The ply roof looks good and I'm glad your op went well. It looks like you were very brave, did the nurse give you a nice "I was brave" sticker? As for the insulation I think I'd probably just give the roof side of the ply two or three good coats of varnish or paint to seal it. As its hidden it doesn't really matter what colour it is, just that the paint gives it a good seal. You could even paint it with several coats of watered down waterproof wood glue so it soaks into the wood well. Because it will be held up by the ply roof you literally just need to keep the insulation on the roof just long enough to actually get the ply in place so just a few pieces of double sided sellotape should do the trick. It won't matter if it drops off later because it'll be kept in place by the ply and will still work perfectly well as insulation. It might also be worth positioning half a dozen spare wires running from the front to the back into the roof space before you fit the ply so you've got the option of adding something electrical later on without having to pull the roof down first.
Yep, I was totally brave, me. (Or conked out on great drugs) I didn't get a sticker but I got some lovely support stockings to stop a clot exploding in my lungs or something. Some great advice there, thank you! With the varnish, will it not crack when I have to bend the ply? I've got lots of PVA glue. If I watered it down would that bend with the wood and make a good seal? The peg leg has hampered my progress with the interior a bit, but the most important thing is I've learnt HOW to do the roof lining. I didn't know if it was going to take a week or so to figure it out. So I'm well happy I made a good start in just a couple of afternoons. This was the view yesterday, I couldn't face going out in the cold so I decided to come home as I wasn't getting much done out at my mum's. I'll be going back out there in a week, so hopefully my leg will be loads better and I'll get lots done. And I should be able to drive again by then.
Your wish is my command. The white is actually pink pearlescent. You can see it in the sunshine on this one. The playing card symbols are actually the indicators. It won an award at Whitenoise 2014 When I first had the interior done.
Thanks. Must admit I've been neglecting it a bit since I've been working on the bus. I really want to change the fuel lines before I drive it again.
To be absolutely honest I'm not sure, thinking about the curve on ply roofs I've seen before I reckon paint or varnish would be OK. I've never actually fitted a ply roof but I'd imagine you position each side with the wood curving downwards and then just push the middle up until it pops up into an upward curve. It depends on how much it needs bending while it's being fitted. The trouble is, once the woods in you can't see the other side to check. Maybe something more flexible like a coating of wax or even waxoyl might be better. You can get wood preservative like you use on fence panels but if you give the back of the wood a good coating it may soak through and stain the the side that you see. If you've saved some of the offcuts it might be an idea to give a few different products a trial.
In the end I tried a couple of different things I had laying about to seal the other side of the ply. Watered down bathroom sealer, wood glue, and as I've got loads of the bubble wrap left over I glued a sheet of that to the ply in the cab. Cut and shaped all the ply before bubble wrapping and insulating the roof, because once it's up there, the fit is so tight, it's never coming down again. It was impossible to get the cab ply in, in one piece. So I made it in 2 pieces and chamfered the edge, which hopefully the wallpaper would cover up ok. Now it was time to do one of the coolest bits! I was so excited to see how this was going to turn out. I'd been picturing it in my head for over 3 years. Would it work? Was it going to look as good as I'd hoped? I've still got a few edges to line up and neaten, but it went on a lot easier than I was expecting. Although for the next few days I did expect to open the door to find it all peeled off.
I tried to put the overhead locker back up, but there was no way that was now going to fit with all the insulation and ply. Bit of a head scratch about what to do, as I wanted to cover up the rear hatch rods, etc. Decided to make another cupboard which actually turned out to be a much better idea. It doesn't hang down so low over the bed, and it's a lot lighter.
Waxolyed the bottom couple of inches behind all the door cards. Then bubble wrapped and insulated. A friend had given me a couple of bags of insulation and that was enough to do all the rear. Still had vast amounts of bubble wrap. I think I might've mis-measured how much I needed.
Next up was the floor and finally getting rid of that brown carpet. Hadn't had a proper look at the floor before, so fingers crossed it wasn't in too bad a state. The floor ply looked fine to re-use after I'd sanded and varnished it. I'll just have to cut some more to fill in the gaps. The floor looked fairly good to me, a couple of welds near the arches, but all pretty solid. @nikkiwalker1984 gave me the idea of blocking the heating pipes off. I'm not bothered about heating the rear whilst driving, and it'll save a bit more space. I'm also interested to see if it actually concentrates the heat that blows into the cab. Has anyone done this and noticed an improvement? The bolts did not want to shift. Tried WD40, oil, boiling water, hammer, threats of violence. Nothing. Thankfully the neighbour lent me a blow torch. It did the trick straight away. I am getting myself one of these! Cleaned, sanded and treated the rust, then splashed on a couple of coats of Hammerite that I already had. Used up the orange Rustoleum on the cab floor. Another friend had given me their leftover felt, and there was just enough to cover the engine bay, to help deaden the sound.
