Bessie gets her curves insulated

Pesky little curved ceiling

1/4" foam glued to fiberblass 

Gluing

4 layers later and a wall piece up

Ceiling piece over foam

Yesterday and today we worked on getting the foam on the curved part of the ceiling.  I'm really hoping it stays but if it doesn't we do have a partial piece of hardboard over it, but only on the flat part.  Not sure what I'll do to finish the curve.  I will be using Metalaire ceiling tiles over the whole ceiling so I just may glue that straight to the foam still showing.  I had planned on gluing hardboard over the foam but the foam was having issues sticking and I just knew that the additional weight of the hardboard would have spelled disaster.  All except the back wall is done for the shell of the RV.  Tomorrow the sound proofing should be in and we can install the real flooring this week.

Bessie gets underlayment

 First thing this morning, well after 2 cups of coffee that is, I went out and put another coat of Kilz on the floor.  I made sure that every crack was filled in.  Looks so pretty!

Kilz on the floor, again

 Carl and I decided to put 1/4" rigid foam and 1/4" wood underlayment on the floor to even out the divots.

1/2 done

foam and wood

floor done... for now

Another piece of ceiling is up

Bessie is now off to the truck doctor to get her new fuel tank and muffler.  She will be back tomorrow so we can finish the walls and ceiling over the weekend.

Bessie gets filled in

 Although I didn't think I'd have time to work on Bessie today her floor was beaconing me.  Tons on screw holes were begging to be filled.  So I filled them.

Once Carl got home he sanded it down.  We are going to have to buy some liquid leveling mix and do a skim coat on the floor.  There are so many divots on the floor from 8 years of rolling bread trays that I am afraid they will carry through to my new floor.  Better to level it out now than to have problems in the future.

Bessie gets walls

Homemade slingshot

 Yesterday I made a slingshot so we could experiment with paintballs.  My boys have their hearts set with splattering Bessie with their favorite color, red and blue respectively.  I plan to seal it in with poly because paintballs are water based.

Test shots.  Works like a dream!

Experimented with throwing vs. slingshot.  Slingshot gave best even splatter.

 The slingshot worked better than I had ever dreamed it would!  Not too much membrane was left behind.  Easy enough to pick out when the time comes.  I will probably experiment on a piece of cardboard with our base paint, paintball splatter, and poly on top to see if I can really pull it off.  It will be so cool if it works.  Backup plan is to use short bursts of paint with a paint gun.  The boys are not excited about that prospect.

Looks like Bessie got attacked by bugs.

Hardboard going up on walls.

 We got most of the walls up today.  The only parts we didn't put up is where we will have to get creative with some insulation installation.  There is a slope that we need to navigate over.  Thinking of a few layers of 1/4" rigid foam with liquid nails holding it all together.

Most of the walls done and one ceiling piece.

 The first ceiling piece went up but then it was time to quit for the day.  We will work again Sunday if we don't have time before.

Bessie gets insulated

Floor covered in black mold

I sprayed down the floor with bleach water and gave it a good scrubbing.  It didn't look that much better but I felt better having done it.

1" foam insulation in walls and ceiling.

 A little more gorilla tape to seal the foam and Bessie will be ready for the 1/8" hard board we have to cover over the insulation and give us a good foundation for the sound barrier that will be glued to the walls and ceiling.

my little helper

Mac Kilz...ing the floor

Grant taking a turn priming the floor

So much nicer

Although the roof is now sealed the floor just seemed to be absorbing the moisture from the air.  I figured, for good measure, I would prime it with a mold preventer.  We will then throw a coat of the roof paint on top before insulating, sound barriering, and flooring.

Bessie has her surgeons remove rusty growths

Tiny rust surgeons

Sanded on left, rusty on right

power sanding

Tell kids to get on safety glasses and this is what you get.

sanded on left, rusty metal primer on right

Today we went to Home Depot and got the insulation for the walls and ceiling.  Before we can install it we need to sand out the rust and prime it to help prevent future rust.

