Projects
Building stuff
We used to have a 40 foot class A motorhome that Hilary really enjoyed using as a place to retreat to when he wanted to be alone
Hilary really misses it, and came and asked one day if he could have a small camper. For a project, and to help teach him the value of working towards a goal, we decided to build one!
Here's the progress of his project. He's doing most of the work himself, with welding and electrical done by his dad!
Project's done, thanks for following along!
Click on a photo to make it bigger in a new window or tab
May 1, 2014 - Wheels and axle from the junk yard
Then we start the frame
As we always do here on the farm, all the trailer parts we needed came from eTrailer
They beat local prices, have very fair shipping rates and the customer service is tops!
If you need trailer parts, Click Here
May 5, 2014 - Video of Hilary installing the springs!
May 12, 2014 - Work continues on the frame
May 16, 2014 - Project to date, is goat approved!
May 19, 2014 - Floor finished!
May 20, 2014 - Moved to the rear of the property, where it will live.
May 27, 2014 - Got everything level and supported, now on to the walls!
June 2, 2014 - Building the first wall
June 4, 2014 - Unloading more materials
Spent the afternoon cutting roof rafters!
We used our Plasma cutter to custom cut some brackets for the rafters
June 8, 2014 - Roof rafters done
June 9, 2014 - Put up the other side wallRan out of lumber, guess we'll need to make another trip to the lumber yard!
Framed out for the air conditioner and started drilling for wiring
June 10, 2014 - Hilary's setting the top cap
Rear wall up, and a first roof joist
June 16, 2014 - Front wall up, and roof rafter ties setWe'll align the rafters and screw them down next week
June 23, 2014 - Securing roof rafters
We also installed 2 windows!
June 24, 2014 - Started the siding
Then Hilary put a quick coat of paint to protect the wood
Video of Hilary Doing some painting. He got better as he went!
June 25 - Put up another side
June 26 - Installed and painted the front siding
Got the air conditioner installed and trimmed out too!
June 27, 2014 - Installed trim around the windows and door
June 28, 2014 - Last bit of siding installed. Next, the roof!
June 30, 2014 - Painting the roof decking, for a little extra protection!You'll notice a scaffold next to the house. We got that today!
July 1, 2014 - Screwed down the roof deck to the joistsThis took hours in the hot sun, with lots of breaks!
July 2, 2014 - Installed the fascia board and drip edge
Then we put down a layer of felt. This will keep it water tight until we do the shingles!(This took us 10 hours, as we needed lots of breaks. It's 95F out here!)
July 3, 2014 - Did some trim work today, and will do more tomorrow.We got an inch of rain last night, and the roof held well!
July 4, 2014 - Rolled out the roofing on the driveway, to cut it to length.
July 5, 2014 - Roofing glued and nailed down, and nails covered in roof cement. Roof done!
Hilary got the trim painted too!
July 6, 2014 - We have a door! Build one from scratch today.
Hilary just needs to paint it, and I'll install the lockset.
Hilary went ahead and did the painting a few hours later, then he learned how to drill out for the lock.
July 8, 2014 - Today, we put up the soffits and some more trim. Trim covers a multitude of carpentry errors!
July 9, 2014 - Some more painting today
July 15, 2014 - Sealed up the air conditioner opening with spray foam.
Then we got going on the power!Got all the outlets and light switch wired.
July 22, 2014 - We bought insulation today! Gosh has this stuff gone up in price the last decade.
July 27, 2014 - Started the roof rafter insulation. Tomorrow, we purchase the interior wall paneling and start installing it!
July 28, 2014 - Finished the roof rafter insulation. We also got the ceiling installed. Hilary was very happy about that!
July 29, 2014 - Started installing the wall panels today. We put the panels up, then used the router to cut out for the window!
July 30, 2014 - Front wall and TV shelf done today!His new 32 inch TV came in today. I'll surprise him with it after we paint!
July 31, 2014 - Finished trimming out the inside todayRather than buy expensive mill work, we cut our own out of 2x4s and saved a fortune!
Took about an hour per window, making the trim and then installing it.
August 1, 2014 - Today, we painted! You can't really tell in the photo, but we painted the walls a nice powder blue. Tomorrow, we carpet!
August 2, 2014 - Put the carpet down last night. Today, a trip to Habitat for Humanity found a nice couch just small enough to get through the door!
Finally, I installed his new 32 inch TV. We had to bury a cable from the barn where the TV antenna connections are, to his camper. Over the next few days, we'll sew up some curtains for the windows and Hilary will decorate as he wishes. We also need to put the final coat of paint on the outside.
Hilary dug out his laptop computer, to use in his camper.
A small problem though, the charge jack was broken. We were happy to find the part available at Amazon.com, so I ordered the part, and got his laptop apart and the old charge board out. It's not as bad as it looks!
August 4, 2014 - Hilary has always connected a camper, with a VHS player for some reason, so today I spent way too much money on a VHS / DVD player. He also wanted a shelf under his TV for his tapes and DVDs. Still need to paint it, but it's all done otherwise!
Finally today, we sewed up some yellow curtains for the windows!
August 6, 2014 - Hilary got in his Spongebob sticker set, to decorate the walls!
August 7, 2014 - This morning, we gave the outside two coats of the final paint color. Really came out well. Later today, we'll decorate the outside.
Decorating the outside of the camper, means we're about done!
September 1, 2014 - A few finishing touchesHilary decided he wanted a couple of extra shelves in the corner.
September 6, 2014 - Hilary got some scrap lumber and made himself a step up into his camper.
September 23, 2014 - Hilary got some more scrap lumber and made himself a "Motorhome" sign.
June 6, 2016 - Privacy panel installed
When we learned that Hilary was tending to stip off his bathing suit outside his camper before going in, after a swim, we installed a privacy fence to protect his modesty!
Here's the fence panel from the other side
It's been a great project! Thanks for following along. Now all there is to do, is enjoy his private place on the farm.
Copyright
A little request
All of the artwork on these pages are copyright astrobunny.com and may not be reproduced without permission. If you are interested in anything you see here, please use the contact button in the top menu and let us know!