Lookin' good

I am still behind schedule on my updates.  Over the last few weeks, the floor has gone in. This was an adventure.  I didn't buy much extra so I had to be careful with my cuts.  Luckily the only place I shorted the vinyl is hidden by the back gaucho bed. The trim cleaned up nicely with a little soap, water and steel wool.  I did not go for bright aluminum, just clean. You may also notice the walls are painted.  I know may will feel this ruins the camper, but we wanted to it feel open and light.  The ceiling will be stained, so we are mixing the old with the new.

Cabinets are painted to match the walls.  The drawer fronts will be an accent color but I am not sure what it is yet.  

Getting plywood that will bend easily has been a challenge for me.  I special ordered some at Home Depot.  The stuff bends very easily, but the surface quality is ok at best.  I am going to try and sand it smooth once it is all in but I believe I will have to get some veneer if I want a stain-able surface.  I am sure there is 1/4" plywood out there with a nice surface, but I couldn't find any locally and I did not want to deal with wetting and warming the wood to bend it.  The Gaucho Bench is now in.  There will be 2 drawers in the middle for storage. I have the sliding top planned but I will wait to put it in after I get my skins on and the new water filler installed.  I am pretty sure that I am going to need to put a bump on the right side wall for the filler.

Yesterday I got the upper cabinet built.  Here you can see it in temporary position.  I need to add a shelf in the right hand side door.  I will be filling all my staple holes and painting it this weekend. If you are wondering, I have been building the cabinetry with pocket screws, glue and staples.

I have also started on my electrical wiring.  My power center is at the floor left of the fridge.  The 12V wiring is run around but not hooked up yet.  I still need to install the 110V wiring.  Next up, I will be adding all of the cross member framing to the roof and deciding where the roof fan will go.

Cheers!

Been a long time

It has been a long time since I updated Lucy's progress. A lot of work has been done and she is beginning to look like herself.  This blog entry covers about 2 months work. 

After the floor was completed and fit to the frame, I removed it and put the wheel wells back on. Thankfully I didn't damage them when i removed them. Some primer and black paint and they were good as new.  Thanks to all the helpful people on the NSSO Facebook page, I decided to coat the floor with Herculiner.  This is a roll on bed liner product.  Many people recommended covering all of the wood with it but I decided to only cover the framing and edges.  My reasoning for this is that I think the plywood needs to breath.  The top will be completely covered with glue and vinyl flooring.  Leaving patches of un-coated plywood will allow it to dry out if it gets wet.  

I added a new wire harness and then bolted the floor down. I have also removed the wheels and re-packed the bearings.  This was necessary because one of the hubs did not spin easily. However, once the job was finished, the other hub does not spin well.  I have not repacked that bearing again yet.

We attached the outer walls on both sides, paying close attention to put them back where they go.  All of the openings were cut small so that I can adjust them to the aluminum skin when I put it back on.

To give Lucy some extra strength, I am laminating a second layer of plywood on the inside.  This will make her 1" smaller inside but I believe it is worth it.  I staggered the joints and used two different layers of 1/2" plywood.  I have used Heavy Duty Liquid Nails between the layers along with countersunk stainless steel screws on the outside.  These walls are sturdy now.

Once the glue dried, I used my router and a follow bit and trimmed the interior panels to size.  The exterior is a OSB grade and the interior is a Birch paint/stain-able grade.

Laminated Layers

Flush Trimming with Router

The cabinetry is coming along too. We found a refrigerator that replaces the old icebox perfectly.  We are not going to put a stove back in because I can't imagine cooking in a 70 sq ft camper.  This gave us some extra room for a bigger fridge.  On the opposite side the cabinet went floor to ceiling before.  We shortened it to make the camper feel bigger on the inside.

The flooring is in now and I have ordered flexible wood for the ceiling and I expect it in anytime.  I can't wait to get her under roof.

Cheers!