Another productive Sunday...
Took it out to the wash rack at the base yesterday, their nozzles are almost pressure washer force. Didn't mind my muzzle a couple times and swiped the stakes. White paint flakes every where! Here it is, still a little damp.
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The cleaning went well. The bed is about as clean as it's getting. Got home and let it bake in the sun for the rest of the day. So of course, last night was the dampest it's been in a while, humidity actually got up to 65%!
While the sun did it's thing, I did some running around. You know, the vagaries of life. But I did stop at Fulkerson's and picked up ingredients for some old school "wood preservative" - 3:1 30w/mineral spirits, couple of cheap chip brushes, and a clean gallon can. I got enough to make two batches. $58.55 total.
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Got up this morning and got to it. The "goop" fills the can right to the top, stir slowly. And while I stopped smoking years ago, I'll add the caveat here - NO SMOKING! - while using this stuff. Put the first coat on, it actually fizzed a little at first, the wood was so thirsty. Here's the bed right after the first coat.
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Even though, I still had a 1/3 of a can left after laying it down. I figured it'd take a second coat today, so I did a couple other things while it dried/soaked in for a bit.
The drive out to the base convinced me that I really hated the seat. It's blue velvet/blue naugahyde, shoves me into the door and has me offset to the controls. "Put the new seat in..."
Out the old seat comes, and while it's out (and since the tank was down to about a 1/4) let's unbolt the tank and change out the filler neck grommet.
The old grommet
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The new grommet
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Well, that was fast and painless. Really. Honest.
Put the new seat in, (I'm glad I'm fairly strong, I'm by myself here) all the mount holes lined up perfectly(?) and bolted in good and proper.
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Great jumpin' Jehosephat that's better! I'm actually behind the wheel now, away from the door and centered on the controls. I'll just pick up a cover to protect it. I did lose the stowage spot for the sunscreen behind the passenger headrest, I'll live.
It's been a few hours or so, let's check on the bed...
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It's lightened up quite a bit and already looking a little dry in a few spots. Second coat time. The 1/3 of a can of goop I had left actually did almost the entire bed. I had to mix up the second batch to do the last run at the back.
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I did some cleaning up, took some pics of the old seat (it's CL fodder, I don't think anybody here would be interested), spent a little time looking at what it takes to remove the cowl to get the wipers going again, popped the hood and stared at things a bit, made a mental note to pull the belt when I got it parked back at the RV lot. (Quite frankly, I'm surprised it hadn't popped on me already, it's fairly fried)
Got the old seat covered up so it doesn't get totally coated with cat hair, tidied up in the garage (a little) and got ready to drive it back to it's spot.
Last look at the bed
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I'll give it a few weeks to soak in and distribute, then I'll probably use the rest of the goop for a couple more coats. That should keep the bed going for a while, I'm not planning on replacing it anytime soon. It's going to be an interesting job, all the planks are oak tongue-in-groove. And maybe the fasteners will come out a little easier when I do, those that still have heads that is.
Off to park it... but...
One last look at the new seat. Oh joy!
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I'm starting to like these "Truck Sundays"...