So what happened the other day? What was this disappointment I spoke of? I suppose the snow storm moving through the Rockies before it became a political bully might have started things out - as it forced more effort onto daily chores: knocking snow off before hauling more firewood and several trips out to remove 4"-6" at a time from the requisite home escape plan paths. I mean I was beat that night, having shoveled this greater than usual accumulation from the walks of three elderly neighbors in addition to mine. So yeah, tired and delayed - no biggie it happens. And helping makes you feel good too! But the weary hits harder than it used to.
And then when a really cool plan goes less than amazing? I mean using Lil' Willy's front bumper as an anchor point - that's brilliant I tell you, brilliant!
I would have had pictures to prove it if things hadn't gone so terribly awry. And then to run out of staples? Ohhhhh that's just cruel! And I couldn't even be angry! What did I have to be mad at?
DW was bummed. "Oh shoot, how we gonna fix this?" she thought to herself, still finding it in her to lend me support in spite of her shock at my stupidity. I didn't take pictures; it just wouldn't have been right to publicly humiliate Lil' Queeny that way.
And at times like this you just gotta walk away. Save it for another day. I can't remember what we saw, but it was TV for hours that afternoon, yes it was!
So you see, the first day, as I strapped down the rear parts of the camper, I continued to fasten and get what I could - like the sides of the window openings and bottoms (and I'm not sparing on staple placement), saving the bunk area for the next day when I could position my new anchor point. And as I anchored, and as I stapled, I could NOT get the bunk side windows to align without creating large bulges of excess sheet metal between the front (bunk windows) and rear openings (dinette window, galley window, lower fridge vent).
And ticki2's words flashed back to sweep a long-held minor haunting into a full fledged poltergeist! The roof changes HAD affected the fit of the metal! AAAAAAAwwwwwwwwwww!
So on the second day, the first step was to get more staples. And of course that meant a trip into town, and groceries while we're there (we go through lots of produce), and this, and that, and before you know it you have like 30 minutes of work time left instead of the few hours you were expecting. And today the deep snow was moving into those wonderful Wyoming wind drifts - howling and drifting and four-wheeling, just to get in and out of the neighborhood - even the driveway! This stuff is fun! Except when you have other plans.
But by this time I had the beginnings of a plan, and the realization that it wasn't really a roof-modification poltergeist - that's just silly superstition! It was actually a "lessons-learning episode" about the order of things.
I mean if you put one leg in your jeans and fasten the belt before you get your second leg in, there's gonna be excess fabric to deal with one way or another. My solution was to unfasten the belt, pull down my pants, and get the second leg in. Then, before doing the actual belt buckling, I shifted everything as needed to provide maximum comfort and obtain the best, most even look, for the baggier pants I tend to buy these days.
No - no pictures yet.
So in those 30 minutes of work time I sneaked (snuck?) "headed" back out to the shop and pulled staples. All those that were holding the bottoms and sides of the window openings were removed. I left alone those along the tops of the window openings and above.
Next day I came armed with staples, a rested spirit and a good attitude - and set to work. Didn't need an anchor point as the bunk window tops were already fastened. I started out with pulling the lower fridge vent area into position.
And from the inside. Note the metal is longer because the opening was originally lower. When I rebuilt and kept the wing 2x2 in place (instead of cutting it out like they did at the factory), I shifted the entire opening up 1.5". This picture shows corner holes I drilled so I could cut off from the outside, the excess after stapling.
And there was still some excess bulging, but it was minor and acceptable, and workable.
Now in all honesty, I am sure there was a partial contribution due to the bunk roof reshaping, but it wasn't the only factor. It was due mostly to an improper pull, unbalanced even-en.
Another likely contributor was the fact that as I worked the metal (shaping and re-shaping - the body work stuff), the straight shot nature of the originally perfect lengthwise pattern was also slightly bent and altered. Like trying to straighten a long pipe or rod after it's been kinked or bent.
All of these factors, and probably more, are contributors. Suffice to say that everything "is alright now". In fact the sun is shining, the weather is sweet. And don't it make you kinda wanna move your dancing feet?
See you tomorrow as I move onto the next challenge. And we'll be in sheet-metal challenges now for the next three days or so.
