Today, I spent most of the day bending and attaching the exterior trim on the tear. Most of the trim pieces that I ordered from Lil Bear were soft aluminum, so I could easily bend it to fit the curves of the camper. The rest of it had to be annealed before it could be bent.
Is it a bad thing when the hardware weighs more then the frame?
Following the instructions from the Teardrops & Tiny Travel Trailers forum, I applied a light layer of soot from a household candle before heating the aluminum with a propane torch. The soot burns away at the correct temperature to prevent you from heating the aluminum to much. After the metal has cooled, it is much easier to bend to the desired shape. Of course, before I could bend the pieces, I had to drill the holes for the stainless steel screws every four inches along the length of each piece.
While I was driving all of the screws today (thank goodness for power tools) I began to wonder just how many screws go into a camper this size. By my estimate, I have right around 400 screws in the camper so far! Is it a bad thing when the hardware weighs more then the frame?
I also completed the installation and wiring of the battery this weekend. Now the camper has enough power to last for a few days of dry camping as well as a number of plugs inside and out for when the campsite has power. It even has a built in charger so I can keep the battery topped off and ready to camp at a moments notice. Now, if I can just get it finished before the snow files…