After finishing installing the rear air conditioning unit, we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves and our progress. We had planned on an easier weekend of work, since last weekend was SO hard. We were just going to do some patches and prep the front vent for its AC unit, but we ended up just going ahead and installing the front AC! Oops! LOL

This is the front vent that needed to be resized to accommodate the AC. It's called an "astrodome" and originally would have had a fiberglass cover to let light in. 

Yet more cleaning was done! Surprise! LOL

Here, Mike created a new frame for the resized vent hole which doubles as the supports for the AC.

Patched and resized! Not the cutest patch, but no one will see it underneath the butt of the AC unit ;)

While Mike was up on the roof, I was, once again, not really able to help, so I got to work finishing up caulking the interior seams and rivets! Thankfully, we were able to have the first AC running during all of it, so I didn't cook! Previously the caulk that we had used was white. All of the black was what I used this time around! Above, you can see all of the newly-caulked rivets around the reseated window and the fox patch!

(We're working toward installing the end caps which are big, curved pieces of fiberglass that are the inner skin for the big end curves. They're sitting in our garden shed, making it difficult to get to our lawn mower - we're ready for them to get out of our way ;) )

​At this point, we were pretty done for the day, so we left the actual installation of the AC until Sunday :)

First thing on Sunday, Mike caulked the area around the new AC roof vent to seal it up, so while it was drying, we added our first (of 3!) cloud patch! The cloud patches will all be covering various holes in the roof. SO frickin' cute!

Once we were done with the patch, we moved on to hoisting the AC unit up and into place and got that sucker wired! Because we were working on the wiring, we couldn't run the first AC unit, so we were DRIPPING with sweat - and it wasn't even noon!

Seriously, she's pretty, but she's a glorified OVEN!

And after all of that sweating, here we are! Two AC units installed, wired and RUNNING! Well, until we blew the fuse for the outlet we were using on the side of the house. When we figure out the permanent electrical hook-up for Maude, it'll be the appropriate amperage to run both at the same time. But for about 4 minutes, we had sweet, sweet, cool air a-blowing!

Stay healthy and cool, you guys! <3 Becca

Last week, we got the air conditioner put into place on Maude's roof.

It was super hot again this weekend, so we got started super early in the morning, because even at only 70 degrees outside, Maude's interior becomes unbearable as a workspace ;) We started this week by wiring the outside plug to the fuse box (orange wire). Don't worry, these pictures are a little bit out of order: we didn't plug Maude into the electrical source until all of the wiring was done and we were ready to test the AC ;)

Then we connected the yellow wire to the fuse box and to the AC unit. Not shown: a heater module was also added to the AC unit, so we'll have heat as well! We tested the heat JUUUUST long enough to know that it was working, then switched it to AC ;) It was SUPER exciting to feel that cool cool air blowing on us!

On Sunday, we decided to wire the outlets for the treatment room so we could run a fan to help circulate the cold AC air. This is the first time I've done electrical work myself! Mike wired one outlet, while I did the other - no fires or sparks, so it must be good to go ;)

With the AC and the fan running, it got pretty comfortable in Maude's interior! Eventually, we'll be adding a second AC/heater unit and she'll be insulated, so she should be pretty cozy year-round! :)

Stay cool! (We will ;) ) <3 Becca

This weekend we worked on getting the Air Conditioner installed. Of COURSE it was approximately 1 million degrees outside while we were trying to do so ;)

Here they are! We will eventually be installing two A/C / Heater units, but we're starting with the easier one so that we can make working on the inside of our glorified solar oven tolerable ;)

This is the rear vent cover. If you've been following along, you'll recall that we manufactured the temporary cover because it had been covered with a piece of plywood that hadn't held up over the years. It was finally time to retire our temporary cover! Mike spent SEVERAL hours up on top of Maude with a heat gun melting and scraping the tar that someone had used to try to get the vent to stop leaking. 

With a ton of elbow grease, he got it super clean! Maude is such a pretty girl underneath it all!

Once he got the vent frame removed, he passed it down to me for cleaning so that it could get replaced. It felt just like doing the windows. UGH ;)

The vent frame almost finished being reinstalled here!

