Ceiling the deal, part 3, or The Ceil is dealed

In order to install the side panels, we first needed to find a way to mount them close to the walls without bumping into the roof ribs. This mount design also needs to present as much surface area to the roof panels as possible to provide maximum glue and brad support. The roof and walls do not meet at 90deg, so the mount design is a bit more involved.

So, I cut some 1.5"x1.5" wood strips that fit between the ribs. The strips are ripped with a 73 deg angle. That was empirically determined.
The strips:

 

The angle:

 

I pre-drilled holes to screw mount the strips and 3M 90 glued them to the walls.

 

They are screwed into the walls. Their height is set to just clear the roof rib metal.

 

These panels are mounted with a combination of VHB, 3m 90, and brads. 

The first panel is up:

 

 I would've said I was sure that the wood would fit like a glove, but as much as I need to give myself a rousing hand of applause, I could find no hands up there. So, although I would've said that if I could've said that, I couldn't say that, so I douldn't say that....(apologies to Ogden Nash)

OK, I now felt much better, so I installed the rest of the sides, except for the complex curve ones at the front. Those also have to fit around those foam blocks 

 

For the front, I had to cut the pieces into a weird shape. This is the driver side piece:

 In order to connect the front pieces,  I added some tabs to the existing ceiling with TiteBond III.

The front pieces need to be "convinced" that they want to spend the rest of their existence in a contorted shape. The convincing took place overnight with 3m 90 and brads used as incentives. Here's our redheaded  Irish convincer, Studs McSquash:

By the next morning, we, and the panel, found that Studs was quite convincing:

And so, excluding trim work (which will be done much later in the build), the ceiling and this chapter are done.

Ceiling the deal, part two

In some areas, the VHB did not hold as well as I'd hoped. So, I used some gorilla glue and brads to further reinforce things. Now the ceiling is staying well attached. There was a bit of rattling, which I tracked down to the lamp wires rattling against the panel. I got that to shut up with Great stuff foam.
 
We installed the rear panel and all the ceiling lamps. Same techniques as with the center panel.
The panel was also cut for the Maxxair fan trim piece.

 

 

The joint between the panels will be covered by a trim piece. Same will go for the front panel.

So now we get started on that front panel.
The panel's front edge will be covered by the driver compartment's headliner. But it needs some way to hold it in place.
I cut a length of wood to match the ceiling (with insulation) curve and glued that to the B-pillar's roof rib. The rib is about 1.5" forward of the headliner edge. The beadboard panel will be sandwiched between the liner and wood piece, and gorilla-glued to the wood.

 

This is a complex curve, so I wanted some support in the middle of the panel. So I added the steel length you can also see above. It is bolted and glued to the sidewalls, and a strip of wood is attached with glue and screws.

 

 

One complication is fitting around those ugly Styrofoam airbag covers. We made up a template, and after a few iterations and tweaks, got a fairly good fit. 

 

Then proceeded to attach the panel at the front, rear, and middle support with glue, screws and brads.

Holding it up while the glue sets:

 

It's up and stable.

Added in the john's ceiling light, and the center panels are done.

As you can see above, there is about 7" between the center panels and each of the side walls. In part three of this thrilling saga, we'll install those panels.

Ceiling the deal, part one

Wherein we start installing the ceiling beadboard.
I had previously installed some of the rafters before I started running the wiring that runs overhead.

 

This was to help support the wire runs, and partly to be sure that the rafter design was stable.

The plan is to mount sheets of 1/4" birch beadboard to the rafters, attached primarily with VHB tape and perimeter screws. There will be three 4-foot wide center panels, from front to rear, and then side panels to bring us to the walls.

Started by creating a mounting system at the rear, around the MAXXfan. Because of the wire run and rear door framing, the heights were all wrong to attach a rafter (like in the picture above).

However, the rear support for the fan could be built up to the right height, and some aluminum strips could work to support the rearmost section of the rear ceiling panel. (I rear-ly hope this is making sense.)

 The aluminum strips are attached to the sidewalls at some conveniently aligned holes, and VHB'd to the fan support.

Then added VHB to the top of the aluminum strip,

stuck a crosswise rafter to the VHB, and added the remainder of the rear beadboad panel's supports.

 

Now we were ready to mount the first panel. This is the middle panel of the 3 center panels. We had previously figured out where the ceiling lights would go, so I had already drilled the holes for the wires, and cut the panel down to the right length (88"). We chose that length because the panel ends end up halfway across Annies's structural roof members. You can sort of see that in the picture above.

Then applied VHB to the rafters, and a few temporary guides to make sure the panel would be centered.

Hint: I found that the VHB adhesion can be really improved if I first sprayed the rafters and beadboard back with 3M 90.

