Starting the interior

Had a really busy Saturday, with the morning spent taking care of all kinds of errands, but I did manage to get the ball rolling on the interior. Took a trip to Lumber Liquidators and picked up a little over 80 square feet of utility oak hardwood flooring. That gives me about 30% more than I need, so I'm hoping of that amount I'll be able to sort out some usable pieces - at about 80 cents a square foot. I should be okay.

Above are the four bundles, along with some underlayment. Below is a couple sample boards ...

As with any flooring, you need to let it sit a few days to acclimate to the temperature and humidity of where it's being installed, so I won't get started putting it in until next weekend. With only 60 square feet to cover, using an air nailer, it should go in quickly.

This afternoon I took the air conditioner out and sanded the walls. The builder had put some poly on them, but they were a bit rough. With my power sander and some 320 grit paper I was able to get the sidewalls nice and smooth in about an hour.

A little 'selfie' from inside the trailer. Brought in some tunes to go along with the work! The shelf behind me is the bunk frame for Nate. Later on I'll trim that up with some cabinetry and a couple guard rails to keep him from rolling out of the bunk.

She's finally home ...

Aside from myself and Nate having a wonderful weekend with Sherrie, Brett and the boys, I also went up to Mt. Airy to pick up the trailer. She handles beautifully, and she did turn a few heads. We took a leisurely drive home, but even at 65 MPH on smooth blacktop, you wouldn't know she was back there - even when riding alongside tractor trailers. I also calculated that pulling her only expends about 5 MPG more on my truck than regular driving ... I think that's really good!

The REAL moment of truth was when we arrived home. I had carefully measured the clearance of my garage to be 82 inches. The builder told me that she's 79" from the ground - not much margin. And I seemed to entertain my neighbors with my effort to back her in. But only after a half dozen tries I did get her in on the right side of the garage. SHE FITS!!! I put the caster on the tongue jack and finessed her in the rest of the way by hand. I then cracked open a cold one and just sat back and gave her a good look-over, like any new, proud papa would.

Next weekend I'll start up with the interior. First thing to tackle will be the flooring. Sherrie's neighbor had some extra hardwood, but unfortunately it wasn't the right color. So I'll have to take a trip out to Lumber Liquidators and see what they have there.

Daytime pics ...

As promised, here are a couple photos from today ...

I'm not sure, but it looks like he added an external outlet on the front edge of the passenger side.

That full wrap mill finish aluminum really looks pretty!

More Pictures from the Builder

Well, it seems like forever since I last saw a new picture from the builder, but the builder has completed his tasks, and has posted a whole slew of photos of the Compass Rose. Now it's just a matter of waiting a few days for the trip up to Mt. Airy to wrap things up and bring her home!

He apologized that the photos weren't better - he said he would send some more tomorrow. I can't complain - at least with the night shots, we can see how the lights are working ...

Here's a good shot of the passenger side (above). I finally get to see the custom door installed and one of the windows. I wasn't sure what the door would look like - so glad that it has a window in it!

Here is the back of the trailer - needs a good wash I think. Note the additional LED trailer brake lights on the back. I imagine he has these wired to the brake circuit to serve as 'collision' lights - exactly what I was wanting. Oh! He included a 'porch' light next to the door! It's in the upper right corner. Cool!

Driver's side of the teardrop ... looks like the running lights are working. You can see the round port for hooking power up, and just below that the vent for the air conditioner.

Interior, looking towards the back. You can see the supports for the futon installed in the lower corners. Building and installing the futon will be one of my tasks. Can't really see the LED light channel in the ceiling, other than it's really bright! I see he's mounted the switch next to it.

Interior, looking forward. There is the bunk frame for Nate. On the left side, the large white box is the air conditioner. You can also see two of the three power outlets. The one up on the wall is for the TV, next to the piece of wood where the mount will be attached. I am really glad to see how much light those LEDs put out!

Another interior shot, and a good view of the mount for the futon frame. Seems a little longer than I expected, but it's hard to tell if that's just the effect of the camera lens in this space. Judging from the sheen off of the wall, it looks like he went ahead and finished the interior. That birch wood sure does make it look cozy!

Last picture - passenger side. That is a really nice door! I like that it also has a screen door, just like a regular RV. Having the smoke detector is a good idea too.

Handling the taxes and registration was a bit of a chore. As you might expect, the Treasurer's Office and the DMV aren't too familiar with teardrops. It took some hemming and hawing, and I still have more paperwork to do with the state, but they did issue a temporary tag and registration, so I can go pick it up. Whew! Can't wait!

Build Update - Metal is On!

Received an email from the builder today about his progress. The teardrop is now skinned, and here's the proof. He was able to get one continuous piece of aluminum for the roof - no seams. It also appears he was able to do the same for the sides, although as with his other teardrops he has the mill finish bottom portions attached as well.

The plan is to add diamond plate to the front and rear of the trailer, which apparently he hasn't done yet. The diamond plate will come up about three feet from the frame. This will help protect it from road debris. He is still waiting on the door to arrive, and has some finishing touches to do, but he's nearing completion.

I've spent this past week lining up insurance and figuring out what needs to be done to get the trailer registered and get the license plate.

The Compass Rose logo has been converted to a vector file for the sign maker. The vector file allows him to scale up the image without distorting it as a picture would. I need to reach back out to him and get on his schedule, which I'll do next week.

I'm getting my ideas together on the interior. In addition to making the futon frame and putting in cabinets, I'm also thinking of putting hardwood floors in. Lumber Liquidators has unfinished 'utility' oak for about a dollar a square foot - you have to buy more than you need and sort the bad out from the good, but even with the required 'pad' it's still cheaper than buying 'prime' flooring or even laminate, and it's solid hardwood so it should hold up to use very well. I use it for the futon and cabinetry framing too. Definitely have a lot of carpentry ahead of me!

AC, TV and Mount are already purchased. I had the AC and TV mount shipped to the builder so he could install them as part of this tasks. The little TV is impressive, especially for how cheap I got it (Labor Day Sale at HHGregg). I have a WD media box I can put movies on - it takes up very little space.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share soon!