Blood, sweat, and teardrops

 Yesterday was a big day as we also got the fiberglass cloth and a coat of epoxy on the sides. Kim mixed epoxy and being the rule follower, she held to a strict two minutes of mixing keeping me supplied with epoxy as I spread it into the fiberglass cloth, saturating it and adhering it to the plywood. The beautiful grain shows through once the cloth becomes nearly invisible through the epoxy. This is the same process our teardrops previous owner used to build cedar strip canoes and kayaks. Although we're learning it seems like we're getting the results that we are expecting. I can't wait to show it to Larry.  Kim had a golf tournament today so it was my day solo to try not to derail the project. She has alot of faith in me, that one!🤣 I convinced Nick to help me lift sides into place on the floor after a nice thick bead of PL Premium 8X adhesive was spread into the joint where the wall attaches to the floor. We clamped it all in place with my new H...

Today we mixed up some epoxy resin and added in a bit of the graphite powder to make a black epoxy for the edges of the door openings. We want to hide the different joints of the inner framing. I brushed it on and it seemed to be going great until we realized that the epoxy  was wicking into the grain of the side wood. Since were not framing the door with trim some quick wiping and sanding was nessessary.   Black epoxy drips on my shoes😁 This is the reflection of Kim's foot in the epoxy we applied to a piece of scrap plywood from the window cutout.   One coat of fiberglass cloth saturated with epoxy and another coat of epoxy. This thing is going to be blindingly shiny!! Test panel with glass and epoxy.  

Today after work I installed the newly painted wheels and two new Carlisle Sport Trail tires that Nick mounted and balanced for us. While I was at it I reinstalled the hitch coupler and the tounge jack. What a great feeling to see that part of the project sitting there all nice and new, ready for the wooden structure! I spent some time making a poster board pattern for the door stops and spacers that will be glued into the door opening on the inside.  We're getting close to being ready to lay down some fiberglass cloth and a coat of two part epoxy on the side panels. We will try some test pieces first to decide if we should apply a stain to the plywood first. And gain some confidence in our epoxy abilities.   

Lots of progress this weekend has been made. The doors are trimmed to allow a nice gap in the door openings. That took quite a bit of time as there was alot of handwork with a rasp to avoid tearing the mohogany plywood. Sunday in the 95 degree heat we were able to sandblast the wheels at Kim's brothers house and after a shower and a break for homemade raspberry ice cream, we sprayed some primer on the wheels. Tomorrow I'll paint them and Nick is ordering us two new tires. 

After work Tuesday and Wednesday I finished welding the front brackets on and drilled the holes to attach the floor to the frame. Everything lined up nice and square so I removed the floor and painted the frame with black truck bedliner spray. It looks like it will be durable.  Next step is fitting the doors into their openings. 

Today I finished up welding the stub axle mounting plates on the A-frame rear cross tube. We used a level and measured the front and rear of the wheels to make sure we didn't have a crazy toe in toe out number. Satisfied with our repeated measurments I clamped everything in place and tack welded. Then we removed the axle stubs and flipped the while thing over and relocated to the driveway to finish welding. Not my best looking welds ever but I'm confident it'll hold.      

Today is frame work day after a trip to Penn Yan with Kim to Hoover's Farm Supply for a 2 inch square tube by six feet long for the axle support and a couple 3/16 inch plates to mount the stub axles. We discovered that Hoovers is now only doing Saturday hours by appointment but we called the phone number and they were quick to attend to our order and we were back on our way home in no time. Gotta love the Mennonite work ethic! I dropped Kim off at the apartment as she had reservations about standing in the 90 + heat watching me weld.  It's been awhile since I've had to weld anything and to no surprise my mig welder tank was empty so that meant a trip to Canandaigua Tractor Supply to swap the argon / CO2 tank for a fresh one.  Finally about 1:30 I had my shit together enough to get started. I measured the spacing between arms at the back and clamped them in place at 60 1/4 inches apart to allow the walls and the floor to slide in between. I c...

The first side skin was glued and dried overnight. Today was cutting day. First attempt was with a jigsaw. That made some ragged cuts. Second try was with a router. Much better results.   Starting to cut out the door.  First door cut out.  Wiping down the door getting ready to glue the skin on. Both sides and both doors have been skinned and cut out. Next will be fitting the windows and then work on the frame.

Today we glued the first skin to the side. Seemed to go well. First was a bit of measuring to make sure the holes for the wires were in the right place. Then Weston added the glue to the inside piece.  Next was to put the outside skin on top of the glue  Followed by using every heavy item in the garage to weight it down. Tomorrow will be gluing the second side. 

Started on the wiring today. Lots of planning and calculation. Tomorrow looks like we will start gluing the skins on the sides.