Sunday, October 11, 2015

C'est la vie!

Today I pulled out the grit blaster and attempted to use it on the flaked paintwork. First in went sugar. I pulled the trigger and had nothing bar air. Putting my hand over the filler cap, there was suction. Figuring the sugar might be too thick, I replaced it with baking soda. Again, suction and a good blast of air but no soda. In the end I put it away and got the electric drill with a wire brush attachment. Probably an hour later, I had all the loose paint off. Oddly enough, the soda blasting hadn't been terribly effective the previous time.

As far a returning the grit blaster is concerned, it'd take an hour of driving in each direction plus nearly 3 gallons of gasoline. It's just not cost efficient. That is, of course, without mentioning I'd have to pass over the rickety Lake Murray dam.

So, having scraped the affected paint off, I cleaned away the debris and set to work painting. I had thought of using the sprayer but I was done in an hour using just a paintbrush. I'd have been done earlier if I'd not messed about getting the air compressor set up only to have to put it away again. That Harbor Freight cheap stuff is very hit and miss. Mostly its OK but sometimes you get a real dog.

I scraped the ends of the two leaky seams on the roof and sprayed rust killer. Later I applied silicone caulk. In theory, that should be the end of the unexpected repairs. It's becoming very clear that I have to start working on the front door unlocking gizmo. Climbing in and out through emergency exits with the aid of a stepladder is definitely for the birds!

I'm sure you'll admit that looks better. Despite having scraped the loose paint very thoroughly, I'm sure I've missed enough to need to do more work later.

For a long time, construction debris has been a source of friction. Today I took steps to remove debris. This will take a while; weeks in fact.

I didn't get to do anything that I wanted to do this weekend as it was all repairs. One thing I did do was to paint over my NSA2011 signs. I figured they might be a hindrance to getting it reregistered as a motorhome. Some nut at the DMV might consider it to be an impersonation of a government vehicle. I can always redo it later though I'm more in favor of anonymity, these days.

The roof never saw a lick of paint. I figure I'll get to that, maybe next week. It really needs a second coat but I want to wait for the silicone caulk to harden first. With luck, there'll be heavy rain tomorrow that should test my weather proofing.

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