Day Off (-ish)

Well, I think this is the first day since the project started that I haven't done any actual work on it. I did, however, go pick up most of the lumber that will become the camper pod. This consisted of 4lbs of deck screws, some Weldbond glue (I was going to use Gorilla Glue, and still might, but I'll have to go to Canadian Tire or Home Depot for it), some 3/4" Plywood, some 1/2" plywood, some 2x4's which I had ripped to 2x2's, and some sheets of 1/8" masonite.

Yes, I'm going old-school and using masonite to make the curved roof just like they did back in the 30's-50's. Now I know what you're going to say: "That's a dumb idea, that s***'ll rot out so fast it'd make your head spin." Well, no worries, this was well thought out...

1. Plywood contains glues that are water soluble (to varying extents, based on the quality of the plywood). Masonite is just wood fibers that are formed into sheets by applying huge amounts of pressure. This causes the natural resins in the wood to bind it together with properties similar to solid wood. This leads me to believe that masonite would weather fairly well.

2. Since plywood bends along the short side, rather than the long, using 1/8" plywood would mean that a great deal of it would go to waste. I can bend the masonite sheets lengthwise, so there will be very little waste.

3. The masonite sheets cost me about $10 each. 1/8" birch plywood would have cost around $30 per sheet (and don't forget, as above, I would have needed more of them).

4. I priced out some epoxy boat-hull paint/sealant. It goes for $55/quart. Yes, this is pretty pricey, but it's the stuff that people use to seal the hulls of super-light kayaks and surfboards they build out of bloody balsa and foam. I'm confident it'll do just what I need it to.

5. If it was good enough for the old timers who started the original teardrop trailer craze, it's good enough for me.

6. If my roof starts to leak or rot out, I can easily tear it off and build a new one next season if necessary.

I'm sure some of you still think I'm being silly using "inferior materials" but that's the joy of building things yourself. You get to ignore what everyone else wants and do your own thing.

Also, I've started corresponding with Vintek RV Parts. They specialize in parts for teardrop trailers. I'll be buying a galley hinge, a set of door/hatch latches keyed alike, and a set of 21x14" windows from them.

Once I get all of the supplies I've mentioned above (including lumber, hardware, boat paint, and RV parts) the total bill for the trailer will be somewhere in the $850 range. I'll add it more precisely as I build, since I'm not going to count any extra bits that I don't end up using. There are still a few things I'll need that aren't on this list, like insulation, paint for inside the cabin and galley, some kind of a countertop, cabinet hinges, knobs, etc. I'm still confident that I'll be able to stick with the $1000 budget, but it's not my top priority. My top priority is creating a decent quality mini-RV that I'll be able to enjoy a lot of use of.

Now hopefully I can get into the wood shop to drop off this load of lumber, and get to work on it.