Where has a year gone?

So it's been almost a year since my last post.  Wow.  Around this time last year, I decided summer had been busy enough (and expensive enough) working on the trailer that I needed to pack it up for the winter and take a break for a while.  Fast forward about 9 months, and this summer got off to a slower start than I anticipated.  Two moves and a bunch more money spent, and I wasn't sure I was going to get off the ground this year.  I knew I had a bunch of work to do on the trailer with existing materials, I just needed the time to do it.  A three day weekend in August with Diane out of town in Cleveland presented just the opportunity.

I last left the trailer with the frame assembled, walls installed, door openings cut, and 2"x2" stringers spanning the walls.   After some discussion, deliberation, and napkin planning, my dad and I decided the next major construction work needed to be to begin construction on the pantry cabinetry in the back, and enclosing the whole thing with an exterior skin.

Ok, so a few more materials were in order.  A trip to Home Depot for some 5/8" and 1/4" plywood and a boatload of screws should do the trick for now.  Details below.

Focusing on the pantry cabinetry, we decided that construction would use 5/8" plywood to create the framing, joined to the walls with wood glue and a butt joint screwed through from the outside of the wall (no I'm not a woodworker, but I've stayed at a Holiday Inn!).  The choice of 5/8" was made as a compromise between thinner, lighter, and cheaper plywood, and something thick enough to support the butt joints without splitting or accidental screw punch throughs.  As part of this method, pilot holes and counter sinks were drilled for every screw.  At one point, this became a juggling act involving multiple drills and bits.

So, the question of where to begin arose next.  I liken our approach to this project (without blueprints) as either building a ship in a bottle, or designing a car around its ashtray.  That said, we dimensioned several things including mattress length and height, the sink opening, under cabinet space, and door clearance, and decided to begin from the counter top in the back.  Borrowed from some plans found online, the following illustrates the basic design concept for the kitchen space in the rear.

The design concept for the cabinet internals are depicted by the following:

The key elements shown here are a counter top (that will eventually contain a sink and stove), an above and below counter set of rear opening cabinets, and a set of above feet internal cabinets and electrical raceway for wiring, power strips, etc. 

Getting started on this design, with measuring and cutting, our first installed panel was the counter top.

From there, we moved panel by panel.  Next up, the cabinet face for the rear cabinet (and back of the lower cabinet):

And the shared back wall for both the rear and internal cabinet:

The internal cabinet spaces are becoming obvious:

And the interior cabinet and electrical raceway:

As you can see, many screws are used throughout.  A nearly complete cabinet framing looks like this:

Moving to the exterior skin, we decided on a Guatemalan 1/4" plywood.  This proved to be a nice balance between thick, sturdy construction, and the pliability needed to follow the 24" radius curve at the front of the trailer.  We also chose an "up and over" approach of fastening the plywood starting at the bottom of the front of the trailer, and working up and over to the back, bending the plywood progressively futher as we went.

With the plywood cut a bit extra wide, we started by clamping the plywood to the frame at the bottom.  We used 1" wood screws extensively throughout, screwing out from the center and across the stringers, and up the sides through the edge of the 3/4" walls.  Screws were spaced about every 4" with liberal use of wood glue throughout.  Along the way, we wet both sides of the plywood with a heavy sponge to aid in bending.

Along the way, extra stringers were added at the plywood seams to provide additional reinforcement and ensure the seams didn't "peel" up and show a hard edge.

A a router pass along the edges produced a nice, smooth finish where the plywood meets the wall.

A couple coats of spar urethane to seal it up and that's a wrap for now.  I'd say that's plenty of progress for one weekend.  When it was all said and done, my dad described the trailer as a "screw museum".  I guess it fits, huh?

Next up, finishing the cabinet framing, cutting door openings, and trimming out doors. Oh, and beginning to tackle the nightmare back door.

With winter already around the corner again, my attention has turned to securing a working space that will allow me to continue to work on the trailer through the snowy season.  My dad has an angle on a neighbor's garage.  Details to follow...