I've glued three sheets of 4 x 8 luan together using 6 inch wide luan strips and overlapping the panels, once dry I'll cut to fit the glue to the spars and hold in place with 1 x 2's until it sets up. I may need to wet the wood with hot water were the bend is if it is not flexible enough. One the ceiling is in I can decide if I will leave it bare wood with a coat of varnish or cover with carpet. I also picked up a 4x8x 3/4 sheet of birch, this will be used as my bulkhead between the galley and cabin area.

Here are a few more shots of the build, passenger door and trim is on. I started gluing the spars in and testing my LED lights. Next I'll start working on installing the Luan wood ceiling, the rear bulkhead and framing for the cabinets.

Well its been awhile since my last post, life has kept me busier than usual and I have not been able to spend much time on the build lately. I do have my other wall finished and mounted on the trailer frame. I still need to mount the door, trim pieces, and window, after  that I'll start on the galley and cabinets. I'm starting to collect some LED lights for the cabin and galley area as my goal it  to cut down on the amount of power being used by eliminating the standard filament type bulbs. All my lights will be LED, these will draw less amps, the two main things that will draw the most power will be my Fantastic fan and my ARB fridge. I'm also looking at adding a couple of 45 watt solar panels to charge my batteries as well as to provide constant power when dry camping.

The drivers side is complete and back on the frame, it has  three coats of Raka epoxy, four coats of Pettit primer and four coats of Pettit Topside on the outside and four coats of varnish on the inside wall. Wall was attached to the edge of the floor with construction adhesive  and screws and bolted to the fender using elevator bolts. Door trim was the most time consuming drilling and counter sinking each screw. Window was put in using butyl tape between the window frame and door. Next I will repeat the process for the passenger  side. I'm also starting to layout the placement of my battery, charger and fuse panel.

No new pics to post, but I've have my doors, door handles, and molding fitted to my liking, with that being said I have removed the moldings, hinges, door handles and locks from the trailer wall and the trailer wall from the floor and have put my final third coat of RAKA epoxy on the drivers side outer wall and have 3 coats of satin varnish on the inner wall. The platinum gray Pettit Topside Marine paint is due to arrive next week, that will be my final outside finish. I'll post some pictures once the paint is on and the wall mounted back on the trailer floor / frame.

I've been working on my doors over the weekend, received my t-moulding and other cap moldings. I also picked up my door hinges as well. It is quite time consuming fitting the door, hinges and molding together but I'm getting there.

Soft aluminum door trim has been ordered, this consist of 1 inch x 5/8 leg T-molding and 5/8 end cap molding for the doors and 1 1/4 for the door jams. Still need to buy the hinges, then I'll be able to get the doors mounted, along with this will be painting the outside walls with Petitt Marine Topside paint, color will be platinum gray.

Both walls and doors have been skinned inside and out. I'll be adding another coat of Raka epoxy to the outside walls. Doors have been test fitted with aluminum trim and hinge. Next step will to paint the outer walls with Petitt Topside Marine paint and seal the inside skins with a clear sealer.

Passenger wall is somewhat complete, inner and outer skins are on, door has been cut, framed and skinned. I picked up a few aluminum trim pieces from So Cal Teardrop to test fit along with a sample of there door hinge. Now I'm working on the drivers side inner skin and door, this will take me about a week to complete. Then will be decision time for the outer finish skin, which I want to finish before permanently mounting the walls to the body of the trailer.I'm also not sure if I'm going to go with the paddle door or the old school type handle.

     Insulation for the walls are complete, Raka epoxy has been applied to the outside walls to seal out moisture, one coat should be sufficient but I'll apply two just to make sure I have good coverage. I'm sitting on the fence about the exterior finish, I really like the look of aluminum, but the cost of using a topside epoxy paint is very attractive price point. 

     For the 12 volt electrical system, 16 gauge stranded marine grade wire will be used along with a 12 position Blue Sea fuse block for powering the cabin and galley lights, cabin fan and 12 volt outlets.  This will be tied into a marine grade type battery along with a battery charger. For the 120 volt system I will have a couple of outlets in the galley and one in the cabin with a external 15 amp outlet to power the battery charger and 120 volt outlets.

   One outside wall has been cut a glued to the wall frame along with insulation cut and dry fit. I will work on the second outside wall and frame tomorrow and cut the insulation and mount the walls temporarily to the trailer to see how everything lines up. I also picked up some 4 x 8 birch for my inside walls. After I'm satisfied with the alignment of the walls I'll epoxy the outside walls and end grain of the walls, cut out the outside door skins then glue on the inside birch 4 x 8 plywood panels and mount to the trailer and put in my roof spars. I also found some 1/4 aluminum u-channel that I'm thinking of putting on the bottom edge of the outside wall, I think this will help the wall from absorbing moisture into the wall. I also ordered a 15 AMP power inlet plug, couple of inside reading lights that I'm going to convert to LED.

