Project Rhocaravan

[richyb66]

Two weeks since the last update and progress has been steady, if somewhat slow. The main framework is largely complete now and an outstanding job was to treat the underside of the plywood floor. The wood is exterior grade but we still wanted to add some additional protection but before doing this we had to completely remove the frame and interior benches.

 

The bolted construction made this easy and an hour later everything was removed and we could turn the flooring over. It was wiped clean and then given a coating of grey stonechip which sets with a hard textured finish and the grey colour would make any work on the underside easier as holes and markings are more visible on a grey finish compared to black.

 

 

The stonechip was given a couple of days to dry thoroughly before the sheets were turned over and screwed to the chassis with M6 countersunk screws and nuts. The joins between the boards were sealed with a flexible window frame sealer and as the joints are all on top of a chassis member, they should be well protected from direct water ingress.

 

 

At the front, the pointed part of the flooor isn't directly supported so we added a bolt on angle bracket that we can screw the floor on to.

 

 

One other job we did before the floor was fixed down was to run the wiring for the trailer rear lights. The chassis already had cable clips rivetted on so it a simple job to route the wire down the chassis. At the back we fitted a junction box which will give us a harness running to the left had and right hand light clusters. Eventually the junction box will be screwed to the underside of the floor.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

We are using vinyl flooring on the inside but the shape is quite complicated and it would be difficult to cut the vinyl accurately around the seating benches. To overcome this problem, we laid a large sheet of vinyl across the whole floor, re-fitted the benches and then trimmed around them to leave a single piece of vinyl that was an exact fit. We also trimmed around the inside of the bench cupboards to make a piece to go inside.

 

 

 

Once the vinyl was cut, we removed the benches, carefully rolled up the main piece and stored it and then removed the wasted pieces that were left. The benches were then fixed permanently to the floor with M6 countersunk screws and nuts.

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

While I was working in the garage, Jackie made a start on the interior cushions. We'd keep the original trailer tent mattress and seating cushions so we could re-use the foam. The cover were stripped off and the foam was found to be in excellent condition and could be cut to the size we required using a fine serrated bread knife.

 

We measured the sizes that we wanted the cushions to be and then cut the foam 1/2" bigger. Jackie is confused by cm and mm so she work in inches and the minimum unit of measurement is 1/4" to keep things simple.

 

The foam is cut oversize so that when the covers are fitted, the tension in the cover makes the foam a bit smaller. Here's one piece of foam, 3" thick

 

 

 

The Covers will be made in a box style, this means the top and the 4 vertical sides are one piece of material and then the underside is a second piece. Using a box style means that the fabric pattern doesn't need to be aligned around the sides and the only pattern mismatch will be along the 4 vertical corners. The base panel will have a zip along the centre so the foam can be fitted.

 

In addition, we added some 1/4" wadding to the top of the foam to give the cushions as it improves the fit of the covers. The wadding is attached with spray adhesive and then trimmed with scissors. The process for making the cushions A" x B" is as follows:

 

Cut the foam to A+1/2" x B+1/2"

 

For the base we draw round foam then added 1/4" to each of the long sides (as we were adding a zip this makes allowance for that) but subtract 1/4" from the shorter sides of the base (so the join between the upper cover and the base end up on the underside surface.

 

Sew the zip to the base. The zip is bought in long lengths that can be trimmed to size and then the zipper part is fitted to one end.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

To make top part of the cover we drew around foam then added 2.75" to each side (foam depth - 1/4" - ignore the wadding as it squashes down to almost nothing) and cut out corner sections from over lapping lines

 

 

The cut out corners were pinned together to make a box shape and these were then sewn together.

 

Sew the top and bottom sections together.

 

 

Fit the foam.

 

 

 

Apologies for the dark photos, Jackie doesn't take good pictures. If anyone wan't to see clearer pictures or more detailed instructions, let us know.

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

I've been meaning to post something for weeks now but progress has been slow due to other things and I'm beginning to get worried. The start of the season if fast approaching and there's still lots to do.

