Securing Floor to Shell

The fillet and fiberglass tape securing the floor to the camper shell have been installed.

This job proved arduous.  The filleting was not so bad, but as the day wore on the garage temperature rose to about 79.  Not bad, but inside the shell it must have been around 90 what with the lights (even though CFLs) and my body heat.  After I got all the tape sections in place and was painting on the epoxy, I got about 1/3 to 1/2 way through and noticed the epoxy was starting to gel.  I felt the container and it was very hot.  So I had to discard that batch.  I set up a fan to cool down the interior of the shell and mixed up another batch--only half as much.  This was enough to finish the job, but I was trying to hurry so the fillet would still be slightly pliable and tacky.  The hardest part was trying to get the epoxy smooth while lying in the cramped entryway, which will be the footwell on the finished camper.  It is under the galley floor.  It was impossible to keep the inevitable epoxy drips off my arms (should have been wearing a hazmat suit, but it was too hot and I was trying to move too fast).  I finished applying the epoxy in time to crawl back in and smooth the fillets around the bulkhead.  Then I cleaned up my hands and arms with waterless cleaner followed by soap and water.  Pretty sure I got it all off in time, as it only started getting on me toward the end when I had to lie in the entryway.  NOTE: Never try to remove epoxy from your body with alcohol or other solvents--it just spreads it and makes things worse.  Use a waterless cleaner like GoJo or Fast Orange, followed by soap and water, and lots of rinsing.  Otherwise you could develop an allergy to it and never be able to work around it again.

The book says nothing about any subsequent coats to the epoxy/tape or any sanding.  This is not really necessary since the following two coats (fill coat and gloss coat) do nothing to increase the strength.  They are cosmetic only.  Normally I would get in there and apply at least one more coat anyway, but the joint is near the floor and after all I went through to get on the first coat I'm going to leave it as is.  Besides, I just checked and it has already passed tack and thumbprint stage, which means I would have to sand it--weakening the fiberglass.  It's fairly smooth and near enough to the floor that I'm not going to worry.  Besides I am going to add the "headliner" which it appears to me goes all the way to the floor and would cover most of the joint.

Tomorrow I get to remove the mold and start fiberglassing the exterior!