Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Part 4
Part 4:
While I was up top removing the gutters, I noticed this:
See how the wood is starting to split apart? Not sure what, if anything, I can do about that at this point. As I said above, a complete sanding and re-finishing is in the works, but I'm not sure if that will fix this deterioration. I think what we will do is try to refinish as best we can for this year and if the problem continues (which I presume it will), I think I may have to look into something radical for a solution, like skinning the top (but not the sides) in aluminum. Any thoughts or recommendations on that?
Next I turned to the galley area. As you can see, the builder put a 110v electrical outlet to the galley. this "shore power" connector was not made for a vehicle, it was made for a home - like everything else he did, he bought his supplies at Home Depot.
That power connection went to a household-type power strip that sat in a box he constructed in the galley:
From there, power went to the AC unit in the galley (which we removed 2 weeks ago) and also through a hole in the bottom of the electrical box to a stereo system in the sleeping area.
Can you see the problem here? Again, I give mad props to the builder for being an expert wood craftsman - and then I have to take away points because he didn't seem to understand that he was building something that might, occasionally, have to be placed out in the rain. Here's what it looked like once I had the wooden box in the corner removed:
So you can probably guess what happened: When it rained, we either got leakage through the hatch (which was inadequately weather stripped) or through the shore power connector and then via that little 1" hole, water dripped straight into the sleeping compartment! Not good!
As you can see from the picture above, I removed the shore power connector, and then using my table saw for the first time (Christmas gift from my wife!)I made a filler piece using some of the extra wood from the box that used to enclose the power strip:
I'll use wood filler to seal any gaps around that so water can't get in. As for that devious little hole, I found a PVC pipe cap that will fit perfectly, and will, again, be sealed into place.
We will have some kind of electrical system, but it will be attached to the sleeping compartment via a tongue box (which we already have) and then will connect through the floor, so there won't be any way for rain water to come in and ruin our night!
That was pretty much it for this weekend, once we get the new axle and wheels we'll have a lot more flexibility in what we can do.
Part 4:
While I was up top removing the gutters, I noticed this:



See how the wood is starting to split apart? Not sure what, if anything, I can do about that at this point. As I said above, a complete sanding and re-finishing is in the works, but I'm not sure if that will fix this deterioration. I think what we will do is try to refinish as best we can for this year and if the problem continues (which I presume it will), I think I may have to look into something radical for a solution, like skinning the top (but not the sides) in aluminum. Any thoughts or recommendations on that?
Next I turned to the galley area. As you can see, the builder put a 110v electrical outlet to the galley. this "shore power" connector was not made for a vehicle, it was made for a home - like everything else he did, he bought his supplies at Home Depot.

That power connection went to a household-type power strip that sat in a box he constructed in the galley:


From there, power went to the AC unit in the galley (which we removed 2 weeks ago) and also through a hole in the bottom of the electrical box to a stereo system in the sleeping area.
Can you see the problem here? Again, I give mad props to the builder for being an expert wood craftsman - and then I have to take away points because he didn't seem to understand that he was building something that might, occasionally, have to be placed out in the rain. Here's what it looked like once I had the wooden box in the corner removed:

So you can probably guess what happened: When it rained, we either got leakage through the hatch (which was inadequately weather stripped) or through the shore power connector and then via that little 1" hole, water dripped straight into the sleeping compartment! Not good!
As you can see from the picture above, I removed the shore power connector, and then using my table saw for the first time (Christmas gift from my wife!)I made a filler piece using some of the extra wood from the box that used to enclose the power strip:


I'll use wood filler to seal any gaps around that so water can't get in. As for that devious little hole, I found a PVC pipe cap that will fit perfectly, and will, again, be sealed into place.
We will have some kind of electrical system, but it will be attached to the sleeping compartment via a tongue box (which we already have) and then will connect through the floor, so there won't be any way for rain water to come in and ruin our night!
That was pretty much it for this weekend, once we get the new axle and wheels we'll have a lot more flexibility in what we can do.