OverHead Cab Better

OK, so I finally felt better & was able to get back to the Motorhomes Over Head Cab area today. 

Whew. 

Was very glad I got this job done. 

Actually, I was really planning on cleaning up the hood to the truck part of the MH, but it occurred to me that I probably should do the overhead cab area first.

Good thinking on my part because it would have been silly to do the truck, THEN the overhead cab - thus messing the truck back up again! 

But before we get started, I thought I'd share last night's gorgeous sunset! 

Our sunsets happen rather quickly here. When I spot a really pretty sky, I have just enough time to grab the camera & walk to the back pasture to capture it's beauty. So this is in each stage of bright to dark. 

Just stunning! 

OK, back to the overhead cab:

As ya'll know, I washed the RV on the 24th of Feb, then ran out of steam & strength to do anything more. 

It took me a few days to recover from that. 

Actually what really wiped me out was having to remove all the tape residue from the overhead cab area, but I got it done that day! And what a job that was as noted on my post of Feb 24th. 

In the time between the 24th & today, I bought some rubbing compound. Actually, I bought that to clean up the hood on the truck. But thought, OK, I still have a few spots on the overhead area that need attention. 

So to work I went with that this morning. I was able to rub, rub, rub, rub. rub....& rub more to get off the caulk & black streaks from the fiberglass. What a job that was too! But I finally got all the residue off & it was so much better. However, the fiberglass was dull & with using the compound, it was important to wax that area. 

So after using the compound, which you have to wipe off as you go along because you don't want it to dry on the surface. So I kept a wet chamois with me & kept wiping it down. That worked well. Once done, I washed the overhead cab & the truck area again. 

I use one of those brushes on an extended pole that are made for washing cars & I use an RV wash soap product that's made for fiberglass. It works pretty well. 

Fortunately, I also had just enough RV fiberglass wax left from last year too! 

Whew! 

So here are the stages of the cab area:

 Note the dull finish. Note the stain over the N on the word Coachmen. That cleaned up some, but I could not totally get it off. One thing I got from my Dad was the problem of being a perfectionist. It can be my enemy sometimes, but in the long run, it's actually my friend! Today, I had to do as good as I could though & decided to address the stain more later. It doesn't really show up really bad in the photos, but it's worse in person. It kind of looks like a coffee stain. The hazards of covering the cab with two sheets of plastic...

Sure makes me wonder what covering your RV in the winter under a cover can do to the finishes? 

Also, the area had several long streaks in it that really don't show up well in the photos. Some were of glue & caulk when the glazing bead came off. Some were the typical black streaks that come from the roof. 

Black streaks come from a dirty roof when it rains, it all just streaks down the sides of the fiberglass. I try to keep the roof clean too, but in reality, I don't go up on it as often to clean it as I probably should. Plus with the leak that was going on, it was not a good idea to get up on the roof to wash it till that leak got fixed.  

If you look hard enough, you can see the streaks & stain. Note the caulk sealant where the crack was too. 

Again, dull finish & streaks. The window looks way better in the pics too! It really bothers me that they didn't do this right & put the glazing bead back on. That caulk is a big dust/dirt trap too! I'm afraid the only real way to fix it now is to take the window out, lay it down somewhere & totally strip off the caulk. Reseal & put fresh glazing bead back on. That will have to be done in the future. Far into the future I'm guessing!
I am not going back there again if I can help it. 

OK, now for improvements! 

 Done!! All washed, buffed, waxed & shined! It looks 
sooooo good, I just want to go outside & stare at it!

Also, note the sidewall on the drivers side. Now that's much better than the previous photos that I sent with the tape over it, holding it down till it could be repaired too! 

Much, much better!

  And a photo of the sealed caulk line from the cracked fiberglass. It looks better once it all was cleaned up. Not as noticable. But I'm still thinking that perhaps a fiberglass repair kit would make it look better. I'll consider that in the future if this doesn't hold up.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog today! I really do think it's important to take care of our rigs to the best of our abilities! 

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~