Back in Alameda

We are once again at Coach Specialties in Alameda (map). My emergency duct-tape job did the trick, and we made it here yesterday afternoon with the windshield still in place and in one piece.

We were a bit surprised by the amount of traffic flowing off the old Navy base as we arrived. I later learned that there is a massive antique and collectibles fair here on the first Sunday of every month.

This morning they pulled us into the shop and got right to work on the upper windshield. With the bottom and most of one side already loose, it was a relatively easy job to cut it free the rest of the way, and it came out without damage. Upon inspecting the areas where the urethane did not adhere, the speculation now is that the rust-converting primer that they used to treat the corrosion around the window seat had not fully cured when they glued the window in. So they ground everything back down to bare metal and glued it in again, using a wider bead against the metal this time. It's quite warm in Alameda today, in the 80's, and they moved us back outside into the direct sunlight to help the curing process along. Fine with us, as it means we do not need a hotel tonight (and some way to transport Opal there).

So we are back outside for the night. Tomorrow, they will pull us back in and finish the sealing of the upper cosmetically, then pull the trim off the lower and see what it needs. We are all hoping that the glue is actually still holding down there, and that the leakage is from some voids in the urethane that resulted from being overly cautious applying the messy stuff in the cockpit, where it's all too easy to get it on the headliner and/or the dashboard.

Whatever the fix, we are planning on staying right here in Alameda for at least a full day beyond to assure proper curing of the sealant, and then I'm going to blast it with the pressure washer to double-check for leaks before we leave.