Hinge Solutions

Thanks to the incredible support group on the Teardrops and Tiny Trailers Website:  http://www.tnttt.com/ I think I've worked out how I am planning to replace the hinge gasket on the Carpe Diem.  It seems the best way to 'seal' the hinge is a two-fold approach.  First, I'll use butyl tape under the hinge.  Then I'll add a rubber gasket over the hinge, which will be held in place by two strips of aluminum.  The strips of aluminum will be anchored above and below the hinge and will help all the water to 'run off' the hinge.

You can see from the photo above how the 'finished' hinge will look.  The teardrop above, has the rubber gasket over the piano hinge.  This is the exact same set up I will be using.  By the way, that is one sweet looking teardrop isn't it?

Sunday

Today was a very productive day!

I started by making a trip to Harbor Freight.  I bought two jack stands for $21.00.  They allowed me, with the help of the jack from my Honda, to lift the teardrop about two feet off the ground. In doing this, it gave me the chance to properly mount the storage boxes.   I ended up using the jack to hold each box in place while I screwed the aluminum angle onto the frame.  I was able to slide in underneath and work easily.  Not a bad way to work by yourself, if I do say so myself!  It's a little hard to see in this image, but the jack is on the axle and there is about a foot of space between the wheel and the floor.  That was a very good purchase.

After mounting the boxes, I cut the aluminum for the storage box lids.  I am so glad I re-did the aluminum because I think it looks TONS better in its shiny finish rather than painted black like I had originally had done.  After cutting the aluminum, I installed the headliner and then glued the aluminum pieces in place.

 

Doesn't that look awesome?

The next project was to install the aluminum angle that originally held the aluminum to the frame.  The aluminum was pretty badly cut and bent, as you can see from the before images above.  I installed a 1" x 2" green treated board behind the aluminum angle and it pulled the ragged aluminum into place.

That front section looks 'finished' again.  I had originally planned a piece of aluminum diamond plate, or my rubber idea.  It looks so good that at this point, the 'cover up' will still look great, but it won't be hiding anything.  

I took a little time to figure out how the reading light fixture would be mounted inside the teardrop.  The lights swivel and thus have a 'ball' like feature that extends below the plate.  I found that mounting it on a piece of 3/4" plywood was just about the perfect amount of space.  I'll cover this in the headliner material and mount onto the styrofoam to give it a finished look.  This got me excited about how the finishing touches are going to look.  

 My wingman showed up with a present.  He had a cargo basket that he was not going to use anymore.  He made me an incredible deal on it and it fit perfectly on the teardrop's tongue.  I had originally thought I would just buy one from Harbor Freight, but the ones they sell are bolted together and do not have a mesh bottom like this one.  This basket is all welded steel.  The great news about it is that I will be able to easily remove the basket and use it on the tow vehicle's hitch if we ever need or want to use it.  It has a fold up hitch mount that easily slips onto the tongue piece.  I am going to add a couple of bolts and one or two 'U' bolts to hold it on the tongue.  Lastly, I'm going to add a couple of conduit clips through the teardrop to help it ride firmly.  What a great addition to the Carpe Diem!

This image shows how nicely it rides on the tongue and how cleanly the aluminum came together by mounting that strip at the bottom.

 The next project was to replace the aluminum strip that sits on the end of the hatch.  This is the piece that I 're-tooled' to get it as straight as possible.  You can see that I painted it with Rustoleum to protect it.  I installed it with stainless steel screws.

The hatch is off, that's why this image is vertical.

The next project was to try out the new lock sets I ordered.  Unfortunately, it looks like the inner locks are not going to work for my rebuild.  Unfortunately, I would have to drill new holes for the handle in order for the latch to hit at the appropriate spot on the door.  It's right now when I am SO glad that I did not pitch the original door hardware.  A quick coat of Rustoleum and I think the original door latches and locks will work just fine!

 

The original outside door handles were in bad shape.  One of them was missing, the other had been mangled and was beyond salvaging.  However, I ordered these new beautiful chrome handles.  I will only have to slightly adjust the interior latches in order to get these new handles to work perfectly.

I may end up keeping the original latch for the hatch too.  It's on the lower left section of the image above.

After a thorough cleaning of the garage and putting all my tools and materials back in place, I was able to close down the garage and head back inside ready for the work week.  If I have any time this week, I'll work on the galley cabinets.  All in all, it was a great weekend!

A FULL Day!

Have you ever been the first person into the hardware store?  Have you ever been back so many times that they start taking a personal interest in your project?  Both of those things were true for me today!  Who knew that Lowe's didn't open until 8:00 on Sunday?  I made multiple trips to Lowe's today; all of those trips ended up purchasing plywood.   I was not very efficient with my trips.  In my defense, I didn't think I would get as far as I did; thus the need to make multiple trips.

My first task today was to finish the storage boxes.  Once I had them in place, I installed the finger pull hardware.  I liked using the aluminum edging on the boxes.  It looks neat and it should help any warping, etc.  Next it was time to caulk and paint.

