Quarter Round

As promised, here's the subwoofer and amplifier in place behind the driver's seat. I'll still tidy up the wires a bit, and I expect we'll carpet over the plywood too, but everything is basically where it belongs.


Back to the Floor
The laminate flooring now sits atop an underlayment of tiny Styrofoam beads sandwiched between two thin plastic sheets. Light, resilient and hopefully a nice way to quiet down the back of the coach. Since the floor floats on that underlayment, it gets held down all around the edges with some composite quarter-round that mostly matches the floor.

A home installation would likely get glued or use finishing nails to minimize any view of the fasteners. On the rig, however, I want to be able to easily take out the floor later in case I have some unforeseen maintenance or decide to take on some new cabinetry, etc. Every moment I spend patching the particleboard cabinet structures gets me more excited about just ripping them out, but that's a 2011 project at the soonest -- I want to get out on the road this summer.

In addition to the quarter round, I've started replacing the furnace vents which are now painted with that Rust Oleum hammered metal. The paint seems to adhere very well, so I'm encouraged to think they'll last a while. And the painted aluminum table mounts are back in place. I used a little bit of silicone on the subfloor and around the edge of the laminate flooring just to discourage any water from underneath. I know the mounts will get scuffed up quickly, but they'll also be easy to touch up later.

After cutting and fitting the quarter-round, I pre-drilled each length and used a countersink bit to remove enough material so that the brown painted deck screws will sit flush. They look a little bit utilitarian, but I happen to think that's just fine for an RV. As with the flooring itself, this is another opportunity to see the impact of twenty years on the road on anything that ever was a square corner. Every day it seems I encounter another situation that reminds me of This Old House. Not the contemporary show, mind you, but the one with Bob Villa back in the day. Maybe somebody else remembers how they'd inevitably discover that the whole foundation structure of the house was rotten and they'd somehow find a way to jack it all up and replace it from underneath without folding the place in half. Thank goodness the Sunrader is only 21 feet long!

I also did a bunch of the finish work on the entry step. Gorilla glue was what I had around, so that's what I used. I suppose proper wood glue might have been better to keep the kicker in contact with the riser, but since everything gets stainless steel screws (or painted deck screws) to hold it in place I think it will work out fine. I have plenty of those screws left over from the carpet removal.



Wheelskins
I spent a few minutes today stitching in the new steering wheel cover from Wheelskins. So far as I can tell, they make the nicest semi-custom leather covers out there. Far better than the ones you can find at Kragen or Target, even if you do have to spend an hour snugging waxy thread through tiny holes. The fit is perfect, and they let you order just about any combination of colors too.

Mike is hoping to take the rig tomorrow or Monday to install the carpet kit in the cab, depending on his backlog. And I have to get the countertop out at some point to pass it over to Suba to make a new one. I'm thinking plywood substrate. I have enough particleboard already.