Twenty-Five...
(above) Today (Wednesday) Mike is coming up for a visit...In preparation, I get out all the components for final placement discussions...
(above) I also organised the invoices for materials I've purchased ...All part of the job...
(above) Not wanting to get too deep into something complex before Mike gets here, I take the opportunity to glue-up a cutting board that will fit in the drawer directly under the stove...I 'm using maple, walnut and bubinga shorts that have been laying around...
(above) Clamped and set close to the heater to help the glue dry on this winter day...
Mike showed up on time, with pizza and pop in hand and we basically just hung out inside the Jeep, had lunch and talked things over...
It is an easy vehicle for two people to occupy without it feeling crowded and it's not hard to see how simple two can travel in comfort and style...All in the twenty-five square feet that is the rear cabin...
We both were quick to say how our collaboration is resulting in something more than special...
(above) After Mike's visit I got back to work...The teak baseboard on the driver's side was next on the list...The existing cabinet is far from straight at the baseboard level, and with the plan to have a removable floor that slides in and out, the baseboard needs to be a straight close fit...To get the base straight, I got the piece of teak that will go there, taped it all around with clear packing tape and positioned it...Next I put a piece of plywood the exact size of the floor, on the floor...Next, 1/8" plywood for spacers were put between the teak and ply floor...That will bet the finished gap size later...To correct the undulating wall, I shimmed the backside of the teak and mixed some grey construction duty epoxy and putty knifed it in place...It's kind of hard to see clearly all that, but that's what's going on above...After the epoxy set's up, I'll remove the ply and the teak which will not be stuck to the epoxy since epoxy won't stick to the clear plastic tape...Then' I'll pull the tape and use clear epoxy to bond the teak to the grey epoxy...Pretty simple really...
(above) At the end of the day, I put a piece of plywood on edge under the floor ply in the propane locker then spray foamed whatever gaps were there...
(above) Before turning out the shop lights, I found a place for the vinyl banner Mike brought me...
Day done...
(above) Thursday morning after a quick trip out for parts...
(above) Before getting in the Jeep, I ran the now dry cutting board through the planer...
(above) Then after cutting it to length a few wood strips are glued on as end caps...
(above) Again clamped and set to dry in a warm place...
(above) Back in the Jeep...The ply floor shims and teak are pulled out as outlined above...Good enough for now...
(above) The air lines that control the roof raising and lowering were leaking and the culprit was the quick-connect air line Tees...I changed them out for these brass compression fittings...A job that I thought should take about fifteen minutes, max...It took over an hour...The old air lines have expanded ever so slightly over time and that was enough to have the fittings and the tubing resist coming together without hard, heavy hand work...Frustrating when you expect it to be simple and easy...I ended up making a small wood block that slipped over the tubing and resting on the compression nut, the using big pliers I was able to get the nut to fit down over the insert ferrule, then I was able to get the nut to thread onto the tee......That make sense...???...
(above) The compressor was turned on and the roof was lifted and it held...Yeaaah... The plywood is there in case it didn't...
(above) Next on my list of "must get this done sometime" was to finish the gas lines for the stove and the wall heater...
(above) The gas manifold is all 1/2" rigid copper...It ties into the 3/8" soft copper line that goes back to the propane locker...You can see the port for the heater line just to the left of the roll-bar and the stove line there on the right...Easy to get to the connections there...The tee in the middle is for a pressure test gauge...
(above) Next I put foam pipe insulators over possible contact points...I also enlarged the cut-outs where the wires go through and wrapped them too...An ounce of prevention kind of thing...
(above) Then it was back outside to cut away and sand the excess spray foam, then I fiberglassed the inside of the propane locker...Waterproof and airtight...
(above) Finally I finished off the spray foam by using it to further resist movement...Once set it will stand up to some serious off road rambling...That after all is what this is all about...
. Glad all is well with you and your family.