 I painted it the boxes and the lids black; nobody will see these because they will be under the mattress, but I don't do anything half-cocked.  If its worth doing, do it well.  That's something my Dad taught me and its stuck.

 I caulked the heck out of the storage boxes.  It's going to take 24 hours for all the caulk to set.

I tried using some paper to make a template for the mattress.  This didn't work out too well for multiple reasons.  Note the expert use of my shoe to hold the paper down!    I'll just end up measuring and marking the futon mattress when I'm ready to 'customize' it.

It's kinda hard to see in this image, but I added two chrome 'pulls' on the sliding doors.  The black and chrome look really nice.  The headliner, a charcoal gray, is going to look sharp with these colors.  I plan on installing the headliner on the lower half of the bulkhead as my experiment with the contact cement.  You can't see it in this image, but I did get the green treated piece of wood in place for the bulkhead storage area.  I drilled through the frame to anchor it, but it will take another set of hands to get it bolted in place.  I'll need to caulk this once it is in place.

Here is the first piece of wood in the galley.  Nothing is anchored or treated yet.  I have to decide how I am going to 'treat' it.  I'm not sure if I'll do paint or stain, or even just seal it as it is.  I have to do some more 'looking' and admiring galleys I like.

The side pieces and the wheel well covers rough fit into the galley.  Getting those 'arches' just right was tough.  Thank goodness I purchased some very, very fine jigsaw blades.  They cut the plywood cleanly.  I described my work today to my son as working with Legos.  I'm kind of trying out different designs to see what is possible.

Here you can see my 'Lego blocks' in place.  I'm thinking that I will have the stove in a special 'box' that will be on a pull out drawer.  The cooler will also be on a slider.  I really need to look at other galley designs to see how I can best utilize the tight space here in the galley.

I like the simplicity of the galley above.  I have the exact same stove and think that the way they have it stowed away is really cool.  I might do something like this.  I also like the natural wood look of the cabinets and silver hardware.

The two images above are from the gorgeous Camp Inn site.  I love everything about the way they lay out their designs.  Look at how the stove is tucked into the little nook on the left.  I also really like the way the cooler fits in the center nook.  The whole design reminds me of a very high quality yacht.  The natural wood and stainless steel are gorgeous!  I think the way the table folds in half and stores out of the way is an elegant touch.

I like the way the galley in the above image echoes the arch of the side of the trailer.  I wonder if I could carry this into my design?

 The cooler in the slider is awesome; but what really 'finishes the look for me is the doors that cover this part of the design.  I think I can do this with my design.

 I do NOT like the hardware on the cabinets, but I do like the way the cabinet is 'cut' from one piece of plywood and the doors are mounted flush like that.

There are two elements of the above design that I like.  I think the angled table is a good use of the side table and I especially like the drop down 'shelf' that is connected by chains.  In this way it can be used as additional prep space, or can be folded up and out of sight.  

There are so many designs out there.  All of them have to respond to the original design.  The original galley of the 1947 Tourette, had a gasoline stove, an ice box and a few small cabinets.

I'm pleased with my progress at this point.  My windows will arrive early this week, as well as the door hardware.  I'm very excited about the windows; I'm really hopeful that they will fit in such a way that the 'holes' from the hatch will be covered by the rubber gasket.  If they do, the window will look like it was there the whole time.  Once I get the windows marked and in place, the cabin will be watertight.  Things are coming along nicely.  After a busy, work-filled weekend, I'm ready for the work week!

All Sealed Up

The cabin is about 90% restored to its original state at this point.  Today I re-caulked every internal joint, re-painted the cabin, and sealed the floor. 

Caulk drying in the seams and joints of the cabin.

Caulk dry and painted.

My three favorite ingredients in sealing the cabin.

I tried to repair all of the trim pieces that thankfully were kept by the previous owner.  The piece you see above goes on the bottom of the hatch and provides rigidity and helps it seal along the 'bumper.'  It was severely warped and misshapen.  I used a piece of the aluminum angle, an aluminum rod, my ball peen hammer, sledge hammer and several chunks of wood to re-form it to its original shape.  At one point I lost my grip on the aluminum piece and my hand slipped.  If I had not been wearing my gloves, I would have ripped an inch or more of my flesh from my hand.  I was very happy to not have that to deal with!

The hatch is looking terrific!

The hatch, and the additional trim pieces that I was able to re-shape.  The piece at the bottom is the 'bumper'  It was in terrible shape.  I love how Rustoleum restores the look of these parts!

This is the inside of the bulkhead.  When the previous owner placed the cabin on the new trailer frame, they did not replace the flooring in this area.  So, this area is the last section of the cabin that I need to repair.  I plan to use a 3/4" x 6" piece of treated wood.  It's a strange shape though, so I'll need to make a template of it and then carefully trim the wood to fit.

You can see in the images above, the area where the cabin was 'cut' to fit onto the new frame.  I don't like the ragged look of this and this is where I will apply some kind of rock guard.  It will act as a 'rock guard' but it will also mask this rough area.  I'm leaning towards using some material in black, just to tie into my color scheme of black and silver.  

