Standing on its Own

I had it standing in my garage early last week and contemplated my forward plan. Most of the details of the camper had been thought out, but not so much my big overall plan of how it would come together, step by step.

Once it was up and I could stare at it a while and my long commutes spent in deep contemplation, I was finally encouraged enough to leap into it and start building for realz.

Here are my 6 frames, fully assembled and sanded smooth and clean. The idea is to have the frames strung together with horizontal battens to, not only tie the outer walls to, but also hold the frames at the right distances apart. The frames go up first, then the skins.

The battens need to be installed so they're flush to the outside surface of the frames and more or less in a nice straight line. So I did this:

Using a strip of 2x.75 ply, I traced what would be the outside limits of the battens. The little thinned scrap near the marker is a segment of the actual batten plywood strip. In the background, you can see the tank to my smoker ever-in-progress.

I used the circular saw to cut rows and rows of slots into the plywood, then first used the claw of a hammer to break out the little remaining tabs. I then finished with a chisel.

Now that that's done, it was time to paint. I decided to use the insulating paint on the outer and inner walls and not wasting it on the frames, so this is some left over white gloss acrylic paint. 

I glued and screwed the battens on top to the front and rear frames then slid the other frames and have them clamped in place. They're sitting on a rolling cart I'd made a very long time ago and thankfully hadn't thrown away. I'm still missing the floor and subfloor, though, so that's another trip to Home Depot. Anyway, I decided the pitch between the frames out be 17 inches except for where I plan on installing the roof "escape" hatch. The hatch is really more than just another way out, it's a way to access the roof if I ever add racks or a quick way to get light and ventilation. I cut lengths of 2x.75 ply to act as spacers to set all my distances. Those spacers will then be used to help secure the subfloor to the floor. The application of this will be more clear when I document that process.

This coming week, I'll be making the escape hatch. I plan on having it all assembled and painted before doing more work on the camper. I have to wait until the camper is fully skinned before I install the hatch- but that'll be more clear why when I get to it. I'm  completely exhausted.

This last photo is crooked because I was too lazy to do it right, really. But there it is. The plywood at the end there is only partially painted because that's the panel the door will be cut through. I need 2 sheets of ply to do the front and rear  each, and for the door, I want the 2 sheets to butt vertically mid-door. The end closest to the camera here will have a window that will be near the rear cab window of the truck and I want the sheets for this end to butt horizontally near the bottom. It probably doesn't matter, though. I just have those decisions weighted in my head.