Next up - the unique to Travel Queen "slanted V-nose". It looks cool - and it is quite a signature piece, but I can certainly understand why many campers have gone to flat surfaces everywhere (at least flat in one plane or the other).
As stated in the previous post, I had trimmed back slightly, the length of the cab-over hang - to remove a damaged wood edge. But that isn't all I've done here. As most are well aware, I have also flattened that roof line for the escape hatch, which theoretically has not changed the circumference of the rounded roof/sidewall edge, but HAS shortened the height of this piece of metal. So where did the extra circumference go? Bulged out at the rounded corners - again theoretically. Or maybe I should say mathematically. I mean unless there is some Quantum Physics, or Psychic Focus, or something, it had to remain in existence right? So why did I have to trim ALL the way around this metal? Well, we'll get to that.
Shaping the wood of the V-nose was hard enough - cutting all the angles involved was wild! At least for the opposite of a math-major like me. And it was tight, getting it slid into place inside the rounded roof paneling. And of course the new wall was built to a dimension that considered the increased floor thickness (for strength and insulation - which incidentally I STOOD on yesterday).
But then I remembered, I had ALSO trimmed part of the bottom edge of the paneling assembly, ever so slightly, to straighten out either a 45+ year droop, or a factory installed droop. You know, make the bunk floor perpendicular to the camper's vertical surfaces. It's a visual thing - I didn't necessarily want Lil' Queeny drooping right from the beginning! Let it occur naturally over time for crying-out-loud.
(I have found you have to have a sense of humor on a project like this or you might end up scrapping the whole thing. Perhaps you'll see more examples of such a statement when I show close-ups of SOME staples - where concentration or stamina begins to fade toward the end of a long day. At those times, I'll thank you to keep quiet. :) )
So let's not panic as I show you the metal triming marks. Promise? Not gonna make judgments? Okay - Let's continue.
I ran a scratch awl along the roof-line on the back edge of the metal. Normally I'd take my 30+ year old Craftsman awl (that came with the 20 piece - or so - screwdriver set) over to the grinder and sharpen a new point, but instead, this time I grabbed Dad's shirt-pocket pen-style scratch awl - too cool!
Here are the markings. Up-side down on the bench from left to right (the camper's passenger side to driver side). You'll have to look close.
And along the bottom.
And then a careful trimming all around.
I put the metal back up on the camper and clamped it in place. The fit was good. And to a thinking person the next question is - once more - "how does this affect the roof metal"? I'll give you a spoiler. It DID affect the roof metal, but in a minor way - I think. I'll get more detailed in a few days.
With the metal trimmed back and fit into place it was time for more destruction - cutting holes for clearance light placement. Again you recall the original light placement was willy-nilly. Wherever looked right to the installer, that's where they went. Optical illusion will cause you to compensate for open space (shift left or right based on whatever else is in the neighborhood). If you are left or right-handed, you'll hold it in one spot for one side, and another for the other side. If you are on a ladder and your head is upside down, you'll lose reference to plumb and level. That's why we use tape measures and levels and plumb-bobs. At least that's the theory.
And of course I had changed the height of the wall, so that is the quintessential issue on my new clearance light placement. (That darn escape hatch! What a lot of trouble it has been. But you haven't laid down on the bunk and felt it's awesome presence like I have).
So this was hard too, drilling huge holes in the old metal. The hole size is relative to cutting back sharp edges under the new light fixtures. We'll get into THAT reasoning in detail over in Electric much further down the road - after paint and trim and stuff.
And then it was stapled up.
This was a lessons learned experience. For whatever reason (end of a long day?) I stapled the bottom edge up first, while it was clamped in place of course. Unfortunately, while stapling the remainder, from center outward, there came an ever-so-slight outward buckling at the V-seam (just below the windows). It wasn't awful, but it bugged me. I lived with it over-night to see if it would grow on me. It didn't. Out came all the bottom edge staples. This is where I discovered the excellent grip of the coated 1/2" staples and was glad they weren't 3/4"
Now see here, where the metal hole and the routed wood hole (and carefully trimmed insulation) don't match up?
That is a clear example of - some good ideas don't always "align", but as long as they "cover" the original intent, you should be okay.
Most importantly is that the final fixture placement covers the inherited openings in the skin, that the fixtures look right to the eye (measured), that there are no sharp metal edges in the wire cavity, and that there is an adequate cavity volume for wiring so the fixture can effectively seal tight against the mounting surface.
Tomorrow we'll head out back.
