Monthly Archives: February 2015
Piddling . . .
After Jan and I had very early (too early) coffee and Miss Terry’s Cinnamon Rolls, our son Chris showed up for my (his) latest project.
He was going to repair the damaged fiberglass on the bottom corners of our rig’s front cap.
The first one is a mystery. In 2008 during our first month on the road, we were parked in the parking lot in front of Al’s RV Supply in the Fortuna Foothills in Yuma, AZ. We were in the store for about an hour, and then after eating lunch, we came out to find this on the right side just in front of the door.
No one was near us when we parked, and no one was nearby when we came out.
This second one, on the driver’s side, was Nick’s fault, and that’s all I’ll say about this one.
So after Chris checked out the damage, we drove up to the Home Depot in Kemah to pick up supplies, including the fiberglass stuff.
Getting back to the rig, Chris started out by using his multifunction tool to cut away the ragged edges of the break underneath the light.
Then he pop-riveted a temporary plate on the front of the break to hold it together while he pop-riveted a hidden, permanent one on the back.
This got him here.
Then he brushed some resin on the break to bond it together.
That finished up this part for now.
Now starting on the side, he used cardboard to create a temporary frame to support the first layers of fiberglass cloth.
By now it was getting to be lunchtime, so along with Jan, we drove up to Stomp’s Burger Joint in Bacliff. This is one of our favorite local places, and nearby too.
Great burgers, fries and onion rings.
Getting back to work, Chris next laid in cloth along the bottom of the break and started brushing on resin,
and laying on several more layers of cloth, and then more resin.
Then it’s just resin, cloth, resin, cloth, resin, as he builds up the patch,
Ending up here for the day.
So why do I have my son Chris doing fiberglass body work on my rig? And why do I know that this patch will turn out looking great?
Because of this.
It’s a 1977 16 ft. Century Arabian, with a Ford 351 Windsor (Mercruiser) engine, and a Velvet Drive inboard/outboard drive unit.
When a friend of Chris’ gave (yes, gave) it to him, it hadn’t been used in years, the bottom was rotted out and there was a TREE growing out of it.
He spent over two years, refurbishing it from top to bottom, and stem to stern, including rebuilding the 233hp engine and the i/o drive unit. And he did all the work himself.
So I don’t think he’ll have a problem with my piddling little repair job.
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Thought for the Day:
Everyone sees what you appear to be, but few experience what you really are.
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Not Much . . .
is pretty much what Jan and I did most of the day. It was foggy, dreary, and spitting rain the whole time, not very conducive to doing much of anything. Especially not outside.
I made some phone calls, one to Thousand Trails reserving some dates over the next few months as we travel out west and later back east. As it stands right now, we’ll spend from March through the middle of May out west, before heading back to Illinois by the end of May for a family reunion.
Then Jan and I will spend the next couple of months in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, before we finally start back toward Texas the first part of August.
Later in the afternoon, I went over my service history with RV Mobile Lube. It’s about time to get our rig serviced again, and I’ve always used them to do it. They come right to the RV park, change all the fluids and filters, and lube the chassis and driveline. They will also service the generator, check/change your coolant, and service your transmission.
I will probably just get the engine and the coolant service, since my generator doesn’t need it yet, and since I’ve had two past transmission fluid changes with TransSynd, I don’t need my Allison transmission serviced for another 50,000 miles.
One thing new I wasn’t happy to see when we got back to the Galveston Bay RV Park was this.
They’ve decided to line the corners of the new sites with large boulders. Just the thing to turn a tight corner into a multi-thousand dollar repair bill. If they’re so worried about a rig cutting across the grass, they should have just put in a diagonal of concrete or gravel there.
A little before 5pm, Jan and I headed right down the road to meet Chris, Linda, and Piper at the Herb Café, a nice small restaurant with a great menu. Jan and I have eaten here several times before and it’s always been good. And it was tonight too.
Not only is every thing fresh and made inhouse, but they grow their own herbs and seasonings in their garden next door. Really good.
Tomorrow: Fiberglass
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Thought for the Day:
I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution. – Wernher von Braun
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