Get Out the Map

Author: elly

  • Leak patrol (again) and next steps

    I know spring has arrived – the peepers are peeping!  Better weather means I can work on a few exterior issues – more window sealing and leak patrol.  For my birthday present to myself, I took Rosie to Fletch’s to order parts for the awning repair – glad to know ZipDee is still in business.  I have the 110 wiring (12/2+ground) planned out and working on the 12V fine tuning.  The Progressive Inteli-Power 4060 converter has arrived along with the circuit breakers (30 amp main with 4-20 amp circuits) and a 30′ shore power cable/plug.

     

     

  • So if March comes in like a lion will it go out like a lamb?

    Between work and frigid temperatures, I did not get much done in Rosie in January and February.  I’ve made a bit of progress lately.  I listened to the last episode (#132) of the The VAP, while they talked about insulaton, I was cutting and glueing insulation.  It’s been slow going, but I’m still happy with the results and am more than three-fourths done.

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  • It’s a bit nippy out there.

    It was 26 degrees outside today, inside the trailer it topped off at 42 degrees.  The heater helps, but I will be happier when it is insulated.

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    You can see the foam strips on the wall in the section above the window and the ones I pre-cut in the bag. The Prodex comes in a big roll.

     

    Since the last post I sealed 3/4ths of the interior seams with Sikaflex 221, bought colored 12 gauge wire to redo the exterior lighting, and started the Prodex insulation process.  When I bought the “Liquid Nails” tube to attach the foam strips that the reflective insulation gets attached to, the guy at the box store told me to be careful with that, quite emphatically.  At the time I thought this stuff must be strong, then I thought, “What does he think I’m going to do with it? Glue some of my body parts together?”  As it turns out, it comes off of hands and out of hair very easily, but still works well (so far).  It’s going to take me all winter at the rate it’s going up.

     

     

  • Aire y luz número tres

    The third and last vent is in!  It was very challenging due to the wind trying to blow me off the roof.  I must say I love having that AC off.  The old pictures with the AC already look funny to me.

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    Now that the AC is out and the original vents replaced, three of the major leaks seem to be fixed!  There are still a few leaky items to work on:

    • curb-side front window, need to reseal
    • a rivet above the front road-side window?
    • water comes in the water intake, normally it would drain into the water tank.  This doesn’t seem right and I have no key for it. Replace?
    • gaskets in rear lights (not leaking since I sealed them, but would be good to do)

    Other items on the punch list before insulating

    • replace the curb-side running light that fell off
    • seal interior seams
    • trim vent screws
    • have Fletch look at awning anchors
    • rewire exterior lights?
    • remove and re-seal running lights?
    • fix door and porch lights?

    Supply list:

    • Sikaflex 721 and 221
    • bigger trouble light – it gets so dark so early now

  • Two out of three aint bad

    I installed the front Fantastic vent yesterday.  The translucent white lid of the front one and the clear lid of the middle one that replaced the AC look funny when open, but I’m still happy with the decision.  The original vent in the back is removed and the hole squared off.  When I finished prepping the hole, the weather was pretty threatening and it was getting on supper time, so I didn’t get to finish installing the last vent.  I’ll take some pictures on the next round.

  • Sky Blue Sky

    I didn’t find a sky light I liked, so I bought a Fan-tastic vent with a clear lid and no fan.  I installed it yesterday.  So far, I am VERY happy with it.  I can see the blue sky and clouds floating by.   I hope the leaks in this area are gone now!

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    The Fan-tastic vents I bought to replace the original vents do have fans and low-profile translucent white lids.  I spent most of today getting the front vent removed (and yes that is a cork in the antenna hole – something else I have to look into).

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  • Gaining experience…

    Exterior aluminum skin repair, check.  Thanks again to Frank for the pre-cut sheet and to Craig for being on the buck end.  I trimmed the original hole and drilled through Rosie’s skin and bucked solid rivets, and no major catastrophe happened.  This hole will have a sky light, but I tried out the new Fan-tastic vent replacement and it fit perfectly.  I still need to order a sky light.

    Clecos in place after drilling out the holes

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    I got my new clecos all goopy using up a tube of Sikaflex 721.  Frank said to use a lot and I did, but I cleaned up the mess that oozed out.  Craig and I did a G-R-E-A-T job bucking the rivets.  They looked almost as good as Frank and Steve’s.  The sun was sliding down behind Snyder Hill before I got the picture taken of the newly installed aluminum so it’s a bit dark.

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    You can read about the air conditioner removal in previous posts.