Bubbles version 2.0: DONE!

[Martinjmpr]

Still plugging along!

Weekend started with me taking Friday off to take Bubbles around to three different places to find out if they could help us with the roof sealing issue.

This was something of a "milestone" because it was the first time Bubbles had been hooked up since I put the new axle and lower spring arrangement last month.

I have to say, she pulls nice! Such a difference having lost a hundred pounds or so, not to mention being so low. I've been used to running a "drop" hitch upside down to raise the hitch point, but this time I actually got to run it as a drop.

Taking the trailer to some professional refinishers, OTOH, didn't turn out so well. Suffice to say, the cost to have it done "professionally" is well beyond what we are comfortable spending (for the cost of having the roof covered in aluminum, we could probably just buy an off-the-shelf TD.)

So it was back to the original plan, refinish her ourselves as best we can and just live with it.

While I was out running around the FedEx truck showed up with our next big delivery: Fenders from the Teardrop Fix-It Shop in Montana. Here they are compared to Bubbles' "original" orange fenders:

They're narrow, but long. How long? Well, they'll fit in the area between the back of the door and the rear of the trailer, but only JUST!

Our wheels and hubcaps arrived last week, now we're just waiting for our retro-style whitewall tires to complete the look!

Then I used L brackets to attach the shelves to the back of the galley. We also came up with a way to keep the baskets in place when we drive, using an adjustable bungee cord and a couple of nice looking chrome handles.

After that, it was back to the grind. Literally, as in, grinding off the old polyurethane and stain so we can put a new coat on, hopefully this weekend. It's a long, tedious process even with a power orbital sander. But it's getting done!

Saturday afternoon I took a break and got a 4 1/2" hole saw.

I'd never used a hole saw before, and this is the first time we'd ever really done any permanent modification on Bubbles' exterior. My stepson Daniel has done a lot of home improvement work on his house so he gave me some pointers, and Voila - a nice round hole in the roof...

The perfect place for our solar powered vent/light:

Slipped right into the hole I put in the center of the roof, at the highest point

Controls are all on the inside, easily accessible. Has a solar or battery powered fan and light. Fan is also reversible - will be an intake or exhaust fan, depending on what we want.

Not even very intrusive. It's nice that we have a high ceiling, too!

Following that it was sanding, sanding and more sanding. Still have some to do, but we are getting there. Fingers crossed, we hope to stain and poly this weekend. After the stain and poly are dry, the vent will be permanently mounted and sealed with silicone caulking.

Bubbles is in the shop now for some frame work - stay tuned, we should have her back by Thursday, if the weather clears up by then (with no finish on her and a hole in the roof, we can't risk moving her if there's a chance of rain!

 

[Mark Harley]

Did you ever consider silver bed liner material for the roof?
Easy application with a textured roller and it seals too!

I like what you have done to personalize the bubble.

 

[jim65wagon]

Those new fenders are cool! Digging the style, and the galley is looking great!

 

[Martinjmpr]

Did you ever consider silver bed liner material for the roof?
Easy application with a textured roller and it seals too!

I like what you have done to personalize the bubble.

Bed liner would be more or less like paint which would IMO ruin the "all wood" look of Bubbles.

Having said that, at the end of the Summer, depending on how badly it's cracking up there, we might have to reconsider.

Dumb question, does bed liner come in any other color than black? I hate the idea of a black top. Brown (matching the wood) would be much better.

 

[Wavebreaker]

Once plywood starts to check (crack) like that due to age and UV it is difficult to fix. Painting would help but not for the long run. Better alternative is to re-skin it (overlay). From what i see in pictures it is 1/4 inch or so.
An easy way is to adhere a 1/8 inch ply (door skin) over the top to your hinge point of the galley door. The door skin should follow the curve easily enough. A troweled on panel adhesive or alternative like an epoxy glue etc. This is an easy thing to do and would keep your wood look.

Cheers

 

[4x4x4doors]

Dumb question, does bed liner come in any other color than black? I hate the idea of a black top. Brown (matching the wood) would be much better.

More colors than you would believe. See http://monstaliner.com/forms/monstaliner_colors.htm

 

[Martinjmpr]

Bed liner on wood...

So is it better to apply to the bare wood, to put stain on the wood first and then apply it, or to put spar varnish on and then put bed liner over the spar varnish?

 

[4x4x4doors]

You got me. I'd have to ask the manufacturer. Didn't see anything on their website about wood prep, just being sure the surface is clean, dry, non-glossy and solid.

 

[Martinjmpr]

A mid-week update...

(at the end of the week...)

Even though this wasn't "our" work, I'm so thrilled about it that I just had to post it!

So as I'd posted before, we never liked the configuration of the tongue and the braces that were on the trailer when we got it:

As you can see, the braces were damaged, and looked like crap. They are also welded on in the wrong place - notice that at the rear they are at the bottom of the frame (which makes them level with the TOP of the tongue itself) but by the time they get up by the hitch, they are at the BOTTOM of the tongue, which results in a less supportive connection and also bends the tongue upwards. Sloppy and ugly, just one of the many corners that the builder cut, and one that really bugged us both.

Not only that, but the location of the (welded on) jack wheel prevented us from putting a tongue box on, which would give us a great place to store our jacks and other items we don't want to keep inside.

(I should point out that the black tongue box in the picture above, which was a very heavy one made of steel, eventually went into Liz's Jeep to be a 'trunk", while we purchased a much ligher wieght aluminum box for Bubbles.)

