Solar and Heat

Today might just be our last day with mid 60's temperatures for this year.  We never know in the Pacific Northwest.  I needed one more good day to get some solar mounted on the trailer and got that done today.  With the center roof vent gone I've got room for two 50 watt panels and two 60 watt panels.  I took two of those off the boat last night and now they're on the Airstream.  Mostly on the recommendation of John, FLYNCLD, who has them on his '62 Flying Cloud, I got the mounts and tilt bars from AM Solar.  They mount with a special 3M tape that needs at least 60 degrees to use, thus the need to do it before cold weather comes.

 

I also got the patch clecoed on for the stack for the Dickinson Heater, the hole cut for the stack, and it temporarily screwed on.  Nobody to be found on a Sunday to help me rivet, so maybe I'll get that done tomorrow and get the heater itself mounted.

 

 

Rivets

I've been drilling out a bunch of rivets taking the upper inside panels off, but yesterday I practiced and today I got to use my rivet gun and put in some actual aluminum bucked rivets.  The plan was to borrow a compressor, but the available one had no gauge and no way to regulate it, so I needed another plan.  One of the other tenants in the storage yard came by to look at my progress, we started talking about compressors, and he told me to check out the pawn shop by the airport.  Really good advice it was and I've got what looks like a brand new Porter Cable 150 psi unit for $75.

Yesterday I set up my practice piece and went to work.  Really want to thank all the rivet experts, particularly Aerowood, over at airforums.com for all the knowledge I've been able to pick up on riveting from their threads and posts.  I removed the center Hehr vent, the powered one, grabbed a marina friend to buck for me, and riveted on a patch over the hole.  I took out the vent (sorry, Frank) so I've got a clear span for solar panels that hopefully go on tomorrow.  Planning to put Fantastic Fans in those remaining vents, fore and aft.

I received my Dickinson Propane Heater and have begun the temporary mount in the permanent location by the door.  I wanted to get heat in the trailer so I can continue to work inside this winter.  Pam will be able to sit inside in front of a cozy little fireplace.

Camera battery died after the one picture, so I'll get more up tomorrow.

Just a couple of little jobs today

My recent progress with polishing the rear endcap made me revisit whether or not I wanted to strip my existing overhead panel or replace it with new. One of my buddies in the marina suggested I ask myself if I had more money or more time. Therefore I started stripping one of those panels today. They're mostly behind cabinets anyway and I'll still replace the center overhead panel since I'm getting rid of the center hatch and will have a different light layout. Seems like a million bucked rivets on each side of that center panel, but I'm sure it's really only a thousand.






I had respite care watching Pam today and treated myself to having lunch in my trailer sitting at my refinished table. That's the only woodwork I've redone so far, but I just love the table: so simple and light, but pretty big and sturdy too.

Put on a new piece of threaded rod, taller, for my propane tanks. One of them needs polish. Heater gets here in a few days, but it'll just be a temporary install to keep the trailer warm for work this winter.

The Rain Has Come Back to the Pacific Northwet

 

I've got nearly all of the fasteners in the subfloor, lacking only a few in the C channel corners where I need some help backing the nuts in those spots where access is really tight. Those bolts that go through the outriggers and C channel have been time consuming too as I've had to do them one at a time with a pair of vice grips holding the bolt head on the bottom while I tighten the nut from the top. Rest of the floor has had the bolt head indentations and seams filled with thickened epoxy.

 

The plan was to epoxy the topside of the subfloor (like the bottom side is already done) and lay one layer of fiberglass cloth in the areas covered by cabinets. I'm now just going to lay that layer of cloth over the whole floor--cloth is cheap, I'm using the epoxy anyway, and it's just as easy to do. Overkill, I'm sure, but it'll give me a virtually waterproof subfloor. First section got laid down today.

  

 

I'd put in bunches of hours earlier stripping and polishing the rear inside end cap, but it just wasn't coming around. It has something like etching from the old Zolatone on it--feels smooth to the touch, but it isn't. Somebody came by and looked at it and suggested S.O.S pads and the thought of little rusty bits of steel scared me to death. Today I sanded a small piece as a test and then moved on to the endcap itself. I started with 400 grit and moved up grade by grade until it was done with 1000 grit, cleaned it with mineral spirits, and then polished again with G6 and then F7. Huge improvement and hopefully it shows in the photos (hard to take pics of shiny stuff!). Some of the etching is still there, but much is gone. Maybe I could go over it again starting with 320, but I hate to get too aggressive with it.