 

Normally I'm pretty organised so I know what job I'm going to be doing before I go in the garage and I'm usually got all the parts that i need. This has gone a bit astray of late so i'm trying to plan ahead more and buy things well in advance rather that having to wait for them to arrive and find other stuff to do.

 

Having trimmed the floor covering, and fitted the benches, the side frames were bolted back on the chassis. We opened out the top holes in the frame tubes and fitted some steel crush tubes so the M8 bolts could be tightened down firmly.

 

 

Next up was to make a start on lining around the window apertures. The windows will have round corners at the bottom and square ones at the top and the entire aperture needs to be lined with at least 12mm of wood. This is so the rubber window seal can be stapled in to the wood and formed around the corners to give the desired shape. The corner pieces were made first from 2 pieces of 12mm plywood glued and screwed together - ideally i wanted 25mm thickness to match the width of the side frame tubes but 24mm is close enough.

 

 

The corner pieces would be fixed to the side frame with 4 screws so this meant drilling a lot of holes. We made a simple drilling jig so we could spot the holes through the top and bottom sides of the frame tubes and ensure the holes lined up. We also used the jig to pilot drill holes in the wood.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

With the corners screwed in place, the side and bottom pieces of wood could be cut to length and screwed in place. Again we used 12mm plywood, that had been cut in to 25mm wide long strips with a circular saw. The 12mm thickness should give the window rubber staples plenty to grip in to.

 

 

There are some small steps at the joins but we'll smooth these out with a flapwheel on a drill. The wood at the top of the window isn't fitted yet because we don't know what height it needs to be top to bottom. This will depend on the position of the seal on the window rubber relative to the hinge extrusion which will be rivetted in to the side frame tube.

 

The front windows also had the wooden liner fitted. There's a pair of windows at the front and with the wood fitted, the finished shape is more apparent.

 

 

The lower part of the rear frame still needed to be bolted to the chassis. As usual we were short of bolts but we drilled the holes anyway. The legs of the bench will be attached to the side frame using long M5 screws horizontally in to rivnuts in the square frame tube.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

This is the rivnut tool I used, I'm not sure I've got the biceps to fit the M8 rivnuts it's allegedly capable of fitting but it puts M5 ones in a treat.

 

 

You just drill a 7mm hole in the part you're fitting the rivnut to, thread a rivnut on the mandrel and pull it up like a rivet, Finally the mandrel is unscrewed.

 

 

Elsewhere on the frame, we removed the wood screws that were holding the benches to the sideframes and replaced them with M6 screws and nyloc nuts. The will allow us to remove the benches from the inside should the need ever arise. (and yes, we did trim the screws down).

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

Away from the caravan, I spent Tuesday evening pulling apart the R380 gearbox I'm planning on putting in the kit. The box is in good order but I'm swapping the 0.83:1 fifth gears for a taller 0.73:1 set. No photos of this yet because I just wanted to get on with the job but the old gears were removed easily once I'd removed the World's Tightest Layshaft Nut and split a layshaft and mainshaft bearing inner races to get them off.

 

The gears are fitted now and I should have the replacement bearings next week ready to finish it off. One other thing I did was put my back out lifting the box and at 45Kg is was probably inevitable. The pain has mostly subsided now and I'm no longer walking like Max Wall so hopefully I'll be back in garage on Monday night.

 

I also spent some time buying a few bits and pieces for the caravan. The largest of these were panels for the interior which are proper caravan trim. They're 3mm plywood with a decorative plastic finish and come in 7' x 4' sheets. Minimum order is 4 sheets which were duly delivered to the out-laws last week (they're always in so ideal for my deliveries).

 

Getting them the 10 miles back to Tamworth was more of a problem. they're just a bit too wide to go in the back of the daily so I decided to put them on the roof. I knew they might be a bit floppy and so took two 8' lengths of 2"x 1" timber with me which I clamped to the sheets before ratchet strapped them on to the roof bars.

 

if anyone is wondering what the Vmax of a Subaru is with these on the roof. on what was probably the windiest day in the last 6 months, it's about 28mph. So in consideration of other road users, I took the scenic route home through the quiet lanes and despite 4 stops on the way, I managed to get them home intact.

