New Trim, Lots of Rivets and a Silver Rustoleum Hammered Finish!

Huge day today! Maybe the most overall visible progress of the whole project.  I started out by installing the trim pieces.  I was finally able to cut and install all of the replacement trim along the bottom of the teardrop. Next, I took the teardrop off the jacks and gave it a thorough washing. 

Before shots.  Look at the residual paint and generally gnarliness of the skin on the teardrop.

 

I ended up re-using the wheel well trim.  Now that I knew I was going to paint it, I wasn't worried about the residual paint.

This was my first shot at installing trim.  I learned how to use my pop rivet gun; my hands were quite tired by the end, but it looks awesome!

I ended up using the trim's thicker side along the bottom; this allowed me to cover a lot of the imperfections in the skin.  This is especially true and visible in the image below.  I had some really yucky trim there at the back of the teardrop.  This allowed me to be able to mask this.

The other side's trim.  Once I figured things out, it was a breeze to install this trim.  I also went ahead and filled any earlier screw holes (the knucklehead before me just drilled right through the skin to install the license plate and brake lights) with pop rivets.

The following images are all 'pre-paint.'  I wasn't able to re-take all of these photos afterward, but tomorrow I will post some before and after shots.

When I decided that rather than sand it all down and polish, I would paint it, I started noticing just how 'bad' the finish was.  I'm so glad I decided to paint it.

Here are a few images of the painting process.  One coat:

 Two coats.

Three coats.

Some places, like the roof, actually got four coats.

 Finished and all the yucky tape pulled off.  It's not perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was when the day started.

I am thrilled with how it looks.  There are a couple of areas that might need to be sanded down and re-painted, but all in all I'm pleased.  Next, I am thinking a cool racing stripe in orange, and painting the rims to match!  More on that and some more before/after shots tomorrow!

Slow Saturday

Even though I woke early, today was a slow day.  I didn't get my big task, the doors done.  But, I did find lots of great uses for the 'extra' cedar.  In fact, I don't think I will end up 'wasting' any of the cedar.

Task one was to take down the bracing from the night before and see how the molding trim worked.  In short, it didn't.  I guess I should have known that the wood really needed to be soaked longer and possibly put on a 'form' in order to achieve the tight radius to the left of the door.  The trim did not bend enough.  I tried nailing it with my brad nailer, but it was not strong enough to hold the pressure of the bend.

Off to Lowes for a trim run.  I found a piece of molding; believe it or not it is plastic that is 'colored' a 'natural' color.  It matches perfectly to the natural cedar and it bends a whole lot more.  I decided to use Liquid Nails and my brad nailer.  It worked pretty well; again, the trouble spot was the tight radius to the left of the door.  I actually left that section braced and will see what happens after a night of bracing and the Liquid Nails.

The picture before the one above was a bit out of order.  I added a panel of insulation to the shelf.  It's not glued in; again, if I ever needed to get to the wire runs, I can by simply lifting the insulation panel up.  

I used liquid nails to glue the cedar to the foam.  Much happier with the tack of Liquid Nails than the PL 300 adhesive.  

 

Almost finished.

Done.  Look how nice that trim piece pulls the ceiling and the back wall together.  I am very pleased with the 'plastic' trim piece.

I did try out the baskets before adding the insulation and the cedar, but this was my confirmation.  They fit perfectly and the lip of the shelf (which has a piece of foam glued to it by the way) holds them from moving forward.  There is about an inch of 'wiggle room' in the back.  You would think I made it that way!

You can see that the back of the totes fit exactly to the top of the cedar strips in the back.

Picked up a can of this Leak Seal.  I wanted to use it in the wheel wells.  I decided to go over the wood 'angles' I used to make the wheel well in the galley.  They've been treated and painted with the undercoating, but I found teeny tiny spots that missed the undercoating.  This just gave me an extra coat of comfort.

 

Here's a better shot of the flange I installed around the vent.  It looks great!

The porch light switch installed, glued and braced for the night.  Again, I really like the way the cedar accent looks.  It ties the design together nicely I think.

Finished up the little nit picky pieces in the bulkhead.  The only thing left to do in that area is to cover the side pieces of foam in headliner and glue the cedar strips to the 'floor' of the cabinet.  I'm thinking this is where we'll keep our shoes at night.

