June 6, 2011

This week my efforts were divided between work on Circadian and work on the house. I did manage to steal enough time during the week to refurbish the stainless steel folding boarding ladder and the Windscoop. The boarding ladder was rust-stained and suffered from the P.O.'s tendency to solve problems with duct tape rather than proper materials and methods. I had to remove thick multiple layers of duct tape that were used to secure rubber crutch tips that were not only crumbling, but were the wrong size to begin with, before I could replace them with new tips that were the right size. I used black ones rather than the more common white because the black should better resist UV damage. Application of a little metal polish and a lot of elbow grease and the ladder looked almost new again.

The Windscoop was dirty and the battens that hold it open and in position were broken or warped. I removed the old battens, washed the fabric, and made and inserted new battens. For those of you who don't know, the Windscoop is used to funnel wind into the cabin to help keep things cool (see stock photo below).

The only other thing I managed to accomplish during the week was to put additional coats of Cetol on the new teak replacement hubcap for the steering wheel. Because it was either raining or threatening to rain the whole weekend, I continued to work on house projects and a few things I could do for Circadian at home in the shop. In my work around the house, I was distracted at one point by a loud clucking/chirping noise from the vicinity of the carport in the back. At first I thought it might be a feral chicken, but it turned out to be a very upset pair of squirrels who had decided to build a nest in a corner under the roof inside the carport. Apparently my intrusion on the security of their dry and cozy new home wasn't welcomed.

The big project for the weekend was to cover the ceiling panel for the doghouse with black marine vinyl. I used black because this section of the ceiling would be where the instruments would be hung, and I find the dark background reduces glare and makes it easier to read them. I prepared a work area on my back patio by covering the concrete floor with a cheap, disposable plastic dropcloth, since I knew a mess and spillage were inevitable when working with contact cement. The first step was laying out the sheet of black vinyl, backside up, and holding it stretched flat using heavy cinderblocks on each corner. Next, I marked a trim line around the previously cut plywood panel using a piece of scrap wood to ensure a uniform width around the panel.

Next, I positioned the panel next to the vinyl so I could coat them both with contact cement, and when the cement dried, simply flip the panel onto the vinyl. I used a paint roller to apply two coats to both the panel and the vinyl, since two coats are recommended for porous surfaces.

One issue that I hadn't anticipated arose when the drying cement caused the edges of the vinyl to curl tightly. To prevent the edges of the vinyl from curling over and gluing the edge of the vinyl into a tube, I had to quickly find whatever was at hand to use as weights to hold the edges down while the cement dried.

Once the cement dried, I placed the panel on the vinyl using the trim marks to guide the placement. Then I simply walked carefully all over the top of the panel to apply lots of bonding pressure while the vinyl was still stretched tight. That done, I trimmed the vinyl along the cut line and brushed on two coats of cement along the edge of the back side of the panel. When that cement dried, I folded the vinyl over the edge, making additional cuts as needed to allow the fabric to fold around corners and curves. The final step was applying bonding pressure to the front again, from the center out, using a leftover piece of large diameter PVC pipe as a roller. The final result was virtually flawless.

To clean up the mess, all I had to do was put the completed panel aside, toss all the trash into the middle of the dropcloth, fold up the corners and haul it all out to the garbage.

I'll be flying down to LA to visit Carol and her friends next weekend, so unfortunately I'll have to wait a while to enjoy the fruits of my labors when I see the new panel in place.