them at a slow speed and didn't get much done. Aggravating to say the least. I had one medium DeWalt, and it lasted until I was done for the day. 2-3 more should finish the job.

Placement for each door is different with the latches. I went thru all the new latches I have, and found 3 of them I can't use. Wrong ones got grabbed when they was thrown in the box, and didn't even notice until today, when they was removed from the bags.

Pics for now... These give an idea of what the rest will be like.

Measured and centered the latch placement. Using a template I made from poster board, it was traced with a new found shop keeper marker. Milwaukee InkZall fine point. Writes on anything, even oily / dirty surfaces, and tip won't dry up for 72 hrs with the cap off. Da Bomb diggity! Git ya some of Dat! You can see the backside of the latch, and the adjustable arm that grabs the backside of the 1/8" plate stop welded inside the box. Those holes are for rod connections, and I am using rods on the big box doors. More on that later.

Opening cut out. The jigsaw base scratched it up a bit, dragging nibbles as it went. It will buff out! Made a mess inside the box tho!

Fit like a glove. Bolted with Stainless #10 machine, and Stainless stop nuts.

The latch arms are adjustable for the door/stop thickness, with two 9/16" nuts on the keyed stud. I closed them up for the thinnest gap, but was still too loose. Pulling the doors open in the closed position, there was a 3/8" gap on one, and 1/2" on the other on the side boxes. I welded in a latch catch to both door frames, using 3/4" sq tube, readjusted the arms, and now they draw in the door tight, as you turn the handle closed. This worked out great, as the extra room will allow me to dial it in, once the weather strips are attached.

I can't wait to get all these done, so I can get the Epoxy primer on & Urethane sprayed. Soooooo much left to do still!

See y'all soon, and remember, lube makes life easier. If you can't find it in the shop, start asking the wife where she put it last.

WormsExplorer · July 1, 2018

Looking good sir

gmanpaint · July 7, 2018

No pics today, just a little update.

Managed to get all the boxes and doors built and then dismantled, and started prepping for paint. Stuff already started to flash rust, so it's taking longer to prep than wanted. Stupid high humidity lately. Just bad timing I guess. Tomorrow the epoxy gets sprayed. Not a lot to share yet, but will once noticeable progress is made.

I did get a new overhead garage and opener installed tho. Moving the trailer outside, for the first time since it has been here was nice. Got to see it next to its tow pig for a good visual with size.

Ok, I lied. Couple of shots when I moved stuff around to install the new garage door. (sneaky edit)

WormsExplorer · July 8, 2018

Looks good next to your rig. How hard was she to move around. Just wondering cause she does have a lot of metal.

gmanpaint · July 8, 2018

WormsExplorer said:
Looks good next to your rig. How hard was she to move around. Just wondering cause she does have a lot of metal.

Not bad at all, by hand, on flat concrete, by myself. Up or down hill is a diff story. Lol. I need to figure out how to get a parking brake with these electric brakes. Not sure that's possible tho.

Been looking for a pneumatic tread tire for the Jack, but no luck. I think that would have to be a custom made jobber, with just the right tire, wheel combo, and swivel base post.

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