Camp Camp Evolution

I decided to work on the gussets first, so I had some options. I could lay out all the gussets by hand with a t-square and then painstakingly saw them all out or make a template and use a router to cut them all identical-like. I went with that option, making templates of both gusset types out of MDF. I then laid the templates out onto a sheet of 15/32 4ply plywood that I had laying around and traced them with a sharpie.

I also went so far as to drill all the inside corners of the traced templates so that I can turn the jig saw without twisting the blade. So clever... Anyway, 2 sheets of plywood later, I have 24 megagussets (the ones that form the contour of the truck bed) and 24 radius gussts either roughed out or at least traced.

Once I was done tracing, I was able to use the template for real. Using my handy and tres sexy paslode finish nailer, I tacked the template to a 2x4 and clamped in the vice like grip of my vice like jawhorse.

You can see the stack of rough cut gussets in the background. The jugsaw made for a really jagged edge so the router was really the way to go.

The roughcut gussets nicely overhang the template so that i can have perfect edges once the router trims them up. A clamp on each end and I can start zinging away.

Of course it worked. Took some time, but I ended up with sharp clean edges with the only obvious flaw being the inside corners of the gusset. As boards will be glued up into these corners, they need to be squared off, so a little jigsaw action was required to de-radius them. Victory entitled me to a beer and a smoke. Then it started raining...