We're feeling fairly encouraged by the finishing of the front end cap! This past weekend we got some more work done on the rear end cap <3

​Here's where we started:

Unfortunately, our rivet gun seems to be struggling (taking wayyyyyy too long for each rivet), so some of our work time was spent running to the local hardware store to see if they had a new one. They didn't. We continued on, leaving more Cleco holders than we were wanting (we're enjoying seeing the more-finished product as we go along!). You can see that we did get SOME rivets done - those were mostly done by me with the human-powered rivet gun. My hands HURRRRRRT from using it! We'll find a new riveter soon ;)

By now, you're all very aware of what a giant pain in the butt the end caps have been. We futzed around with the original fiberglass end caps for wayyyyyy longer than we probably should have. We never got them to fit properly. Then, we decided to recreate our own out of aluminum, but we didn't order all of the correctly-sized pieces that we would need. We made some LONG-awaited progress this weekend!!
​Here's where we started:

We got this far in the end cap (months ago) then realized we'd need to order a larger final sheet. The new sheet arrived and we got the chance this weekend to install it finally <3

Isn't it beautiful?! With the final sheet in place, we were also able to finish the rivets around the window and along the rib! Just that one sheet took us 2 hours to install. NOTHING in this trailer moves quickly LOL

It's been..... trying. But this end cap turned out amazing, and it felt REALLLLY good to get it completed!
Next up: finish the rear end cap ;)

Until next time! <3 Becca

We got started on the 12-volt electrical system this weekend!

In a travel trailer, there are 2 electrical systems :
1. Things that are powered when the trailer is plugged in
     - Outlets, the Air Conditioners
2. Things that are powered by the battery and will receive power whether the trailer is plugged in or not
     - Lighting

There are other things that are powered by each of these systems, but these are the ones you guys might notice someday when you visit Maude ;)

Getting the battery hooked up to the electrical panel!

We got the sconces in the front of the trailer hooked up in order to test the circuit. This will eventually be the "Reception/Waiting Room!"

It worked! And the sconces are super cute! 

It was fun to work on a different project for a little bit. Don't worry, we'll finish up those end caps before you know it ;)

​Until next time! <3 Becca

It's not huge progress, but it's progress all the same! I'm going to celebrate every step forward, that's for sure! LOL

We got two more panels installed this past weekend! I also got the extra aluminum sheets ordered (in the correct size this time!). 

Baby steps, Becca, baby steps ;)  Until next time! <3 Becca

We got a little more work done on Maude this weekend!

We got two more panels installed! This is as far as we could progress on the left side with the sizes of aluminum sheets we have. What's really nice is - we have enough sheets to do the same amount on the right side!

WHICH MEANS!

In order to fix our ordering mistake (totally took YouTube advice on sheet sizes when we shouldn't have ;) ), we only have 4 sheets total to reorder! We need the center panel for the front end cap plus 3 panels for the rear! That's WAY better than I had imagined :)

Super excited to be moving forward again, even if it IS at a turtle's pace ;)
​Until Next Time! <3 Becca

Howdy! I know it's been a while since I've posted about Maude! We made some forward progress this weekend :)

We finished installing the Reflectix insulation! We also got some more purple foam insulation installed, but we stopped that project, realizing that we needed to get the 12-volt wiring done first, which meant a trip to Costco to get a battery (since we blew up the one we were going to use! LOL).

Not shown : We ran out of Clecos (the copper-colored clippy things that help hold the sheets of aluminum in place) so we had to rivet some more of the front end cap so that we could steal the clecos from up front!

And this is how far we made it! We MIGHT be able to squeak out a 5th sheet on either side, which would be fantastic. 

It felt nice to get some more work done on Maude. I know it doesn't look like a huge amount of work accomplished, but this was about 4 hours of work (not counting the trip to Costco!)

Until next time! <3 Becca

Howdy!

We had a nice weekend with Maude! She cooperated a bit! LOL 

We continued with Mike working on the purple foam board at the rear end cap, and I worked on applying Reflectix to the skins in preparation for purple foam board later.

​Here's where we started this weekend:

And after a few hours of spray adhesive fumes, here is where we ended!

ALMOST done with the Reflectix! Just a few more sections around the door. We're really starting to notice the temperature and sound-regulating effects of the insulation!

It was really nice to have a weekend that was smooth sailing. We'll see what next weekend brings us ;)

Until next time! <3 Becca

Howdy!

