Lots of big news this weekend. First, Leanne and I riveted the wing windows back on. Which means I could finally install the new rock guard!
The TremPro around the windows wasn't completely cured yet, so I had to leave the rock guard open little, but it's in.
It was nearly 70 degrees on Sunday, which was perfect power-washing weather. Which leads me to the next big news. The endcaps are in!
Both the endcaps are power washed, scrubbed with Bar Keeper's Friend, power washed again, scrubbed with simple green, then power washed a third time. I'll probably give all the interior skins the same treatment. The endcaps will still need some paint, but they're no longer covered in that mix of tobacco tar, mouse droppings, and 40 years of who-knows-what.
For the insulation, I cut Rockwool R-15 sheets approximately in half to get the 1.5" wall depth, and fitted them to the ends of the Airstream. This should give me something like R-6.5, plus at least R-1.1 from the Reflectix and whatever air space might be left. Spray glue does a nice job of holding insulation to the ceiling.
Rockwool is a fantastic product for this application. It's easy to cut precisely, not nearly as itchy as fiberglass, and it holds its shape. I was able to create a continuous layer around the curve, fitting Rockwool sheets together like puzzle pieces, which should give me very good insulation performance. It looks so much better than the thin sheets of pink stuff we pulled out which was sagging and full of voids.
You might notice that the ribs are pink now. Since I didn't actually want to use adhesive to attach the inner skins (what happens if I need to get inside a wall again?), I stuck a layer of polyethylene foam sill gasket to the double-stick foam tape instead. That increases my rib thickness a bit, so I'm probably not going to be able to hit many of the original rivet holes, but I'm OK with that. On cold days, there's a huge temperature difference between the face of the insulation and the rib itself, which should help prevent the ribs from conducting heat between the inner and outer skins.
Oh! There's one more piece of big news. Guess what arrived in the mail?
