Fall Cleaning

I've been looking at the front of the travel trailer and thinking how shabby it looks. I convinced Darling Husband to try out an outdoor cleaner. 

So much better! Although, now it is the end of the season and it is unlikely we'll be hitting the road anytime soon. At least it looks nice in the drive.

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Mr. Clean Outdoor Cleaner
Lynx Levelers 10-pack

All the Thread

A couple weeks ago I told you about my thread problem. I've been working on getting my upgraded thread rack built and installed in my thread closet (yes, I need a closet to hold it all, I'm not even sure all of it is in there).

Here is a look at what my thread storage looked like before I started.

This woodworking project took two people and more hours than I cared to count. We cut a bucket-full of pegs. Mostly because my planning was more than a little off. Not that that work will be wasted.

We drilled hundreds of holes. I was overly proud of this jig to help me evenly space the holes.

We constructed the frame. The staple gun paid its rent on that day.

And I glued hundreds of pegs into those holes. 

In the end, I had a new thread rack, with the capacity to hold about 280 spools of thread.

I grabbed my bin full of thread and started sorting. 

I don't know that this is the final layout, but it is a start. I didn't realize how many cones of tan-to-brown thread I had compared to the other colors. Not nearly enough blue and purple in my opinion. Good selection of grays, though. All the cones on the far right are King Tut and Fantastico, for those times you need a variegated thread. The others are my very favorite long arm quilting thread So Fine#50 from Superior Threads.

This doesn't include the threads I still have on small spools. I'll need to build another rack for those. Thank goodness I still have some materials left over.

Tools (affiliate links)

• Hitachi staple gun, air hose, and air compressor
• Black & Decker Jigsaw, and cordless drill
• Titebond Premium Wood Glue
• Simple hand tools one might need (such as needle-nose pliers to pull out poorly aimed staples, a hammer to pound in pegs that don't want to fit, a Sharpie for marking, a carpenter's square for marking and cutting straight).

Thread Problem

If you follow me on Instagram or read my blog regularly you know I have a subscription to Superior Threads thread of the month club. I belong to the So Fine #50 club and I love getting thread every month. This also means I have a thread problem. Or, maybe just a thread storage problem.

I have several June Tailor Cone Thread Racks that I have picked up over the years. I even used one to have a local carpenter make me a rack to fit this space. Sadly, he thought he was doing me a favor by placing the pegs closer together. That means the cones bump into each other and I can't use some of the pegs at all. We decided to make a replacement ourselves. We picked up all of the lumber I estimate we need. We even picked up a brand new Rockwell BladeRunner Portable Tabletop Saw so we could make the hundreds of cuts we would need to make my bigger and better thread rack. This is the kind of tool we will use again and again.

We did all the cutting on Sunday morning, before we decided it was just too miserable to be outside in the humidity. This is what approximately 428 pegs (each is 3" long) looks like. If it works out, that's how many cones of thread my new thread rack will hold. Next, we need a drill press to drill the 428 holes those pegs fit into. According to Superior Threads' website, So Fine #50 comes in 143 colors. I should be good to go.

Camper Remodel

The forward compartment has these silly little flap doors. The compartment isn't silly, it's really awesome. The problem is that that this space used to be part of the bed base for the queen-size bed. That means any sufficient breeze could sneak in through those doors an under the bed. Not a great design to keep the humans warm. When we boxed in this section, we thought it would be a great time to insulate the sides that face the inside of the camper to try to keep the inside temperature controlled.

We used one 25 foot roll of 24" wide Refletix to insulate the pass-through. I'm hoping it will be sturdy enough to hold up through several seasons. This is where we store such wonders as chock blocks and camp chairs.

We finished off the plywood of the bed deck with vinyl, peel and stick planks. They are a little dark but not terrible. We had a piece of quarter-round oak in the garage that was perfect to finish the edge at the wall. We have plenty more little things to do but it was good enough for the first trip of the season: Maryland Sheep & Wool.

Camper Remodel

Here is another installment of our ongoing project to remodel our travel trailer.

My last post showed the built out bed boxes we created to replace the queen-size bed. Last week, we took an hour after dinner to install the hinges, and covers for each mattress. We opened up one of the mattresses (this is the cheapest foam mattress available from IKEA) to make sure my calculations were close enough. Overall, I'm really pleased with this part of the project. 

Last weekend we moved on to fixing this section of ceiling. The ceiling had been patched in response to water damage prior to us purchasing the camper. My other half pulled out all the damaged ceiling bits to find almost no insulation remaining after that repair. 

We picked up some foam board panels from the home improvement warehouse and cut and pieced them to fit. 

This part wasn't difficult, but it did take almost all the duct tape in the house (both Duck and Scotch brands) piecing and sealing the gaps. I don't know how this compares with the original insulation, but compared to the non-existent insulation after that previous repair job it is a definite improvement.

After that, we attempted to wrestle the 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of ceiling into place. That caused some cursing and tired people but not a finished ceiling. We pulled it back down and took it out. We cut that piece into two pieces and then installation was a breeze, at least when compared to our first attempt. We'll need another piece of trim to cover that join, but it will be worth the extra $5 or so it is going to cost.

Tools for this project:

• Hitachi staple gun and air compressor
• Black & Decker Jigsaw, and cordless drill
• Simple hand tools one might need (such as needle-nose pliers to pull out old staples or nails, a hammer to pound in staples that can't be pulled out, a Sharpie for marking, a carpenter's square for marking and cutting straight).