The walls on the Teardrop camper are 5′ high x 9′ long. The plywood sheets are 4′ x 8′. To create the larger walls I decided to use a scarf joint. To do this I had to create a scarf jig. You can see the scarf jig I created below. It uses a circular saw to do the cutting.
After the first cut below is what the end of the plywood looks like.
Then you run the saw down the top. Make sure you set your depth correct. After you do this is what it ends up looking like.
Once you get all your scarf joints made up. You need to glue together the boards, When doing this you need to put down vertical pressure to make sure seam is tight. But you also need to put on horizontal clamps to make sure the joint does not slide apart. This is the tricky part to fin the good balance between the two clamps.
This is what the joint and boards look like after it glued. The end of this joint did not turn out perfect. But it was good 1″ in.
After this I traced out the wall pattern on each of the sheets. I also traced out the cut outs for the door and window. Along with this all the hollow spot I will install the insulation. This also made it so I can lift the boards by myself without the use of a pulley system.
Once both walls are cut out. I clamped them together and sanded the edges to ensure they were the same.
I then needed to glue on the outer skin. I tried doing scarf joints on this thinner plywood but it required much more precise cutting and it was not working out. So I ended up using a but joints on this. If I was going to do it again I would slow down and do each panel one at a time. I did not have enough wait to do them all at once. It ended up that not all the panels were pushed flat. This caused some cosmetic issues later. Even though all the panels were securely glued down.
Since I ended up suing butt joints and did not plan on it. Some of the joints were not with support on the backside. So I ended up gluing some extra strips on the backside.
After all the glue and caulk was dried and cured it was time to mount them on top of the floor. I made sure I used enough caulk on this seam to keep it water tight and to hold it for the next 10 years. I ended up using some cross members made out of 2″ x 4″ to hold the walls upright and at a 90 degree angle. I later re purposed these.
Stage Two: After doing the ceiling which is in another section it was time to finish up the walls
I installed rigid foam insulation into all the spots on the walls I cut out.
After this I had to cut/shape all the internal panels to fit the curve of the teardrop.
Stage 3: After the false floor is installed
I installed what I’m calling the fire wall. But in reality it is just the rear wall that separates the sleeping area and the Galley. It had to be shaped perfectly to fit between the walls and ceiling.