Rain Test

The battery meter I had ordered was defective.  I ordered a new one and it arrived today.  So, I decided that I would test it out.  It worked perfectly, so I decided to go ahead and install it.

Just as I started screwing it into its place, the sky unleashed with a torrential downpour.  Once again I was reminded of the genius of the teardrop design; I was completely dry as the rain fell hard all around me.  

As the rain continued to fall, it seemed to come sideways for a few minutes.  Rain splashed the countertop  and the doors.  Luckily for me, the polyurethane did its job!  Minutes before the rain had come, I had lightly sanded the surface.  I'll add another coat or two to all of the surfaces this weekend.  It's nice to see something working the way it is supposed to!

One thing I am unsure of is the health of my battery.  I have only had it for about a year.  I purchased it last spring to use on our canoe with a trolling motor.  I kept it on a battery tender over the winter.  I noticed that the red light stayed on continually a lot during the winter.  Turns out, it might not be okay.  As the image shows, the maximum voltage I can get on it is 11.8 volts.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  I've posted a question on the TTNT website and look forward to the insight of those on the board.

The gasket over the hinge is working perfectly.  I had adjusted the end pieces so that the water would run off the edge.  So far, no problems with the gasket at all.

We have a little moisture coming in through the carriage bolts near the lock.  I am going to use rubber washers to hopefully keep the water out.

I want to use rubber washers on the bolts for the tail lights too.  Additionally, I'll caulk around the top of the lights to keep the water from penetrating under the plastic and entering the hatch.

It's a little hard to tell from this image, but I kept the vent slightly ajar today.  It was another hot day.  The temperature inside rose to over 100 degrees again; outside it was 90+ degrees.  I think the real test will be when I'm able to keep the window screens open too.  

Another item arrived in the mail today; the teardrop's mattress.  We ended up finding a nearly perfect mattress at Wal Mart.  We weren't too sure about it, but after opening the box and letting it expand, we are positive that this will be phenomenal!  It's exactly the right width: 58".  We'll need to trim the feet portion of it to fit the teardrop's bed area, but that should be fairly simple with an electric knife.  The whole family gave it a once over and we really like it.  I'm a side sleeper so I knew that I would need something that would support me; this mattress is perfect.  Throw in a couple of body pillows and we are in sleep heaven!

Tomorrow I'm taking a half day.  I can't wait to get home and get to work.  My first job will be to re-test the trailer wiring.  I'm planning to solder all the connections and test each and every one of them.  My main goal for the weekend is to get the insulation installed and possibly the headliner in place.  It's ambitious, but I'm optimistic.

I found out today that I'm going to have surgery on my left wrist early this summer.  I had the same surgery on my right hand a couple of years ago for carpal tunnel.  Ideally I would like to have the teardrop 'done' enough to camp in it by the time I have that surgery.  I'll have my work cut out for me for sure!

Pulling Lots of Things Together

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. 

Windows

Well,  I've made a cardboard template of the cut out for the window.  I discovered another thing last night as I was meticulously examining the door; I realized that the aluminum angle that was used to screw in the screen windows of the original design, are riveted to the door panel.  This is good news because I can easily remove the rivets, trim the angle pieces and then re-install either with bolts or possibly rivets.  I have not found a solution yet for the larger rivet holes.  I don't own a pneumatic rivet gun so I'm looking into other alternatives.

The above image is before I re-painted the door.

Now all I need is some time and a very good saw blade.  I'm hopeful that I might be able to cut out the window openings tonight and rough fit the windows into place.  It should go pretty smoothly.  NOTE:  Way too tired to attempt this feat!  Will have to try another day. 

Interestingly, the template proved to me that the top and bottom portion, or the horizontal section, is exactly the right size.  The area that needs to be altered is the radii and the width.  If I take it nice and slow, things should go very well.

Installing these windows marks a commitment to the project; there's no going back after this.  If I screw it up, there are not extra 1947 Tourette Travel Trailer doors just laying around.  It has to be done right.  The only other thing that makes me this nervous is cutting a hole in the roof of the teardrop to install the ventilation fan.  That is going to really freak me out!