17. Kittens

We worked hard over the weekend on all three trailers, and Ron helped me out a lot trying to get Charlie caught up with Bravo. I got my doors cut out, the sides affixed and the spars attached. Joe has built the rear end and is already boxing in his doors and interior.

That's me with the draw knife, shaping my nose piece which is the bottom of the front of the trailer. This piece is a 2x6 shaped to match the lower front curve of the teardrop.

Ron has built a really cool lower "tailgate" structure for his trailer that is unlike anything I've seen on teardrop trailers, and I hope to be able to copy it on mine. All three of us have abandoned the idea of the "wrap under" hatch assembly shown in previous sketches (post #6). We predicted problems with the size & shape of the curved hatch, both with the freedom of movement at the bottom, and with the weight and wind characteristics it would have when opened. We are all going with more of a "clamshell" hatch & tail piece. It will be stronger, too.

The trailers are beginning to look very sharp with the aluminum skins on the sides, but they are all in pretty tight in the shop so we don't have a good photo yet. We've got wheels & tires on all of them, so pretty soon we will wheel them outside for a better view.

In other news, the resident rodent control officer, a bluegray cat with no name, showed up with 6 kittens on Sunday. They don't seem to be bothered by the sound of power tools and hammering.