[richyb66]

The week we started to make the interior trim panels and the sheets we bought are light and the decorative covering seems pretty durable. At 7' x 4' they're too small to do a complete side panel and we don't really want the panels in a single piece because if they ever need to be removed, they won't fit through the door.

 

The most logical way place for the join is level with the top of the benches which will mean 2 small infills on the right hand side and one on the left. The panels only need to extend up to the kitchen area because we'll probably line the walls with stainless steel around the cooker and sink because it's easy to clean and doesn't burn.

 

We started with the right hand side as there's no doorway to contend with and clamped a long batten to the outside of the frame level with the top of the benches.The sheet was then stood on the batten and held with clamps at the top so we could draw around the outside profile and windows.

 

 

The panels were cut with a jigsaw which rips through them. We had to keep blipping the saw in short bursts as we cut because it was so aggressive cutting the thin plywood. The cuts were made around 3mm away from the marked line so the panels could be trimmed more exactly using a small surform plane on the straight parts and outer corners and a 80 grit Flapwheel on the window corners.

 

This is the panel in place before the windows were cut out.

 

 

On the left hand side, the panel was marked out the same way but we will have an additional join at the top corner of the door. The panel could have been a single piece but would be too flimsy and in addition, we will be running wiring inside the framework on the left hand side of the door (viewed from the inside) so is we have a smaller separate panel, it can be removed more easily than the whole side.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

The top of the window apertures still needed a wider wooden strip adding so that the bubble part of the window seal would be in the correct position relative the aluminium side frame where the window hinge will be fixed. After a bit of mocking up, we found out the wood needed to be 25mm x 50mm and as luck would have it, we had two 8' lengths spare that were taped to some of the aluminium extrusion we ordered to keep it straight.

 

The wood was cut to length and then screws fitted through the side frame down in to it. With a complete wooden frame around the window, we've got something to staple the seal to and we could trim the panel back to the aperture with the Surform and flapwheel.

 

 

The second panel to the rear of the door was also marked out and cut to size.

 

 

The panels will be screwed to the side frame with M5 screws into rivnuts. Initially we will only put one or 2 screws in because there will be other hardware fitted to the side panels so we don't need to be too generous with the fixings at this stage.

 

 

We've used 2 of the 4 panels to do the sides and the offcuts will be enough to make the 3 lower infill panels together with panels to go inside the side benches. The remaining 2 panels should easily to the back panel and most of the roof. We may use some white hardboard on the roof to get some colour contrast and also it's more reflective. It won't be as durable as the proper trim but as it shouldn't be brushed against, it should still be up to the job.

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

We're a week late with this update due to a Windows 10 update taking my computer down while I was half way through doing the write up.

 

With the interior side panels trimmed, we decided to finish off some of the kitchen area. We wanted to use the vinyl flooring inside the cupboards under the cooker / sink unit. The lower framework had already been marked out and drilled to bolt to the floor so the best plan was to cut the vinyl to fit the front and side frames, lay it in place, bolt down the lower frame and then trim the vinyl to the edge of the cupboard frames.

 

Jackie marked out a single piece of vinyl, held it in place with a couple of heavy weights (brake discs) and then cut out around the frame fixing holes using a piece of steel tube that had been sharpened with the angle grinder.

 

 

The lower frame was then bolted in place and the 3 pieces of vinyl inside the cupboards were cut out. The frame was then removed and the waste vinyl removed.

 

We refitted the lower framework and bolted it in place and then placed the cooker / sink unit on top. We needed to run gas pipe for the cooker up the back of the unit and new 8mm copper pipe was bent to shape and passed through a hole in the unit before being fixed with nylon P clips.

 

 

A second piece of copper pipe passes through the front of the chassis (to the right of the centreline in the picture above) and across to the right and them up through the floor. Both ends on this pipe have end to take rubber hose. Using rubber hose inside the lower cupboard saved us having to bend a single massive piece of pipe and will allow any slight misalignment to be accommodated. What isn't visible here is a Tee piece we added under the floor where we will run off a second feed to a gas powered fridge that will go inside the awning when we get round to making it.