This weekend we worked on getting the insulation installed in the rear end cap so that we could take measurements to order new aluminum that FITS ;)

​Here's where we started:

The curves really aren't much fun. I mean, they LOOK pretty, but trying to shape flat things (foam insulation board) to fit those curves is annoying ;)  We have to either cut the board into little strips, or funky triangles, or score a larger piece on one side so that it will flex. It's not super pretty, but it gets the job done!

We found that it wasn't particularly useful to have both of us working on the foam board - I ended up standing around a bit and feeling superfluous ;) So, I started gluing up Reflectix on the rest of the walls. It's not helpful for the end cap itself, but it's the first step in insulating the rest of the walls for later!

It's starting to look like aluminum foil-wrapped leftovers! LOL

Once we got this far, even though we had windows cracked, we were feeling done with the fumes from the spray adhesive. So we called it a day. 

On a fun note: It was POURING while we were working on Maude. The rain sounds SOOOOO nice in there! It was a BIT loud, but don't worry, the front end cap with all of its insulation seemed to block out the bulk of it in that area! I can't wait to see what it sounds like when the insulation is all complete!

​Until next time! <3 Becca

We got as far as we could on the front end cap last weekend. We'll need to purchase a new center sheet, so we decided to get started on the back end cap, so we can make one order for the finish pieces!

Here's where we started! We used Rockwool insulation on this end of the trailer.

We struggled so much with the fiberglass end cap, in part because the Rockwool insulation was pushing out and not letting the fiberglass flex back into the curves. So, we glued some remnants from the purple insulation board as spacers! However, when we held up the first piece of aluminum, we found that the insulation was still going to be problematic, so we pulled off about half of the thickness. At this point, we were ready to set up the first sheet!

*SIGH* The front and the rear end caps are not the same, as it turns out. The aluminum that we have is mostly not going to work. We found that we can probably use 2-3 the 11.5"x56" strips on either side of the window, but once we start getting too much higher than that, we're going to need longer strips.

Additionally, as we were holding up some of the aluminum strips, we decided that the Rockwool was going to continue to be problematic. We liked having the purple board insulation that we could press the sheets firmly against to get the nice curve. 

SOooooo.... we decided to rip it back to the Reflectix. LOL

At this point, we were unable to do anything further, so we made another run to the store for more purple insulation board. BUT! We'll be all ready to go next weekend - at least in terms of putting in the insulation LOL

I've gotta say, this has been one of the most frustrating projects I've ever worked on, and we do all of our own home remodels LOL! The good news is that we're starting to see the absolute humor in it all. OF COURSE the second end cap wouldn't go smoothly LOL

Anyways, I hope all of your projects, whatever they may be, go a little more smoothly than Maude The AcuTrailer ;)

Until next time! <3 Becca

It's really nice having a project to work on that feels like progress! Though it makes for boring blogging, in that the second half of the end cap is the same process as the first, just mirrored ;)

Here's where we started this weekend:

Mike is a freakin' genius. He took this project as an opportunity to purchase a "toy" he's wanted for a while now. We've used it a couple of times already, but it's showing to be exceptionally useful in Maude with all of her curves!

What is this awesomeness of which I speak?

A laser level.

​It helped us level the trailer. It also helped us find the starting point for the other side of the end cap :)

Even with the laser level, you can see that there are going to be some minor imperfections due to Maude's imperfect shape ;) In the photo above, the initial piece of aluminum on the second side actually overlaps the front window a bit more than on the first side! We took some moments to reassure ourselves it was Maude's irregularities, not irregularities in our thinking/planning/etc. We have those too, but not in this case LOL

Moving forward!

We again used the laser level to position the wiring for the second sconce! THANK GOODNESS FOR THIS TOOL! With all of her curves, it's REALLY hard to either "eyeball" or measure the positioning of things!
With the laser level, we first found the horizontal for the first sconce. Then we placed a piece of tape along that line on the left side. Then we turned the level to create the vertical line (the sconces align with the edge of the window!) and marked the spot where the two crossed on the aluminum with a sharpie! SOOOO simple! Though, you'll notice that it looks wonky, since I took the photo from an angle. The curves are SO deceiving!

We did it! Well......... almost. I mentioned it last time, but our 11.5" wide sheets aren't wide enough for the final piece. We have a 14" gap at the top! But in the realm of complications with Maude, this is super minor. It'll cost a bit extra (which is a bummer), but we'll just purchase a new piece of the appropriate width.

When we watched YouTube tutorials on this process, several people suggested that it took them 10-12 hours to build an end cap. It took us 10 hours to get this far, so we're right in that window! Yay!

Next weekend, we'll start work on the other end <3
​Until then! Becca