All of the interior sanding, staining and finishing work was done by the light of an automotive trouble light - hung or hand-held. Especially hand-held for finish strokes to see the shiny (wet) surfaces.
The light fell early on and broke the filament of my last 100 watt bulb (I had had a few 100's on the garage shelf that we had removed from the home as we went more amber accent lighting and 60 watt white bulbs (we still hate fluorescents), but had just taken my last three 100's down to the well house a few weeks ago as we needed some down there and I wasn't using them up in the garage. So I lost my 100 watt and only had 60's to replace it with. The job-site just got darker!
My folks were frugal and "the acorn don't fall far from the tree" so I wasn't about to waste time running over to the store for lightbulbs! I made do with the 60's.
I don't see as clearly as when I was younger - except in my mind; I see ever MORE clearly in my mind - and these progressive bifocals are okay in many day-to-day circumstances, but those dogs don't hunt on close up work, and the varied distances found within arm's reach required by mechanics work or painting in odd positions. Those positions range anywhere from on your back on a creeper under the car, to bending your back sideways in one or both directions, often at the same time, to get your head and hands into hard to see spots inside a tiny camper! So I have a strained muscle in my lower back just left of the spine. Been dogging me now for more than a week. It really helped when I was sheet rocking though, because I had an excuse to shout out orders! Oh, and the corrective lenses ended up off the face and on some convenient, but hopefully "out of the way" storage space for most of the job.
Even with the less than optimal lighting, vision and bending conditions, I managed with just two hands to hold brush, can and light! That really looked comical; wished I had pictures of that. Actually, most of the time I could hang the light, or lay it in a proper place, or set the can down in a safe place that I didn't think I would kick.
And poly on those under surfaces!? As hard as I tried it still ran down the brush toward the brush handle. A few times I forgot gloves, but most of the time I wore disposable latex gloves. That helped. Or a rag wrapped around the handle.
But after all is said and done I went out and used the top off the new can of Olde Maple tinted poly DW picked up to do one more under cabinet surface and the finish to this point was complete! Check!
I moved back out into the well lighted garage and got to work on the wing assemblies.
You recall the paint I found for $9 (regular price $35) due to an Oops color mix? It is an "old wood or concrete" paint with sand for non-slip surfaces meant for covering decks, etc. I prepped my pieces and started putting it on. Wow, thick! Hard to spread! One brush full wouldn't cover much area. But after lots of dipping and spreading with a 3" brush I got a first coat on. The next day I applied the second coat (it says two required, but I would have done two regardless).
I really like the tough surface and I think this is just right for the application. And I like the OD green, but especially the flat finish!
I only used a little less than half a gallon, so I'll be incorporating the rest into the exterior exposed surfaces of the floor assembly and the fastener heads of these lower parts of the camper exterior.
This is a butt joint at the rear of one of the 8.5' wings.
A close-up.
