Progress has slowed down a bit, in part to the loss of light and impending cold. Will installed some more lights for us, a city water intake, a drain valve, and he repaired our porch and overhead door light. Last thing he's slated to do for us is to rehab the taillights, and then I think it might be the end of his assistance for now.
We discovered last month that one of the elders at my childhood church renovated a 2007 Airstream a few years ago. He had a lot of good ideas for waterproofing and it was fun to talk shop with him, but we also learned he was renting barn space and it sounds like a great option for getting some carpentry done during the winter!
Speaking of carpentry, we built, insulated, and installed a wooden box over the wheel well. I am always so impressed with Peter's spacial reasoning and creative problem-solving. I thought making a box would be easy, but I was immediately overwhelmed by the most basic questions that I don't even have the language to even ask. When Peter works, I don't see the method in his madness, so part of me is a little skeptical, maybe even doubting, that he is seeing and addressing the problems I don't know how to work out.
But then, voila! He creates something sturdy, lightweight, functional, and I am oh so impressed!
We had snow one day, and when we arrived at the farm and stepped inside the trailer, I immediately saw all the condensation in the ceiling--even though it was freezing inside there, it was apparently still warmer than outside--so much water! There is no good solution to this, as far as my research reveals, but I continue my lobbying for a mini wood-burning stove.
We set about the arduous task of putting the ceiling back in. We used zip ties threaded through holes Peter drilled in the ribs to hold wires in their indents and it was so refreshing to be able to walk the length of the trailer without getting whacked in the face by a wire! We riveted the ceiling panel tracks into place (omg, they look so terrible, I did not get anywhere near all the paint off them) and closed off our access to the wall wiring for good. Hopefully we ran wires to everything we need!
In the walls we had used a layer of Reflectix against the skin, but after reading that this had no real effect without an air gap (except maybe as a vapor barrier) I was keen for an excuse to leave it out of the ceiling. The wires made insulating very cumbersome, and the spray glue we had was trash, so we had to work quickly. We enlisted Aidan to hold one end of the ceiling panel, I held the other end, and Peter put a few clecos around the skylight to hold the middle while he helped us push one side in place. Aidan and I pressed the panel against the center of the ceiling, while Peter worked to pop the other side into the rail. It went way smoother than I expected!
One issue with doing a side bath is that the bathroom wall is likely to encroach on the part of the ceiling that will be covered by the air-con shroud. We attempted to ameliorate this some by moving the mounting bracket as far over to the opposite side as we could. We also installed the frames for the Fantastic Vents. We didn't cut them to follow the contour of the ceiling, so there was a gap in the center where the ceiling skin pulled away from the frame. We fixed the look of this by stuffing extra insulation in there to force the ceiling skin down to meet the frame.
Last thing was to extend the vent pipe from the drain valve and then bolt the electrical components platform into place. Peter dry-fitted all the venting several weeks ago, but it was covered by a blanket of leaves and has disassembled itself with the passage of time. But plumbing is next! Maybe at a new location . . .
