Originally posted by
Lanny Webb
I thought Id posted some of this some time back but couldn’t find it. Could have been the
Casita site. My apologies if its a dup. This is to follow the last post, Stage two.
After the shell was stripped and the new sub floor was installed, I needed to replace the bench supports. I removed all the rotten press board which had originally been fiberglassed to the side of the
Casita where the back of the benches where attached to the wall. It was pretty rotten so it came off easily. Relativly easily.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eade8b4a7dbeclsuprot.jpg/>
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eade95dac264rtnbncbs.jpg/>
There was plenty of the treated plywood left over from doing the new floor to replace all the wooden strips both on the seats themselves and on the walls of the
casita where the seats attached. I again cut a cardboard template for the curved pieces.
The
fiberglass is really easy to do if,as in this case, the craftsmanship of your end result will never be seen. I first attached the wooden strips to the remaining
fiberglass with liquid nails.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eade98be096dnwbnchsp.jpg/>
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eade9a15389dnwstbswd.jpg/>
After the liquid nails was dry, I painted on the
fiberglass resin, placed the precut strips of cloth and painted, or better put dabbed, with a brush additional resin. Precut is a key here. I found it’s much easier to cut the strips to fit before hand.
I bought a handful of throwaway brushes for this purpose. Get cheap bristle brushes, not the foam kind as they will disintegrate. I learned the hard way. You can keep the brushes usable for a while in lacquer thinner. Mix only enough to do one or two pieces at a time as the resin sets up pretty quickly. Don’t worry about how neat it looks as you can sand all the rough edges away with an oscillating sander later when it dries.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eade9e866684fbrglst.jpg/>
While I was at it, I reinforced the wooden strip down the back wall where the bunk bed attached.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eadeb11bbf17fbrglsbn.jpg/>
I also reinforced the wooden strip down the shower wall that faces the closet. If I were doing it again, I would add an additional wooden piece about 3” wide on the shower wall for added support and double as a place where I could mount brackets on the inside of the closet. I also would add two more wooden strips on the inside of the closet on either side of the door for more strength and stability. My closet wall that holds the door is a bit wobbly.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eadea998cffbfbrgswr.jpg/>
After the messy parts were done, all the fiberglass dry and sanded, I put down an indoor outdoor carpet. It didn’t have a backing other than the black rubber that held it together. I used a latex paste adhesive applied with a notched trowel with 3/8” notches. The 3/8” notch was a mistake as the adhesive was too thick in places and seeped through the carpet in a couple of small spots leaving a slight brown discolouration. Id use a trowel with either 1/4” or 1/8” notches. Brush it on the curved surfaces with one of the disposable brushes.
At first this looked like it was going to be a really difficult task getting the carpet down smoothly. Here is a shot of what I was facing.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eadebd4b2283crpt-un.jpg/>
It worked better than I expected, however, and it ended up being a relative breeze.
Cut a piece that will fit up the vertical area and over and under where the table will go. See picture below. Cut it long enough to overlap the back wall in the center by a couple of inches. Place the oversize carpet roughly over the floor. Try to center it as best you can but most importantly make sure the front edge at the bottom of the vertical area where it will meet the next piece is straight. I don’t have pictures of the different steps here as at this point I wasn’t sure what I was doing and more than a little edgy about how it was all going to end.
Start on the front vertical area by putting a couple of staples in to hold it in place. Wrap it up and over toward the back of the shell. Now put a row of staples down the center parallel to the length of the shell. Next fold the carpet over on itself so one side of the floor is exposed. You will have to remove the staples you put on the vertical area on the side that gets folded over. This is beginning to sound like the instructions for assembling my son's bike years ago. I think the instructions were originally in French but translated to English by a Japanese company that shipped it.
Now put down the adhesive on the exposed floor. With the staples holding the carpet in place, fold it back over the adhesive and smoothe into place. It takes several hours for the adhesive to dry so take your time. When the first side is finished, do the same on the other side. Apply the same technique to the rest of the carpet. Let it dry overnight. My final step here was to pull the staples, vacuum thoroughly and give it a good coat of Scotch Guard just in case I spilt my much needed libation as I surveyed the end of another stage.
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eadecccb5e6dcarpet.jpg/>
<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3eadecdf2650ccrptpln.jpg/>
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