1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

Great work, I'm craving updates.
I chopped 1ft out of an old Flippac last year to fit my DCSB and all your fiberglass work is giving me flashbacks.
Can't wait to see more

 

Things have been really dead on the camper lately. I’ve been spending my time being sick and getting my gear and motorcycle ready to ship to the east coast for an August Trans America Trail ride. Good news is my bike shipped on Monday which means time for camper work again.

 

Good work day today.



Re-glassed over half of the exterior edges. Should be able to finish that up this coming week. I’ve gotten way better at being clean and efficient about this process. Finished glassing the door seal flange as well.

 

Glad to see your okay. Was worried the illness may have gotten the better of you.

Kinda jealous of your Trans America trip. Would love to take my bike and hit the road for a long trip!

 

I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never done a trip like that on a bike so it should be an adventure.

 

Very much like taping drywall...which I’m also no good at.

I’m hoping to be starting to get primer/paint on it next week or so. I still have so much work to do getting boxes mounted and tie down rails mounted. The boxes are first.

 

I find myself dragging my feet on things I’ve built up to be complicated in my mind. I think I’ve mentioned this before. It’s hitting me hard right now with the boxes and tie down rails and finishing the door. I just need to plow through! Once I get started, the problem usually shrinks drastically and, magically, things get done!

 

These projects should always be fun. If you are feeling overwhelmed, just remember the fun part. Or stop for a little while. It sounds cliché I know, but if you are not enjoying it, then there’s no reason to build it right now. I have put more than one project on the back burner for a year or two because I was not enjoying it. It still gets done, and it still becomes awesome. That’s just part of getting older.

 

If this was a smaller project (like my unfinished restoration of my M416b1 trailer that is now packaged nicely on a rolling cart) I’d be fine back-burnering it. But it’s so big! Haha, I can’t do anything else at all in my garage until it’s out. I could see getting it on the truck with the door working, the boxes and the windows installed and taking my sweet time getting the awning, electrical, and non-essential sections of L track done.

 

Patience in the finishing steps can be the hardest to swallow. But, you're just getting to the part of the build that will be what you and everyone else see's for the rest of its life. Take your time and do it the way you have planned it out.

 

Wiped all the new edge tape/epoxy and sanded the edge ridges (edge of the tape). Then I wiped it again with acetone to clean it all up. And, I ran out of epoxy...again! Ugh...I’ll pick up more tomorrow and finish up the edge glassing for good. Then it’s on to fairing the interior and exterior. That’s going to be a JOB! exterior isn’t bad but the interior is rough.

Oh, and a nice lady walking the neighborhood asked me if I was making a doghouse and that it looked like a fine doghouse.

 

Picked up more epoxy, a new respirator, and a new tyvek suit for sanding the inside of the camper. Then I did some glassing. I have 6 edges left to glass and all of that exterior glass work should be done. That should take about 1.5-2 hours to clean, prep sand, clean, glass and clean up after myself. Hoping to get that knocked out tomorrow morning before we go surfing and camping.

 

Glassed three more edges this morning. Three left! I didnt glass them all because I didn’t feel like sanding and prepping the areas needed to glass the last three edges. Gotta do what you’re motivated to do!

So, I started making the two small dividing walls for the interior of the camper.

The plywood is being epoxied to the top edge of the wall so that it’s easy to route a nice rounded edge. Then I’ll glass over that entire top edge for strength.

The short wall is for just inside the door. It will make a nice ‘dirty’ area inside the camper for shoes/flip flops. It’s a nice waterproof barrier to keep the crap away from the bed.

The tall wall goes across the back of the camper. It’ll form the footboard for the bed and will create a nice open well under the back window to toss backpacks and jackets. I was going to close that area in to make two little storage cubbies but as soon as you put a lid on something, the thing you want to put in there won’t fit. Every. Damn. Time. So, I’m leaving it open so everything will fit!

 

Looking good my friend

 

I’m so excited, you get a random, non-camper related post!

My bike arrived in Syracuse this morning and my buddy there just picked it up. Besides me, the most critical piece of my trans America trip has made it across the country!

 

Pfft...those bikes are so huge and heavy. As much as I fall down in the dirt, I’d never manage with something like that. I get tired picking up my little bike. And, no, I’m not going to go to the gym.

As far as the patience goes, she has her hobby room and I have mine. She cares not for the garage or anything going on in it. Though she would like to use the camper sometime this decade, I get no hassles over the timeline.

 

701 enduro. Best ‘one bike to do it all’ that exists. If you want to rip on dirt roads, ride single track and still have fun in the twisties, and take the occasional road trip, it’s hard to beat. Really long service intervals and pretty dang smooth for a single (2017 + 701s got a second balance shaft). I’d say my 2017 engine is about as smooth as most parallel twins. My bike with gas probably weighs in the 350lb range. The new KTM 790 adventure (parallel twin) is intriguing but it’s unlikely to weigh less than 420-430lbs and probably more.

 

“They” did. It’s called a husky 701.

 

Dry weight difference is about 26lbs. And that’s comparing a non-street legal 650r with a street legal 701 enduro. If you compare a street legal 650l vs the 701, the 650l is around 6lbs heavier. The riding experience is vastly different between the two in ergonomics too. Try them both if you’re looking at buying. One will speak to you more than the other. People seem to love a Suzuki DR650 or a Yamaha WR250R too. My bike is a bit heavy due to luggage racks and highway dirt bike handguards and a rear disc guard. but it’s still way easy to pick up...especially since my wallet is sooo much lighter without all the money it takes to buy a 701. Worth it...but expensive. I can admit that. Also, do not underestimate how awesome fuel injection is when it gets really cold, really hot or you change elevation a bunch. I’ve never had problems with fuel injection on my KTM/Husky bikes. I know people worry about it but I’ve had no reason to yet. Plus, I can work on a carbeurator about as much as I can work on a fuel injection system so I don’t feel like I’m at a disadvantage. Haha!

 

Nice I heard they were bringing these back. Very excited to hear your thoughts and adventures on this one.

Also, consider posting up here too!