15. Back doors are too bright.

 Something (well, many things really) have been bothering me for a while now. The more cosy and dark the bunk area becomes, the more the Galaxy White back doors melt my retinas. I haven't worked on Lorca in a while as I tore a tendon in my right (dominant) shoulder. But today was gloriously sunny, so I forced myself to finally deal with this (old pic before the headliner carpet was finished and the fibreglass shelf was painted)...

My first step after rubbing the doors down with Scotch Brite pads was to open the doors and mask everywhere I didn't want paint. 

I used a cheap Bunnings drop sheet over the opening, and held it in place with neodymium magnets.

Then I used painters tape and A3 paper to mask the doors.

I bought the spray paint from the Dulux store down the road from me. When I bought it the guy at the counter swore they only had black epoxy enamel in gloss, so that's what I used. I used a piece of cardboard that I held in my left hand as a moving mask, to protect the indicator lights etc from spray mist, and was tactical in the direction I aimed the can when spraying.

I removed all the masking and decided I hated it. It's way too shiny, and shows every speck of dust. Look at this:

It's like touching noses with Darth Vader. So I went back to ask if I could turn it into a satin finish with a Scotch Brite pad. Luckily there was a different guy on the counter today, and he really knew what he was talking about. So I left with two cans of matte black epoxy enamel. 

That's the product I used. I have to tape everything up again.

I laid down 2 coats of the matte, this is what it looked like while still drying:

That indentation above the window will have a wood panel over it eventually. Once I removed the tape again I was much more satisfied with this result.

The masking left a white border around the edges of the door interiors that you can't see when the doors are closed. This was done to look neat, and to prevent overspray from marking the outside of the vehicle.

Yeah, that's much better! (Ignore the loose roof slats, I still haven't finished tuning them all). Next job is the sliding door.

I masked off both the interior and exterior, then painted the inside of the back end of the sliding door by spraying around the corner from the outside. Then when that had dried, I opened the door up and did the front end the same way.

This next shot shows the exterior of the door with the edge masking peeking around the edges, and the window (remember when I installed that?) fully masked off.

Here is a before shot of the door interior:

And here is after the first coat:

I'm not painting the two panels with spray, so they are still mostly grey, and there were a couple of areas on the metal that needed touch ups. This is after I hand painted the panels and filled in almost all of the gaps:

Everything is nice and black. The panels above and below the window will be covered in wood paneling and or cushions later on, I only painted them just to make it look nicer while I'm looking at them.

I got a delivery today from a company called 'Living in a Bubble'...

They certainly have their branding on point.

Looks like the thermal magnetic window covers I ordered for the barn doors and sliding door are here.

They just snap into place with magnets, and I'll definitely use those cute little pockets.

Unlike covers from other vendors, these ones go all the way to the edges of the window frames, so they don't let either heat or light through. I'm very impressed. With all 3 covers on, the only light that gets in is through my MaxxFan openings.

The other feature I like is they are separated into panels, so you can fold them down to have a peek outside or enjoy the sunset, while still keeping them mounted to the doors.

While I was back there I added another grab handle, this time over the barn doors.

The bunk area is getting very cosy, and the insulation has made all the difference to how much noise gets in. I really enjoy going in there at night when the world is quiet and just pondering all the little jobs I need to do, and working out in my head how I'm going to do them.

It's so nice to have a little place to spend time and ponder, or just read a book, that is all mine. Still such a long way to go, but I'm really happy with where I'm at.

See you next time!