 

What do you when your teardrop is 5' wide and all the strips of cedar come in 8' lengths?  Well, you use those strips to cover the shelves and you line the built in storage bins to give them a super nice smell!

 

With some stuff in it!

 The back storage bin.  

I had been thinking about how I could install some simple curtains for some privacy in the teardrop.  Well, I found a solution.  Before the windows were installed, there were two angle irons that gave rigidity to the door.  When I removed them, I had to fill the holes with bolts and nuts.  I had made them very short to just 'dig' in to the foam core that will be glued to them.  Well, if you look closely, there are three nuts above and below the molding of the window.  If I were to simply add a larger bolt (one that would go all the way through the foam/headliner, I could use that bolt to anchor a curtain rod.  Aha!  Solution!  Now, to decide on a nice looking rod and to purchase the right length of bolt!  Then I get to choose a cool fabric that will pull everything together!

One last view of the shelf area.  You can almost smell that lovely cedar!  I'm so glad that I did not put 'cabinets' in this area.  By keeping it a shelf with the bins, I have a lot of flexibility.  Plus, by making this out of cedar, I've ensured a great smell, low chance of 'rot' and it will keep bugs out.  I was initially concerned about not 'treating' the cedar.  I was wondering if the cedar smell would ever be 'too' much.  Not a problem.  It smells great, but it's not too much at all.  I couldn't be happier with how it is turning out.

Father's Day tomorrow.  Would love to get both doors finished.  If I can get them done and installed, and then those last couple of things in the bulkhead, the Carpe Diem will essentially be ready for travel!  Can't wait!

All Sealed Up

The cabin is about 90% restored to its original state at this point.  Today I re-caulked every internal joint, re-painted the cabin, and sealed the floor. 

Caulk drying in the seams and joints of the cabin.

Caulk dry and painted.

My three favorite ingredients in sealing the cabin.

I tried to repair all of the trim pieces that thankfully were kept by the previous owner.  The piece you see above goes on the bottom of the hatch and provides rigidity and helps it seal along the 'bumper.'  It was severely warped and misshapen.  I used a piece of the aluminum angle, an aluminum rod, my ball peen hammer, sledge hammer and several chunks of wood to re-form it to its original shape.  At one point I lost my grip on the aluminum piece and my hand slipped.  If I had not been wearing my gloves, I would have ripped an inch or more of my flesh from my hand.  I was very happy to not have that to deal with!

The hatch is looking terrific!

The hatch, and the additional trim pieces that I was able to re-shape.  The piece at the bottom is the 'bumper'  It was in terrible shape.  I love how Rustoleum restores the look of these parts!

This is the inside of the bulkhead.  When the previous owner placed the cabin on the new trailer frame, they did not replace the flooring in this area.  So, this area is the last section of the cabin that I need to repair.  I plan to use a 3/4" x 6" piece of treated wood.  It's a strange shape though, so I'll need to make a template of it and then carefully trim the wood to fit.

You can see in the images above, the area where the cabin was 'cut' to fit onto the new frame.  I don't like the ragged look of this and this is where I will apply some kind of rock guard.  It will act as a 'rock guard' but it will also mask this rough area.  I'm leaning towards using some material in black, just to tie into my color scheme of black and silver.  

I painted the trailer tongue today with Rustoleum.  It looks sharp!  I don't know if I've mentioned a unique element of the trailer tongue.  You can see the triangular piece of metal that is supporting the tongue.  This is a really rare design that is not seen in today's trailers.  Most trailers have a crank jack/wheel that is used when the trailer is off the hitch.  My trailer's design is  much more sturdy and won't 'roll' when in camp.  Jim suggested that I add a jack/wheel, but keep the triangular piece too.

 

 Above you can see my rough sketches for the galley area.  I intend to use Google Sketch Up to try some different layouts for the galley.

  Jim gave me the name of this place; Kendor Marine.  It's only 20 minutes or so from my house and it is essentially a marine surplus store.  They have over 40,000 square feet of stuff.  Jim thought it might be a great idea to take a look there.  I'm wondering if I can find some cabin lights and a fuse panel, etc. there?  I'll have to stop in there sometime soon.  Sounds like a cool place. 

