So here I am, dwinking wed wine and listening to the election returns with one ear. Lots of little steps since the last post, nothing big -- yet.
One more item of fallout from the Maiden Voyage. The drain plug on my ridiculously spendy Yeti cooler has a slow leak. which got the bare wood in my Ecuadorian plywood cooler tray wet. It turns out the SandePly is not exactly exterior grade, and the glue gave up at the groove that holds up the tray bottom. The cooler tray will need to be re-done. This looks suspiciously like Yeti is in cahoots with the Ecuadorian Evil Conspiracy. I cant believe it!
Yeti is a local, Texas company. That Yeti would commit such a traitorous act is inconceivable. I think its Ecuadorian sabotage, which just goes to show that these tree-killing short people wearing blankets and funny hats are everywhere, are a clear and present danger, and will stop at nothing.
Here's the proof of the conspiracy:
That thin strip to the right is the unwaterproof glued strip that is supposed to hold up the right side of the floor. I also obviously have mold, further proof that the Ecuadorians are out to get me.
Speaking of wearing blankets and funny hats, who was that guy sitting on the other side of Mad Jack at LCG IX? I was sitting by MJ, wearing a genuine acrylic Mexican bordercrossing lean-to tienda
serape' with
no hat, and he was wearing a genuine alpaca poncho/blanket and a pointed (Dunce? Wizard? Witch doctor?)
hat. Looked Ecuadorian to me. I think MJ must have saved my life that night. Thank you, MJ.
(/rant)
But I digress.
I also finished rewiring the Tear to hopefully fix my porch light gremlins. This was all done at the terminal panel:
No soldering, cutting wire or wood, or removing fixtures. Just moving wires around. Still looks like a bowl of spaghetti.
I also did some paint work on the fenders. I sanded down the runs, drips and errors, and gave them another coat of black. That's more like what I had in mind. Sorry, no pix. You've seen shiny black paint before, haven't you?
(R's +5 gain for the Senate.)
Finally, and here's the big one,
I did some water testing on the hatch drainage. A small stream from the hose went down the gutters, just as planned. I had to do a little minor caulking here and there for drippy leaks, but nothing bad at all. I ran to the store and got some CA (super glue) to fill in some cracks where aluminum pieces came together. I had 3-4 little tubes of CA in stock, which turn out to hold about a quarter of the capacity of the tube, so I ran out. I used the whole new bottle. It must have been about half full, too. (exasperated sigh) But, it was enough. I wouldn't normally use the stuff, except it liked to wick into the small cracks. I was happy with the results.
Tonight is the acid test for the hatch weatherproofing. I'm all hitched up in the driveway, ready to go for inspection tomorrow (only on Wednesdays), and it's raining even as I type. It's supposed to rain all night and into the morning, so we shall see how it turns out.
Keep your fingers crossed for the weatherproofing and the inspection.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!