The First Outing!

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Well we did it! 
After looking at the weather forecast
for Columbus Day weekend we decided Friday night was the best bet for an overnight, so after work we hooked up to the Jeep and towed the Peapod across town to a little known campsite also known as my back yard.  We still had to cut the bevel in the front of the memory foam mattress so we made quick work of that and then got down to setting up for the night. Laura and Kerry were in town for the weekend and joined us for a campfire. Retiring to bed we were cozy as two peas in a pod. Can't wait to finish up and make plans for trips next Spring. 

Saturday and Sunday was spent with Kim working on finishing gluing the top rail on the galley decorative rail, 


mixing and applying more epoxy on the hatch 




and then we fitted the aluminum hurricane hinge to the back of the roof. We had to notch for the side walls and cut reliefs for where the wiring passes through from the roof into the hatch. 






Monday was a work holiday for us so we decided to go ahead and fit the hatch onto the camper even though it's not finished as far as epoxy coats but since days above 60 degrees are getting scarce we thought it best to move ahead fitting the hatch. We can decide on taillights and licence plate mount as well as mount lights under the hatch to illuminate the galley before removing the hatch again to finish epoxy. 

A view of the hinge. 

I need to do a little trimming of the lower rail to allow the hatch to close a bit tighter at the bottom. It seems that adding the outer plywood may have sprung the hatch about a 1/4 inch. Not a huge deal just a bit more fitting. 

Our wiring originates at the battery that is housed in the tongue box and exits the back of the box and goes into the front of the camper and runs in-between the spars and up into the fuse panel cabinet inside the cabin. The wire bundle on the left is for the side marker lights and stoplights and turn signals. The red and black wires on the right are the 12 volt power and ground that go from the battery up to the fuse panel. Because the wires are so confined I was afraid to drill screws into the plywood to hold the nice little escutcheons I plan on using to keep the water from going into the wiring holes. The solution was to cut some wooden donuts out and super glue them in place. Then the covers can be screwed into the donuts without fear of piercing wires. These wooden donuts will be epoxied and blend into the plywood. Should look good. 

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