While Mike was working on top of the trailer, I couldn't really help, so I worked on patches. This was the first time doing them completely by myself - I've gotta admit, it made me feel like QUITE the badass! Okay, a cutesy badass, but a badass nonetheless! ;)

It was at this point that we went to install the AC unit! UNFORTUNATELY, we hadn't read the instructions very clearly... the AC isn't installed over the roof vent frame. You're supposed to REMOVE the frame. *sigh* ALL of that work for nothing! LOL

After realizing our mistake, we called it a night. I'm pretty sure we both sweat several gallons over the course of the day and needed some time to re-hydrate and problem-solve the way forward ;)

The next day, while Mike was working on prepping the vent hole for the AC, I decided to clean up Maude's "belts." They're called rub rails and cover the area at the front and rear of the trailer where the shell meets the belly pan. Everything cleaned up nicely! Unfortunately, the screws that we had purchased were complete GARBAGE and kept breaking off! We did get the front belt mostly screwed into place, but we're going to replace the screws later. I'll take a final picture when it actually looks right. *sigh*

Mike spent the day building a frame to strengthen the vent hole to support the weight of the AC. The frame also keeps the AC from pulling air from the space between the inner and outer skins as well as giving the AC something substantial to attach to. The inner "panel" and the external compressor screw together with the trailer pinched between them.

This weekend was a real mixed bag in terms of wins and losses ;) But the AC is ready to be wired! And those patches are the cutest! And we survived a REALLY hot weekend (with the help of tons of water and gatorade!)

​Stay healthy! <3 Becca

We went camping this weekend, so we didn't have as much time available to us to work on Maude, but we still got quite a bit done, all things considered!

We decided that it's time to get the air conditioners installed. Even on a mild 70 degree day, she's a frickin' oven! So we're moving forward with wiring! 

One hurdle has been finding the correct size of grommets. Or rather, finding a grommet that would accommodate the wire that we had purchased. We purchased marine-grade wiring which would offer additional protection against moisture stemming from any potential leaks in the future, as well as give a thicker coating to protect it from rubbing through the casing and shorting out. Well... Turns out the marine-grade wire is too thick for any of the appropriate grommets we could find (and we looked at all of the local hardware stores and purchased several different batches of grommets online) for passing the wire through the ribs and rails of Maude's shell. (Hint: the grommets are the little black rubber circles ;) ) So part of our time on Sunday was spent running to the store to get regular house wire. WE GIVE UP! LOL

Once we got a wire that would work with the grommets we had, the wiring was super speedy! The toughest part was getting the grommets into place - they're a pretty tough rubber (which will keep them from rubbing through on the aluminum), and aren't especially flexible.

The yellow wiring you see is all of the 110 electricity! Trailers have 2 types of power - 110 and 12 volt. The 110 is for the A/C and all of the power outlets. 12 volt is for all of the internal and external lighting. We'll get to the 12 volt later ;)

Once we had pulled all of the 110 wire, we didn't feel quite ready to quit for the day, but needed a small project, so we worked on where the trailer will plug into the shore power!

Drilling this hole was.... unnerving!

What a cute little plug, you've got there, Maude!

And here's what it looks like from the inside of the trailer! That orange cable will run to the fuse box, and then all of the yellow wiring will also get plugged into the fuse box :)

Having such a large project completed on the inside felt REALLY great! So far we've been focusing almost completely on Maude's exterior and getting her waterproofed - it feels MOMENTOUS to start working on her insides! Don't get me wrong though, there's still QUITE a bit of work to do on her exterior ;) But at least we're a step closer toward being able to work on her interior without roasting to death ;)

​Have a great week! <3 Becca

Prior to Coronatimes, we had planned on going on a 3-week road trip this summer. We would have been in Wisconsin visiting friends on Lake Superior right now! While we had to cancel the trip, we decided to still take a week off to put in some more hours on Maude - and boy did we, just under 20 hours!

Oh my god, you guys, this trailer has too many windows! Okay, it's true, they'll be nice when all that natural light is bathing you while you're on the massage table, but I'm tired of reseating windows! In total, all but one of seven windows is done! The remaining window will get done soon, but we couldn't fit it in, either mentally or physically ;)

While two were already done prior to this week (so we really only did 4), I'm sharing pictures of all of them in all of their "You can barely tell anything was done" glory! LOL

These windows have been, psychologically, a really difficult part of this project! They each took about 4 hours of REALLY strenuous work to complete, but when they're all done they look exactly the same as before all of that work! That's one thing that has helped keep us going - that at least at the end of the day, you've got something to show for the work. But not with these dang windows! ;)

Don't worry though! We went inside Maude yesterday to measure something, and the inside was noticeably dry and clean-smelling (like fresh cut lumber!) Yay!

