Showing posts with label curtain rod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curtain rod. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

First Night

We made the 500 mile trip north to Sault Saint Marie, Michigan yesterday. Crossing the river in the ferry and breathing the cool air reminded us how much we like it here! The trailer pulled well; no trouble at all handling or otherwise. It did impact our miles per gallon: we usually get about 26 mpg; our towing mpg was closer to 19 mpg. Granted, a lot of that was on freeways going pretty fast; 70+ mph. When we were on two lane roads, we seemed to get better mileage. Note to self: slow down and take the back roads when possible. It will slow us down, but make us focus a little more on enjoying the journey.


Welcome to Michigan!

 We are spending a couple of days here with family and then my wife and I are heading north to Canada. It's funny because sitting on the deck, I can see Canada across the river! We are heading up to Lake Superior Provincial Park. It looks beautiful. The east shore of Lake Superior is rocky and rugged. The website for the park describes one of the canoe routes as being, "...crystal clear waters in which you can see 60 feet down where boulders the size of houses line the bottom."

Last night was our first night in the completed teardrop. I had spent one night in the teardrop before fully completing everything. My wife was thrilled. She said that she slept really well. I did too. She said that she, '...didn't even know I was there!' The vent provided just enough 'white noise' to drown out the sounds around us. The cool night temperature made sleeping heavenly. With the vent pushing air 'out' there was a delightful cross-breeze created by the sliding windows. At one point my wife closed hers. Amazingly, the mosquitos, which are legendary and HUGE here, were relegated to the outside of the cabin. We had a couple of stowaways in the cabin, but once they were killed, we enjoyed a bug free night.

 A few notes on our first night of sleep. The curtains were welcome; they gave us just enough privacy from nephews walking around the cabin while we were still resting. I do want to add some velcro tabs to the corners of the panels so that when the cross-breeze is pulling air into the cabin that the curtains will stay in place. They tended to blow in and not provide much 'privacy' when doing so. We need to add some velcro hooks for hats, keys, etc. We may need to make some kind of labels for the storage bins in the cabin. As of now, all our stuff is sort of stashed in there together. It made it a little tough to find our things when we wanted them. We found the reading lights to be almost 'too' bright. One light was enough to illuminate the whole cabin. I might try to find some lower wattage bulbs, if there is such a thing. Or, maybe there is a way to 'coat' the bulb to knock down some of the wattage. Where we are 'parked' right now, we don't have a picnic table or other 'surface' to put the stove, etc. I know now that I really want to make that side table so that I can use it to heat water for coffee, etc. I may find some way to do it tomorrow morning. I was missing my coffee made in my french press. I think we will end up purchasing a pop up shelter with sides to give us a little more 'space' outside the camper.


Make shift hat rack on the edge of the curtain rod.


Our first overnight camp site.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hot Day!

The temperature outside the teardrop on the patio was 102 degrees (in the shade) and the temperature inside the teardrop was 97 degrees.  I really don't like hot weather; especially when I want to work outside.  I cannot imagine how the guys who work on the roof or on the roads do it.  I took lots of breaks, drank lots of cold water, and moved my zero gravity chair into the garage to cool down.

Not a lot of photos to document my work today.  


I made the hardware for the window curtain rods and painted them glossy black.


I carved the foam pieces for the bulkhead.  Covered them in foam and then installed them.  Turns out the glue (PL 300) did not work well on the insulation (1/2") that I used on the bulkhead.  I didn't think that very thin plastic layer on top of the insulation would be a problem, but the glue only 'stuck' to it, not the actual insulation.  So, I needed to pull out four of the strips of cedar and re-glue them.  I ended up using Gorilla Glue.  I also used a little bit of it on the foam covered pieces along the wall of the bulkhead.


Used the marine grade contact cement and clamps to glue the foam door panels to the door.  They turned out fantastically!


Very carefully created a pattern for the cut out for the mattress.


Traced the pattern onto the foam mattress.  Used a $14 electric knife to cut the two small wheel well sections out; ended up with two really nice pieces of foam that I may turn into a back rest or possibly a couple of pillows for the teardrop.  Couldn't believe how easily I could cut the foam.  Two minutes and it was done.  The mattress pads fit right over the cut outs; we may not even need to customize the covers. 

Not quite as productive a day as I would have liked, but all in all it was successful.  Tomorrow is the day to start working on polishing the body.  Not sure what new experiences that will bring for me!