We spent the first day of the new year finishing up the bedroom platform frame. We had to weld in a couple of support brackets at the front of the platform then get it primed and painted. But it's finally done!
Support brackets in place and starting to prime!
We had just enough primer, thankfully!
On to painting! We were excited to get to this point. We have completed the first major task and are ready to move to the next.
We are ready to move on to insulating the floor of the trailer. We have to look into companies that do the spray insulation or icing as they call it. We have some prep work to do first. We are planning to pull up the wood floor, then rivet some fiberglass sheeting down to the I beams. Then comes the insulation!
We have high hopes for this year and will keep you all updated on the build and our journey into the world of Tiny Living! Welcome to 2014, enter with joy in your hearts!
4 comments:
Nice Job! Can't wait to see the next layer!
I just wanted to make a comment and ask a question as well, I have been in a smaller quick thrown together homemade box I call it. I will say I am going to total remodel, by making it 8' ceilings vs 6. I have 2" rigid foam insulation everywhere, and I only burned 35 gallons of diesel last winter in my toyo heater and well my box is just sitting on my trailer with the 2x4's vertical in the stake boxes and the plywood on the inside portion of them. My gooseneck /bunk area I used 2x4' floor joists on 16" centers which I know now is overkill but I think it is the best with only 3/8 cdx, and then my wall sheathing I pulled back into the top side of the wall 3'. Everything on mine is glued and screwed, zero nails. I will leave my gooseneck portion free floating like I have now. I was wondering how much movement you have done with your trailer? I know mine has not budged or cracked anywhere with the 5,800 miles it has been moved. When it survived the Alcan, the worst near Beaver Creek and the Alaska boarder, took 4 hours to go 100 miles I know that this is the lightest and strongest version(non typical 2x4 house stud wall version). I was overweight 16K gross with all my belongings, but nothing shifted or broke and zero tire issues staying at 60mph. There is about 1-1.5" flex in the gooseneck to the trailer frame while driving or entering uneven surfaces or through that rough section of the Alcan so I see it mainly from the front deck(my trailer is a 14K deck over loadmax) its more of a twist in the main deck to the neck. I am not saying it is wrong, but the way I've observed the deck flexing I am curious if you have had any flexing issues up at your gooseneck area being boxed in and welded to the neck? I built with my trailer leveled, and when hooked up, there is about 1/2" of tongue flex, I'd say floor pressure on it. I can see from the slight rub(1/8" over all) in the 2x4's. So I was just curious as to what your experience has been? I see everyone building and they neglect to think a 14K trailer weights 5K almost when completely empty. I had $2500 in mine when I threw it together, and it has worked well for 19 months. I am planning on using my same skeletal design and using metal for exterior and 1/8" board inside. I am wondering what yours grossed out at, if you have went across scales with it? I know mine pulled just fine at 60mph, no lifting no damage, and I even put the windows in without headers and are 1/8" gap around them. I had to think about non typical building designs, because well if you looked at a camper shell with its exterior off, they have non as well.
Its kind of hard to understand the description of your house, as far as the way the deck over the goose neck is freefloated from the bed of the trailer. But, to answer the question, no we haven't had ours weighed yet. And, yes we know this beast is going to be heavy.
When we originally bought the trailer we talked about the price difference between the three models we were looking at. The two 7k single wheel axle trailer was $6300 and all the heavier rated trailers started at $12000. So, we decided to get the cheaper model for $6300. The idea as that if we fell overweight I could get another 7k single wheel axle/w tires and all for about $1200. I can install the axle in a weekend with no problems. The worst part is adding a reinforcement over those tires!
As far as the flexing inssue goes, I don't honestly know how it will handle! I did try to keep everything locked in pretty tight when welding it.........I also have a close relative that I consulted with on this venture. He owns a shop that builds and repairs semi-trailers. We will figure these issues out when we get there.
We are pretty sure that we will have to add another axle but the way this trailer is built is pretty straight forward and shouldn't have any issues with it. Because, the I beams for all of their gooseneck trailers are all the same. So, adding the extra axle will crank up the capacity to 21000 lbs and the current frame can handle extra that too!
Best of luck with your build,
Guy In All The Pictures.(not horses or cat)
Sorry, .................the current frame can handle the extra weight too! And that is why typing sucks on a pad! Bye!
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