The first big fiberglass project!

OK, we have finished the sanding... For now at least.  There will be more later, but at least every surface is flat and smooth to the touch.  All dust and debris is removed and wiped off the shell.  Now we get to another milestone in the Great Winter Project of 2016 (now 2017)!

The project requires two layers of fiberglass on the top and one layer on each side.  This is the largest application of fiberglass we have attempted so far.  First, some prep work to protect areas we don't want to get epoxy on.  We laid down a drop cloth inside and covered the quarter panels with plastic sheeting to prevent epoxy runs down the back.

Plastic drop cloth inside the shell

Protecting the quarter panels from what will become the hatch panel

Finally, the cats prove useful...In order to reach the lower panels during sanding, we raised the shell onto the boxes of kitty litter. 

We carefully unwrapped the fiberglass and rolled it over the camper leaving two inches on the edges to , careful not to have any snags in the fabric. 

Once we had the first layer out and over the camper, we have to smooth out the fabric.  The aim is to get the fabric flat before we add the epoxy so it bonds easily without us having to tug and pull it.  Luckily, Andi knows about fabric and how to manipulate the weave - a little education in fashion studies has unexpected benefits! Who knew? :)

Adding a second layer on top of the first

Two layers of fiberglass on and pulled tight and smoothed flat. Ready for epoxy goop.

CLC allows us an option to do the fiberglass stage in three separate increments.  First the top two layers, and then each side layer one at a time.  It is much easier to manage this step and would be very difficult - but not impossible - otherwise.  To do the whole thing at once would require at least three people together.

The edges of the first two layers run to about the mid-point of the quarter panels, and are feathered due to the cut of the cloth.  These will have to be sanded into a smooth edge before we lay the side cloth on top.  The sides will overlap the first two layers onto the top panel by about two inches, making a triple reinforced strip running the length of the camper from front to back.  This reinforced strip gives enormous strength to the camper and is where the add-on roof rack system can be installed. 

The lighting is a little dark... but after 24 hours of curing...it turned out awesome!  These pictures do not do it justice.  After being soaked with epoxy, the wood turned much darker and looks much closer to what it will become in the finished product, except the fiberglass weave can still be seen and felt.  It looks spectacular with a little sheen to it.  Much different look than just bare wood. 

Once all the layers are on and dried, a good light sanding all around is necessary to remove any small epoxy "pimples" - little sharp spots of excesses of epoxy that dried rough relative to the surrounding area.   Then we add two more coats of epoxy to fill in the remaining weave and tip out any air bubbles to leave a exceptionally smooth finish.  Can't wait!

Sanding, sanding, sanding....and more sanding. Ugh.

As you can tell from the title of this entry... we sanded.  A lot.  Basically, some of the epoxy that we have used up to this point to hold the shell together on the inside leaked to the outside in spots we were not able to reach to clean up when it was wet.  It hardened into little bloblets that needed to be removed.

We started with a system to mark out various sections.  We learned later that was a poor decision.  The tape starting peeling some bits of wood up with it, so we abandoned that system and just went with the panels to judge what was complete and what was not. 

Fearful of dust clogging everything we opted to cover all of our equipment. 

Of course, once we thought protecting our equipment, we thought about protecting ourselves.

Sanding selfie!

Naturally, our garage is dark and poorly lit.  To compensate, we have used portable work lights to help us see and work effectively.  With so much surface area to cover, they proved inadequate for this task since we are moving around to cover the entirety of the camper. 

Our solution was simply to open the garage door to get all the light we needed.  Unfortunately, at the time this occurred it was bitterly cold outside - note the 27 degrees (F)!  "Why not just use more work lights?" One might ask.  Fair question.  It turns out that half of the power outlets in our rental house is supported by one - yes, ONE - power breaker!  And all of our outlets are taken up by heaters.  We have extension cords running throughout the house to distribute the power loads. 

We could only work in 30 minute increments before we had to take a break and warm up our hands. I've never been to Alaska, but friends have told me that they would choose an Alaska -50 over a Oklahoma 32!  After a week of sanding in the cold, I am inclined to give Alaska a try...

The manual states to use 80, 120, and 220 grit sandpaper at various parts of the construction process.  We had to use 80 grit on all the leaked epoxy.  The puzzle joints needed the most attention.  Then a full pass with only 120 to get all the grain smooth and ready for fiberglass. 

CLC recommends a block sander for some operations, however, we have had less success (or less patience) with that method.  Auto sanders all the way!   It took a few attempts to be fully comfortable with the random orbital sander.  It is very effective though - I can see why CLC recommends them.  The key is to go slow and deliberate.  It does occasionally run away from you.  The danger is that you can cut too deep in some spots, leaving unseen "scars" or "swirls" which you cannot observe by eye.

