Adventure #3 - Gorge Amphitheater

Epic weekend with good friends watching one of our all time favorite performers, Jack Johnson, and had a surprise performance from Eddie Vedder, one of our other favorites...the night could have been one of my top 10 experiences ever! It was surreal!!!

The camping trailer was a magnet as soon as we pulled into the Gorge camping area, our friends following us said that people just stopped and stated as we drove by. We had a pretty steady flow of admirers throughout the afternoon  interested in how the concept came about, how long it took to build, and the process I went through. We even had one woman stop by to say "you have built my dream!"...so much fun to get these kinds if comments!

I brought along one of the soon-to-be installed solar panels and unfortunately had a wiring issue that I need to resolve, but hooking it up was quick and will allow us to be out for days in a generally sunny environment. Eventually I will be adding a wind turbine for days when the sun doesn't shine.

Kitchen coming together

In preparation for a trip to the Gorge Amphitheater to see Jack Johnson (with a surprise guest appearance from Eddie Vedder!) I spent some time getting the kitchen fully functional, including the sink powered by a foot pump.

This included finding a great set of bathroom vanity cabinets at Second Use in Seattle. I had to trim a few inches off the bottom, but they are an amazing compliment to the kitchen space and provide some much needed storage for pots, pans, snacks, dry goods, and games for the girls.

Flooring Complete!

Choosing flooring proved to be a much more challenging decision making process than anticipated. 

Lightweight quickly eliminated most options, including bamboo and most cork which topped the list.

Flexible in order to move with the trailer eliminated most of the rest.

It came down to self adhering cork, which unfortunately didn't seem like it would hold up to wet feet or bikes and the abuse of dragging coolers and gear in and out, so scratched that from the list.

Vinyl was easy to scratch due to the PVC and VOCs that would off-gas and create an unhealthy indoor environment.

In the end, while it didn't even make my initial list, laminate won. It is fairly lightweight, very durable, flexible and affordable. While not the greenest of materials, most manufactures now have a "green" line that offers low VOC embedded adhesives and comprehensive production recycling standards. I also decided to nail rather than glue the laminate, and because if the small space (about 60 square feet) I was able to use laminate with interlocking  panels and nail around the edges that will eventually be covered by moulding.

 

Adventure #2 - Ocean City, WA

Nearly a year ago I conceptualized the idea of a family camping trailer that could take us anywhere we wanted to go in style and with minimal impact on the environment. While some may not agree that driving on a beach fits the bill for "minimal impact", it has been a romantic idea that this weekend materialized. Since the trailer has only been functional enough to tow since Memorial Day weekend, booking a camping site at a popular state park has been pretty much out of the question.

I had been watching https://washington.goingtocamp.com regularly to see if anything popped up via a cancellation, and on Friday morning a prime site at Ocean City State Park opened and I booked it immediately. We hitched up Saturday morning and took our time after leaving I-5 at Olympia winding through back roads and stopping to take in the sites. 

We realized after stopping for groceries in Aberdeen that Kayden forgot a swimsuit, a must for this little open water aficionado! Walmart was next to the grocery store, so I pulled around and parked in the loading zone while Heidi and the girls all went inside to find a swimsuit. It didn't take more than 10 minutes, but in that time I had a steady stream of admirers stop by to take a look, ask questions, offer a compliment or want to take a peak inside. It was if I had just towed the circus into town for its annual visit, just amazing!

We finally ended up at the state park in space 153, with lots of space, some share, full utilities and just a few hundred feet from the beach trail. I was on cloud 9!

The state park and beach are buffered by a beautiful series of wetlands and sand dunes, and about a 4 or 5 minute walk gets you onto the beach that stretches for miles in each direction. Driving is allowed on this section of the beach, which at first seems completely disrespectful, but drivers are quite courteous and there is plenty of room for vehicles and people, along with herds of horses and riders, scooters and kites!

We opted to spend our Sunday afternoon on the beach and decided we would try out driving...it turned out to not only be easy, but a great way to spend the day and how nice to have a kitchen and solar shower at our immediate disposal!

Rear Window in the Pop-top

The finished product with trim in place ready for summer.

Stapling the screen in place.

The rear "window" was designed to serve a number of critical needs for the trailer.

