Stain and Varnish

It's Christmas eve and it has been a pretty cold and snowy day here at the homestead. Above is a picture from outside and below is what I have been doing on the inside in the last couple of days.

 
I've got plastic on the floor of the garage and I have been staining and applying varnish to the cabinetry and the bench. After Christmas I'll sand and apply a second coat.

In the previous post I had the wiring all connected but I did not have it routed yet. Here's a picture after I routed all the wires. I cut grooves in the insulation with a utility knife and grooved the spars with a hand grinder. Then I carefully routed the wires into the grooves and taped them all down with aluminum tape. The wires traverse the spars in narrow bands which I have measured off and recorded so that when I screw on the plywood cover I can first mark the locations of  wires so that I don't damage them.

Well, I guess I should get out there with the snow blower before it gets dark. I'll try to do another post after new years to show anything I get done on my week off.

Insulation Complete

 

Today I completed the installation of the styrofoam insulation between the spars. I used 1 1/2 inch think styrofoam that comes with plastic laminated to both sides. I glued it with contact cement. The foam sheet is very rigid and will not conform to the curved contour of the cabin unless it is kerfed. I cut kerfs every inch and a half with my table saw. The kerfs are about 3/4 of the thickness of the sheet. You apply the contact cement to the surface of the insulation and to the wood surface and allow it to dry to a state where it feels is about like the gummed surface of a 3M sticky note. At that point pressing the glued surfaces together bonds them. Contact cement dissolves polystyrene foam so you apply it only to the plastic covering of the foam sheets and try to keep it out of the kerfs and off the edges of the foam.

Here's what the kerfed sheet looks like after I have bonded it to the surface.

Ta da... Insulation has been applied in all the spaces between the spars. Next step is to get all of those electrical wires into channels and then I can put the outer skin on the trailer.