One thing has to happen before the other..

And that thing is the cabinets. Technically not part of the body.   But they are in the way of patching and cutting holes in the body. Also it’s way easier to paint the roof and walls. Plus dealing with the floor is also easier. So let’s get to it.  Fridge first.  The little guy came right out.

I’m thinking of plugging this in to see if the heater works and maybe it will cool down.  Or not !  I really have no need for this 3 way fridge.  It really wasn’t hard removing the cabinets.  So long as you know that the fridge and the closet cabinets are glassed to the wall.  My oscillating tool with a saw blade fixes that.

The flooring was already removed.  so it looks gross.  I need to replace some of the floor on the outside edges.  And also remove the Ensolite from where it will be inside the rear under seat cabinets.

The front cabinets can keep the Ensolite finish. The corner beside the fridge cabinet will be for electrical stuff, so access is through the top hatch.  But the rear seat compartments now have outside hatches.

This will be nice to have… both sides.  I’ve got all the holes cut, tail lights too.

Now I have the pieces to patch the holes I don’t want.  And here’s how that happens. Wait for it to cure and then take the screws out and finish glassing the patch.  While waiting for that I started to remove the windows.  Darn !  Someone used silicone to glue the windows in place ! And the rear window leaked anyway. Nope you must use butyl putty tape when installing things like windows.

And so since I took the windows out and have to deal with the silicone…  I may as well do all the body work on the sides of the trailer.  Fill, sand, fill, sand you get it.. This is the result , when the primer goes on this will look nice. The red is touch up spot filler.

Then it’s up to the roof where I need to deal with the vent. And this is what I’m up against on the roof.  The damage to the gel coat is worse up here.

Good thing I bought another can of body filler.  The other side is bad too.  This was where the awning strip was.  I will not be putting it back.

Here’s the plywood bezel for the roof vent. Why plywood ? Because it won’t crack when screwing into it.  It’s also one piece.  This is something I did with two of the other trailers..  for several reasons which are obvious to me.  Raises up the vent, provides a good attachment ,  adds sturdiness to the roof.  Notice the fiberglass repair on the right corner of the vent.  Ya..  this will not happen again.

You can never have enough clamps !  I’ve glued the bezel to the roof with resin and fiber mat.  Once that was cured I attached the inside trim with screws down from the top.

This will be painted at the same time as the interior.  Now the roof is way stronger and will easily hold the extra weight of the Maxx fan.  Also the maxx fans interior trim has a place to mount.

Then I started the process of glassing in the raised mounting bezel to make it a part of the roof.  Once that is cured and sanded smooth it’s time to clean up and wash the trailer for the paint..

New post for that..  Painting the exterior: