Teardrop II Build: More Headliner

The work on the interior headliner, or wall/ceiling, continued this weekend. Somehow I ended up with only several hours of building time logged, but I need to save something for the dead of Winter, right? The same Winter that will sap my energy due to the too-short days and gnawing cold? Yeah, that winter.

I'll beat Winter, however. I've got the heater running in the workshop, and here's the diagram with the front section of the interior wall.

The measurement of 25 5/8" tall may vary, depending on your exact fitment, but that lines up with the top of the 3rd spar up from the floor. Note that there is a spar sitting against the floor at the right in the diagram above. It's 58 1/2" wide, which is consistent with the width of the interior overall.

The next three photos show the front wall section in place.

There will be double spars for those visible in the photo immediately above. Beginning with the top of the interior wall, that and the next two spars above will be doubled-up. Not only will this provide a mounting surface for the three remaining panels, but will also provide additional strength at the front of the fuselage. Aerodynamic balance should also remain... wait, I just forgot I wasn't building an aircraft.

The original "generic Benroy" plans didn't call for this. Not that it's necessary, since I've dragged the first Teardrop across the continent of the United States and back and it held up like a brick shithouse, and it can only help durability with only a slight weight increase.

This was also time to install the last cabin spar, which sits above the cabin cabinet face and headliner. In the diagram at the top of this post, it is the blue-colored spar near the rear of the cabin ceiling. Don't mistake it for the double spar at the left, rear-most portion of the headliner in the diagram. I had to take this spar to the table saw and trim off an 1/8 of an inch since my cabinet assembly sits a little high, apparently. Minor adjustments are the spice of life.

Teardrop II life for the next week will involve building up those other double spars at the front. I've already started on the spar on top of the front wall. I picked up more polyurethane, a sheet of 4 x 8' birch plywood in 1/4" width and a sheet of Polyshield closed-cell 1/2 inch insulation for the work of the immediate future. Once the headliner wall is complete, I'll lay some poly down on the outside, then plan for fixtures like lighting, perhaps. Before I drop the Polyshield down, I'll have to mark cutouts for lighting and a fan.

One of my next posts may be a look at lighting options. I like the "airplane" style lights, which feature a swivel head for adjustable focus. I installed these in the first Teardrop, and they were great.

The next week will likely see the closing of the Teardrop roof from the interior perspective, and then some of the grind. The grind will be sanding, doing polyurethane and tweaking bits of this and that. Cheers though, looking forward to it, as always.

[g]