The rubber's purpose is to seal the holes in the floor and to cushion the plywood subfloor that goes on top of it from the metal floor underneath. It will prevent the floor materials from rubbing together and squeeking, and help the screws hold better. I cut and laid one sheet of plywood subfloor before having to call it a day. Having daylight run out at 5pm is still taking getting used to! Last night I thumbed through some catalogs. <DROOL!> They cater to carpenters. I made out a wish list that totaled in the thousands of dollars. Some of the things I want are useful - like japanese style saws. Some are frivolous - like a $200 solid titanium hammer. These catalogs are dangerous ... it's a good thing I don't have money. :-) |
November 2nd It rained on and (some) off all day. I was so excited to start working on my van that I got up at an ungodly hour - 7am on a weekend! Sunday is my favorite day to work. From 6 to 10 am, The Point plays folk and bluegrass. I switch over to NPR for the Prairie Home Companion, then to WGDR for a couple of hours. Back to NPR again for World music, then come in for supper and enjoy The Point's jazz. I even plan my time so I only use the sander or other power tools during commercial breaks. |
Finishing Touches |
October 14th 2003 Tada! Got the first coat on the fiberglass camper top. After getting another coat of red on, it will be time for some black trim. I can then move inside and start the interior finish work. Yippie! In the meantime, I've decided my van needs a name. Since you had so much fun with the color poll, I've created a name my van poll. Write in votes are welcome, too. |
October 22nd 2003 I changed most of the names in the poll to reflect my favorite write-in votes. Vote for your favorite before it's too late! It's supposed to crack 50 degrees on Friday. If it gets warm enough to paint, I'm gong to inscribe the most popular name on the back of my van. :-) The temperatures today didn't exceed 40. Tomorrow's high is 36. Brrr! I couldn't paint today, so I did some inside work. |
First Step: Cutting foam insulation into 3/4" deep pieces and slathering the backs with Gorilla Glue. I then stuck them onto the inside paneling as spacers for the upcoming Reflectix insulation. |
Reflectix is 1/4" thick, foil covered bubble wrap with an R-value comparable to 2 - 4" of foam insulation. It needs a minimun of 3/4" of dead air space to work correctly - thus the reason for the foam spacers. I installed 4 Reflectix panels before calling it a day. |
I've been spending most of my free time digging new garden beds. 20 and counting...Each takes about an hour to do. |
October 23rd I woke up this morning to a thin layer of snow on the ground. Noooooo!! It's too early for snow! I took a space heater out to the van with me in a feeble attempt to stay warm. It took 4 hours to finish laying out the Reflectix and foil taping the joints. |
October 24th Worked for a living. More destruction and construction! The highest I saw the thermometer go today was 37. Whoever forcasted 50's for today needs to have their head examined! I'm still holding out for the forcasted 50-60 temps this weekend. I charged $26.52 worth of lumber and screws to my account at the lumber yard. When the bill comes at the end of the month, I'll pay it off with my credit card. If I still don't have money when my credit card comes due, I'll have to pay just the minimum. I'm really scraping the barrel here to get all of the required tax and grocery money together. The wood helps keeps the fiberglass top on. When the weather gets warmer, I'm going to take out all of the old, yucky wood and screws, and install new materials. I need the warmer weather for the silicone caulk application around/behind the screws. The caulk that's there now looks like the same stuff they applied back in '78, when the top was installed. It's nasty! And it's leaking. I stuffed a few washcloths in there to stop major seepage until I can get it fixed - hopefully this weekend! Current Vote Leaders: Razzo Di Amore - 32 Bounce Box - 27 Adventure Mobile - 15 Toby - 11 Pippi - 10 |
November 1st 2003 It's November already? Where did my summer go? It felt like summer today, with the temps nearing 70. The breezes were so soft and warm....perfect painting weather. I scraped all of the old, disgusting caulking from the fiberglass camper top rim and applied new silicone caulk. After it dried, it got a layer of oil based primer. It was the only paint that would stick. Hopefully the red paint will stick to the primer. |
After painting the fiberglass top red again, I moved to interior work. Before I could start work inside, I needed to do a lot of head scratching and deciding what I want the finished look to be. The bottom of the bed supports are 25 inches off of the van floor. They needed to be that high to accomodate my baby, a sliding miter saw with a height of 21 inches. The extra 4 inches of space are to accomodate the plywood subfloor, finished flooring, 2" high casters, and the rolling box I want to build to put the saw in. |
