by Nobes » Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:58 am
The roof screws were removed, and while I was concerned that I might get springback, it stayed attached. The glass is now on so I am quite confident the roof is not going anywhere. I patched the screw holes and got some discolorations, which seemed quite obvious before glassing but are less apparent now. My big piece of glass fiber didn't quite cover the whole roof side to side, so I applied a 5" edge piece, with part of that 5" piece on the roof and part on the side of the TD. I thought this 5" trim would 'disappear' like the glass cloth did everywhere else but it did not. I read that it is quite common to overlap when there are multiple pieces of glass cloth, and it didn't occur to me that there might be problems with the seam. But, there are definitely problems. It's much better after 5 coats of resin, but the lower edge of the 5" piece is still a clearly visible line on the side of the TD near the roof. I sanded it pretty aggressively, and it improved, but it's still there.
I hate that my first ever attempt at glassing was on something so expensive and so visible. I learned a lot but not enough. I think a person with glassing experience would not have had these issues because they would have known how to avoid them.
So, I have some metal edging from Frank Bear I'm going to put on the wall-roof joint, and it will hide the screw holes and discolorations, but it will not hide the visible glass fiber edge line on the side of the TD. The options are live with it or put something over it, and we are talking about that but right now I don't see how that gets done and looks good given the other design/construction choices we have already made--unless of course we spend some serious money on custom fabrication of a metal piece that would run from the lower front of the TD to the galley/hatch. I guess a third option is to very, very aggressively sand everything down and basically start over. Since I am practically out of resin, and definitely out of glass cloth, that's more $ too. And I have spent way, way too much $ already.
No good choices. Right now, I'm living with it, hoping a solution presents itself.
And one more piece of bad news. My little 'tongue board' is too short. I spent 45+ minutes Sunday evening getting it bolted on, put my cool battery/electrical box on it, and the curve of the nose doesn't allow the box to sit flat. So, I guess for now I will simply move the board forward and leave a 2-3" gap between the board and the edge of the trailer chassis. That means I will have 4 extra holes in the board. And in the chassis. Eventually I'll make another board, this time 18" instead of 15".
The good news is I'm making progress in other areas. I got all but one piece of interior trim done last night, and I have it cut and stained and will put clearcoat on it tonight. I need this last piece of trim to cover a really, really bad seam in the nose. I am also working on a piece of trim that will attach to the top of the bulkhead in the galley, hiding yet another mistake. All the caulking is done. I have a number of little things to accomplish, but I think I can get them all done this week.
Then on Saturday I will install and weatherproof the hatch. The hatch is glassed and ready to go. I have the same 'lines' on the hatch but they are not as bad as those on the sides of the TD. Hatch installation/weatherproofing is the last big challenge.
A quick list of things I would do differently if I was starting out:
1. Get a trailer as wide as I want my build to be--don't mess with building a deck out over the sides of the trailer or up above the tires. The tires go outside the walls--with cool fenders--just a better look I think, and avoids lots of headaches.
2. Exterior width 60" max, maybe even a little less, for ease of glassing or aluminum covering. Still plenty of room inside for a queen size bed.
3. Aluminum not glass.
4. NOT a woodie. Definitely not a woodie. If you MUST build a woodie, get the 4x10 or 5x10 plywood. You'll thank me later.
5. Plywood side frame not a stick frame.
6. If you're building a woodie, hatch height not more than 48". My joint on the hatch plywood was disappointingly not my best work. I will cover it with some trim and you'll never know there was an issue, but I know. If you're covering with aluminum, well the joint line just needs to be flat.
7. Deck: stick frame with 1/4" ply on both sides. Seam in the middle. No OSB. Be sure to put framing under the spot where the bulkhead will be so you can screw that sucker down.
8. No side marker lights. Not needed by law, too much money/trouble/time to install.
9. Go with the super simple elec system. I 'upgraded' just a bit and spent close to $300. I don't need a 30 amp elec system, but I have one.
Sorry about the lack of pictures lately. I am taking pictures, and I need to get them posted.