As a bit of a reward, we also got some fun, pretty parts done on Maude this week - we installed all of her external lights! They REALLY helped make her look that much closer to being done, which was just the motivation we needed with all of those frickin' windows ;)

Maude even has a cute little porch light once again! Maude's gettin' the upgrades - it's a reproduction, LED fixture! What you'll also notice in this photo, is that we've started patching up all of the holes on and around the door where someone had installed a padlock when the door handle and lock assembly wasn't working :) (it's that tiny patch between the bottom window and the door - hardly noticeable, huh?) We're cooking up some cute ideas for the corresponding holes in the door - Stay tuned!

Another rewarding project: every time we hang out in the backyard, this ugly temporary patch has been bugging me.

So we fixed it :)

This sneaky little fox joins the shape of Oregon on the street side of Maude! I'm pretty sure I'm in love with all of her cute patches! We've got several more patches to go, which will all follow in the woodland creature theme :)

One of the days, we just couldn't make ourselves do another window, so we picked out a bathroom sink and faucet from Ikea. We also visited Goby Hardwoods and found a butcher block slab for the counter tops for the kitchen and bathroom! 

The weather hasn't been cooperating for much of what needs to be done in order to continue forward - trying to get Maude waterproofed in the rain just doesn't work ;) So we've been a little frustrated and trying to make some progress on the inside of the trailer projects that we're not QUITE really ready for ;)

So we've got some of the electrical bits and pieces ordered and we're getting them assembled.

Here's Maude's electrical panel! Putting those fuses in required the help of beer ;)

We pulled a few wires before we realized we needed some different grommets. All of the wiring gets passed through holes in the ribs (the vertical aluminum framework) and are protected by plastic grommets to prevent rubbing through the protective wire casing. The ones we'd originally bought aren't big enough for the wires to pass through ;) BUT! The wire you see here is for the front air conditioner/heater! Woohoo! We're hoping to get the air conditioner units installed ASAP so that we can stand working on the inside this summer. Even on just a 70 degree day, she gets HOT inside.

On Sunday, the weather decided to cooperate! So we were back to working on waterproofing her from the outside. Replacing these freakin' windows takes FOREVER! We kind of thought that once we had figured out the process of reseating the windows that the subsequent ones would go faster. Nope! Still took right about 4 hours. Another one down, 5 more to go! LOL

After the window taking so long, we decided to try to find another small project to finish out the day, so we tackled the main door lock! 

Here's what was left of the door handle/lock when we got Maude. It's broken off and we have no keys. Luckily, we found a replacement for the handle part, including a new lock barrel (but not the face plate - we'll see what we decide to do about it later).

Some wasps had made a home in the door! We'll be dismantling the door at some point to replace its insulation and to get it all cleaned up, but we didn't have time for that ;)

Not shown is Mike dismantling the entire locking mechanism and cleaning and oiling it up so that it would work. Sorry, I'm a terrible documentarian ;)

But here's Maude's new locking door mechanism! Her door actually closes AND locks now! I was also super excited to get Maude her own key chain (is it kind of like picking out a collar for a new pet? LOL).

Hopefully, the weather will continue to cooperate and we'll be able to get even more done this coming weekend!

Stay healthy! <3 Becca

Howdy! This Saturday was a bit exciting! We were woken up by this! A work van had tried to park in front of my car, and took the corner too tightly, scraping off my bumper. Obviously, we were all still asleep, so no one was injured, and since we're still under Pandemic Shutdowns, we're not really going anywhere, it's a huge bummer, but not a big deal ;) Insurance is already getting everything all taken care of :)

We started by removing the rain gutter from the window. We punched each rivet, then drilled them all out.

This is the sealant that we're going to be replacing. Still sticky, but REALLY dirty and, because of the leaking we're still getting, not exactly functioning ;)

Removed the window! And even more nasty sealant! We're pretty sure this is where the bulk of our leaking was coming from :)

Here, Mike was reshaping the rain gutter. He's taken some blacksmithing classes, and while this aluminum was reshaped while cold, a lot of the same metal-movement properties still apply! He did an awesome job, and you'll get to see it back in place in a bit!

While Mike was reshaping the rain gutter and cleaning up Maude's shell where the window attaches, I was cleaning the window frame! I used acetone to get off all of the old sealant and to clean it up as best I could. Unfortunately, there's a bit of oxidation of the aluminum from all of the years of getting peed on by mice (blech!). The frame isn't looking as new as I had hoped. We'll make some decisions later about the best way to make them look clean. (Maybe sand them? Maybe sand and paint? We'll do more research and see what sounds like the best course of action :) )

Once we got everything all cleaned up, we applied new sealant stripping to the frame and replaced the window!

