My Epiphany - Sanding - Sanding - Sanding

[kinto]

the setbacks are a bummer but it's gonna be awesome when you're "finished."

your lamp is freakin' cool too! i really dig the clearcoat over rust... great idea.

keep it up paul

kent

[Oldragbaggers]

I too would love to see a picture of Paul sanding. I spent 3 hot miserable days doing it last week and I need proof that I am not the only one.

[PcHistorian]

LOL, yeah weather nearly brought my build to a stand still. I get about an hour just after dawn, and another hour or two at dusk. Other than that either the mosquitoes or the sun take over. Not that it cooled at night. Now I back to making progress.

Was at least doing some poly work on the stuff to mount inside, but in the shade outside to work. That way I had some breeze, too. Can you roll up the sides on your "pole barn" there to get some air while you work inside, but keep your top on to keep it cooler inside? (maybe go for getting the AC hooked up and installed first?)

Coming along wonderfully. You tha man!
:-)

[aggie79]

Hey Paul,

Are you still out there? While I'm not working on a build (at the moment) I am trying to re-do our garage, but the heat is killing me. Hopefully you're staying cool enough and hydrated.

Take care,
Tom

[parnold]

I'm still here!

It's been so hot that I put off working on the trailer for almost the last 4 weeks. Very limited time spent on it. I took two days off work (yesterday and today) but a freak violent storm rolled through my neighborhood and I lost a maple tree to it. Fortunately the house, trailers and cars were all spared, but I spent almost all day yesterday cleaning up that mess. Today it's raining, so I can't finish the job, but I have discovered that my temporary garage has a couple of tiny leaks. You can't apply resin to a trailer that's getting dripped on.

Tomorrow and Sunday are calling for no rain and moderate temperatures, so hopefully I can get this thing with enough resin on it to get it ready for a paint job, and some windows.

I've only got three weeks until I leave for Wyoming, and I'd like to have the temporary garage down by then. At least I have my little one to go camping in!

[starleen2]

Paul - I had the same thing happen when I built one of my campers - one spot did npt seem to cure as fast as the others - then I learned what separates retail polyester resin from commercial resins. The stuff at Lowes (and Walmart, etc) is for finishing one time layers and has a wax in it to aid the curing process - that's why when you go to add another layer, the wax either has to be sanded off or wiped away with generous amounts of acetone. The unwaxed resins are for building layer upon layer and leaves a tacky surface. I suspect that the gallon of resin wasn't mixed throughout before measuring and adding the MEK. Now I shake the can before I pour out any for measuring - no problems since then. If you are interested in applying unwaxed resins try
http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html

. . . and yes - we want to see ya' sanding!

[parnold]

Starleen:

That's an interesting theory/observation. The resin I am using is commercial, but I didn't have this problem with my first trailer. Hmmmmmm. I did not shake up the cans though, maybe I'll try that. I've found that applying a couple fairly thick coats solves the problem, and I can't detect any adhesion problem at all, so I'm plodding along. Now if it would stop raining, and stay cool, I'll get this stupid thing finished!

[KCStudly]

Hey Paul, the weather is supposed to be really nice all weekend (in weather terms you're only about 4-5 hrs ahead of me) so I'm looking forward to seeing your progess!

Oh boy, oh boy ; Paul's going to get his build on.

[PcHistorian]

you guys should have perfect build weather the next couple of days, and most of next week.

[parnold]

I get up bright and early (okay 7:30, maybe not that early) and go to work finishing cleaning up the three that fell in my yard on Wednesday. Did I mention I completely lost my Thursday off to the damn tree, and lost Friday to the rain. Cleanup goes well, and by 10:30 I'm on the lawnmower cutting the lawn when.... BLAM! The deck belt goes south. By 12:30 the new belt is purchased ($40.00) and installed, and the lawn is done. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to applying resin. I got the entire trailer coated with a fresh coat of resin so the roof has two coats, the front and back edges 3 coats, and the walls now have four coats. Tomorrow weather permitting, I will apply the glass to all the seams, and apply another full coat of resin.

Cross your fingers for me.

Pics later on if I don't drink too much beer.

[eaglesdare]

our belt went south this morning also. he also went and bought a new one. must have been in the water. temps today weren't so bad once the rain stopped.

[parnold]

Recap:

I took Thursday and Friday off this week to get back to my build. The weather has been so incredibly hot, I haven't done anything for weeks. Wednesday a freak, violent thunderstorm rolls through my neighborhood and leaves me with this.



Almost the entire Thursday was devoted to getting rid of this fallen tree. Here is the brush pile at the curb for the township to come chew up with their big machine.



And here is the left over wood which will be cut down for firewood. I plan on giving most of the firewood to my neighbor, who was kind enough to come help me.



So there is my Thursday. Friday was pouring rain and my shelter has sprung a leak, so I was not able to get to the trailer on Friday either. Saturday morning was finish up the fallen tree, and cut the lawn. Belt on mower broke, so $40.00 and two hours later I was done with the lawn. Saturday afternoon, I was able to give the entire trailer a coat of resin. Here is my results picture, and in the foreground, the excuse why I did not post pictures yesterday.



Today, I started applying the fiberglass tape. Here is a sample of my work.



What a mess! There are a couple spots like this, but I'm hoping they will sand out without too much trouble. Anyone else run into this? When I tried to pick away the ball of glass, it made it worse, so I left it to solve with sandpaper.



So I got the front, back, and the right side of the trailer done, when my son came outside with a troubling tale of a water leak in the laundry room.

Close examination narrowed the leak down to my ancient washing machine. 15 minutes and one hand truck later and the washing machine was at the curb. I got a returned and repaired washer from Lowes, still had the stickers on it, for $250.00. The same model on the showroom floor was on sale for $549.00. Purchase and installation of the new washer pretty much shot the rest of the day, so no more progress on the trailer.

I swear, the cards are against me.

[bigbendhiker]

Paul,

Sorry to hear about all of your recent difficulties. Seems there is never enough time to work on our projects, always something else demanding our time.

Good score on the new "refurbished" washer. It appears that your old one went out at the right time for you to get a great deal on a new one. On a positive note the color of your stain and the wood grain on your trailer look great, especially in the last photo. Good work!

[S. Heisley]

Parnold wrote:

What a mess! There are a couple spots like this, but I'm hoping they will sand out without too much trouble. Anyone else run into this? When I tried to pick away the ball of glass, it made it worse, so I left it to solve with sandpaper.

I had a little of that. Not as much as you have. I waited for it to dry and then cut the loose stuff off with wire cutters. Then, the rest sanded okay. I doubt it'll be a big deal.

Sorry to hear about your tree. It looked like a pretty one. The good news is that it didn't hit any buildings or cars. You're doing very well.

[CliffinGA]

Paul look on the bright side, it missed the house, the tear and the new project! Plus you now have plenty of firewood for this fall! I had some of that where the fiberglass tape balled up and it does sand down but will tear thru a orbital sanding disc paper pretty quick. I tried forrest's method with tape in a bag and then poured the mixed epoxy in on it and soakd tossed it around in there saturating it then putting it on. It seemed to keep it from balling up as much and seemed to stretch out and spread smoother.

Cliff