So, I went down to the same local trailer shop, Vital Parts in Englewood, CO, to see what they could do. Talked to a very nice young guy named Ryan who assured me he could remove the jockey wheel, make room for the tongue box, and cut off the old support braces and put new ones on, that would both look better and make for a stronger trailer.

Yesterday after work, I went by to pick up Bubbles, and I have to say, I was quite impressed with the way she looked:

Not only is it "cleaner" looking, it's stronger, better braced and welded on in such a way that the tongue doesn't curve upwards nearly as much.

You can also notice from this picture:

That while the old brace ended at the front of the frame, this one actually goes under the front of the frame and is anchored at the first crossbar behind the front of the trailer - meaning it's supporting more of the trailer's weight and should be much stronger.

But looking at Ryan's work, I also noticed that he cleaned up my messy wires...

...and also shortened my safety chains so they didn't drag on the ground! I didn't ask him to do those things, he just did it because he knew it needed to be done. And the price for all this was surprisingly good, under $300 for everything.

I definitely have to give the guys at Vital Parts a big :26_7_2: from me and will be going back there when I have other welding that needs to be done.

Incidentally, this is also the place where we got the new axle. A great place to do business with.

The Tongue box should work out great, and it's just bolted in, so we can remove it when it's time to refinish the outside of Bubbles, which should be soon!

 

[Mark Harley]

Nice work.

Looking good!

 

[4x4x4doors]

Looking much better.

My Little Guy is the older model that doesn't have the tongue side braces. I've wished for them a couple of times, primarily to allow mounting a tongue box.

On the chains, I've always twisted them before hooking to allow the least possible slack. Theory is that:
1) Shorter chain decreases the likelihood of the tongue hitting and digging into the ground if it should come undone, and
2) The relatively lightweight of a teardrop is not going to impact the strength of the chain if twisted.
YMMV.

 

[NetDep]

Just read the whole thread and fell in love with "Bubbles." This is a great build and I am expecting my TD from LittleGuy later in the month and chose to go with a TD for all the reasons you mentioned!! Great ideas and if I had HALF the skill you do I might try to tackle some of this on my own - but alas - I have no skill!! Sub'd and watching - your photos and narrative add so much to the story! Thank you for sharing with us!!

 

[Martinjmpr]

We worked our butts off this weekend, but I think the result is worth it!

After we sanded down the sides, we needed to re-stain and polyurethane the side panels. However, Liz had a vision of wanting to do something unique and different! So, after a bunch of tries, she came up with a stencil idea to stencil the wood in a leaf pattern.

Her technique was to stain first, using a honey-colored stain that would complement the wood, and then spray paint over that with a wood-colored spray paint on a stencil:

A picture doesn't do it justice, it really does look spectacular close up!

Here's Liz posing with her handiwork!

On Sunday, after painting her leaf pattern on both sides, Liz stared to put the polyurethane on. Before we did that, though, we had to figure out a way to hide the ugly scar left behind by the hideous metal drip rails that were on the side and the hatch. At first I was going to just pick a smooth piece of half-round wood, but then something caught my eye that seemed to echo the "leaf" pattern we had chosen:

So we sprayed it with the same paint Liz had been using for the leaf pattern and glued/screwed it on.

We also put one on the passenger side for balance:

Once those were on and painted, Liz Polyurethaned the whole thing, minus the top.

We'll also run a bead of silicone along the trim piece to ensure that water doesn't get behind it.

Meanwhile, I was on the inside. There was a huge hole in the back galley wall into the sleeping compartment where the (broken) AC unit used to sit. At first we considered just boarding it up, but then we came up with an idea: Leave the hole there but cover it with a panel that would then be able to drop down and serve as a tray for foot, a DVD player or whatever. Furthermore, it would act as a 'pass through' so that we could grab things out of the galley from inside the sleeping compartment.

For the panel to cover the hole, we had a cabinet door from our recent kitchen remodel. The cabinet door showed a crack so we called the company that built it and invoked our "lifetime warranty." They replaced the cabinet door and we kept the old one. It is a gorgeous piece of hickory, and just happens to be the perfect size.

I installed it with a couple of heavy brass door hinges on the bottom, and put a piece of wood to hold the semicircular latch.

The result turned out pretty good, and we even put a knob on it that matches the other fancy knobs we put in!

Then we put on some fancy chains to serve as supports when the panel is in the down position, and this was the finished result:

The wine is a bottle our son and daughter-in-law picked up when they were on vacation last year at Glacier NP. Appropriate, I think!:

Liz also came up with some new material for our "curtains" (which are made out of embroidery hoops!) As you can see, it fits the "leaf" pattern. We decided to stage this to show what our "summer home" will look like!

With the tray up:

And down:

Can't wait to get out there this Summer!

We have also finally come up with a solution to our roof dilemma, but that will have to wait for another post!

 

[Martinjmpr]

Just read the whole thread and fell in love with "Bubbles." This is a great build and I am expecting my TD from LittleGuy later in the month and chose to go with a TD for all the reasons you mentioned!! Great ideas and if I had HALF the skill you do I might try to tackle some of this on my own - but alas - I have no skill!! Sub'd and watching - your photos and narrative add so much to the story! Thank you for sharing with us!!

Sorry, but I have to laugh at that. If you knew how inept I was, you'd understand.

Suffice it to say, I am the poster-boy for "if I can do it, anybody with opposable thumbs and the ability to walk can do it." :elkgrin:

You might be surprised to know just how much of this "project" has been "trial and error!"

 

[Flashole]

Cool trailer. Keep up the good work