Teardrop Progress (Narrative)

Since applying the two layers of plywood sheathing to the front and top there has been a lot of fussy work without much visual progress.  We ran the plywood sides long knowing that we would need to fill in the gap between the plywood top and the sides.

This is because the overall width of the trailer is 64-1/2", and the plywood is only 60".  The laminated oak ribs on the outside are full profile, with the plywood running between them, as shown in the detail section below.  

Given the minor variability between the full-profile outer rib and the smaller interior rib to which the top plywood mounts, a need was created to use Bondo to smooth out and fill the gaps forward of the hatch.

So the recent days have involved adding Bondo, sanding, and repeating to get the profile correct.  Once the exterior rib and plywood top were properly adjusted by this process, we trimmed the plywood exterior side wall to a point one inch in from the plywood surface.

That trimming created some minor issues, so today those minor spots were again covered with Bondo.

Friday (I am out of town tomorrow) those spots will be sanded.  Then the two exterior ribs in the area of the hatch need to be filled/adjusted in spots before the plywood side walls are trimmed to the correct profile.

Once those tasks are complete, we will see the true profile of the trailer, and we will be able to proceed with covering the entire trailer body with Filon.