Mucho VHB:

One of the temporary guides hard at work:

With the invaluable assistance of the aesthetics committee, we got the panel up. This would have been a real tough job for just one person.

For some reasons, one of the VHB'd rafters on the driver's side isn't holding as well as the others. We decided to push it up tight with some temporary supports, raise the temperature, and see how it holds tomorrow.

The aesthtics committee consult on the poorly adhering section.

 

The discussion gets intense:

Nevertheless, I'm not too concerned.The rest of the panel seems to be holding real well, and this area will also be supported from below by the bath/fridge/closet walls.

A sense of what the end result will look like (brought to you courtesy of wide angle lenses):

 

Tomorrow, assuming that this panel hasn't fallen down, I'll install the ceiling lamps we picked (because I will be removing the OEM lamps), and beginning to build and install the rear panel.

Buttoning up the lower walls

After installing the fresh water service port, we thinsulated the passenger side like the driver side.
Well, almost...the passenger side has the sliding door, which needed a bit more fiddly cutting so insulation didn't hit the latch mechanisms.

Also removed the back doors plastic panels and thinsulated as far as I could reach. Then re-attached the panels.

Got that done, and re-installed the wall coroplast. Of course we needed to cut it to match all the junk we've added.

Not much more to say, except here are a few pictures.

Since the thinsulate is glued to Annie's outer wall, there is an air gap. That means Reflectix  should actually work here. Glued it to the coroplast panels.

Cut the panels down in height to accommodate our 2" raised floor

I also cut a hole in the panel facing the MS2012 exhaust fan, to make sure the panel wouldn't block ventilation.

Tomorrow, we start figuring out ceiling lighting...how many lamps, spacing, and deciding if they should be on a dimmer.

Water we doing?

We're installing the water fill port!!

The port needs to be below the top of the fresh H2O tank. That's necessary because of the shapes of Annie's inner and outer walls and framing. So, we won't be able to use a gravity feed. Instead we'll depend on a check-valved city water port as our only inlet.

I will selectively use that inlet to fill the tank with pressured city water, winterize the sink faucet lines,  use our on-board water pump to fill the tank from (filtered) streams or lake water, or (rarely) use city water to drive the faucets.

Anderson Brass makes a port assembly that has a four way valve and a city water inlet...exactly what we need.

The only problem is that there is no door. I don't want this exposed to the elements, not to mention that the aesthetics committee would have a fit.

Fortunately, the 4-way valve is available as a stand-alone part.

I already had a standard gravity+city feed assembly, so I cut out the gravity feed,  and installed the valve in it s place.I mounted the valve on an aluminum plate that I screwed onto the assembly

 

Then off to Annie to perform surgery.  First mark where the wound should go. I drilled the 2 upper corner holes from the inside. Then marked the cut lines on the outside. The water assembly fits neatly in one of the inner wall's openings, but care is required to make sure the assembly is properly centered.

This picture needs a cutting remark:

If Annie was a side of beef, at this point I would exclaim "Holey Cow, what a fine cut!":

Caulked the box and screwed it in.

The aesthetics comittee had previously painted the box to match Annie, and did a fine job!
Not only that, but the door works!

A quick update...wiring electric distribution panel and driver side wall insulation

Both pretty short topics, so I'll just combine them here.
I wired up all the pulled lines to the distribution/breaker/fuse box, and began powering up some devices.
Wiring away

AC and DC distribution is wired. We are also connected to the main battery buss.


Both heaters, the MaxAir fan, and the CO/LPG detector are wired in. All except the H2O heater are tested.
 

The distribution box is about where it will live. The gas detector will be immediately to its right, or about where it is resting now. I will be rerouting that gas hose to free up some storage space.
Both will be raised a few inches, because the main hot air vent will be below them. Hopefully, the space to the right will be storage with a recessed access panel to the utilities.

Most of the far end electrics still need to be installed (H2O pump, the control panel, lighting, outlets, etc., etc.

But now it was time to start wall insulation. We are using Thinsulate.


Here is a handy tip: Turn off the LPG/CO detector if you are spraying 3M90 or Great Stuff foam insulation near the detector. They will set it off! Good thing my hearing ain't what it used to be, otherwise it might have become what it ain't used to be.

It was a dark and stormy...oh wait, it was a cold and soggy day. I'm cutting the Thinsulate in the garage, so this was a perfect excuse to use the awning while I commuted back and forth.


Thinsulate is done, and some expanding foam is happily expanding as well. I think I will need to do more. The final step will be Reflectix.

 



Before I start insulating the passenger wall, I will be installing a water inlet station modified with a 4 way inlet valve. Still need to finish the station's mods. I also want to do some thermal imaging experiments, comparing the treated and untreated walls.

I'll wait for a somewhat drier day to cut the water station hole in the wall. But if the thermal images look interesting (or usable) I'll post some here.