I painted the trailer tongue today with Rustoleum.  It looks sharp!  I don't know if I've mentioned a unique element of the trailer tongue.  You can see the triangular piece of metal that is supporting the tongue.  This is a really rare design that is not seen in today's trailers.  Most trailers have a crank jack/wheel that is used when the trailer is off the hitch.  My trailer's design is  much more sturdy and won't 'roll' when in camp.  Jim suggested that I add a jack/wheel, but keep the triangular piece too.

 

 Above you can see my rough sketches for the galley area.  I intend to use Google Sketch Up to try some different layouts for the galley.

  Jim gave me the name of this place; Kendor Marine.  It's only 20 minutes or so from my house and it is essentially a marine surplus store.  They have over 40,000 square feet of stuff.  Jim thought it might be a great idea to take a look there.  I'm wondering if I can find some cabin lights and a fuse panel, etc. there?  I'll have to stop in there sometime soon.  Sounds like a cool place. 

Here is my list of next steps (in no particular order):

1.  Make a template for the mattress; consider how to trim futon.

2.  Make a cardboard template for the bulkhead floor area that needs to be replaced; trim board to fit.

3.   Order windows.

4.   Finish bolting the internal frame to the subfloor.

6.  Experiment with various galley layouts in Google Sketch Up.

7.  Mark out storage box for cabin floor.

8.  Consider laminate covering for the cabin and galley floor.

9.  Draw electrical diagram plan.

10.  Order electrical supplies:  fuse box/power center/voltage meter/shielded red/black wire/corrugated wire channel/easy disconnects, etc.
(Found out that there is a Delta Marine in Winthrop Harbor.  They have my fuse box and additional things in the store.)

These are the steps that are necessary before I can begin to plan for adding insulation, wiring, etc. to the ceiling.  The cabinets in the galley will need to be roughed in as well in order to layout the power center and wiring inside the cabin.  One good thing about putting the power center in the back is that there will be short wiring runs from the power source to the receptacles.  
  

Ripping Out the Galley

Today was a productive day!  I started by drilling out all the rivets on the hinge; all 60 of them!  This is what my drill bit looked like when I was done!  You can see the 'head's of the rivets on the drill bit.  The drill bit 'pops' off the rivet head and then you finish drilling it out to 'open' up the hole.

 Once the hinge was removed, I was able to take the hatch off.  Putting the hatch aside, I was then able to start drilling out the rivets that held the cabinetry in place.  I decided to take all the rivets out that were attached to the aluminum skin of the sides of the teardrop.

Then, I got Medieval on the cabinets.  My five pound sledge provided just the right amount of persuasion.  What needed additional persuasion was soon tamed by my reciprocating saws demolition blade. 

Thankfully, I managed to 'pop' a lot of the rivets and thus I didn't have to drill out all of the ones in the 'back' of the galley.

After deep cleaning the aluminum, I was able to spray the hatch and galley with the same paint as inside the cabin.

Hatch before:

Hatch After:

My wingman, Jim Tingey, came by today.  We spent most of our time talking through different design ideas.  I wanted to cover the front of the teardrop (the 2' above where the teardrop meets the frame) with diamond plate.  The reason for this would be to fix up some cosmetic concerns.  We figured out that the teardrop was installed on the present trailer frame and in doing so had to be retrofitted; hence the need to cover up some cosmetic issues.  The diamond plate was going to cost quite a bit; I had several estimates from local manufacturers and one from Pittsburgh, PA.  Jim's idea was to try something slightly out of the ordinary.  He suggested that I try looking at other materials; plastic or rubber.  I've contacted a good friend who's company makes just such a product.  Additionally, we talked about putting the battery on the trailer tongue.

After talking through a variety of designs and ideas, Jim suggested putting the battery, fuse box, etc. in the galley rather than putting it in a tongue box.  I had been looking at one of those cargo racks that you can use in combination with your tow hitch.  I saw some pictures online of a way to 'customize' a Harbor Freight rack to fit on the tongue of the trailer.

This would be an excellent way to have additional storage and maximize the aerodynamic boost of the design of the teardrop.  I put some of the most essential items in the newly painted galley and started working with some ideas.  Now, its time to study pictures of other people's galleys and begin designing my own.

While showing Jim the cabin, he wondered aloud if the 'shelf' could double as a bunk for my 11 year old.  We had him climb up into it and guess what?  He fits!  However, we'll end up adding some sort of storage cabinets there so the bunk idea is out of the question.  

We talked through adding insulation to the cabin and possibly a solution for how to add the same on the doors.  I'll probably end up adding the insulation and wood paneling to the doors in 'compartments,' rather than as one large piece.  It felt good to share ideas and solve some of the problems together.

My plans for tomorrow are to get the cabin water tight.  I am planning to remove the old caulk and install the bolts that hold the cabin to the plywood flooring.  After that, I'll put the other door on and install the weather stripping.  I may attempt to add the floor storage box tomorrow too.  My door and galley locks as well as the galley hinge will arrive next week.  I won't install them until after I have the window installation finalized.  I'm hanging on to the screen windows I've made until after I've decided if the sliding windows are going to meet my needs.