Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
catcamper–I emailed Dillon at CLC and he said that they tested the prototype in 40F and below temps and they felt it was warm enough inside, so they decided to forgo the transom insulation to keep the price of the headliner package lower than it otherwise would be. we took ours out last weekend, and it was 50F at night. it was very toasty (had to take off the comforter about 2 am) but in the morning there was condensation everywhere that was not insulated. I will use the Costco interlocking flooring material on the transom, and around the ceiling fan bezel where the supplied headliner does not totally cover. I didn’t notice any condensation on the bottom of the galley flat, nor on the inside of the bulkhead.
my guess is the problem is your #1 thought.
I say this because when I mounted the camper to the trailer I tried to save a couple of dollars by cutting off the long SS carriage bolts that CLC supplied rather than buying new ones of the proper length.
I threaded a normal nut onto the carriage bolt, sawed the bolt to length, then removed the nut thinking that this would chase the threads at the cut end.
I put the carriage bolts through the bottom of the camper into the trailer frame and used the nylock nuts. almost immediately they completely seized up. being stubborn, I tried 3 of them before I gave up. fortunately I was able to use a Fein tool to cut the bolts off. I’m sure the problem was the sharp edges of my cut shredded the nylon insert and caused the seize-up.
if you keep the resin and hardener in your house, and dispense and mix it in the house, you might get a few more minutes out of it than if you start with the two parts at 85F.
I you decide to add more foam seal, most local hardware stores stock all the sizes of Frost King foam weather seal. it’s about $4-6 per 10 foot roll depending on the width and thickness. my local lowes stocks some sizes at about 1/2 the price of true value/ace/etc. curiously, my local Home Depot doesn’t stock any, but is available ship-to-store.
I live in Indiana and I started my build in march when it was still cold. my workshop (20′ x 20′) has a ceiling-mounted Dayton electric space heater (5000 watts, and 220 volts) and a wall-mounted line voltage thermostat.
the resin and hardener are really viscous below about 65F. I started out with the shop heated to about 60F and I kept the resin and epoxy in the house so they would flow better out of the pumps. however, once the epoxy was mixed and spread on the cold surfaces that I was fiberglassing, it became more viscous and a bit harder to spread.
after a few days of that drill, I raised the temp in the shop to 70 a few hours before I started a work session, and then lowered it to 60 when I was done for the day.
I’m afraid that working in the winter in a minimally-heated space won’t work for you.
my 2 cents worth.
ken
mike–when I decided to gasket the aft edge of the hatch, I first used the 7/16″ thick size. that made the hatch bow out at the edges (with the hasp latched) telling me that thinner gasket would do. I removed the 7/16 and used 3/16. there is an impression on the 3/16 gasket from the molded rubber gasket telling me that it is thick enough.
I had a little bit of water intrusion under the aft edge of the galley hatch, so I added a strip of 3/4″ wide X 3/16″ thick weather seal along the inside of the hatch. there was a faint mark on the inside of the hatch from the molded rubber gasket so I was able to place the weather seal in the proper location. I closed the hatch for a few minutes and then checked the weather seal to make sure there was an impression from the molded gasket. there were a couple of places where there was no impression so I added another short layer of the 3/16 weather seal.
I had the same experience as rovineye, except with a different carrier. state laws and insurance carrier requirements might vary, but my agent asked for the VIN number of the trailer, and then I provided the replacement value that I wanted to insure against.
commcoy–if clc doesn’t stock the 3m 07447 maroon pads, it appears that advance auto parts carries them, and you can ck their website to see if your local store has them in stock for 1.59 each. Grainger also stocks them but in my experience sometimes they don’t like to sell at retail, if you don’t have an account.
none, other than an offline conversation with one builder who hasn’t yet installed the headliner, where we agreed that starting with the 3/8″ roundover on all the edges of the foam panels seems aggressive. I’ll post later what I end up doing. I am going to temporarily hold the panels in place with folded-over masking tape until I’m sure I have the panels edged properly and in the right places.
ken
I used Scotch/3M “hand pads” #07447. they are about $21 per box of 20 on amazon and prime eligibile for 2-day shipping. they are fairly large. I folded them in two, so that I had 4 uses per pad. they load up with dust fairly quickly, but since they were cheap I didn’t try to clean them. just flipped them over, then after the second side, folded them the other way for 2 more uses.
My workshop has so much stuff in it I decided to forgo the attempt at eliminating sources of dust. While the varnish was wet I took care not disturb anything that might generate dust. I believe that worked well.
i forgot to mention the other thing I learned while varnishing. The hymnal suggests (IIRC) sanding with 320 grit between varnish coats and then wet sanding by hand with 400 before the finish coat. Long story short, after some experimentation I decided to use the scotch pads that the materials list suggested buying. It did a great job of knocking down the tiny bumps left after varnishing, that the tipping is supposed to knock down but may not have been completely knocked down. Also the scotch pad gives the surface some tooth for the next layer to adhere to.
I think I understand your setup. so, let me suggest what I think I would do.
first, make sure you have a GOOD face mask/respirator with charcoal canisters, not dust filters. I bought a mid-priced 3M model that has interchangeable dust filters and carbon canisters.
could you leave the door open from your garage to your house overnight, to get the temp in the garage as low as possible? IIRC, it took me about an hour to varnish (roll and tip) the entire outside of the cabin. so, if you could start first thing in the morning, you would close the door to your house, keep the garage door closed, and hope the temp doesn’t get above 80 in an hour. you’ll be wearing your vapor mask, so working in a closed garage for an hour is no health hazard for you (assuming your mask is intact, and you can’t smell the varnish when you’re wearing it). I happen to have a small window AC in my workshop, and I didn’t open the garage door until I was done varnishing. then it airs out pretty quickly.
to be doubly safe, although I doubt there is enough vapor in the amount of varnish you’ll use for each coat, I would make sure there are no sources of ignition in your garage during the hour you’re varnishing.
you didn’t ask for varnish technique advice, but I’ll offer what I learned.
I wasn’t happy with the results from using a foam brush for tipping as suggested in the hymnal. I did some reading and learned that I should use a badger-hair brush for tipping. turns out these are as rare in retail stores as are badgers themselves. supposedly an alternate is a “china bristle” brush, which is boar hair that is specially trimmed to simulate the softness of a badger brush. first try with a Wooster brand china bristle from HD was unsucessful. the bristles were too firm and left brush marks. second try was to go to a sherwin Williams store where I found a “badger” brush, Red Tree brand, that was not really badger hair, but was china bristle that was supposedly as soft as a badger brush, and the tip was properly trimmed/beveled to use for tipping. I was very happy with the result. if you have enough lead time, you might find a genuine badger brush online. finally, I discovered that Home Depot has Wooster 1/8″nap 7″ roller covers via ship to store.
they are in pkg of 2, for $2.34 per package. my local woodcrafters charges 11.99 for a package of 3!
ken
I haven’t done the “knob mod” yet, but I used a layer of the 7/16″ Frost King weather seat that CLC supplied, and on top of that I used a layer of 5/16″ frost king weather seal. you should be able to find it at your local hardware. I learned that at least in my area, Home Depot doesn’t stock it (???) but lowe’s does.
after a couple of trips driving in the rain, so far no leaks.
ken