Swirls wouldn't be so bad if the plan was to paint.  However, our goal is to get a good, clean wood finish using varnish like the display prototype.  And so, anything we do now will have vast consequences later.  To get the wood-finish, we need to do more passes with 220 grit paper.  These extra passes will remove swirls (if we have any).  If we have any of scars, they will not show up until we fiberglass - and it will be too late to fix.  It will look ugly and the only option would be to paint the area with a solid color to cover it up.  One trick to gauge how well we are sanding is to use a rag soaked with denatured alcohol to wet the area.  The alcohol will give the wood a temporary glossy appearance very similar to what it would look like.  Any swirls would be readily apparent:

After sanding the whole camper, we run a shop vac all around to suck up the loose dirt and dust particles.  Of course, we use a brush to not scar or dent the shell surface.

Part of the process of sanding requires us to soften all the sharp 90 degree edges formed by connecting two sheets of plywood.  Fiberglass will not turn such a sharp angle, so we had to grind those down to a smoother rounded edge.  Now, all of these seams are sealed from the inside and we do not want any air pockets weakening the strength of the shell.  Therefore, we have to fillet all the outside seams which we were not able to access before.

A good picture of the wood flour epoxy application.  A plastic bag is filled with thickened epoxy. A hole is cut in the corner to make a nozzle for precise application.  Just like frosting on a cake.

Once the epoxy is dispensed, a flat piece of plastic, called a squeegee, is used to press the epoxy into the seam and remove excess.

 

We did screw up one spot.  The seam which makes the galley hatch shouldn't be glued to the main shell.  We accidentally filled it.  Fortunately, we caught the mistake before it was allowed to harden and we scraped it out with toothpicks and Q-Tips.  This line will have to cut in a later step to create the door to the galley hatch.  It would have been much more difficult to cut had we not realized this critical error.

 After all the seams are filleted, guess what?  More sanding...

Securing the floor and removing the mold!

Ok, I have learned that updating a blog takes a lot of effort.  I'm way behind Andi in updating Facebook!   After successfully navigating the floor installation by using shims to keep it in the correct position while we used temporary screws to hold it in place, we now get to flip it over and attached it permanently to the shell by filleting and applying fiberglass tape on the inside!

At this point we estimate the camper weighs about 300 pounds (including the mold frame).  It isn't heavy, especially for two people, but it is a little awkward to grab onto.  The mold frame makes it easy to rotate and flip on axis to get into hard spots and reduce "funny angles" while working.  But how should we go about getting it right-side up?

"OK, guys:  I like your work so far.  Let me lay out the next step...

...Lay out some 2x4s where the camper will rest and then turn is over one side to lay rest right side up."

"Wow, that was easy!  I can't believe we spent an hour debating how to do a five minute task.  Thanks, George!"

After worrying about how the floor would support the weight of the camper and the stress on the screws, etc... it flipped over easily and we were laying down inside after crawling through a hole left in the rear.  This hole will eventually be enclosed by a piece known as a transom, and entry will be through the doors.  However, until we fiberglass the hull and cut the doors out, this is the only access point to the inside.

First time inside the camper!

OK, so now we get to prep the inside.  Lots of sanding and vacuuming to get all the dust off the floor.  We are going to fillet the crease between the walls and floor with thickened wood-flour epoxy and overlay it with fiberglass soaked clear with regular epoxy.  Let's go!

Great job! Now get on with it!

Now for the filleting and fiberglass...  After having completed so many of these seams, we are very confident in our abilities to fillet and fiberglass.  However, this particular portion proved to be a harder job than we anticipated.  To start, it was a little cramped with two people working inside the camper. Second, we mixed too much epoxy and tried to do it all in one step.  By the time we were soaking the last of the fiberglass strips, the epoxy was gelling into a thick goo - not good to apply - and we were rushing to finish before it was unusable.  Epoxy is created by mixing a resin and a hardener.  Each of these by themselves is a runny liquid, but when combined and mixed they form a viscous glue that only has about 10-15 minutes before it hardens into a brick.  We had to move quickly, and thankfully it was still liquid enough to get the job done.

Once the inside fiberglass was done we had to remove the outside screws.  The entire floor assembly from placement until now was relatively painless.  Each step was much easier than we anticipated.  We ended up filling these holes with thickened epoxy.

The screws were taken out once the epoxy fillets hardened on the inside.  Thickened epoxy, when hard, takes on similar characteristics to wood.  The screws just came right out.

All the wires holding the mold in place had to be snipped to release them from the shell.  We have to snip them as close to the shell as possible to help sand them down flush with the outside.

After removing all the screws that held the mold frame rigid, we pulled the mold slats and frame out in the reverse order they went together.  Sorry, no pictures.  It took both of us to pull them out and they collapsed onto the ground.  We just didn't want them to fall onto the camper! 

It's free!!