One Door Left Open

Spray day. Two bags of cork, a white suit, and back doors taped shut.

The back doors are taped shut. For now, the only way into the van is the sliding door.

That is on purpose. On Saturday I sprayed the first layer of cork, and before I started I had one simple problem to solve. If I spray every door, how do I get in and out? So I taped the back doors shut and sprayed them closed. The sliding door stayed bare. I needed an entrance.

Spraying a door while it is shut has a second benefit. The cork only lands on the inside. Nothing gets sprayed where it does not belong.

The cork comes as a dry mix in bags. One bag is 6 kg and needs 6 liters of water, so that makes 12 kg of mix per bag. The first layer took two bags.

Not everything got sprayed. In the last post I mentioned “RAAM” written on some of the panels. Those are the spots where the windows will go, so I left them out. You can see them in the photos as black patches in a cork coloured van.

I wore a funny white suit, to keep the cork off my clothes. It goes everywhere. My wife took the picture, so there is proof.

One thing I was glad about: the compressor held up. Spraying cork needs a lot of air, and it kept up with the volume.

Then came Sunday. The weather was great and I wanted to spray the second layer. But the first layer did not feel dry. A quick chat with the campervan building group confirmed it: better to wait until it is dry. So I waited.

Once the second layer is on and dry, the doors swap roles. I can get in through the back doors again, tape the sliding door shut, and spray that one too. I’ll need two more bags for the second layer, and I guess one extra for the sliding door.

Lessons learned: Think about how you get in and out before you start spraying. And do not rush the second layer. If the first one does not feel dry, it is not dry.

Next up: 3M Thinsulate, to fill the cavities where the spray gun could not reach.