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The Updates...

I have the structure 100% complete!

Hopefully tomorrow morning I will be applying the GacoRoof to the exterior of the teardrop. It should take a couple of days but the goal is to have her road ready for her maiden voyage by Valentine's Day.

Remaining items to do:

• two trim interior trim pieces

• urethane the ceiling

• aluminum trim on the hatch lid

• bolt the teardrop to the trailer

I think I should not have any issues wrapping them up.

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Life is a little nuts...

I have not exactly had the time I expected to invest in the blogging of the build and for that I am terribly sorry. I have been slammed with work and it seems I am running out and working for 5 minutes and then running back inside.

I have also learn certain aspects of the build are very time consuming with limited "end result" visually so I have decided not to post those videos.

That said here are a few more!

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The sides are finally up! This is the time lapse of putting the first side of the teardrop trailer up. It actually went easier then I expected. I had my concerns because I had the floor and all the shelves and partitions dadoed. I used PL Subfloor adhesive where the side met the floor, TiteBond 2 on all the shelves and partitions and 2 1/2" stainless steel screws to lock everything together. I also took a tip from Frank Bear at Vintage Technologies and used Gorilla Glue in all the screw holes. I had to run out for a 2 year olds birthday party so I didn't get the second side up until about 10 pm last night. 

Because it was so late I didn't time lapse it going up but I will post some stills.

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I have had some concerns over the durability of the Gacoroof so I have been in contact with them over the past couple of days. Something not stated on their installation instructions is it is recommended for 3 coats over plywood because the first layer is almost completely absorbed.

To put the third coat on I cleaned the entire surface thoroughly using Simple Green and warm water. I then went back and dried it with a clean towel. I waited approximately 3 hours for the surface to completely dry before applying a third coat. I am interested to see how the third coat will effect the durability of the product.

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A slow day...

I feel I have let you all down. Yesterday was kinda a hodge podge day of work mostly nothing really of interest but I did cut and urethane my shelves but didn't time lapse it. I am sorry. Today will be the 2nd and third coats of urethane. Tomorrow will begin the assembly of all the pieces!

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A few notes about Gacoroof:

-Caulk, caulk, caulk & caulk. I expected the product to be a lot thicker then it was so I only caulked the joints and used a wood filler on the screw holes not paying extra close attention thinking the Gacoroof would cover more. I am sure it is completely waterproof but it did not have the esthetic I was looking for especially around the knots in the wood. 

- Mask anything you plan to glue later because you will not get this stuff off and based on the surface when it is dry nothing is going to stick to it.

- Buy a HIGH quality roller. The Gacoroof is thicker then paint and very tacky. All the lint from the roller sticks and stays there. 

- Don't be put off on calling customer service. It took me a few calls to get through to a person but once I had them on the phone they were great. They answered all of my questions and then some.

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As you know I purchased the bolt together 5 x 8 trailer from Northern Tool because I did not have access to welding equipment. My plan was to use the bolts down the side rails to secure the box of the teardrop to the trailer. Unfortunately the bolts were to close to my edges for my liking once I had everything built. I decided to have a mobile welding come and weld the top rails so I would not need the bolts for the structural strength of the trailer.

I found a welder on craigslist named Jose (858 248-5145)who services all of San Diego with a mobile welding rig. Jose was easy to get ahold of, called back immediately and his welds were impecable. If I would have know how reasonable the pricing would have been I would have just had him weld an entire trailer for me. He will do any size job so if you need welding in San Diego, give Jose a call.

He also welded a wheeled jack on the tongue for me without increasing the quote.

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Yesterday Val and I finished sanding the floor of the teardrop trailer and started applying the Gacoroof.

The Gacoroof is a very interesting product. I expected it to be thicker and more goopy but it ended up being slightly thicker then paint and applied very easily. I had hoped to put two coats on yesterday but it took longer to dry then expected. 

Once applied the Gacoroof has a very subtle texture from the roller but overall I find it very visually pleasing.

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This afternoon I caulked the joints and filled the screw holes on the underside of the floor. I am pretty sure the Gacoroof would have spanned most of the joints but I decided it was easy enough to caulk them. 

I used Plastic Wood to fill the screw holes and I was really impressed with how easy it was to work with. The company claims "it's just like wood". I was suprised to find it really does react like wood once it cures. I am used to putting wood filler on a little heavy and sanding it down but when I use it again I will do two coats and only fill the holes. 

Tomorrow I should be able to coat the bottom with the Gacoroof and start attaching my sides.

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Today I built the floor of the teardrop trailer. I used 1” x 6” pine under 5’ x 5’ x 1/2” birch plywood. I used Locktite PL subfloor construction adhesive and 1 1/4” stainless screws to attach the two layers together. I did make a mistake and did not take into account the depth of my counter sink and all the screw heads are now slightly poking through the surface. Luckily I am painting the floor with a Porch & Floor paint so after a little elbow grease knocking down the heads of the screws you will not be able to notice. 

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Here is the photos of the CNC cutting the sides of my teardrop. It is hard to explain the excitement I am feeling about this project.

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I picked up the sides from Spracklen Woodworks. They did an AMAZING job cutting the sides of my teardrop trailer and doing the dados for the shelves and dividers.

Apparently when I drove the sheets over to be cut a rock flew up and was caught between the sheets creating a giant scratch. I was horrified. 

George from Spracklen taught me a little trick to fix it. If no wood has been gouged out and it is just pressed in wet the area with a moist rag and then lay a hot iron over the scratch for a few seconds. Wipe and repeat until the wood has expanded enough to fill back in and then sand. I really didn't want to have to use putty and it totally fixed the problem.

The CNC machine leaves a 1/4" radius in the ends of any inside corner. I took a 1/2" wood chisel and just removed the corners in preparation for the shelves.

I sanded the entire surface using an orbital sander with 320 grit sandpaper. I blew off the surface and then wiped it down with a wet rag. I applied a single coat of Varathane No Odor waterbased polyurethane. I will let the coat dry over night, sand and repeat. 

My goal tomorrow is to apply two more coats of the polyurethane and get the floor of the trailer built.

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I struggled and struggled on what to make my cross bracing from. I was really leaning toward Red Oak for the strength and rigidity. After visiting the local hardwood store and looking at different lumber I decided to just purchase 1 x 3 pine, not the premium cut, just regular old pine. I have read and read about everyone "overbuilding" and decided I am going to do my best to limit it in my project. So, today I cut all the cross bracing for the roof. I attempted to time lapse me ripping all the pieces down to 2 1/4" but again was thwarted by my camera but finally I conquered and here is me cutting them all to length. Enjoy.

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In all my awesomeness, I totally blew using my new GoPro2 camera. Here is 1 of the 10 images captured on my time-lapse building the trailer. Anyways, the trailer is now assembled and the sides are being picked up tomorrow from Spracklen Custom Furniture, the company company cutting the sides using a CNC machine. Construction begins!