The Floors

The odometer said around sixty thousand, and that may not be too far off. I was amazed at how there was virtually no rust on the vehicle anywhere, except the front floor on both sides. Other than that, mostly surface rust throughout.

I sanded and drill-wire-brushed the floor in the main cabin a few years back. Again, just surface rust on the floor and it came off easily. There was a bb-sized hole where rust had eaten through (you can see on the picture below), so I applied some Hammerite Rust Cap and that should solve the problem on the top side.

I have a friend that is going to put some custom tongue and groove fir flooring in. The question is how to fasten it and what type of sub-flooring to put in to prevent rattles and protect the metal. I took the wood from an old barn in Birchwood that they were tearing down. I asked the woodworker if we could shoot for a March 1st finish date, and he said it looked doable. He is a craftsman and I am paying a dear price for it, but I expect it will be worth it. At any rate, here is a picture I just shot of in on Saturday night about to rain in Bellingham.

More soon on my attempts to get some juice flowing through her. The battery measured 12.6 volts and when I tested the other end of the cable to the solenoid, there was no reading - like .3 volts. Could it be this cable is corroded through? A friend staying with me (who gifted me his Idiot's Guide) is very smart and has torn apart his share of air-cooled vee-dubs in L.A., shall be my counsel tomorrow over breakfast. It is interesting that you can read a hundred manuals, but crawling underneath for ten minutes (okay, more like an hour) is so much more valuable.