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People put more than that weight on their roofs when they load their roof racks with 2 kayaks… Although the racks attach where there are three layers of FG, the rack mounts are only a few square inches each. So it should be OK, as long as your bezel is well glassed – it should distribute the load adequately. If your build isn’t completed I’d add another layer of FG on the bezel and 3-4″ onto the roof, and maybe another layer under the bezel. I’ve never had anything fail that I over-built!
Brian
Pulling with the Prius was no issue. Put 3k miles on it, up to Montana, and back home to New Mexico, much of it at 80 MPH, and getting 22-25 MPG. I used metal hinges, put down small pads of Ocome under the hinges, both to spread the load and to cover the square holes. There’s about 6 gallons of water storage in a “coil” of 3″ PVC pipe mounted in between the trailer rails. The sink drains through the lower fitting in the transom, to the grey jerry can that’s stowed up front for driving. The sink’s a hand-pump sink. Power is from a Goal Zero that spends most of it’s time in the car on an umbilical, I keep it there for security and weight balance. The USB outlets actually are 12VDC -USB, with no quiescent current. The umbilical is a 7 wire cord, and carries 12V from the 100W solar panel, 110VAC from the GZ, and 12VDC loads. The solar panel is on a sliding mount, it slides forward when we want to open the vent hatch fully. The storage box isn’t a CLC one, I made it myself out of 4 mm Ocome, 1/2″ baltic birch lid & base, and cherry, with one layer of 6 oz. FG. The galley module is a combination of 4 mm Ocome and 1/2″ Baltic birch, with bins from Target. I had it weighed – with water, mattress, bedding, bins, etc. it’s 700#. I’ve ordered a 12′ Wood Duck Hybrid from CLC, it’ll ship next week. Life is good! Brian
I’m waiting to see what the weight distribution is like before I make a decision on where to put my goal zero (40#). Since it’s portable I have options, but I wont put it on the galley flat when I’m towing, that just sounds like a bad idea.
Brian
While we’re on this topic, how much material is needed to cover the headliner?
Thanks in advance,
Brian
And the cut line for one of the doors. I’m going to use metal hinges, hence the pads for mounting them. I’ll cover that later if it works out ; ) .
Cut line for top hatch. This is where I started, since it mattered the least. I figured I’d practice here before doing the doors and galley
hatch.Bottom of plate. The slot is just wide enough for the flat part of the blade. That isn’t clear from the photo.
When I looked at the insides of the doors I realized that I should have extended the FG past where the hinges attach on the wall – not that there needs to be that much strength there, but since you’re there already, why not?
Brian
It might be to late, but I wouldn’t FG the inside of the doors while it’s open and in the mold. Yeah, it’s open, and easy, but let me explain.
When you put the bottom on you will be tweaking the shell a bit. After you attach, fillet and FG the inside seam, the shell is in its final place and won’t be moving around. So I think that’s the position you want to keep. It may not be much, but having the FG around the door “fighting” any movement (stress) induced by attaching the bottom is counter to what you’re trying to accomplish. Keeping everything in its final position (alignment, whatever) should help in keeping the doors aligned and operating properly. I plan to fit the door edges and jambs to the shell when I get to that point, not trying to squeeze the shell against the other (flat) pieces and forcing things out of position.
Secondly, when you FG the sides you end up with quite a bit of (unavoidable) scrap FG. This can be utilized inside the doors (and jambs). I was surprised how much of the scrap material I used inside the doors – and remember, the window’s getting cut out, so you only need to go about an inch inside the window cut line!
This is what I did, but I haven’t gotten to the point of cutting out the doors. We’ll see what I think after I’ve done that.
Brian
As for piecing together FG under the bottom, the bottom is about 3/4″ thick, One layer of FG isn’t adding much strength, especially since it’s supported by the trailer. Piecing FG together should be fine. I do think you want to ensure it overlaps the shell a bit to add strength to the joint between the bottom and shell.
I believe the FG is helping to protect the plywood from rock chips causing moisture intrusion into the wood by providing a substrate for more epoxy resin. But I could be wrong. I plan on adding a coat of pickup bed liner to the bottom of mine, because I think it wont weigh much, and can’t hurt. Not that moisture intrusion will be a serious issue in my lifetime!
Brian
