I Really Like This Stuff

Prodex Insulation.

I'm mostly doing what has already been documented on Airforums by Malconium, Uwe, Carlos and others. Rich the Viking got me thinking about 2 layers and that's the way I'm going to go. Using 1/2" deep strips of foam insulation between the shell and the first layer of Prodex, glued on with foamboard adhesive. The next layer of Prodex will sit on another 1/2" deep strip of foam insulation and that will just about fill the 1 1/2" cavity inside the ribs. The wiring will go between the two layers of insulation.

Like many have done, my Prodex came from Insulation4less.com  and I ordered the tape for the seams and edges from them as well. Hopefully, one roll of insulation gets it done.

It's so easy to work with this stuff. Cuts with scissors, simple to fit. I had one day with the sun out (must have been weeks ago ) and there was an amazing difference between the bare shell and the insulated sections--hot and cool. It's been wet and fairly cold the last few days and I can see the heater warming the trailer up quicker as I get more of it insulated.

Likely the Last Outside Work Until Spring

Our weather has been a tease this week. It rains, clears up for awhile, and then rains again.

I pulled off the fiberglass forward endcap so I could buck rivets for the Wally plaque and do the antenna install. Don't know of any other 50's trailers that have the endcap in fiberglass instead of thirteen aluminum panels, but there must be others. It's so big and unwieldy that it'll likely go back up just as soon as I get the Prodex insulation installed. Planning to cover the fiberglass with a 13 panel redo in Baltic birch later on.

You can see the big roll of Prodex insulation in the endcap picture, that's next up.

 

Decided to patch the lower antenna mount hole and put the Wally plaque over it, moving the antenna slightly higher. Looks the best to me this way.

 

Where Do I Put the Wally Plaque?

I've got the patched holes for the center mount radio antenna and I'll be putting the new antenna on as soon as I take the inside forward endcap down. Thoughts on where the Wally Byam Caravan plaque should go? From the info on the VTS site with the original instructions: "...directly over the front and rear window will be the Wally Byam Caravan plaque. Directly over the plaque will be the number. Directly above the number will be the Caravan Club decal." Do you think I should put the plaque just above the antenna mount or should I patch that lower hole so the plaque can go directly over the window?

Got the 320, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000 grit sanding done on the rear endcap and made a quick pass with the compounder today. Not perfect as it still has some pitting, but I really don't think I want to take any more material off. Looks pretty good now and I think I can be happy enough with it. Many many hours spent here.

 

I installed the bulkhead passthroughs for the solar panels today. They're made by Blue Sea Systems and all of their electrical stuff is really good quality. I'll be using one of their AC breaker panels later on too. Blue Sea in Bellingham, so it's a local company too. They mount through 3/4" holes in the patch installed after the center roof vent was removed. All 4 solar panels will feed through those two posts.

 

Lighting our Fire

Not really a work session today, just leak checked the propane line I installed yesterday. But we fired up the heater for the first time and sat inside the warming trailer as I soon started yawning and felt that I badly needed a nap.

I just love this little heater. Excuse the shoddy cabinet it's temporarily mounted on--it has the original cutout from the Panel Ray and will be replaced later. The exhaust pipe is also the air intake feed--it's double walled. Therefore the heater is using no air from inside the trailer for combustion (a good thing). There is no noticeable heat on the outside skin after running for a hour, so the fresh air side of the deck pipe seems to insulate heat from the exhaust very well.

Let it run for 30 minutes or so to burn off the brand new odors and then brought Pam in to sit by the fire. Nasty wet drizzly Washington day outside.

 

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.