It’s a (not) a bird! It’s (not) a plane... it’s an Aluminum Penguin!

[Al-lacrimae]

Someday I’ll make version 2 of this ducting, but for now it’ll do.

Sheet aluminum, bent with angle iron, 2x2”, and seaming pliers (which I wasn’t previously aware existed!), based on a cardboard template. Fits around and into the bottom bracket for the AC, held in place with some self tapping screws (for now). An attempt at some louvers to channel the air towards the bunks didn’t go as well as planned but I’ll keep practicing later. Back side has some Reflectix to keep the hot roof and cold air a little bit separate... “gotta keep ‘em separated.” Lots of edge finishing to make sure no one cuts their hands when adjusting louvers and such. Riveted together for more Cleco and pop rivet practice. Yup, definitely gonna get that air rivet gun at some point.

I’m hoping to knock out the forward duct before this weekend’s trip, but it’s not as essential as getting some air to the kiddos. After that a nice curved cover for the center part will require me to hammer the snot out of some perfectly good sheet aluminum. For the experts out there, the only .032 sheet available locally was 3003, based on what I’ve read that should do okay with some hammering into a shot bag? It’ll certainly be a learning experience!

[Al-lacrimae]

Well, our inaugural trip produced a lot of happiness. Kids bike riding for hours around the RV loop, fishing, swimming, s’mores, and everyone packed in right for a good nights sleep with AC and no bugs was awesome.

My lovely bride and I decided to call it our Cozy Can, and based on the color scheme we have going I upgraded that to the All American Cozy Can. Now for some window pinup art! And mockery for driving a Nissan and a Toyota and calling our setup “All American.”

[Al-lacrimae]

I didn’t point it out in my last post, but we got the idea to put a couple of the kids in hammocks above the twin beds so kids weren’t kicking each other awake and fighting... and mom & dad could thus get more sleep.

I had the first one done prior to our inaugural outing, got the second set of brackets in this week. I used a piece of scrap 1x4 that was amazingly already cut to the exact right length to provide the brackets something to bolt to inside the overhead storage areas. Hammocks are knotted up to reduce length and help them hang a bit higher (kids were inevitably still making jokes about farting in each other’s faces) but the first trip proved the concept so I bought the second set of brackets and a second hammock.

We’re just using cheap $20 parachute material type backpacking hammocks and I actually had the first set of brackets from IKEA, got the second set on Amazon.

Still haven’t covered up the storage door faces, practical before pretty but it’s on the list.

[Al-lacrimae]

So we had a tropical depression pass through and dump a bunch of rain, which helped me discover some of the more pressing repairs needed!

Turns out the Cozy Can had a pretty major leak in the vent above the kitchen, and another leak that shows itself via the rear window and puddles on the bathroom counter.

The rear window trim got stripped of old sealer and redone with Parabond because that’s what I had handy. Looks like it still has a leak, so I’m guessing it’s coming from up higher in the end AP and just wicking down to that point. I’ve got some “Capt Tolley’s Creeping Crack Cure” inbound via the big A to see if I can knock that out.

The vent had a skylight style center that was degraded beyond any hope of sealing, so I removed it and fabricated an aluminum replacement. It’s my first attempt at hammering a curve into aluminum and it’s really rough but I got it decent enough to rivet it back on. Deburred and sealed it prior to riveting, but I forgot to put the foam tape on the underside before reinstalling on the lifting bar. So I spent some extra time perched on top of the Cozy Can installing it with the vent in the full up position and enjoying the knuckle rap when I let a finger get to close to the fan that turns on automatically at the full open position. Life’s little reminders not to rush.

As indicated by the past tense above, that leak is no more! But the front vent has a minor leak... I’m looking at putting in a Maxxair 5100 so I might just slather the skylight section with some Dicor as a temp fix. I’ve still got to get the freshwater working, posted that in a separate thread here, and we’re out at the beach camping for a couple days this week. Huzzah for an aluminum tent with AC!

[Al-lacrimae]

I think it’s a common sentiment amongst the folks here that they or shouldn’t open up too much or look to closely lest ye find trouble.

I looked.

Or rather, I felt. So there I was “happily” running one of the last lines for this phase of my freshwater re plumbing project, all buttoned up in the Cozy Can while the remnants of a tropical depression passed through. This particular line ran under/around then hot water heater. So in the typical plumbers position I’ve got my arms buried under a cabinet when I feel it.

The puddle. The “squish” of plywood that has turned the consistency of sponge. The sinking feeling of “oh no, I know what this entails” as I realized the re plumbing had just been overtaken by a much more pressing project.

Stop the leak, fix the floor. Sounds simple... but we all know that it’s a LOT of work. Some pictures below of the conditions found as I took out the hot water heater and created a floor patch. More to follow as I finish the task and then some happy pictures of new PEX plumbing.

[Al-lacrimae]

So I yanked out the hot water heater (and dumped a couple pounds of calcium deposits out), took apart the counter of the bathroom that the heater sits under (why would they put a rivet THERE!?!?) cut out the Pergo floor back to the bathroom transition, dropped the back bumper off, removed the fun section of banana wrap, and gently lowered the still mostly connected belly pan section to the ground.

Assessed, cut out bad floor to a couple inches of the frame, and busted out the secret weapon that I had found and already bought thanks to the folks on this forum.

Smith’s Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES). Two part mix that comes out the consistency of juice, brushed on and also injected using some hobby syringes to both old a new flooring. New patch only took one coat, old floor sucked in two before it stopped absorbing per the instructions. Also coated the sister strips. Bought stainless steel screws to connect... probably overkill especially with my eventual plan of the Full Monty. Snapped a few over-torquing them (note: stainless steel is much more brittle and snaps when you do that so go SLOWER!). Got the patch is with very little (1/32” ish by eyeball measure) change to the outer skin line.

Additional note: put the all of edge wrap tape on before hammering the patch into place.

Also secured the patch to the upper C channel with many stainless and hopefully those won’t snap with the flexing and allow that channel to be re-used when the full floor replacement is done. Fabricated a rear support for the hot water heater cutout with of two sections of angle riveted together. Also put a piece of angle to replace the foil “support” that had been kludged in. Sealed everything with tape.

Still need to install the new linoleum floor before I can put the hot water heater back in. The plan is to have the one continuous sheet go all the way to the edge and seal it there so nothing comes in from that area and any water that gets in the bathroom floor can’t seep down into the plywood below even though it’s been sealed.

And then I’ll go finish the beautiful PEX re plumbing.