Happy Mother's Day!
After church today we all went out for brunch. I was able to steal away a little early and while I was waiting on everyone to get home, I was able to get all the old caulk, dirt and goo off of the hatch. In doing so, I was able to see the potential for how awesome the teardrop will look when I get to polish it. I used an SOS pad to get the goo and rust off of the skin and hosed it down and let the sun dry it; every time I do work like this, it makes me look forward to the polishing.
One of things that makes me really happy is that I was able to find tail lights that are almost identical to the original shape and size. The down side to this was that the previous owners had put other tail lights on it and drilled lots of extra holes for that and for the license plate. I decided that once it was all clean, I would cover the inside of the hatch in the headliner material. I'll caulk the remaining holes to keep water from entering through the holes. I really like how the hatch looks with the carpet like material on it.
One big task I accomplished today was putting the hinge on. It was quite difficult. The problem was getting the wood strip to be anchored; this was tough because it was a 'blind spot.' I couldn't clamp it because it had to be underneath and it prevented me from using any kind of clamp, etc. Jack and I went to see Ironman 3 and decided to try to finish this when we got back.
We ended up drilling through from the other side and putting two temporary screws in place to hold it. Then, we added the butyl tape and went to town. Jack was a big help putting the hinge on the hatch. I think it looks really nice with the headliner on. I was not able to figure out the mechanism that latches the hatch; I was trying to use screws and I just realized that it actually needs a bolt. I just remembered that is what I took off of the latch. Again, it's one of those strange things that you can't see it when it's doing it's job. I'll have to fiddle with it later when I have more time.
I realized, sadly a bit too late, that the counter top was about 1/4" too wide. It caused the struts which hold the hatch open to not be able to close all the way. Thankfully, I can get away with using 1/2" plywood to make a finishing strip. That will give the counter top a finished look. Also, you can see in the image above that the wood strips will need to be painted orange as well to give it a really nice finished look.
The next big job was adding the butyl tape to the Fantastic Fan. I installed the tape and cut roof spars to screw into and also to give some rigidity to the roof. When I was moving the fan in and out in preparation for installation, I flexed the roof too much and the foam piece that was holding the dome light popped off. I am glad it happened now and not when I had the headliner in place. This reinforced the need for the roof spars, both to 'screw' into and for support. Unfortunately, I broke one of the screw heads off in the process and found one that would not penetrate. I'll need to check on that hole (right in the center) so that it does not leak.
I am still going to caulk the edges of the fan, but I'm hoping the butyl tape will do its job.
You can see in this image that I was able to 'brace' the ceiling with the vertical and horizontal spars.
There is no movement at all on the roof now. I'll have to re-glue the foam for the dome light. I may use the Gorilla Glue to hold the roof spars in place too. You can see that I drilled holes to allow the wires to pass through the ceiling beams.
There are two things I need to do to make it safe for being outside.
1. Add the weather stripping to the doors.
2. Install the rubber/aluminum over the hinge.
After that, it should be safe to be outside; I'll probably keep a tarp over it until I can really caulk all the roof and hatch joints properly. Getting it outside will be great, but I worry about pulling out to the back porch without a tow dolly. Maybe I could rent one from Lee's Rent It? Or, I might need to purchase one if it works well. They are pretty cheap at Harbor Freight.
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