Lessons Learned

We didn't get to devote as much time to the wiring this weekend as we had hoped.  Instead, we learned many valuable lessons.  

Things we learned:

• Orange 10/2 wire does not fit well through 1/2 inch conduit.
• Not even if you use a fish tape.
• Not even if you lay it out straight on the ground.
• Not even if 2 adults and two kids are working on it.
• The belly pan has lots of rivets.
• The belly pan has almost as many hidden rivets.
• You have to open the curbside access door to reach some of the hidden rivets.
• It would have been nice to have a key to the curbside access door.
• It takes a long time to drill out the access door lock. 
• A shell-on restoration can be just as scary as (the thought of doing) a shell-off restoration.
• Before it was removed, the belly pan helped keep the shell on the frame.
• Once the shell starts moving off the frame it can be difficult to get it back on.

We're at the back of the warehouse stretching the conduit and 10/2 wire out straight.  We spent way too much time trying to make it fit.  It wouldn't work.  The 10/2 wire is for the main power source.  We've decided to run it through the walls by itself and run conduit beside it.  (Running conduit makes it easier to make changes or updates to the wiring at a later date.)

 

Drilling out the hidden rivets.  These were underneath the outside skin and went through the belly pan and the C-channel on the inside of the trailer. 

  Removing the remaining belly pan was an all-day job for one person (and sometimes two.)  Here you can see the front streetside of the belly pan is removed.

Curbside access... this is where we had to "break into" the door.  We're glad we don't know how much time it took us to get in this door.  It was a long time.

Yikes!  The skin is "floating!"  It's supposed to be resting on the frame.

It's not resting on the frame on this side either.  The skin is lower than the frame on this side.

Should we rename her "Ilean?"

It's funny now... but the teetering skin was super scary!  I'm ready to get the floor in and be done with this teetering skin business.  We still have to get the tanks (gray and backwater) before we can put in the floor.

Fun with clecos.  (Clecos line up rivet holes and act as a temporary rivet.)  We used clecos around the outside skin to connect the skin to the C-channel on the inside of the trailer. 

Oh, look.  We did get a little conduit run this weekend...just not as much as we thought we would.