The Assembly Plan

It was time to call in the reinforcements for the next step.

We planned a cookout with my two sons and daughter.

 Hopefully, some work would get done as well.

The crew and the grandkids were ready so let us get started!

The end caps were installed with those assistants not assigned to fix lunch.  

No pictures were taken of end cap installation. 

The first ceiling panel was carried to the trailer.

It was the smallest of the two and was more manageable.

It was rolled up and tied with a bungie cord.

My boys held the panel in place with the aid of some wooden props.

The holes in the panels from previous rivets were matched up with holes in the ribs of the trailer.  Even though the process looks hard it was obvious where the panels were previously fastened.

A manual pop rivet gun was used to attach the ceiling panels.  Hard work and persistence allowed the crew to mount the panels where they belonged.  Not every rivet was replaced during this process.  Enough rivets were installed to hold everything in it's proper place.

The second ceiling panel was larger and more difficult to manage.

The panel was gently folded in half and started through the door.

Almost in there!

Yes.  It fit!

Once inside the trailer the panel had to be maneuvered into place.

The wood props and muscle helped to coax the big panel into it’s proper place.

This picture shows the end caps and ceiling panels in place.  The center holes for lights and fans were already cut into the panels.  The new refrigerator vent hole on the left was cut after the panel was up in place.

We accomplished a great day's work.

 Everyone had a good visit and plenty to eat.

Insulation and Inner Wall Skins

Installing the insulation was finally finished.  It covered many of the details that once were visible and easily accessible.
The next major operation is to install the inner skins.
But first some preparations were made to help locate exposed wiring later down the road.

Fastening the inner skins inside is done by drilling holes and inserting all aluminum pop-rivets.  The plan is to relocate and reuse the existing holes in the ribs and skins.  The previous rivets were 1/8 inch in diameter and were drilled out to remove the inner skins.  Reinstallation will be with a wider 3/16 inch rivet and will do a better job of holding the parts together.

Red tape was used to mark important points where the electric wires passed through the ribs.

Drilling into a wire would be unacceptable.

End caps

The end caps are made of spun fiberglass and are a part of the inner skin system.  They cover the entire upper rounded part of the front and back of the trailer.
All of the other inner skin material is aluminum sheet metal.

The fiberglass end caps needed to be cleaned and repaired before being put back into place.

Here is a picture of the two end caps on my flat bed trailer.  They are thick fiberglass (about 1/8 inch thick) and are strong but flexible.

They are not too heavy but very bulky to maneuver.

Multiple coats of paint had to be stripped off before putting them back into the trailer.  Some repair was needed and some unnecessary holes had to be filled.  All this was best done outside.  I chose to sand the surfaces using an angle grinder and repair holes and cracks in the fiberglass using a repair kit purchased from an auto parts store.

All the surfaces were curved and required skill, knee pads and a face mask for the dust.

My flat bed work trailer was a good work area while being outside and up wind was an advantage.

These holes were from a tv antenna mechanism that will no longer to be used.

Many other similar
holes like these from screws and rivets will be filled using the fiberglass repair kit. 

Here are the two end caps all repaired and cleaned.

The two end caps do indeed fit through the door and are now ready to be installed.

Now how do we get them back into place?

I have a plan!

Ceiling Panels

I have a plan but first some more pieces need to be cleaned and prepared.

Once the end caps get installed the ceiling panels go in next.  There are two of them.  They are rather large and heavy.  For efficiency the factory made each of them from three separate pieces of aluminum.  They were buck riveted together to form a large canopy to cover the majority of the ceiling area.  They need to be cleaned and sanded.  Minor repairs will be made to make them ready for installation.

The angle grinder worked best with different grits of sand paper .

The goal was not to remove all of the paint but to sand the surface so that the new paint would adhere very well.

Hard to see here but one coat of paint was removed and the underlying paint was sanded smooth.

This is hard work! Fixing and cleaning.

Lots of maneuvering around these large pieces on the work area.

In the end the job was done and they are ready to be installed.