NOMADICISTA

I have used Oil Based Enamel house paint on many vehicles. I first clean the whole vehicle with TSP (tri sodium phosphate). I think you cannot get the real TSP anymore, but there are substitutes. Then I mix one quart of Penetrol (basically Linseed oil) to one gallon of paint. The Penetrol makes the oil base paint flow like water base paint. When it dries, the paint brush lines pretty much disappear. The paint dries to a hard and shiny finish. Lasts for years.

Rudy is right on about the oil house paint and penetrol. Boaters have been using it forever.

They use a roll n' tip system to get a smooth finish from a roller. Ideally it takes two people, one to roll, one to tip. Roll it on, then the "tipper" comes along with a big clean brush (no paint on it) and lightly draws the tip of the brush across all the area rolled; tipper carries a piece of cardboard to flick the bit of paint off the tip of the brush, keep it clean. Tipper does one single pass only, all strokes in the same direction. It's a knack but not real hard and done well it leaves almost a mirror finish. Poor man's epoxy coating.

Rufus

That budget paint plan sounds like just the ticket! Wish I'd gotten that done before this winter. On the bright side, I got my firewood in this weekend! Feels good to have a couple cords of oak neatly stacked under the bus. And my new plates came in, never have to register the ol' girl again!

Permanent plates!


Shot of the back door:

The water damage in the Cab Over Loft was worse than I thought. The way it was constructed means I'll have to remove the sheet metal to replace the rotten boards. I guess nows the time for any redesigns. Heres the pic:


Cedar paneling carefully removed..

On the plus side, I found an inscription on one of the studs: "Geno and Monique Married June 13th, 1981 Their 1st home, The One Way Ticket"
Great name, huh? Anybody know Geno and Monique?

Ouawwww! Beautiful housebus! I would like crossing this bus on my way one day....Yeah!

REO

Maybe you already considered this, but...

Are the _structural_ members compromised too much or is it just blocking and some siding that's bad? If there is enough structure left to carry the load, you could fix the other with some penetrating epoxy. Expensive and really poisonous fumes, but it saves tearing stuff apart. You probably need to use drill and screws to attach stuff to the epoxied members, though.

FWIW.

Rufus

Screwed and glued is a good philosophy. Construction adhesive is some awesome stuff.

Tragically, the sill plate and one of the floor joists have serious dry rot. Most of wood is good however, but there's no way to replace the bad boards without complete disassembly of the loft. At least it will give me a chance to install the brass porthole windows I found a few months back.

Thats a sweet window for sure