Fiberglass

Before getting started make sure no staples are sticking up. Grind and/or pound the offending staples. The hardest part is getting the cloth to lay flat. Some one on the forum suggested using tape, to whom ever suggested it thank you, I have CRS and can not remember who.










You end up stretching the cloth slightly to get the wrinkles out. Focus your attention on the panel you are working on. I leave the overlap, and trim out the big folds. Yes when I work on the next panel it overlapped this one back the other way. The corners are covered twice.









To apply the resin I use a paint roller. I bought a half size roller handle, and cut full size rolers in half to fit it (thanks Doug). Use a paint roller pan with inserts to mix the resin. Start in one place and work away from it pushing bubbles away, remove tape as you go (do not bury it, ok try not to. Any staples sticking up will produce bubbles. The cloth I used is only 5' wide, so I will have to fill the bottom later. If I build this trailer again it will not be as tall, fixing this challenge.






Here is a picture of tape that is buried, shh do not tel anyone.


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Roof

For the roof I used 1/4" ply. The rear section (already done in picture) required one brace from side to side. Next decide where the vent will go in front. I decided centered, using the existing brace. Build a square 14 1/4" big. Note the directions with the vent say 14" but to do that, double the braces so the mounting screws have something to bite into.








Trial fit of vent.














Glue and staple the front section on. When you cut out the roof make it a little larger than necessary and sand to fit. The hole for the vent I cut out with a router and a trim bit, that is till the bearing on the trim bit burnt up, then I used a jig saw.










Sand the roof to fit, and fill the cracks with fiberglass.

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Roadside of floor

There are several schools of thought on how to seal the bottom of a trailer from water, you will find several threads on the subject on Mikes forum. Here is mine. First I removed the frame (paint it now) and rolled the body onto its side.










I used scraps of 1/8" ply to fill the gaps. When I covered the body mounts, I reached through the large openings and drill through the ply. Before covering the large openings I added a piece of framework. As you work glue in the spacers, clamping them with the body mount bolts.









For the three pieces in the nose I used thicker scrap, and added 1/8" stuff to fill the gaps.













When done it should look kinda like this. Do not mind the mixed match ply it all gets covered in black goo.

Tag part one

Most states require a tag on the back of the trailer, this is how I did mine. I used the bracket of the harbor freight trailer and put a 90 degree bend in it so it would mount on the bottom of the wood brace (not shown). Pictured is the first of three wooden braces I put here, the other two are sandwiched parallel to this one, going towards the front. Yes the tag is facing the wrong way.








I cut a line above and below it and two on the sides. I hated it.













Here is one corrected line, I think it looks better. Now cut the other side.

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Tail lites

Tail lites need to be added to your trailer, how you choose to deal with them is your choice. I choose round ones, frenched in, with blue dots (check with local laws before installing blue dots).
I went to a local irrigation supply and found pvc pipe the lites would fit.









I bought a hole saw that matched the OD of the pipe, and an extra long center bit for the saw. Mark center points and drill the holes in line with the center line of the trailer, not the skin. A lot of fitting and fusing will gain you two tubes that match. Once you are happy with the location, clamp into place and fiberglass in place on the inside.








Inside view of clamps. Let dry.














After resin dries trim the outside flush. I used 1/2 ply for the backing, fiberglassed in, to mount the lites. This method of installing lites will gain you minimal lighting for your trailer, if you desire more or different get creative. On the forum we debated whether I needed more lighting. There were two camps, and I chose to go this way knowing if someone did not notice my small lights, on a bright yellow trailer, they were not paying attention, and would not notice ten time more lights. My 2c.

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tail skin

To put the skin on, first cut the ply to length. Make sure the spars are running parallel to each other. You are about to put a lot of pressure on the spars, if one sticks out more than the others, it will be the cog that sticks up, and instead of getting beat down it will pop out(trust me). My strap clamps started out life as cargo straps. The straps are hooked to the frame underneath and I never found a good place on top (good luck). Once the glue dries trim the excess off both ends.






Repeat on other side.














Fillet in the spars and joints with fiberglass. A coat of fiberglass rolled on everything would be cheap insurance against moisture. Side note the second skin buckled as I bent it, should have removed it and installed a new piece.










Here is the only good picture I have of the trimmed tail. For now ignore the tail lite.



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Framing the Tail

I added a wall at the end of the cabin and started framing the counter top. The shelf at the right is for an ice chest. I also added the battery box. The triangular ply (1/2") is for the skin.











Ice chest in place. Yes I am vertically challenged so if the chest sat on the counter I would need a ladder.













I built four spars for the tail, plus two lower half spars. In between the spars I put braces level with counter. Everything above the braces is part of the hatch (do not cut yet). The top of the spar hooks to the hinge piece at the top.










Since the battery will be in this space I added drains for the lower floor. I used 1/2" pvc fiberglassed into the corners. I used a piece of square tubing to support the next piece. I framed out the lower half of the tail.












Here is the frame work finished. Note the jack and temporary brace, this frame work is weak till the skin is on.