1. Bring in much needed natural light to prevent the need to use indoor lighting during the day, complementing the available light from the two windows.

2. Provide ventilation for hot days and cooking.

3. Allow for the outdoor camping feel with all the amenities of an indoor space, and keeping the trailer effectively free of bugs...a solution is needed for the door though as it is tough with 2 kids to keep it closed when camping!

4. Finally, offer structural support for the pop-top when deployed.

When the pop-top was first designed (below) it was intended to pop-up completely with four sides and no hinges. It would slide on industrial drawer slides and have 4 adjustable gas struts to lift. With this in mind, I designed the back "pocket" where the rear wall/window would tuck inside to be just big enough for the width of a window to move up and down.

Original pop-top design.

After a necessary redesign to the pop-top, due to complications lifting a heavy wood structure with minimal margin of error for flex, I transitioned to a version that attached at the fore end of the trailer via three industrial door hinges and only requires two gas struts near the aft end of the trailer. These struts are also a standard 125 pound version and cost about $40 each versus the adjustable version I had previously spec'd that would have cost at least $150 each and needed to be shipped from Europe...I could not find any produced or sold in the US.

Close up of the hinged rear window.

After the transition to the new design, the back wall came in and out of the "pocket" at an angle and no longer would allow a window to fit. Because of this, the rear window now has hinges and moves fore and aft as needed to lift and lower. In the future, I will be building a removable and insulated panel with a sliding window for the rainy and cold months of the year. For summer time, the large screened in window is quite nice! I am also conceptualizing a cover for the back that will button in place using sunbrella fabric, the same time used on exterior boat covers. This will act as a rain fly in wet weather, an insulated barrier during shoulder season adventures, and extra insulation when the removable and insulated panel is installed for winter camping. It will be a bit of work to make the seasonal transition, but allows us to have the best of all seasons.

Adventure #1 - South Whidbey Island State Park, WA

The maiden voyage for Father's Day!

Waiting for the ferry to Whidbey Island in Mukilteo, WA.

South Whidbey Island State Park

Daddy forgot to seal a recently nailed seam on the roof and it rained cats and dogs all night! Fixed it temporarily with duct tape.

To Sheath or Not, That is the Question

Sheathing adds tons of strength and rigidity to a structure, but also weighs a significant amount, something I couldn't justify if I was to stay around 2000 pounds for the "dry" weight of the finished product. Being a spreadsheet guru, I built a spreadsheet that would allow me to estimate materials

My fellow green innovator, James, helping to finalize the house wrap.

and the total weight they would contribute. Also interested  more in building something that met my specific needs and not too worried about anyone else at the lumber yard thinking I am off my rocker, I took a few trips to both Dunn Lumber, our local lumber yard, and Home Depot to use our home scale and weigh myself while holding lumber. I then subtracted my body weight to get the actual weight of materials.

You would be amazed at how much 2x2's, 2x3's, 1/4" ply, and 1/2" ply vary in weight, and how much they vary compared with "standard" weights one would find online. I likely saved a few hundred pounds by hand selecting the materials I used versus ordering them in bulk. I also took the time to hand select the 2x2's and open bundles to find those that were true and not warped. 2x2's in particular can vary in weight by up to 2 or 3 pounds and many are warped and not appropriate for framing.

To gain the most rigidity possible while reducing weight and giving the interior a log cabin like feel, I opted to flip the traditional framing process on its head and use the interior walls as sheathing. The walls then came together in this order.

Interior - 1/2" or 1/4" ply walls - 2x2 or 2x3 frame - 1 1/2" EPS insulation - Tyvek - Cedar siding

Since 1/2" ply was used on the front end and the roof fully connected to the walls, everything stayed plenty rigid. Near the aft end of the trailer, and where the pop-top did not provide a connection point
between walls, I had to use metal straps (salvaged from a nearby home construction site) to provide greater rigidity.

Steaming the front rad

For the from and rear "radius" and the top, I used moisture resistant underlayment in either birch or a sustainably produced eucalyptus 1/4" inch ply on both the inside and outside. This same process was used for the roof of the pop-top and did require some steaming and then bending to get the right shape without breaking the outer ply.

Sheathing on the interior, metal strapping for strength when using 1/4" ply instead of 1/2", and the original pop-top design.