 

Just about visible in the picture above is the sink unit with the water feed and waste pipe fitted. Also in the right hand corner we boarded off the back of the space at the side of the cooked to create a storage space with a couple of shelves.

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

With the kitchen area completed as far as we could at this stage, we rolled the caravan outside for a clean up in the garage. Here at the front you can see the sink and cooker fitted and the water / waste pipes are routed inside the unit and down through the floor ready to have the outside connections fitted. The area to the left of the sink will be filled with a worktop area and underneath this, we're planning on building an insulated cool box to supplement the outside fridge.

 

 

Here's the left hand side, slight cock up around the top of the door. We cut the interior panels square to match the side frame but the door frame actually has rounded top corners. Not a big problem and we can sort it out later.

 

 

This is the kitchen area with the 2 storage shelves on the left and the two pullout platforms that will form infills for the bed. Where these slide out, we added some wooden rub strips on the side panel so it doesn't get marked and this also cover the joint in the side panel. The lower unit still needs to have the 3 sliding doors and channels fitted back on.

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by richyb66

[richyb66]

Turning the caravan around and pulling it forwards in to the garage until the tow hitch touched the end wall left us with lots of space to work on the rear inside panelling. We were going to put a single panel inside extending from the top of the seating bench, up across the window and then hopefully curving around inside the roof and finishing on the horizontal part of the roof where we have a cross member to fix to. The grain on the interior panel was running side to side which would give us a chance of curving the panel around the 250mm radius we needed.

 

Before panel was fitted, we screwed two pieces of timber to the sideframe outboards of the window so that the panel would have some support. These pieces also clamp the side panel in place so we'd have a strong corner joint.

 

 

To mark out the panel, we clamped a batten to the outside frame level with the top of the seating bench, placed the panel on top of the batten and marked of the panel sides and window opening. As with the side panels, we left some material around the window when we did the cutting out so we could trim it to the correct size when it was fixed in place.

 

 

This is the panel from the inside. At the top we haven't tried to curve it to the roof yet because we need to fixed the lower part first.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

With the rear panel in place, it was obvious that we'd be needing some additional formers in the curved part of the roof to hold the panel in place. We marked out some 19mm plywood to the required shape (marked off from the side frame) and cut out 3 additional roof bows.

 

 

which we attached to the crossmembers above the window and across the roof using angle brackets. Two are fitted here and the third still needs to be added. The angle brackets were rivetted on with peel rivets which leave a broken off stem loose inside the crossmember that rattles around. To stop these causing annoyance later, we unbolted the complete crossmember and removed the stems before we continued.

 

 

With the roof bows in place, the upper part of the trim panel was bent in to shape and held with clamps.

 

 

 

We've left the panel clamped like this for a few days to see if it starts to relax and take some or the stress out of the panel. If it doesn't and the panel still has a lot of spring in it, we'll use a router to cut some shallow grooves across the entire panel to make it curve more easily.

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66

[richyb66]

This weekend we needed a takeaway job to bring up to Wales so I picked something that I've been not looking forward to, the window frames. The shape of the windows is crucial to the finished look of the caravan and we wanted to have windows with rounded lower corners and as this is the shape we've made the window holes, we've got to find a way of making them.

 

We will be using 2mm Lexan (polycarbonate) sheet for the windows. It's light, shatterproof and we don't plan on needing double glazing. Across the top of the window we will be using re-cycled caravan window hinge extrusions and the sides and bottom of the window will be formed with new aluminium extrusion. We bought some 4 meter lengths that are 9.5mm x 15mm and have a 2mm wide x 10mm deep slot in them. All we now need to do is bend the corners to the correct radius which is 125mm (to overlap the 100mm corners in the body).

 

In order to bend the extrusion, we made a simple jig using a piece of 2mm aluminium sheet that will fit in the extrusion channnel and has the correct radius on it. The sheet was screwed to a piece of 19mm plywood with a thin plywood spacer between the 2 parts that was the same thickness as the leg of the extrusion.

 

Here's the extrusion we're using:

 

 

and it pushes on to the jig like this:

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by richyb66