My Backcountry Camper Trailer Build

[Titanpat57]

Rob,

Go to a local cabinet shop ( a guy that makes them to order) and see if he'll sell you a sheet or two of 3/4" baltic birch thats like maybe 10 ply(apple core) or has a resouce to order you what you need. If you explain what you want to use it for, he can be helpful I'm sure.

If you seal all sides (with an exteior grade varnish or clear coat, slightly thinned to allow better penetration)before assembly and use a good quality constuction adhesive (PL Polyurethane Adhesive) and screw it together, I use a brand called Scorpian..a ceramic coated square drive with its own cutter tip, although I always pre-drill to avoid splitting the plys. Just an fyi..the Scorpians have twicw the shear strength of a "sheetrock" type screw...plus the ceramic coating is great for outdoor use.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Is there a difference between the type of birch plywood they would have at a cabinet shop, vs. what would be at Home Depot? I'm just trying to understand plywood grades. It may sound like I'm not listening to advice but it's not that, because of where I live, it's very difficult to find specialized wood sources.

For the screws, what colour are those? I know I can get green ceramic coated wood screws.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Hmmm... went to Home Depot to look at their stuff again. The "birch" ply they have is actually a spruce ply with birch veneer. They also had maple and oak. The good news is they actually had knock-down cabinets they sold which I wouldn't touch, but you're able to buy nice cabinet doors seperately. So I could make the cabinets from scratch but buy nice doors.

 

[Root Moose]

There is a place on Mitch Owens dr. that has specialty wood - or at least they used to. Check canada411.com

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, I'm aware of them... about 3 hours away. Just trying to avoid that type of thing if I can.

 

[Titanpat57]

The Scorpian screws are silver in color...and are not available at the big box stores...at least not in the U.S in the NorthEast here. A commercial construction supplier maybe close by to you?

As far as the grades of plywood HD sells..its all graded by an industry standard..but obviously some are much closer to bottom of the scale than the top. The veneer is paper thin, and the adhesives used to laminate the layers may not do well in an outside enviroment, but sealed properly should withstand some rough use. Your construction techniques in the assembly (ie: screws, glue joints, sealing of wood)will matter far more than the material used.

I hope I'm not talking in riddles and I'm offering useful info.

Pat

 

[R_Lefebvre]

There's a Fastenal down the street. Think the scorpions are really worthwhile vs. regular screws? Like gold cad plated decking screws.

Yeah, I'm getting all this. I'm just trying to balance it off with what I can actually get in Canada. Our lower population makes many specialty items very hard to get. If the HD plywood will work, I'd go that way. If I have to seal all edges, that's going to be hard. I could frame in the kitchenette with exterior grade ply, but make the cabinets out of the nice stuff and varnish it all over if that would work.

 

[Titanpat57]

Absolutely worth the cost..I keep 4 sizes around. The 1-3/4", 2", 2-1/2" and the 3". Course you guys work in metric eh? I get them in 40lb. tubs but Fastenal should sell them buy the pound I'd bet.

There was a fairly nice grade of flooring plywood, made with exterior glue, called PTS. It was an underlayment to be used over an existing substrate. It was plugged (those footballs)and sanded on one side. Just so you don't drive yourself nuts..what ever you build, once it's sanded smooth, finished as well as you're doing on everything else... and loaded with gear, will look great!!

Did someone say Absolute?!...lol Just lined up a camping trip between Sat and Tues. so I hope the 3G works there so I can get updates!:coffeedrink:

P.S. this is the countersink bit I always use..may be a bit hard to find but drills a pilot hole and plug hole in one shot..plus the bit can be moved up or down to accmodate different size screws


http://store.qualitydist.net/ama-55624.html

 

[R_Lefebvre]

No, they sell screws in inches up here. We're stuck between Metric and the US somewhere.

What's the deal with the plywood you're mentioning? We have the plugged and sanded stuff, they call it "good one side", but not sure why I'd bother in this application.

 

[indiedog]

I don't know if you guys have the same plywood grading system we do but essentially the faces are graded from "A" for a perfect cabinetry face down to "D" and lower for construction stuff. Usually it's sold as BC or CD or similar to indicate one face is better than the other.

I've built my entire kitchen (temporary for about 5 years) out of CD grade. I've lightly sanded the C face and finished it with satin clear and it looks great. B grade is pretty close to A grade in finish but the costs go up hugely. And you can buy CD in most hardwares. Try a sample piece and see how it goes. And you can get concealed fixings if needed but screw fixing at even centres combined with gluing will look pretty schmick!!

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I was seeing grades on the veneer faced stuff with G1-G4, which I assume is similar. I'm mostly concerned with the glue performance than the appearance. The appearance of the veneer was fine for my needs, I just don't want it to fall apart.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Started doing the wiring, and got my neighbors to help hoist the tent up top. The large Maggiolina with 4 guys is fairly easy.

I had it up there for a while, opened up, pretty pleased with how nice and reasonably cool it is up there, it's warm today. It's nice and breezy and not as greenhouse-like as a nylon tent is. And I LOVE the mattress on the Mag. :wings:

 

[mrchips]

What model Maggiolina did you get?

 

[telwyn]

Wow

Rob, looks great!! Love the way the maggiolina looks on the trailer and the way the roofline of the trailer and the Disco match so well.

 

[RgrBox]

Rob. Your rig looks great.. wonderful work there mate.. I can't wait to see you using it.. man that's a sweet job you've gone there.

RB