Forrest, Larry, Sharon, Karen, Dan, thank you for your nice comments. As always I appreciate your support, and that you take the time to read my ramblings.
Norm, thanks for the idea about the "wedge" of dense rubber under the gasketing at the top. I think this is a great idea and if I am not mistaken I believe I have an old garden kneeling pad out in the garage somewhere. I appreciate you taking the time to give me that detailed, and very helpful, response.
Paul, thank you for your nice compliment about the paint job. The inside is Rustoleum and was applied with a foam roller with a little bit of tipping with a chip brush. The outside is Interlux Brightsides 1 part polyurethane marine paint. I applied several coats that I wasn't happy with. Various methods used were foam roller (just roll, and roll and tip), nap roller, HVLP sprayer. In the end, my husband came to the rescue. He is a master with a brush, so the final coat is done completely with a badger hair brush, and it turned out really nice. I don't have his touch when it comes to brush painting, that's for sure.
Al, thank you and I'm glad to hear that the lights will likely give me good use. I like them very much and best part, no wiring. My husband is looking at your build as we speak
Another beautiful day. Can't decide whether to work on the teardrop some more or maybe just pick a trail and go for a nice bike ride. Whatever we do, I'm relieved and happy today knowing that one huge obstacle is out of the way. Actually, if I was sure we weren't going to encounter rain, we could actually go camping at this point. That's a nice feeling. Now the devil is in the sealing details.