Over the last few days, the tear is really starting to come together. The painting is done, the galley hatch is now permanently mounted and the props and holders are in place and the sunroof is in place and sealed. I dry fit the left and right doors, cut the bevels for the hinges, applied some touch up paint to the doors and hatch. So, by tomorrow I should be ready to mount the windows in the doors and the doors on the body.

I also got some of the electrical work done. I wasn’t satisfied with the side marker lights that I had for the front end of the tear, so I went to the local auto parts store and picked out a set of matching oval lights. They look so much better then the square ones that I was going to use. In addition to the side lights, I also installed the tail lights and the inside galley light.

The tear is now sporting it’s new white coat (well, actually, it is it’s second white coat). After working on a number of odds and ends projects, it was finally time to put some paint on the tear.

I am not a painter by any means, so my first stop was the local “Paint Spot” to get some supplies and, more importantly, advice. After talking with the friendly staff there, I left the store with everything I needed to cover up all that plywood and filler and give the tear some color.

That is, if white is some color. I chose a gloss white for a number of reasons, but most importantly, to keep the inside of the tear as cool as possible while we were camping. Originally, I wanted to get a semi-gloss or satin finish, but I neglected to tell the folks mixing the paint. Oops. However, the high gloss finish is starting to grow on me.

We did run into a problem though, the rollers we used shed quite a bit, so now we have a fuzzy textured finish. Right now, my plan is to let the current coats cure and then do some light sanding with some fine sandpaper. Then I will follow that up with a final coat of paint using a quality roller that (hopefully) won’t shed. I may even talk to the folks at the Paint Spot and see if a semi-gloss or satin coat can be applied over the existing gloss.

Not much to report this time. A couple of small (but important) jobs done. I finally got the edges of the hatch, where the weatherstripping will contact, complete (well, almost). All of the layers of wood are in, including the interior trim. Also, I have completed the hatch props.

After working through several variations on the props ranging from a stick (still kinda like that idea by the way) through automotive hood springs, I settled on hinging a prop for each side from the interior of the hatch to the side wall of the galley. I fabricated a couple of mounting plates for the sides where a ball pin on the hatch prop locks in place. While opening the hatch you just swing down the props, place the pin into the hole in the plate and push, the pin snaps into place and supports the hatch. To lower the hatch, just pull the ring on each pin to disengage it and swing the props back up to the hatch.

Of course, it would probably be a good idea to hold the hatch in place while you are doing this if you don’t want to dent your head. (Please, don’t ask how I know this)