The 2x6 supports are attached by drilling through the metal van ribs and attaching the wood with 3" carriage bolts. Nice and sturdy! |
I had to put legs on the support nearest the door. There was plenty of metal to screw into, but no space behind it to get in and attach a nut to the bolt. It actually turned out to be a good thing - this way the legs form a perfect 4 foot opening, with 3 inches of reveal on either side. |
I'll be able to attach locks on my doors on the reveal, which will be perfect for keeping my tools under the bed and out of sight. |
November 2nd It rained on and (some) off all day. I was so excited to start working on my van that I got up at an ungodly hour - 7am on a weekend! Sunday is my favorite day to work. From 6 to 10 am, The Point plays folk and bluegrass. I switch over to NPR for the Prairie Home Companion, then to WGDR for a couple of hours. Back to NPR again for World music, then come in for supper and enjoy The Point's jazz. I even plan my time so I only use the sander or other power tools during commercial breaks. |
Assembling the rest of the bed frame took time. I couldn't find the square drive drill bit and had to revert to using a phillips. The drill did NOT like the 3" screws I was using. They kept stripping out on me. |
Getting the bed together was so exciting! It's starting to look like van sweet home already. The plywood I used was actually left over from building my house. When I sit on top of the bed, my feet dangle about 5" from the floor. I love high beds. :-) My bed didn't stay clear for long. I got to work organizing the van...all of my tools, paint brushes, stain, paint, polyurethane, tool belt, levels, and everything else got piled on top of it. I swept the entire floor for the first time in months. |
I appropriated some spare rubber sheeting we had laying around from a previous construction job and cut it into 5 pieces for the floor. Using a heat gun, I thoroughly dried the floor and the rubber on both sides before laying it down. Caulking in and around the holes in the floor from the previous bolts (hopefully) sealed the rubber from any moisture coming from underneath the van. |
The rubber's purpose is to seal the holes in the floor and to cushion the plywood subfloor that goes on top of it from the metal floor underneath. It will prevent the floor materials from rubbing together and squeeking, and help the screws hold better. I cut and laid one sheet of plywood subfloor before having to call it a day. Having daylight run out at 5pm is still taking getting used to! Last night I thumbed through some catalogs. <DROOL!> They cater to carpenters. I made out a wish list that totaled in the thousands of dollars. Some of the things I want are useful - like japanese style saws. Some are frivolous - like a $200 solid titanium hammer. These catalogs are dangerous ... it's a good thing I don't have money. :-) |
November 18th 2003 I've been scare online lately because I've been working like crazy to get a roof constructed and covered at a job I've had in Montpelier (12 miles away). I'm currently in between jobs at the moment and have time once again to tinker. I broke down and actually *bought* plywood. It pained me to do it, with the prices they're charging these days. When I bought plywood for my house, it cost $12.73 a sheet. The same grade and thickness, bought at the same lumber store recently, cost me $30 a sheet. Stupid war in Iraq ... Anyhoo, I used two sheets to finish the floor. |
I'll use the remaining two sheets to construct the lockbox under my bed and the above-cab clothes storage box I've got in the works. I already have a bunch of thin cedar planking to line the box with. |
I put up all of the interior siding, with material to spare! Now I need to apply a finish, and I'll be done with it. I'm thinking I want some sort of natural oil - I don't want to darken it too much, though. The meter reader dropped in today and gave me some finishing advice. He then told me about a local tool store I hadn't known about before! He also has unfulfilled tool lust. |
I'm recharging the van's battery and reading my manuals in preparation for perhaps doing the mechanical aspects of my van project. I need to have my van up and running to get more jobs and make more money, but I need the jobs and the money to pay to get the van up and running. To the person who said I should pare down my insurance to the bare bones to bring down my premiums - $1600 a year IS bare bones! Nothing else will bring it down, until I get years older and continue to have an unblemished driving record. Hey, at least I'm not a male. They really pay through the nose. |
( The submit button has been taken down. Thank you all for your votes! ) |
