Now that the chain issue has been resolved and it is ordered, it is with renewed enthusiasm that Rob resumes working on the bus conversion. He has decided to have a go at fibre glassing the shower. He had done some smaller fibreglassing jobs such as filling in the corners and the gap created by lifting the roof. He had yet to tackle a job where he had first to make a mould and create a whole unit.
We couldn't find a shower to fit the dimensions we desired for the bus conversion. So Rob decided to tackle it himself. For once, he wasn't so confident, which is rather unusual. He researched as much as he could, but DIY information was extremely difficult to come by.
He started with making the formwork, which is the easy part for him, though ensuring the measurements are right and that the formwork doesn't have any dints or such imperfections, which would show up on the shower's surface, was more a tad more time consuming. The bigger triangular piece you can see in the photo is the sink, the little one is the foot rest.
Sanding the formwork and then priming it before painting on the release agent is important but can be rather dull and tedious work.
After 30kg of resin and approxiamately30 kilo of matting and lots of waiting of parts to dry in between, we have the fibre glassing of the shower recess done. now to strip the mould off!
It is supposed to just come off... but it most certainly did not. Rob had to pry the wooden formwork off with a mini crowbar after cutting the panels with a router in several places to facilitate getting it off in smaller chunks!. That blasted release agent did not do its job.
In some places the wood still stuck onto the blue release agent! So jolly disappointing when something doesn't work as it is supposed to!
Then if that wasn't enough, the release agent is supposed to peel off like cling wrap. It most certainly did not! This was going to be my job. I couldn't even get little strips to peel off! It is water soluble, so it was all going to have be scrubbed off with a soft, damp cloth. Grrr!
Rob came past after an hour and such little progress. He thought of the idea of using a water blaster to see if that would help. I didn't think so, but we gave it a shot. Thankfully I was wrong. It still took another hour but it was certainly faster and easier than doing it by hand! In cases like this, I don't mind being wrong! Still the wood left on was going to have be sanded off very carefully. I will leave that to Rob.
The last bit of fun and games was getting the shower into the bus. We enlisted the help of our friend John and though we were worried at one stage, we got it in.
We will put securing it on the back burner for now! We are stick of the sight [and smell] of it!
We couldn't find a shower to fit the dimensions we desired for the bus conversion. So Rob decided to tackle it himself. For once, he wasn't so confident, which is rather unusual. He researched as much as he could, but DIY information was extremely difficult to come by.
He started with making the formwork, which is the easy part for him, though ensuring the measurements are right and that the formwork doesn't have any dints or such imperfections, which would show up on the shower's surface, was more a tad more time consuming. The bigger triangular piece you can see in the photo is the sink, the little one is the foot rest.
Sanding the formwork and then priming it before painting on the release agent is important but can be rather dull and tedious work.
After 30kg of resin and approxiamately30 kilo of matting and lots of waiting of parts to dry in between, we have the fibre glassing of the shower recess done. now to strip the mould off!
It is supposed to just come off... but it most certainly did not. Rob had to pry the wooden formwork off with a mini crowbar after cutting the panels with a router in several places to facilitate getting it off in smaller chunks!. That blasted release agent did not do its job.
In some places the wood still stuck onto the blue release agent! So jolly disappointing when something doesn't work as it is supposed to!
Then if that wasn't enough, the release agent is supposed to peel off like cling wrap. It most certainly did not! This was going to be my job. I couldn't even get little strips to peel off! It is water soluble, so it was all going to have be scrubbed off with a soft, damp cloth. Grrr!
Rob came past after an hour and such little progress. He thought of the idea of using a water blaster to see if that would help. I didn't think so, but we gave it a shot. Thankfully I was wrong. It still took another hour but it was certainly faster and easier than doing it by hand! In cases like this, I don't mind being wrong! Still the wood left on was going to have be sanded off very carefully. I will leave that to Rob.
The last bit of fun and games was getting the shower into the bus. We enlisted the help of our friend John and though we were worried at one stage, we got it in.
We will put securing it on the back burner for now! We are stick of the sight [and smell] of it!
It looks great good things don't come easy as you know,even if was meant too,keep at it and it will rewarded you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your words of encouragement. The job of the fibre glass shower has been a pain in the neck, but it is done now. We went and bought the shower head, taps and such for the shower this afternoon. another step closer!
DeleteWhat an amazing project to undertake! Color me impressed and thanks for stopping by Blue Jeans and Flip Flops. I'm happy to have found a new friend :)
ReplyDeleteSmiles,
Lesli
Thank you, Lesli. It means a lot coming from an experienced blogger as yourself.
Delete