What I did not show is that the roof is now sealed.  We had a torrential downpour last night and I found no evidence of leaks in Bessie today.  We will go ahead and coat the roof 2 more times for good measure but it's looking good.

Bessie gets bleached

Dirty, moldy roof

Terrified me sitting on house roof contemplating how to clean Bessie

1/2 clean.  What a difference!

Today I had every intention of getting up on Bessie's roof and giving her a good cleaning.  Problem is, I'm terrified of heights.  More than that, I am petrified of ladders.  Figuring I could power through in total denial of my fears I climbed the ladder.

Shakily, I got off the ladder onto the house roof, turned around, sat down on the roof, and then realized there was no way this was going to work.  I did manage to crawl around on the truck roof with a leaf blower but then I was done.  Back to the house roof I went, fighting the nausea and taking slow deep breaths trying not to panic, all the while, Carl is trying to convince me to get back on the ladder and just get down.  After imagining firefighters pulling me off the roof I figured it was now or never because this was just going to become too humiliating.

My wonderful husband then cleaned the roof.  It is now beautiful.  He is still laughing at me.  That's how it goes around here.  Looks like Wednesday will be roof coating day.  Carl will once again be in charge of that.  I give up.  I will supervise from the ground.  I will remove our old business decals and Goo Gone the adhesive that remains.

Bessie gets steps!

Placing the bracket

Locking on the scissor steps

Woo Hoo!  Stairs!

Up and out of the way

My little goof ball!

View from above

As you can tell, today we put on steps.  I just couldn't handle the 2 huge steps it took to get in and out of Bessie.  I figured steps would come last, but alas, here they are.

It has not rained in 2 days but the sun is not shining either.  In order to cure the roof I will need 4 hours of direct sunlight.  Hopefully soon.  The inside is molding.  I can't wait to bleach it and dry it out properly.

A muffler and fuel tank are ordered and will be installed sometime this week.  Just waiting for the call.

Bessie gets plastic surgery

Another update for you.  Today may be the first day in weeks that it is not supposed to rain.  It is looking good from this day forward.  Unfortunately, Bessie is now in the shop to fix her muffler and a fuel leak.  We are looking into a plastic fuel tank replacement for the rusted out metal one she has now. Meanwhile, I am still searching out parts, ordering them, and stacking them until we can work in earnest.  First things first, when Bessie gets home we will tackle her roof and dry her out.  I am antsy to get to work.

Rain rain go away!!!!!

I have no real update to offer.  The rain here is relentless.  I need a couple dry days to seal the roof.  Until I do, I can not really work inside since it is so wet in there from so much leakage.

To fill my time I have been shopping for a grey/black water tank.  I am combining them because of space limitations under Bessie.

A problem was discovered when I was climbing under Bessie to measure for said tank.  We have a diesel leak.  We will plan on taking her in for service next week.  It sure explains why the fuel mileage has gotten so bad.

I had ordered two windows but when we received them we realized they would not work so I returned them.  I now have a best offer in on Ebay for 4 others but am guessing the guy won't take it since he has not replied.  He was quick to take my best offer for the waste water tank.  Guess I will have to go higher when the time expires.  :(

Bessie gets closed up.

Raining all day.  Had to move power tools into the truck.

Adding insulation.

Mac measures and draws a line.

Grant cuts on Mac's line.

Insulation done!

Have to cut the fiberglass inside.  It's getting tight in here!

One piece of fiberglass up.

Cutting for the door.

Wall and door finished!

Aware that we had a wall problem I went out and walked the truck.  I do it a few times daily anyway just incase I get inspired.  All of a sudden it hit me.  We could use 3/4" foam insulation to fix our gap.  Carl agreed.  So, yet another trip to Home Depot.  3 sheets of insulation later, we were ready to get started, officially, for the day.
Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, and we had to move our constructing into Bessie.  Not optimum, but it worked.  We had to take a little break when the rain picked up.  Carl was afraid to electrocute himself.
After dinner the rain seemed to be back to a drizzle so we got back to it.  Somehow we had mis-measured for the door that I ordered, so now we had to cut out for the door.  It worked out.  I think it looks nice.