Not such a good day today weatherwise although it warmed up later. With the promise of nice weather, I decided not to spoil a 4-day weekend so I did more to the camper
instead of going to work.
I finished welding all the pieces that needed to be done to ensure a good fit.
I welded the outer framing for the rear door and tried it in the hole. Making the parts in a modular fashion has its problems
. The back vertical wall didn't quite match the already welded base block leaving the doorway too narrow at the bottom. I had aimed at about 10mm all around clearance at this stage.(the reveal is 3mm each side, the door corner edging 1mm each side leaving 1mm ) I consider this is hardly enough and might have to go for a thinner reveal. With this in mind, I had to grind through the weld and adjust the offending spar with a lump hammer
It is a testament to how my welding had improved.
Some extra support spars were screwed into place at points I thought looked weak
All the vertical sections were tacked together in situ then the whole thing disassembled into the base block, horizontals and verticals.
I will go through all of these, fillet welding where necessary. Some of the corner pieces used to screw together the frame were welded in situ. This was for added strength as they are a heavier gauge and allow a bit more power without blowing through. When all assembled none of the joints will be visible and just to be sure I might take out all the screws, that are technically not doing anything, and open the tapped hole out to take a 4mm pop rivet. Beld and braces I know but, I noted the screws had started to show signs of rust. I'm not sure if you can get a galvanic type electrical corrosion but I think aluminium rivets will quell my fears.
I had used stainless self-tapping screws originally but found if the pilot hole was dead on the recommended size I could break the head off. If I used a larger size drill, as required in thicker sections I could strip the threads out
Bits all over the place.
At least it allowed me to give the work area a bit of a spring clean, ( Cut the grass
) it was getting quite shabby plus the dog has only got short legs and was beginning to refuse to use it.
The fiberglass sheets will have to come off too as I will need to weld all the seams together on final assembly. This will be done at the top of the garden near the rear access road. The base section is almost completely welded up, apart from the added supports. This will go back to the work area (lawn) to have all the checker plate refitted and the corner angle pieces fitted and sealed.
Still a lot to do to get my watertight box but I'm getting excited
I still need to find and easy way of taking the cover off the back of the pickup. 4 of us rearly struggled taking it off and putting it back. It could just be that 2 of us were short Arses