Quote:
Originally Posted by Christopher Thwaites
What did I miss....? It was late and a bottle of wine does make one drowsy!
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She's no longer my girlfriend. =( But thank you for the positive remarks! =)
Twas a productive day. I'm trying to get the roof top tent installed for an upcoming trip. It's a bigger project than I calculated, as usual. Before getting started, I wanted to shift the rack forward just a few inches. I left the front rear brackets attached to the van and the middle brackets attached to the rack. I used a ratchet strap and a tree to pull it all forward. It actually went surprisingly well. While I was up there, I cleaned and painted the scrapes in my roof paint.
I bought one of those rear window 'expand your view' thingies... I thought about installing it this weekend, but realized I need to wait until after I add tint to the windows. The not-my-girlfriend-anymore swung by to help me get the roof top tent onto the van, but I wasn't ready yet. She did take a pic of me with the thingie:
I was almost ready to mount the tent, but right before she got to the house I realized I won't be able to mount the visor while the tent is on the van. So, I decided to wait until midweek to actually attach the tent. That means I gotta get the visor on quickly.
All in all, the delay turned out to be a good thing, because it slowed me down enough to think through the whole build. I'm treating my roof like a "second story". I will have the tent as well as a platform on top. I'm using 3/4" pressure treated plywood for the flooring of the second story. I really think this part is going to come together nicely.
You can see the black visor in the background. I applied the first coat of paint today. I also painted up a few more pieces of the old trim and re-installed them. I try to do the painting on the side and do the real work during drying times. Today was a good day to paint, it was extremely warm.
I cut and all my pieces and sanded the edges with the belt sander. I made two little lips up front where I hope to attach some lights eventually.
I painted the underside with flat back. By the time I finished, it was too dark for pictures. I had to run after more paint so I also picked up a 6x8 roll of gray outdoor carpet for the top of the platform.
I probably won't have particularly interesting photos until the middle of the week when it all comes together (I hope).