Riveting the frame back into place!

Prior to replacing the rain gutter, Mike polished around it so that polishing would be easier later. The polisher tends to grab onto corners and rip them loose ;)

This one window took us 4 hours and looks almost exactly like when we started! LOL! But at least we know that the seals are all new and working well :) We still need to remove and replace the panes of glass before the entire window will be completely waterproof, but we're almost there!

Only 6 more windows to go! LOL!

Until next time! Keep on staying healthy :) <3 Becca

This week we worked on getting the door to seal properly as part of our process of getting Maude waterproofed. Last week I had scraped off the old seals. Now we had to deal with the adhesive that remained and was REALLY stuck on there.

In the above pictures, you can see all of the material that couldn't just be scraped off. We used acetone and scrub brushes to remove it all. It took 2.5 hours to get the main door, inner door and door frame cleaned. Our arms are TIRED from all of that scrubbing!

But look! It cleaned up so nicely!

Once everything was cleaned up, it didn't take long to apply the new seals.

And here you can see the new seals doing their jobs! It looks like there are two doors, because there are! I think this is my favorite feature of Maude's! She has a main door, but then a door-within-a-door that is a screen! It's super cute! And now, neither of them leak! Yay!

I would apologize for all of the stupid puns.... but turns out I'm loving them ;) 

This weekend's work wasn't picture heavy, so this post will be a bit of a short one!

As the title suggests, we caulked (almost) all of the rivets in our efforts to get Maude fully waterproofed. We ran out of caulk before we were able to cover every rivet, but we did get all of the seams covered! Also not shown : we used a product that is used to seal cracks in boats to seal some of the known leaks between aluminum panels from the outside. So far so good! We've had some rain this week, and while the windows and door are all still leaking, we seem to have stopped all of the leaks from rivets and seams!

Speaking of the leaking door - We've started the process of getting it to close and seal properly! Here, I was stripping the old (and weirdly smelly! Seriously, somehow they smelled like a dog park in the heat of summer!) door seals. At some point, someone decided to use an epoxy to adhere them, so it took me about an hour to get it all scraped off! We'll figure out how to strip the old epoxy another day ;) While I was busy doing this, Mike removed the old, loose rivets for the door hinges and replaced them. Now, not only are the hinges nice and secure, but the DOOR ACTUALLY LATCHES SHUT!!! We've been using a 2"x6" board wedged against the door to keep it shut - BUT NO LONGER! Maude's gettin' fancy! LOL

So, like I said, this week was light on pictures, but we've made some more progress!

Until next time! <3 Becca

You may remember that back toward the beginning of our Maude Adventures we created a patch for this large vent hole in Maude's backside. We decided that it would be better to wait on installing it until after we had the shell lifted and placed back down. Well, here we are!

Here's the hole we covered up. It's where the old water heater vent was. We're moving the location, so this hole has to go!

First, we drilled holes in the Oregon-shaped patch we made. These holes are what we riveted through to attach the patch to the trailer!

We caulked the heck out of the backside of the patch to ensure that it will be nice and waterproof. Those little black "sticks" coming out of the side are called "Clecos." Once we've drilled holes in the shell and through the patch we can hold it all together using the Clecos. You use a special tool to insert the Cleco through all of the layers, then when you let it go, it springs shut and holds it all nice and tight!

Here, you can see the progression, we spaced out the Clecos to hold the patch, then we placed rivets with a bit of caulking to seal the holes. Then we went around and installed the rivets! Then we removed the Clecos and placed rivets in their locations :)

And here's Maude's patch fully installed! It looks to awesome, you guys! We've been calling it her "tramp stamp" because of the location ;)

We also went around and shaved off all of the Olympic rivet heads so they look all nice and smooth and like the original rivets! Poor Maude is no longer our battle trailer! 

Lastly, we've been on a bit of a shopping spree! Above is the new toilet for Maude's bathroom! While still an RV toilet, it looks and feels more like a home toilet! Only the best for my patients! ;)  Not shown, most of the electrical work, sinks, faucets, cooktop, fridge, light fixtures and more!

It's been super exciting thinking about the specifics of Maude's interior!

​Until next time, <3 Becca