Project Choose Your Own Adventure

[ScottyB]

so i sat on my ass for a while and felt guilty about not working on it, then i felt guilty for working on it instead of other projects.  it didn't leave the corner of the garage.  finally my wife slapped some action into me and basically ordered me to pull it into one of the bays because if i did that, then i'd HAVE to work on it.  and she was right, as usual.  funny how these mental games can get in the way of obvious courses of action.

turned my attention to the galley and essentially finished the "center stack".  



installed the stereo and tested it. works great with my 2 6" speakers. radio reception is shit because i don't have an antenna yet, will fix that later. not easy to use but its cheap and it works for CD's and USB drives which is the main need.


then put on my big boy pants and decided it was time to make one of the last big pushes.  i actually dreaded this for a while, because its a multi-part leg of the project.  in order to put the outside "skin" on it, all the wiring has to be sorted and ready to be sealed up for good.  so, i spent a week sending more wire over the roof to the galley to finish out the wiring for the stereo, pantry light and USB outlet.  i also had to finalize the wiring for the roof fan and side "porch" lights.  then everything needed to be fully test, run through new holes drilled in the roof spars, and bundled up into one big artery of wires to run to the tongue box.

with that out of the way, the first panel went on.  "how many clamps do you need for something like this?"  well...how many do you have?


after nearly a year of having open doors it was so strange to see it sealed up.


...but not for long.  the openings were routed out with a laminate bit.  the bit simply "rides" the contours of the opening that already exists, so all i have to do is push the router along and it comes out great.  added some additional wood glue where the edge wanted to pull away a bit from the adhesive not getting to every little spot.


i made use of every reasonable scrap of birch sheet so the tail end was fitted with smaller panels.  attachment was via Loctite PL Premium construction adhesive and PL300 Foamboard adhesive.  this stuff is not to be f'd with.  once its on something its IMPOSSIBLE to get off and it dries as strong as concrete.


after it dried, i routed the edge with the same laminate bit and then wood putty'd the gaps, coarse sanded flat with 80 grit, and did a little block planing to knock down any high spots along with a finish sanding of 220 grit for now.  you can notice a tiny notch cut down the tail end.  that's to make room for the rubber seal that will run down the length of the hatch.


then stood back and enjoyed a thing that was actually starting to look kinda close to finished for a change.


it wasn't total victory though.  in going through my birch sheets i realized i was 1 short.  i don't know how the hell i managed that, but i'm not driving out to atlanta again to get a single sheet.  SO.  looks like the inside of the hatch is going to be open studs for the forseeable future until i figure out something cool to cover it up    just gotta roll with the screwups....