Another satisfying week

  We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We have the arctic entry completed except for painting (and a little interior decoration).
  We have made room for storage of smaller and (to me at least) essential items in the arctic entry.   A shelf was made for a small space heater, A lighting fixture and coat hooks have been installed.  A novel approach to the interior design is in the works, but I'm not going to tell you what it is.  You'll just have to wait for the pictures.

   We had to configure the entry to fit between the hot water heater door and the slide out for the living room.  Tolerances are very tight on both sides.  Weather stripping was applied between the walls of the entry and the exterior of the RV.  I used that spray foam "Great Stuff" anywhere I saw light (though not on the RV exterior, that was weather stripped).
  The metal hand rail you see on the left side of the door in the pic above was removed from the RV and placed outside where it would provide additional safety, and not be in the way in the interior.

  It was a challenge to get the height of the entry just right to allow space for the roofing sheathing, the roof felt, shingles, and a rubber gasket to keep out water.  The gasket works, and the slant of the entry (not that noticeable in the pictures) works.  We got a nice heavy rain Thursday and Friday of this week, and the interior of the entry remained dry.  Hooray for us!

  John is thinking of enclosing the lower portion of the arctic entry to provide even more storage room  We do have 2 4x8 sheets of 1/4 inch plywood left, and one full sheet of the foam insulation, though he plans to place that under the floor of the arctic entry to provide more insulation.

 This project has been a challenge on our definitely non-professional skills, and has also led to a few disagreements on how the project should progress.  We've not killed each other, but as I told John earlier today. "I will be so glad when this is finished so we don't argue anymore."

 The project has also lended itself to a couple of terrors and one hilarious incident.
Earlier this past week, I fell going UP the stairs to get something for John.  I really came down hard on my knees and jammed my left hip.  The following day, John fell getting out of the pick-up bed after working on the roof., Then the funny part today; I was leaning out of the door and trying to show John where I needed a piece of wood cut, lost my balance and partway down the stairs I came.  I didn't even know I could still do the splits.  I was holding on to the hand rail and laughing so hard, John didn't know whether or not I needed help (I did).

   I know we will look back on this winterization project and laugh**later**when we don't ache so bad**and we have those cold winter nights to sit around the fireplace and chat.

We've even made some repairs to the skirting under the RV (not liking our first attempts).  I have discovered that putting skirting under a 5th wheel is WAY DIFFERENT that putting it under a mobile home.  So many more angles (read slides) and elevation changes than would ever occur with a conventional mobile home.

 BEFORE

AFTER

  One of the areas that gave us the most problem was the area around the "gooseneck" portion of the  5th wheel.  We have managed to get it enclosed though, and it will provide an additional area of storage for us.

We will be painting all of this a nice medium gray to coordinate with the RV's color scheme.

  We are still without TV, phone, and internet (except for the MiFi).  MTA sent us a letter saying they will have it done by September 30.  OK, it's already been a month since we requested service, but as I said in a previous post.  This is Alaska Time.  Nothing moves fast up here except for a bear that has it's sights on you.

  I'm glad this will be the only time we well have to do all this work.  We are missing hunting season, we already missed the salmon runs.  It's ok though, as we couldn't have afforded the out of state licenses anyway.

  When next I post, you will be amazed at the completed projects, so until then...