Second day up a ladder!

The day before yesterday I went up to the roof of my bus and washed it with caustic floor cleaner. Then I slapped a gallon of Rustoleum elastometric paint on the roof. There was not quite enough to complete the roof so another can was merited. Needless to say as soon as I’d gone up that ladder the first time and was standing on the roof, DHL arrived with a parcel for me. So I had to clamber down the ladder and collect my parcel from the lady van driver.

I didn’t get quite to the edges with my roller because I hadn’t put masking tape on. That, I fixed today by putting masking tape and going over the whole roof again and reaching the edges.

Now the story of the masking tape was that to get one roll, I had to buy two. I’d got the first in Walmart in West Columbia but the checkout messed up and left some stuff out of the bags. I never returned to pick it up because it wasn’t worth my gas money to go do it. Instead I picked up another roll of tape more locally. Honestly, that checkout girl was ridiculous - dropping just about everything that passed through her hands and she was only a young thing.

Having put the second coat on, the roof looked a lot better. A nice uniform white. One tip though - with the masking tape, peel it off as soon as possible as it can lift the edge of the paint. It seems that the elastometric stuff is pretty much a white rubber coating. One hopes that an edge doesn’t lift leading to the whole lot peeling off.

I did wash the whole roof though some bits didn’t look as clean as others. They all had the mop and where paint was reticulating, I scraped the bubbling paint away. Interestingly the grey rustoleum I put on in 2014 was stuck fast. The white rustoleum I put on in 2016 was peeling in places off the grey.

Although it was not sunny when I finished my last lot of painting, I looked at the temperature on the inside of the bus and it was 84F. The temperature outside according to my phone was also 84F. It will be interesting to see how the new paint copes with the heat. Will the inside remain closer to the outside temperature? I anticipate buying an extra solar panel to enable me to keep the fans running for longer periods. A 60W panel placed in direct sunlight would power both fans on its own. A 100W panels just placed inside the windscreen should power the fans on its own too.

Slated to arrive today was my second 3 inch dryer vent cover. That never arrived so I assume it will arrive tomorrow. I can kill two birds with one stone - try up the half dozen paint dribbles that got past the masking tape and install the second vent cover. It’ll be another trip up to spray the cover grey after the caulking has cured.

It would have been so much easier to do the painting if half way through I hadn’t dropped my roller tool off the roof and into the sand necessitating my going to my stash for a fresh roller. Still, the job was done and I’m pretty pleased with what I have accomplished. Only time will tell whether this 67% reflective paint lives up to its claims. The highest rellectivity is 85% off another brand. I just didn’t want to pay a premium price. Three cans at $20 each is quite a chunk of change! I have enough paint left that I can go up again and pay more careful attention to the roof seams.

The list of things needing to be done is whittling down. I tried another bus group and was a member of Bus Conversions International for a few days until people started telling me what to do. That’s when I quit (again). I thought having an all but complete motorhome I might be able to offer ideas and assistance. No - it was all persnickety stuff. “Those chains will wear your drums out”. Who cares - they were $8 and can be picked up free from car washes! “I had a microwave - I threw it out as I never used it” when all I asked was how to mount the blessed thing so it wouldn’t move when I’m driving.

As of now, I want to tidy up the painting, install the second vent. I did notice a couple of places where the grey is peeling so I’ll attack those with a paint scraping brush in my pistol drill and respray. Then I need to install and wire the digital door unlocker and tidy a couple of bit of wiring. After that I might need to put some plumbing tape on my plumbing connection. I’ll have to test that though first.

In other news, it seems according to Eric’s blog, he might be winging his way to the USA in August. That means an August trip with the bus. That, I’m looking forward to!