eatSleepWoof gets a 6x12

[eatSleepWoof]

Made good progress on the ceiling!

Used 1.5" of plywood (two 3/4" pieces screwed together) to create these "trusses" that are bolted into the original truss/frame. This gives me the necessary depth for insulation, and makes it easy to attach ceiling panels.

Installed 1 1/16" rigid insulation for an R5 value.

Installed another 1" (two layers of 1/2") of rigid insulation (R6).

And then two overlapping rolls of Reflectix, each of which is claimed to be R3.7. I'd say about 60% of the ceiling (right in the middle) is overlapped with two layers.

Cumulatively I should have at least R14 worth of insulation in the ceiling, and in parts quite a bit more. We'll have no problems keeping warm in winter camping, that's for sure!

Started installing ceiling panels, along with the first 8 (of 12 total) ceiling lights. These lights are on one of the dimmers, which works out perfectly. Tons of brightness at max setting, or nightlight-level light at the lowest setting.

I'll have two more of these lights on the same circuit, and then two more lights (at the very front of trailer) on their own circuit, so they can be used to (dimly) light up the kitchen and washroom area without turning on the lights in the entire trailer.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Finished installing planks on the rear of the trailer. Some of the pieces were warped (of course they were, it's Home Depot wood) and required McGuyvering to get them in place properly.

Installed the same planks on the front, and started working on trim. Used one of the extra planks, cut that piece in the middle of the ceiling, and bent/forced it into place to hide the seam between planks. Not pictured, but did the same thing with two more pieces at the very front and very rear of the trailer. Also framed an opening for the fan, ran wiring, etc.

Filled the remaining empty space around the entry way frame with expanding foam, then started trimming it out.

Doing the final router pass on the top piece of trim, the wood breaks (top right corner), flies off, and sends the router off template/line, ruining that piece. I've taken it off and will re-do it. Frustrating.

Tons more trim work to be done...

 

[ITTOG]

Looks great. Good work.

How thick is that wood? Also, why didn't you offset your but joints instead of one vertical line? Then you wouldn't have to put a trim piece on the wall?

 

[jgaz]

Looking good! I like the serviceability that seems to be built into this project.

But what I really like is the “board stretcher” that you are using in the ceiling.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Looks great. Good work.

How thick is that wood? Also, why didn't you offset your but joints instead of one vertical line? Then you wouldn't have to put a trim piece on the wall?

The wood is about 5/8".

The butt joints are a tricky item here. First of all, nothing in the trailer was initially perfectly square, so anything and everything showed little jointing imperfections here and there, resulting in the need for some trim... at a minimum. I've tried to improve that when I did my own "inner" wood framing, but it's still not perfect. Second, none of these wood planks are perfectly flat/square, either. I took time to pick out the best ones I could, but there are still a lot of imperfections, including side-to-side bowing (thus the use of the bottle jack to force a piece in place in photos above). When the middle of a piece bows out, that results in the ends of the piece not being perfectly square, or parallel to whatever they're sitting against. Between these two factors there was little to no chance of getting "clean" butt joints, so even if the planks were staggered, the jointing imperfections would be enough to warrant trim.

Another factor is that I wanted the ends of each plank to be screwed into a stud, and that meant that if I were to stagger the planks, every other plank would need to go to the "next" stud, and they would still form a very noticeable pattern (ie. every other plank has a joint that lines up). On a floor (or other solid backing) it's very easy to get a random staggered pattern that doesn't look like a "line," but with very limited studs on the wall/ceiling, that's not possible.

I set up the pieces such that I'd have as little trim as possible, but some will still be required. I also planned on having the driver-side wall joint be hidden behind the fridge that I planned on installing there, but plans have changed, so I'll have to figure out some trim options there, too.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Looking good! I like the serviceability that seems to be built into this project.

But what I really like is the “board stretcher” that you are using in the ceiling.

I'm trying to make things reasonable accessible, yeah. Accessing some sections of the inner ceiling/walls/whatever will take some work, but it's all doable and re-doable, so things can be put back together after being apart.

 

[Todd780]

Finished installing planks on the rear of the trailer. Some of the pieces were warped (of course they were, it's Home Depot wood) and required McGuyvering to get them in place properly.

Installed the same planks on the front, and started working on trim. Used one of the extra planks, cut that piece in the middle of the ceiling, and bent/forced it into place to hide the seam between planks. Not pictured, but did the same thing with two more pieces at the very front and very rear of the trailer. Also framed an opening for the fan, ran wiring, etc.

Filled the remaining empty space around the entry way frame with expanding foam, then started trimming it out.

Doing the final router pass on the top piece of trim, the wood breaks (top right corner), flies off, and sends the router off template/line, ruining that piece. I've taken it off and will re-do it. Frustrating.

Tons more trim work to be done...

Looks awesome! It'll really feel like you're in a cabin when you're out in it!

 

[80t0ylc]

It's really coming along! Looks great and durable, not like the crap that is in trailers, campers and motor homes that plague the RV industry today and in the recent past. Hopefully the frame and shell of your trailer will hold up to your quality work!

 

[ottsville]

Really looking good! Nice work!

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Finished the door trim.

Trimmed passenger side window.

Trimmed driver side window.

Installed trim between the vertical walls and ceiling. A million angles/curves to account for in every piece, but got it done.

Sprayed two coats of Varathane Diamond Finish on all walls and ceiling.

Flooring is up next!

 

[Todd780]

Looks amazing!

 

[jgaz]

Beautiful Work!

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Flooring is in! Vinyl plank, 10mm, waterproof.

The 4 packages of flooring each had about 50% nice, dark coloured planks, and 50% that are lighter, greyer, and less appealing. I used the nice planks in the area that'll be visible, and the other planks in areas that will be covered up with cabinetry. I wanted the entire floor covered (and not just the visible areas) because of the waterproofing element of this flooring; should anything ever leak, the planks will minimize water intrusion. It'll also be nice to see proper floors when opening cabinets, drawers, etc.

 

[karlfunk]

Do you have a plan for insuring your trailer? Turns out this is (so far) the one thing I have not thought of.

- Karl

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Do you have a plan for insuring your trailer? Turns out this is (so far) the one thing I have not thought of.

- Karl

It's already insured as a normal cargo trailer, and the local insurance company allows you to set the value yourself. When I'm done with the build, I'll tally up the total costs (I do have a running total/list) and update the insurance to reflect that.