Here is my list of next steps (in no particular order):

1.  Make a template for the mattress; consider how to trim futon.

2.  Make a cardboard template for the bulkhead floor area that needs to be replaced; trim board to fit.

3.   Order windows.

4.   Finish bolting the internal frame to the subfloor.

6.  Experiment with various galley layouts in Google Sketch Up.

7.  Mark out storage box for cabin floor.

8.  Consider laminate covering for the cabin and galley floor.

9.  Draw electrical diagram plan.

10.  Order electrical supplies:  fuse box/power center/voltage meter/shielded red/black wire/corrugated wire channel/easy disconnects, etc.
(Found out that there is a Delta Marine in Winthrop Harbor.  They have my fuse box and additional things in the store.)

These are the steps that are necessary before I can begin to plan for adding insulation, wiring, etc. to the ceiling.  The cabinets in the galley will need to be roughed in as well in order to layout the power center and wiring inside the cabin.  One good thing about putting the power center in the back is that there will be short wiring runs from the power source to the receptacles.  
  

Ripping Out the Galley

Today was a productive day!  I started by drilling out all the rivets on the hinge; all 60 of them!  This is what my drill bit looked like when I was done!  You can see the 'head's of the rivets on the drill bit.  The drill bit 'pops' off the rivet head and then you finish drilling it out to 'open' up the hole.

 Once the hinge was removed, I was able to take the hatch off.  Putting the hatch aside, I was then able to start drilling out the rivets that held the cabinetry in place.  I decided to take all the rivets out that were attached to the aluminum skin of the sides of the teardrop.

Then, I got Medieval on the cabinets.  My five pound sledge provided just the right amount of persuasion.  What needed additional persuasion was soon tamed by my reciprocating saws demolition blade. 

Thankfully, I managed to 'pop' a lot of the rivets and thus I didn't have to drill out all of the ones in the 'back' of the galley.

After deep cleaning the aluminum, I was able to spray the hatch and galley with the same paint as inside the cabin.

Hatch before:

Hatch After:

My wingman, Jim Tingey, came by today.  We spent most of our time talking through different design ideas.  I wanted to cover the front of the teardrop (the 2' above where the teardrop meets the frame) with diamond plate.  The reason for this would be to fix up some cosmetic concerns.  We figured out that the teardrop was installed on the present trailer frame and in doing so had to be retrofitted; hence the need to cover up some cosmetic issues.  The diamond plate was going to cost quite a bit; I had several estimates from local manufacturers and one from Pittsburgh, PA.  Jim's idea was to try something slightly out of the ordinary.  He suggested that I try looking at other materials; plastic or rubber.  I've contacted a good friend who's company makes just such a product.  Additionally, we talked about putting the battery on the trailer tongue.

After talking through a variety of designs and ideas, Jim suggested putting the battery, fuse box, etc. in the galley rather than putting it in a tongue box.  I had been looking at one of those cargo racks that you can use in combination with your tow hitch.  I saw some pictures online of a way to 'customize' a Harbor Freight rack to fit on the tongue of the trailer.

This would be an excellent way to have additional storage and maximize the aerodynamic boost of the design of the teardrop.  I put some of the most essential items in the newly painted galley and started working with some ideas.  Now, its time to study pictures of other people's galleys and begin designing my own.

While showing Jim the cabin, he wondered aloud if the 'shelf' could double as a bunk for my 11 year old.  We had him climb up into it and guess what?  He fits!  However, we'll end up adding some sort of storage cabinets there so the bunk idea is out of the question.  

We talked through adding insulation to the cabin and possibly a solution for how to add the same on the doors.  I'll probably end up adding the insulation and wood paneling to the doors in 'compartments,' rather than as one large piece.  It felt good to share ideas and solve some of the problems together.

My plans for tomorrow are to get the cabin water tight.  I am planning to remove the old caulk and install the bolts that hold the cabin to the plywood flooring.  After that, I'll put the other door on and install the weather stripping.  I may attempt to add the floor storage box tomorrow too.  My door and galley locks as well as the galley hinge will arrive next week.  I won't install them until after I have the window installation finalized.  I'm hanging on to the screen windows I've made until after I've decided if the sliding windows are going to meet my needs.