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begining of tail

Beyond where the spars are the wall will try to flatten out at the bottom, so braces are added. A cross piece is added to hold this thing square.












Determine how long the cabin floor needs to be, and install bracing for the foot wall. The top of the wall is a support for the counter top in the galley. The ply you see is 1/2" that the battery sits on.











Here I put a vertical support that ties the cabin foor to the galley floor. The frame work for the floor is also being worked on. The larger openings are soon to be needed for access, but will be framed later.











The top of the hatch is made from the other half of the oak board, and a triangular piece of 1/2" ply. The Hurricane hinge is from http://www.lilbear.teardrops.net/parts.html#hinge
You do not need a 4' one so call or e-mail, mine is about 2'. The picture is of it completely open. When putting this together allow for skin thickness when installing the hinge (I used scrap pieces for spacers). I used 1/4" ply for the main roof (1/8" ply should do if the trailer never sees snow).

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Here is the wall trimmed from the last post.














At the top of the wall goes a piece of oak that the hatch hinge mounts to. Once again I installed this piece, and then trimmed.












I cut out the rear half of the wall, traced it on to the other side, and installed it. Remember glue, staple, clamp, bend, staple, and clamp. Repeat on other side.












With the notes on measurements for the fender, I cut the bottom of the wall out so the fender could be reattached. Repeat on other side. I bought a spare at Wally World and according to Murphy, I had to test fit it. I then reinstalled the tires.

Framing back

Before I get into the frame work, a note, filleting the joints in the skin with fiberglass on the inside is a good idea now. Easy access and not working in a confined space are reasons.
Space the third spar assembly back. I spaced it back equal to the distance of the top of the rear skin, minus the piece off oak used to support the hinge, and the hinge itself (see next step). Note I made this section 7" longer than the plans. I used 1/2 ply to fill the space above the fenders. I had to use 1"x * (3/4" working thickness) to space the body high enough so I could make the floor flat.
MAKE SURE BODY IS SQUARE BEFORE CLAMPING.



I next installed two shelves, the upper one for storage, and the lower shelf is the electrical raceway. I copied the one Mike used in the generic benroy (top of the forum page).











The cabin ends here, but your feet extend just a bit farther, so rear wall had to be installed. I Used dimensions from the mattress I will use to determine the floor size. To make it easier I clamped a strait board to set the wall on while I glued it and stapled it.

Another project to work on is the support for the bottom of the skin. The fenders and the tires are in the way, draw out and measure the fenders (later I trimmed out body so you can reinstall the fenders) so remove them now. The stabilizer jacks will be handy now.




Here is the wall on. When dry trim along spar. I also installed the raceway ends, an access door goes across the rest of the space.

Forgotten step

This step should have been before last. The top corner of the hinge spar should have been reinforced, remember it has to be trimmed. Clamp your pieces in, no metal fasteners!











I added two cross braces. One at the very front of the roof, and one near the top of the hinge spar. The lower brace can be used for a shelf support. Repeat on other side, and when the glue sets up trim along front edge of skin. You did not put any staples or screws through the area to be cut did you, remove before cutting.








This picture shows what it looks like after trimming. next make a piece that goes on top that matches the bottom pieces angle, and install. The boards clamped on with orange clamps are temporary bracing till it is skinned. Now you are ready for the last step.

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Nose skin

If you only have one door, reinforce the window. Floor construction is now underway, but grew as the trailer grew, so I will show a picture later how it turned out. The connection of the floor and the wall needs to be very strong. The floor joists are 1 x 2 pine.











A spar is fabed up according to plans, and installed on one side. Make two spars.













The plans had curves drawn out for this piece, but i cut the inside curve only. The outside I let overhang. Starting at the bottom glue, staple, clamp, bend, staple, and then clamp.











Here is where I discovered the incorrect measurement at the bottom, and my curve was off. Straitening it was challenging.












Trim the out side. On the second side I cut the ply to length and installed it. When the glue dried I trim both sides. I now installed the second spar on the inside.

Next move towards the rear.

internal work

My first job is to support the front bottom corner of the curve. I did this with the piece that supports the bottom of the nose skins. Andrew included dimensions for this piece, except my trailer is six inches wider. Basically I drew it per plans and added three inches to both sides. Until the skin is on, this piece is weak, so temp bracing is in order. I then fiberglassed the joints.








At this point one should clamp legs on the body and clamp it to something secure. Wind will cause damage if you do not, trust me. I added bracing for the door, and started fiberglassing it in.











More bracing.














Added bracing to the front of the hinge spar. Under the brace you can see a patch used to fix wind damage. If you want two doors turn over and repeat. If two people will share this space, it is really handy to not crawl over someone, for night time walks. Being the sole occupant of this trailer, one door was sufficient.

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edit
1. the bracing was not enough, had to add cable tensioners, to keep the door in shape.
Thing I considered, but did not mention.
2. Plan where the door latch goes, and leave space for it.
3. Consider where the hinge will go, and add bracing accordingly.