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.

Yesterday... Oops! Forgot to post!

Here is our new RV door waiting to be installed

Notice my foot standing on the board?  I am helping!

Rusty door opening.  Need to treat so we can build a wall for the door.

Rustoleum.  

Freshly painted.

Looks good!

Wall going up.  Grant being a goof!  Notice the hammer is facing the wrong way?

Today we didn't get as much done as planned.  We started the day off with trips to Lowes, to buy fiberglass, and Home Depot to buy wood and other materials.  Carl's plan was to close in the whole back wall but it took longer than planned.  I insisted on treating the rust, so that had to dry, and Carl measured and remeasured everything so he would make less mistakes.  Like I told the boys, we are going to go very slowly and carefully and try to make as few mistakes as possible.  A mistake was made anyway.  The wall needs to be flush with the fiberglass at the top to attach the door properly and it is 1/2" off.  That will go to the top of our "to do" list.  We will hopefully finish closing in the wall tomorrow.