Door is coming along nicely

I've been working on the door for a couple of weeks and its almost ready to sand and varnish. Its made from 5/4 fir, reclaimed spruce, and and an old closet shelf that I found at a yard sale for $2.00. I used this latter piece for the raised panels. I used spruce for the window--it is much more friendlier on the router that fir, which tends to splinter. I plan to put plexi-glass in the window. The door measures 28 by 72 inches.

Very cool chuck wagon

    I chanced upon this beautiful authentic chuck wagon while on a recent trip through central Oregon this summer.

 

Roof is almost finished

Back at it after a long summer break.  The roof is now fiber-glassed and covered with canvas. Thanks to Brian for help with this, and to the folks at Fiberlay, Portland for their time and great instructions on how to do this. This part of the project was a big and very expensive risk, but I'm really pleased with the way it came out. It has the traditional canvas look, it is watertight, lightweight, and you could park an elephant on the roof.I feel confident that it will pass the highway test.

Roof Core is Finished

The roof has a core of 1/4th by 5/4th western red cedar lathes that have been beaded and coved using the same technique as wood-strip canoe construction. It will eventually be fiber-glassed, providing a watertight and lightweight roof ideal for our climate here. The inside will be insulated, so none of the cedar will be visible. Shame, but I just wanted the wood for its excellent strength-to-weight properties. I could have used thin plywood to achieve the same results, but the cove-and-bead method is free of tension (which is always preferred). The eaves are lined with 5/8th cedar, most of which was left over from when I repaired the hot tub.

 

After the repetitive work on the roof core I needed a break, so I've started some of the fancy work on the back end. The door is of 5/4 Douglass fir. The rails and stiles are made from old door stiles that I picked up at a yard sale ($2.00!). I may eventually carve a Celtic knot into the panel, but right now I need to focus on getting thing thing roadworthy.

Bowtop Ribs in Place

Finally, the ribs and braces are installed for the roof support. This proved difficult and demanding. After failing to make them by steaming oak, and then failing to make them by laminating strips of hemlock, I settled on joining sections cut with a router/compass jig. This method, although wasteful (to some degree) and very time-consuming, produced very accurate results once all the bugs were worked out. I used clear Douglass fir for its strength and beautiful grain even though that effectively wiped out any karma I built up using using salvage wood for the floor and walls. Two of the ribs don't go all the way down to the ledge. The rib behind the seat is shortened to allow for the possible installation of side windows later on. Shortening the rib at the upper bunk saved four valuable inches of sleeping space. There are certainly unique challenges to making a small space work.

The ribs also incorporate a side cabinet. This cabinet is fitted with a roll-top door--a necessary space-saving device as there just isn't room for doors that swing out. I have also begun finishing the seats and lower bunk since the work space is going to get pretty tight once the roof goes on.