Sitting in the basement for 2 years didn’t help the yellowing of the aft end cap dome.  So I took it outside in the recent nice weather and put on several coats of RetrOBright (see previous posts). I reinforced the top edge like the front dome.  I was very glad to get it hung up today, before anything happened to it.

Rear dome in the basement

Retrobright application

Hung in place.

You’ve heard of interpretive dance? This is an interpretive repair. Colin suggested I reinforce the dome due to the minor cracking at the rivet holes before I rehang it. He also mentioned automotive tape for applying letters/plaques to the exterior in a different convo. I merged the two ideas and used automotive tape to apply a strip of aluminum to the edge of the dome. I drilled and cleco’d the aluminum with the plastic’s original holes until it gets hung up. The final rivets will secure it nicely, I think. We’ll see…

Crack in front dome, one of 3-4 small cracks near rivet holes.

Tape applied to edge of front dome.

Adding the aluminum strip over the tape.

I pulled the front dome out of the basement disrupting the spider festival going on down there.  It cleaned up nice.

Dome = molded plastic piece that fits inside the endcap.  What do you officially call the inner skin of the endcap?

1. Top view of front dome

2. The area it goes in over the window

3. Front view of front dome with opening for the console and storage underneath.

And to answer a question I got about the control console… It actually only controls it’s own back light and the water pump. Otherwise, it’s a tank and battery monitor.  I have a Trimetric battery meter set up with the converter and ran power from the converter  to the water pump forgetting it originally came from the console. I don’t have sensors on the new gray tank, so all I need is the fresh water and black tank connected.  The wires are run and sensors connected at the tanks.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this before – install the WordPress Mobile app.  I’m sitting in Rosie swyping this entry and uploading photos.  Maybe I’ll post more frequently with it, or maybe not.

I’m proud of the neatly organized wires running along the ceiling.

And the spaghetti monster is once again under control after putting in the middle wall near the converter in the back.

The skin on my fingers was not looking forward to cutting the 13′ long stretch of lower inner skin on the road side that needed to be trimmed around the new wheel well cover.  I made another template, but was more aggressive than when I cut the curb side skin as it will be under the twin bed and not exposed.  I got lucky and only made one major cut and one small trim.  No bleeding blisters and it doesn’t look too bad!

Having this skin in encouraged me to install some of the smaller pieces.  The front is coming along nicely.

I’ll post more pics as I move forward on the skins.  I should thank my big brother, Wayne, for letting me borrow his powerful power washer over the fall.  It worked really well on the vinyl-clad aluminum interior skins.  I like these skins.

I really want to install a dead-bolt and have some questions out about what model.  I’m also investigating new 12V receptacles and camera wire options.  And speaking of wire, I forgot to run the tank monitoring wires and need to decide on the stereo speaker locations.  I should take a photo of the wires running along the ceiling next time I venture out  with the camera.

 In October I drove down to Frank’s Trailer Works and I “helped” Frank install the above-floor black tank, the in-frame gray tank and all the connections to the valves and drain hose connection. I’m very happy to have that done, thanks to Frank for his good work and for letting me play along!  I wish I had taken more photos at FTW, but here is the weather from the campground I stayed at the night before outside of Baltimore, it was the loudest rain I’ve ever heard.  The second night, I was honored to sleep in Anna Lumanum.

We also redid the hinge on the battery compartment, the redone rivets held up on the way home. Unfortunately, the connection on the other side of the hinge did not hold up.  I’m not going to risk losing another battery, so that compartment now houses my very light 12V air compressor with a power line back into the converter, this will be very handy for topping off the bike tires at the campsite.  The battery is now stored in what will once again be the bathroom closet (someday) and it will have a mate next summer.

Changing topics… So there is much debate on the best way to install the Fantastic vents.  I replaced the  rear fantastic vent only 6 months after it was installed due to cracks and leaking through the base last spring.  Shortly after the first frost this fall, the front fantastic vent started leaking (A LOT)  one year after it had been installed. First I will say that both the company and Vintage Trailer Supply were great about replacing these under warranty.  It was a bit of an annoyance to have to send them back first, but I’m grateful for the replacements.

This paragraph falls under the adage, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and I still don’t know much.  When I installed the new fantastic vents the first time, I had heard that I should not use the foam gasket that comes with the fans.  I had not heard Colin say to use pan head screws with washers YET.  So the first vents were installed with vulkem and flathead countersunk stainless steel screws.  When I replaced the vent in the back, I used vulkem, pan head stainless steel screws and washers per what I heard on the VAP.  Then on Steve’s advice, I installed the replacement vent in the front with the foam gasket, screws it came with, and silicone sealant (yuck) per the recommended method.  The middle vent has vulkem and flathead screws, and after one year is ok (so far).  So the experiment is on…. will the CH/VAP method or the company/VTS recommendation last longer?  Both of the new vent replacements had fewer and different location screw holes.  Maybe their new design will be better.  I hope so!  I do love these fans/vents other than the cracked and leaking plastic bases.  P.S.  This is my interpretation of the advice, I may have mis-spoke and I apologize if my info is inaccurate.  Do not try this at home.