Revelations

Once again playing catch up--I spend so much time working on the camper plus my normal household stuff that it's hard to get to my computer.  I'll try to do a brief rundown on the past few days' work...

Friday, 7/15/11--I convinced Ted that I did't need the rear bunk removed in reusable shape.  He cut it on one side, just shy of the very long nails that were holding it in there.  From there, it could be very carefully pried out.  He cut the nails very short.  The side windows had to come off so we could reach in with pliers and pull the nails out from the outside between the skin and the inside. 

Saturday 7/16/11--Spent today loosening more of the side strips near the rear.  I removed the rear position lights and the nails from the piece of outside skin that's over the window.  It's really hard to get the nails out of the skin aluminum compared to the side strips--the metal is just so much thinner on the skin.  I hope it's okay!  Ted is happy that he can finally check out the way the lights are wired...

Sunday 7/17/11--I finally started some work on the front of the camper.  I've decided that the edge trim will definitely need to come off completely and then all the aluminum skin in order to rebuild the wood support beams.  I also took out the front window and the front running lights in preparation for taking off the front skin.  Ted spent the day making a frame to keep the edging from twisting--thank you to Nancy at NSSO!!

Monday, 7/18/11--I spent the day on a very high ladder so I could pull out the nails holding the edge strips on the top part of the camper.  This may not sound like much to most of you, but I have a fear of heights--even a short step stool is too high for me!  Then there's the issue of my bad, hurting foot--finally found that if I wear my hiking boots, it doesn't hurt so bad on the ladder.  By the end of the day, I was a little more comfortable on the ladder, but still not happy.  I managed to get all the edging off both sides and taped to the nice frame until I'm ready to clean it all up and put it back on the camper.

When I took the edging off the right side of the camper,  I found just why the roof had been leaking and there was so much water damage.  As you can see from the picture of the roof, the seams were in pretty bad shape--had been covered with silicone chaulking which really didn't solve the problems.

One good thing about all this work--I'm finally losing some more weight!!