I took a drive down to San Diego with the trailer to pick up a couple of 1/4 - 4 x 10 ACX sheets of plywood, little pricey at  $54 dollars a sheet, . but this will allow my outside walls to be one solid piece and hopefully stronger than splicing two sheets of 1/4 ply together. The trailer pulled really easy, we'll see if it pulls as nice once the build is complete. This weekend should be a productive one, I'll router the notches for the ceiling spars on the wall frames and hopefully have the 4 x 10 ply sheets glued up to the frame as well. Then I'll insulate the walls and put the inside skins on, which will be 1/4 oak  or  birch.

My trailer is now registered and licensed in the State of California. The process was quite easy, a fellow teardrop builder posted a link for licensing his trailer with the California DMV and I just followed his recommendations. First I went online and printed out the forms I needed, filled those out, made an appointment online, then went to the DMV today. The whole process only took about 1.5 hours and that includes the wait time. Inspection consisted of a someone looking at the trailer and asking how much it weighed and having me sign a couple of forms. I thought they would at least check the lights, but guess not. Since I had all my paper work filled out prior to arriving, all the clerk did was go through my receipt's, had me sign some more forms and issued me my registration and plate for a mere fee of $165.00 which is for 5 years. Now I'm legal !

So its the New Year and all is well, moving along on the build, walls are on the frame to see the profile and how the fit is, I like it ! I'll have to drive down to San Diego to pick up a couple sheets of 1/4 inch 4 X10 ACX, thats the closest location I can find it. Also have an appointment to register the trailer at the DMV next week. Ordered the Hurrican hinge and the original style door latches, I'm leaning to keep it old style as much as possible, with the use of modern LED for lights and a 12 volt refrigerator instead of an ice box.

The plywood floor has been sealed with 3 coats of spar varnish and mounted to the frame with elevator bolts, these hold much better than the carriage bolts and don't spin when you tighten them. I've also started on framing the walls using 4 in x 1 in ( actually 3/4 in) pine. The framing for the door frame is Oak and Popular to add strength for mounting the door hinges and hardware. Next will be to buy some 4 x 10 ft 1/4 inch ACX plywood to attach to the outside of the frame, then insulate with 3/4 foam and then put the inner wall on, which will also be 1/4 ply, not sure what type of wood but more than likely it will be either Birch or Oak.

As you can see in the pictures I received the correct brackets for the shock kit and they have been mounted. I was not real happy about drilling a 1/2 inch hole through my frame for the mounting bolt, hopefully this will not cause my frame to weaken. Others have done the same with no ill affect that I know of. "Time will Tell". It took me about 3 hours from start to finish, excluding the trip I had to make to Lowes to pick up another  1/2 inch drill bit.

I ordered the wrong mounting brackets for the Monroe retro shock kit, I ordered part RB512 and should of ordered RB511, the replacement should be here this week. I also will be using elevator bolts instead of carriage bolts to attach the floor to the frame, the carriage bolts have a small head which kept spinning as I tried to tighten it down, had to use a clamp to stop the bolt from spinning, the elevator bolts are flatter and have a bigger head, hopefully these will work better and not spin when I tighten them down. I'm starting to layout the galley area with my fridge on the right and batteries / fuse panel on the left. In between will be some drawers and a counter top across the width, above the counter top will probably be a couple of cabinets or cubbys to hold other stuff. The top off the floor has been coated with a couple coats of spar varnish and sanded, I'll add a couple more coats before the floor is complete.

The floor has been insulated with 1.5 inch foam, top and bottom of the sub-frame covered with plywood. The bottom has been sealed with 2 coats of Raka epoxy, it will then be painted with 2 coats of Pettit EasyPoxy and then bolted to the frame, next is to start on the side walls. The  inner fender wells have been coated with 3 coats of  undercoating, outer fenders painted with a couple coats of primer until I can decide what color to paint them, I'm kinda liking the flat black look.  Shock kit has been orderd and will put on prior to mounting the floor, hopefully by next week.

The sub frame is 2 X 6 inch pressure treated fir mounted to the frame with 14 3 inch stainless steel bolts, 5 on each side and 2 at the front and 2 at the back. Arauco  ACX  .451 ply will be used for the floor. I used a router with a bottom bearing bit to get it flush with the sub-frame, it worked great, fast and precise. Next step is to take the sub-frame off of the trailer frame and glue and screw the flooring in place with PL 2000 adhesive. I also ordered some Pettit Easy Poxy Platinum paint to cover the underside of the sub-frame plywood floor, this will be used after a coat or two of Raka epoxy.

Fenders and mounts for propane tank and NATO water / gas cans have been fabricated. ( Thanks Steve : )I also have the tail lights and running lights mounted and working as well. I used a 7 pin preconnectorized cable and terminated it in a junction box then ran my wiring from my lights and electric brakes to the j-box. Next step is to mount the wooden sub-frame and attach the plywood to it. Not sure what method to use for water-proofing the underside of the floor, more than likely it will be to seal with Rakka epoxy and then a couple coats of Pettite epoxy paint.