I think I may have gotten a small sunburn yesterday, and today wasn’t predicted to be any cooler so I woke up pretty early to take advantage of the sun being located *behind* the shed instead of shining directly into it for a change.

To start, I measured out and epoxy glued on the pads for the lifting mechanism to the roof.  I’d like to get this all finished so I can start painting something. Anything!

While I was using epoxy we went ahead and put the bedslide piece of mahogany on.  We only had one thing to use to hold it in place, so Jason leaned on the other end. Useful loitering.

I forgot that we bought a nice roof vent with an integrated fan, but don’t have a place cut for it in the roof, so while things were setting up elsewhere, I dug the vent out and started working on that.

So at this point, I have things drying everywhere… so to keep progress rolling, I marked and cut the pieces for the seat backs.  These actually have like 3 purposes.  They’re a place for the bed slide to rest on when it’s pulled out, they will have space inside for storage or equipment, and they are, obviously, the back part of the dinette seats. We even decided to put a nice 2″ taper for more comfort.

Next up on the roof was to smear a little bondo filler on the edges of the fiberglass that are just kind of awkwardly sharp.  I don’t want to bump my head into this at night and get speared with a fiberglass shard. 😮

Jason finally got back from running some errands and got started on the front of the dinette seats.  He had a plan for a storage compartment door there, so I let him go to town on it.

So while I’m waiting for Bondo to dry on the roof, I decided I’d get started on the finish for the kitchen counter and matching table.  I have a plan that I think is going to look super cool!

Turns out that the above torch is completely empty… I love starting a thing and then immediately not having the right tool… So, since it’s now late afternoon and super hot outside, it was time for a ride to the local Ace Hardware in the truck with air conditioning.  Ace also has air conditioning. We may have loitered just a little bit. 😉

So yeah, I got the torch working.  😉  The technique that I’m trying to do on the countertop and table is the same thing I did on the flatbed of my ’37 Chevy:  Shuo Sugi Ban.  (Apparently this is what it’s called in the West, the Japanese call it “Yakisugi”).  It involves setting the wood on fire.  The more on fire it is, the blacker the wood gets.  The finish can be anywhere from lightly charred to bring out the texture of the woodgrain, all the way to essentially charcoal.  It was originally used as siding because it’s rot and bug resistant.

The wood I used isn’t the right type for this sort of thing.  It’s the white craft wood they sell at lowe’s meant to build toolboxes and toy chests out of.  But it’s what I have, so there it is.  I’ll do a little more to it, but I think the next step is to stain it to get rid of the warm tint that it has.

So yeah, more to come on the countertop and table situation. I have a look that I’m going for, and i’m not really seeing it yet.

While I was playing with fire, Jason was actually doing something productive and cut some more of the pieces that we need for the dinette seats.

I feel like I should elaborate about the above design a little bit.  He actually used the jigsaw at an angle to cut the top 3 sides at one angle so the lid doesn’t fall into the box, and the lower side at the opposite angle so it locks in place.  Genius! and actually very functional.

Did I mention how hot it is outside today? The actual temperature is in the high 80’s, but like I’ve mentioned before, the shed gets blasted by afternoon sun for hours.  It makes working out there pretty miserable at times because there’s nowhere to hide from it.  I came inside and made myself some cold brew coffee and took a break.

By far the biggest thing that I accomplished today was getting the primer on the outside of the camper! 🙂 I had to wash it with ammonia first because the epoxy leaves a “blush” when it cures, but it was so hot that that dried very quickly.  Then I just rolled it on with a small roller just like we did when we painted the boat.  It went super quick.  A few hours later it was time for a second coat! It’s was smoother than I thought it was going to be, but you can still see where we overlapped the fiberglass in some spots.

The rest of the day was mostly spent prepping for tomorrow’s tasks.

With any luck, tomorrow I can get some more things painted and maybe get the interior started!