Truck cap super bowl weekend.

I got a spare set of hands on Friday.  I lifted the cap while Anx slid in the supports.  The plan worked fine, though I am glad I gave it the extra bit of clearance.  The tailgate rubbed as I drove out.

I am not fond of the place it ended up, but it was pretty much the only option in this area.  I can see it every time I look out the window in the bedroom.

Saturday was gorgeous, but I was dead tired (it felt like I got no good sleep Friday night) so I didn't get to enjoy it too much.  I did poke around the cap some.  It looks like the cap leaks a little in the very middle of this picture (the cleaner looking spot).  I had assumed that I was going to need to at least put another layer of resin on the whole thing, just because of its age, but maybe another round of cloth on top is in order as well.  

The bracket the previous guy added was in rougher shape than I originally thought.  But again, I knew I had to patch these up anyways; I don't want the ladder rack on top.  I may someday put a solar panel on it, but not anytime soon.

I did get both of the side windows to open.  They really badly need their tracks cleaned out and lubricant, which is expected.  One of the windows didn't look like it closed all the way, so I will need to see if it is just gunk in the way or something else.

Unfortunately the back window looks like the hinge isn't in great health.  I might need to replace it.  There is no tailgate in the way anymore, and this is what it looks like.

I also went and cleaned out the back of the truck, since "stuff" had started to accumulate, most notably failed clamps and straps and stuff.  One thing that I have found very annoying is the bedliner of my truck is starting to come apart.  Not as in the bedliner is defective, as in Ford's engineering team designed it stupidly (excessively cheaply?).  This doesn't snap back in anymore.  The bedliner is too thin for starters, and doesn't have enough lip for seconds.  The lack of thickness led to it expanding and contracting an awful lot, and the lack of lip means that now that it is contracted in the winter, the bedliner shrunk so much it doesn't stay put.

It drizzled in the afternoon, so the back of the truck looks clean again.

It was pretty nice Sunday too, but not quite as nice as Saturday.  Sunday I started off by making a run into town for Super Bowl snacks and a few other things.  I picked up a cheap oscillating tool.  This is what I will use to modify the base of the cap. 

This is a wonderful crude paint drawing of how I plan to redo it.  

The other big project for Saturday was getting the whole house filter pulled out of the tiny home.  

I have noticed that even with the membrane filter I am still seeing rust and calcium buildup.  My humidifier looks awful, and this is double filtered.  The water for the humidifier gets the normal whole house treatment and is also run through a Brita, though I don't know if those reduce metals.

Sunday I decided to do some work on the cap.  The first step is to clean it.  Turns out that car wash soap is mostly water and it was frozen, so I had to thaw it.  

It didn't take long though.  It is amazing how much difference a round of cleaning made.  

I got the little bit of one side cleaned (the previous picture), the front, part of the top (before the bump up) and about half the other side done before I was quite chilly and the water was brown with undesirables.  It may have been nice for February, but it is still winter and not really car wash type weather.  

It also exposed a couple of things that I thought were just crud before.  This is not crud, it is a hole that will require patching.  I may also convert it to run the wire for the third brake light (if I install one, they are technically required to pass inspection in NH) and maybe run the wires through for the solar panel I might someday add.  

I started some laundry before I went out to pick up my Super Bowl pizza.  Turns out it was a good thing I went a bit early.  I came back to this.  What is wrong with this picture?

If you said the drain hose is missing, congratulations.  It apparently fell out. Fortunately it was a tiny load, when I pulled out the whole house filter, I grabbed the curtains from the big window so I could put them up in the living room (the blinds aren't adequate to prevent glare on the TV), so it only dumped probably 10 or so gallons on the floor, but it still made a mess.

After plopping towels down to absorb most of it, I set up fans to dry everything out.  I am unsure why it came out.  I do think I might put something on it to prevent it from happening again though.

Fortunately I got all that done before the Super Bowl.  I thought the commercials were pretty eh.  A few gave me a good chuckle, but none were overly memorable.  The halftime show was not the kind of music I typically listen to.  The game itself was pretty sloppy for a super bowl; most of the big plays were sloppy errors, not amazing feats by one team or the other.  Not a fan of the outcome.  At least the pizza was good.  

I had hoped to start building the new armoire for the entryway, but never got around to it.  There is snow in the forecast tonight (though how much remains to be seen) so it will have to wait until all the snow melts out of the bed of my truck.  I am planning to go visit Tim this coming weekend, so I might not get much done then either, but I can at least get the stuff and get the whole house filter installed.

Current To-do:

• ASAP
• Shorten PTO shaft for snowblower
• Final mowing of leaves?
• Winterize equipment
• Winter projects: 
• All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
• Design deck
• Build armoire.
• Install whole house filter.
• Shelving upgrades in master closet.
• Access panel upgrades in master closet
• Install cube organizer in living room.
• 2024 Projects:
• Back yard drainage.  Complete Mortgage.
• Insulate the water lines
• Take scrap metal to Buffum
• Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
• Deck
• Entertainment center
• Storm doors