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Friday, July 17, 2020

My Trailer Redo - Days 112, 113 - And Some of the Trimmings

 
I actually didn't have much trailer time today. I had to go to Manistee in the afternoon, but I did some more work this evening, so maybe that made up for it. I know I have way too much to do before the date I planned to leave. But Marie may need to push the beginning a little too, so it will work out.

Anyway, this is the door side wall as it will be for this trip. (Except for hanging the curtains and putting in the back cushion.)

interior wall of a fiberglass trailer

And the other side wall as it will be for this trip.

interior wall of a fiberglass trailer

Now, let's back up and talk some about how we got here.

First of all, in case you've forgotten, nothing lines up right in these trailers. You might remember that I discovered last year that the bed was not level and I fixed that. The brace had been fastened in what appears to be level, as in parallel with the line in the shell. So now the bench is level, but you can see that it is not parallel with that rib. I just have to remember to fit the wall to that shape rather than cut a rectangle. I'm quite happy that the bench seat is more stable, since really nothing is orthagonal. There's a whole inch difference in the width of the lower insulation piece (picture below) between the right and left ends.

uneven bench in a fiberglass trailer

I cut insulation for that side wall.

insulating a fiberglass trailer

I actually cut the beadboard piece last night because I had all the stuff out, and that way I didn't have to lug a big piece of the beadboard back in the house.

Here is an example of the paneling trim that I got. This is a vinyl product that you just slip on the edges. This is an inside corner.

inside corner vinyl paneling trim

And this is the joining of two panels. It sure looks nice! Remember, I haven't painted these yet, so there are a bunch of scuff marks that show right now. It's the best I can do for this year. There is also a cap trim on the top edge. And notice the finish washers behind the screw heads in the paneling.

paneling trim

I started working on the back wall. I would ignore that for now except that since I am going to be able to have the swinging table brace, I have to get wood mounted to the fiberglass to screw it to. So, I've got some wood glued to the wall- when it sets up, that will be just enough to hold it in place to get the fiberglass on it which will hold it securely. The back wall beneath the window will have the paneling on it. Again, this is needed to get the table bracket mounted correctly.

braces on back wall of a fiberglass trailer

And why, you ask, did I bother putting the window frames back on? Good question. Mostly because with the paneling in place the way I had jury rigged the curtain rods wasn't going to work. I still had the old frames (never throw anything away until you are sure, sure, sure you are done with it). They aren't going to work in the long run. One of the side window ones isn't even the right size. (They measured wrong? Ran out of wood?) And, I don't know what kind of wood they are made from, but it is hard as rock. I broke 2 drill bits making holes for the curtain rod brackets a few years ago! But now the brackets are still there, and so this not only looks better, but it was the easiest way to deal with the curtains.

That just leaves the one piece of beadboard missing around the curve on the driver side. I need to wait and see how the door side does on this trip. I'm not sure that all my effort with that curve is going to pay off. The curve puts so much pressure on the screws and braces that it's creeping outward a little already. Ultimately, I may have to do the curve with some other material and just paint it to match. There is flexible plywood, but it's really expensive. There is plastic sheeting (the kind you line shower enclosures with) that is cheap, but it's also thinner than the paneling. Not an insurmountable problem, so that's an option.

Of course, it looks weird with that one missing piece, but the rest is SO much better than the bare fiberglass.

In other news: I went to Manistee to do an equipment check for my Tuesday program. We are all set on that. While I was going to Manistee anyway, I took the recycling and got our pay-by-the-bag trash bags. It was impossible to contact anyone until the restrictions let up and even then, I wasn't sure the office was open. The phone number just switched to an 800 number. So I took my chances, and cleared out 5 bags of plastic stuff and came home with the correct trash bags. I was really glad to be able to combine that trip with a second errand.

See First Curved Interior Wall

2 comments:

Ann said...

You've gotten a lot accomplished with the trailer. I hope the corner piece passes the test on your trip.
We sell the pay by the bag trash bags at the grocery store I work at. I always thought they were really expensive but then I realized if I broke down my monthly trash bill to a per bag rate I'm probably paying too much.

Sharkbytes (TM) said...

Ann- the pay by the bag is really economical for us. We recycle and compost, and only have about one bag of actual trash a month