Construction Update

I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been too busy with construction.  So, since I don’t have any new insights to share, I figured I might as well share some photos.

I’ll run through some photos in chronological order with short descriptions under each.

I’ve added 1″ of insulation between the aluminum frame rails near the street-side window where the ladder is, re-attached the original plywood, and added 2″ of frame extension.

Another day at home depot… this time picking up plumbing supplies to run the drain/dump lines out of the holding tanks.  Plus I threw in some 10/2 cable for the run from the front inlet electrical port back to the rear of the trailer.

I’ve cut out wood pieces to hold one of the tanks and have laid out some of the plumbing pieces to see how it’ll all go together.

Ceiling trim pieces that have had their first layer of stain applied.  I have them temporarily brad-nailed down to some 2×4’s to elevate them off the tarp and keep them from falling off the 2×4’s while applying stain.

Work table with various cleaning agents, stains, poly, etc.  Disposable plastic cups really come in handy here.

The grey tank is going to placed close enough to the curb side that it made sense to insulate and panel that side as well since it would be difficult to do that after the tank had been installed.  The table saw has made the job of cutting and fitting the insulation much more accurate and faster/easier.

Upon re-consideration (there’s a lot of that in this project), I’ve decided to change the layout of the tanks and their plumbing with the net effect that they will be a bit closer to the axle instead of the tongue, and that’s a good thing.  But that also means I’ll need to insulate, panel, and frame-extend a larger portion of the trailer right now instead of later.  Here we’re seeing a piece of insulation that has been customized to accommodate the 12v wiring going up to the ceiling for the lights and future fan.

And so long as I’m at it, I’ll just go ahead and insulate the entire v-nose too.

Here’s the ceiling trim pieces with their second coat of stain and I believe all 3 coats of poly applied as well.

Here’s a close-up shot to get a better view of the color and shine.

In this shot the first ceiling panel has been installed.  You can see the structural portion (the plain wood-colored strip near the top of the photo) and the newly-stained trim pieces (middle of photo) that is applied on top of the structural piece.

All of the ceiling trim pieces have been installed!  They really are very pretty in real life.  We can also see that I’ve done the 1″ of insulation throughout the v-nose (minus the tip, that’ll come later) and I’ve re-applied the original paneling.  The structural window framing pieces have been re-applied as well, which are important to keeping the windows actually in the trailer and not letting them fall out while traveling.

Another home depot run.  More insulation, more 2×4’s.  Nice to have a truck.

First inch of insulation applied to more of the trailer.

And the original paneling, re-applied.

Something else that I had never really thought about while doing the design was the need for window sills since I’m extending the interior of the frame rails by and extra 2″ to accommodate additional insulation.  This is the first of the window sills to be installed.  The raw wood will not be visible in the final product, I’m planning on covering it with laminate hardwood, the same material that will be used for the wood flooring throughout the trailer.

Another window sill installed on one of the front windows.

The rest of the window sills installed.

I’ve started adding more of the 2″ framing extensions.  Finding the right combination of technique, tools, and materials to get those installed properly was a bit of a challenge.

More frame extensions as I work my way around the v-nose. Plus I’ve added a “window-sill”-like extension to the door frame as well.

Another home depot run with lots more insulation and 2×4’s.

The entire trailer now has 2″ frame extensions.

And now it’s time for more insulation!

A shot of the workshop area with scrap wood and insulation.  It looks like I’ve been very busy.

The front half of the trailer now has the extra 2″ of insulation added into the walls.

I’ve decided on the final placement of the tanks and screwed them into the floor (and wall on the black tank)!  I’m planning on adding additional braces and supports before driving with it, but they’re really quite surprisingly stable with the way I’ve installed them already.  I can literally kick the sidewall and it doesn’t budge at all.  They’re quite secure.

There’s a lot of possible next steps in the project, and I’m not exactly sure which I’m going to tackle first.  I’d like to get the vent lines run, but the path they need to take is somewhat complicated.  I’d also like to start laying out the framing for the shower and toilet, but I really need to have those hardware pieces in the shop to get real-world measurements.  I could plumb in the drain lines, but I need the shower line installed to determine the angle of the inputs, so I can’t really do those quite yet.  I think my next step is to order the shower base and toilet, but between Christmas weekend (shipping delays) and my planned departure for my trip sometime next week, I think I’m going to hold off on those items until my return.  I’ll spend some time figuring out exactly which products to order, where to order them, how to get the best prices, etc.

I’m really happy to have the tanks mounted before leaving on this next trip.  I intended on mounting them right away when I got back from my last trip, nearly 2 months ago, but there’s been all these other steps that were necessary first:

• Install ceiling trim pieces (easier to get the ladder everywhere in the trailer if there aren’t holding tanks in the way)
• Install 1″ insulation
• Re-install original paneling
• Install 2″ frame extensions
• Install 2″ additional insulation
• then mount the holding tanks

On a side note, I’m really tired and sore from all the construction work.  Sitting on the computer for the last 20 years certainly hasn’t prepared me for doing construction.  It takes some getting used to.  Since I don’t have the necessary hardware to continue on the build, I’m thoroughly enjoying the afternoon and evening off from physical labor and letting myself recover.