All right I have not posted because of trying to get things ready and leaving on vacation. I have learned a lot about finishing up a teardrop and making it road worthy. I keep looking at things that I need to do and sayin that will only take a couple hours to do....... Wrong!
The painting went well. Wish I would have spent a little more time on the wood before I started painting. You can see all the sanding marks when I used the big sander. Followed the directions on the Rustoleoum paint. Started out with the spar varnish thinned 10%. Then 3 coats of the wood fiberglass primer and 3 coats of red. Have. It put the gray on the sides yet. But we did use it on the fenders and hub caps.
So after the paint I installed the door seal and latch. The door was warped alittle but it is working its why out.
After that installed the repurposed windows. They came out of an older camper that some friends trashed. They are the roll out kind. Seemed to be in good condition. Cleaned them up and took a hammer and a weight and straighten the flange out. Used some butyl tape around and stainless screws.
Next was the a/c in the side. It is a 5,000btu unit. Used aluminum angle across the top and silicon all the around. Also used angle from the back of a/c to the body to hold everything together.
Now comes the roof. I decided to go with ABS sheets. Got 5 4x8x.062 sheets ship to house for a little more than $200.00. It is supper easy to work with. I started out wanting to weld them together but after practicing on some scrap pieces I decide not too. It would bond together good but not enough for me to seal water. So we overlapped it. Also install SS screws with washers along the seams. Looked great but with this 110 degree weather it does oil can. After that the trim went on with the 1" black insert.
Also decided to go with the living hinge. Went on good with the exception of poking a hole through the middle of it with the drill tip. So the wife got me calmed back down and tried welding it up. Surprisingly it turned out pretty good. I am sure it won't last as long because of the build up of extra material in the hinging part. It also got the 1"x1/4" aluminum pice down each side with SS screws.
Armed with new tires we mocked up the battleship grey fenders.
Took the next morning off to go deal with tags. In the county that I live in I know the lady that handles registration. So I went to her asking what needed to be done. Long story short I have a 30 day tag and will be sending everything in to get it titled and have a vin number. So the way they see it that is the correct way to do it.
With the 30 day tag I hooked on to it and took it to work to see how it pulled. It worked great about half way down. Notice that was bouncing bad. Got to work and the springs of the trailer where setting on the frame. While at work gave 3 tours and someone left a note on the windshield asking for information. Drove home slowly as hwy75 would let me. Started thinking that when I put the mounting bracket on the frame that they are not far enough apart. So I was going to make longer shackles. While disassembling the old ones figured out that the holes for both the front eye and the shackle are at the same level. The shackle was doing its job until it swung all the around and was fighting itself. In the process of doing that I cut the end of my thumb nearly off. A friend came over and helped put everything together.
