The end of this week was a busy one for Rance. He got the new tail/stop and turn light panels installed after making up a new wiring harneses. Basically the same process as the front parts. They are held in place with temporary metal clips and glued in with a structural urethane adhesive. Then the joint is laid up with three layers of fiberglass and left to cure.
In this picture you can se the reddish original body, the black urethane adhesive and the more greenish resin of the new parts and Rance adding layers of fiberglass and rein.
Then that is smoothed out with a disc grinder, automotive filler is added to further smooth things out. Some sanding, some more filler, more sanding and so on untill Rance is satisfied with the finish. Then layer of gel coat is sprayed on and left to cure. That is then sanded with finer and finer paper. Then wet sanded with very fine paper up to about 1500 grit. And then he buffs it with an even finer compound and the polishes it with an even finer paste.
Gel coat is applied. Last step is buffing. The painter primes all of the areas to be painted and the that is sanded with extraordinarily fine paper and the final paint is applied. Both rear corners, the front generator bay hatch cover and the little touch ups on the driver’s side and the steps get painted.
The lower holes are for the backup lights which are now wired together with the lights on the sides to give a much wider lighted area when backing up.
All of the lighting gets installed and adjusted after final paint. We are still on schedule to be done on Tuesday the 3rd.
The folks staying here at Xtreme two coaches over, Doug and Amanda, are a really nice younger couple who are full timers. Doug does computer work from wherever he is and Amanda is a professional opera singer. We have been out to dinner with them and have done the show and tell thing back and forth. We were talking last night about where we have been. Amanda is from St Louis and has a good friend with whom she went to school for two years in Italy. Her friend’s family lives two doors down from our former house in St Paul. Go figure.
Another week here. A day at the factory for a service bit and then a visit to the beauty spa for the coach. Fluff and buff. We will be gleaming!
More later.
Roger and Susan
Home2 with Roger and Susan 