During early October, I assembled the second small dinette bench. This one was going to be for the streetside. Unlike the one I'd installed on the curbside, for this one I put a hinge on the top (bench top) piece, so I could open it for easier access to where the DC electric system was going to be installed. I also made some fixes to the curbside dinette bench. I sprayed both benches with polyurethane but did not install them at this time.
Removing and cleaning up failed/faulty seams took up several days and evenings. The hardened polyester resin softened up with ten-fifteen seconds of a heat gun on low, which let me scrape it up with a plastic putty knife. Taking off the paint near the seam was a multistep process. First I applied the citrus-smelling paint stripper, then after about an hour I can back and scraped. That got some paint off. Next I scrubbed the scraped areas with painter towels doused in mineral spirits. A lot more paint came off. Third, I sanded the areas with a random orbit sander. By the end of the sanding stage, most of the paint was off. Finally, I went back over the areas with towels and mineral spirits ago. That got me back to raw wood.
I'd planned to have that cleanup done by Sunday, October 10th so I could fiberglass on Monday, October 11th. In fact, I thought I had. But looking at on the 11th I found I needed to go back and touch up, and by the time I was done it was dark and temperatures were dropping. I figured I'd fiberglass on Tuesday the 12th. Something I ate for dinner disagreed, and a popup shower on the 13th meant I had to delay until the 14th. This put me back into rush mode, because I was due to leave on the afternoon of the 15th for a weekend of camping with some of my wife's friends.
Fiberglass wasn't the only thing I needed to do before we left, though. The afternoon and evening of October 14 were almost a blur, and I have only a few photos. First, I cut out the opening for the front window. From the inside, I drilled holes at each corner of the opening using a power drill with a large bit (maybe 3/8" or 1/2") that made holes large enough for my jigsaw blade.
Then I marked lines on the outside between the outer edges of the holes. These leans marked where I would cut with the jigsaw. This whole process went very smoothly.
Next, I installed the streetside dinette bench and the DC electric system. I did not connect the runs to the DC outlets and devices immediately.
The light was just starting to fade on the evening of the 14th as I started the fiberglass work. This time, I used fiberglass mat rather than fiberglass cloth. Where it went on well, it looked good. Between my experience, fading light, and running out of resin before I finished all the fiberglass I'd planned to do, I can honestly say it didn't go well everywhere. I think this picture proves that.
It definitely needs more work in places and some rework in others.
Before I went to bed, I built a wooden "plug" for the front window hole, since I didn't have time for fabricate the front window before departure. This "plug" helps keep the elements and critters out of the camper. God willing, in the next few weeks I'll fabricate the window, remove the plug, and install the window.
Thankfully, my work on the 14th had me in pretty good shape for the camping trip. Before leaving on the 15th I had a few tasks to finish up, but nothing too strenuous, and nothing too rushed. Late morning and early afternoon I reconnected both the trailer lighting and the DC wire runs. Next, I installed the top two drawers that go under the bed and reinstalled the bed slats I'd removed to install the drawer guides/supports. The drawers don't have their finished faces yet, but worked OK. Finally, I installed the fixed curbside dinette.
The camping trip went fairly well. We had fun. We survived. The camper came back home in pretty much the same condition as it left, unlike during the maiden voyage. The only real exception were a leather drawer pull that pulled through the screw, and the parts of the shelf/power panel. The latter is simply a matter of going back with some corner braces and attached things more securely, while the former will probably be addressed via small washer.
Alas, the trip revealed that one of the new seams leaks, and one of the original seams was compromised at some point and now leaks, even if it didn't used to. Hopefully, this coming week the weather will cooperate and I can do the fiberglass work before winter. Getting that done in the next week or so should also let me get it sanded down and painted before winter.
