10-5 Windshield and Security

Repairing the Minnie's Windshield

I decided to take the day off from the gym so Larry decided to work on repairing the Minnie's windshield. A couple of weeks ago the rearview mirror fell off the windshield, Larry decided to reattach it using some double sided industrial tape.While he was pressing the mirror on the windshield cracked, who would have thought you could crack a windshield by pressing on it? He did some research on YouTube about repairing cracked windshields. Then he did some research on repair kits and decided to order the Rain-x kit from Amazon. This morning was the perfect time to do this project. Before starting he rewatched a video he had found on YouTube. He assembled the repair kit, then he drilled a small hole by the end of the crack to try and prevent the crack from spreading. He used his Dremel with a diamond bit designed for drilling glass. Once this was done he lubed the suction cups on the repair tool to let the tool slide along the windshield while filling the crack. In the tool there is an area where the resin goes in. Larry filled the tool with resin and I went inside the Minnie to help guide him on the crack. He did a great job. We ran out of resin and didn't get enough resin in a couple of spots. There would have been enough resin but we wasted a bit figuring out what we were doing. When we finished putting the resin in the crack Larry put some sheets of plastic with a little resin on them over the crack. The resin cures via UV rays from the sun and the sheets are needed so the curing process works. In full sunlight the resin should cure in about 20 minutes, because the overhead of the camper extends out past the windshield it will not get direct sunshine until later in the day. Since we had run out of resin we decided to go to town and see if we could find another repair kit. We ended up buying a 3M kit at Auto Zone. When we got home Larry read reviews on the 3M kit and most of them were negative. The biggest complaint was the resin never setup. That's when Larry did a little more research and found out you have to use the plastic strips on the crack so the resin will cure. After dinner Larry cleaned the excess resin and lube off the windshield, the crack is much better but he decided he's going to try using the 3M kit where we missed on the crack and on a star that was in the windshield when we purchased to Minnie years ago.

The kit we used to repair the windshield

What came in the kit

Drilling hole to stop the crack from spreading

Applying the lube on the suction cups

Making sure the resin is holding

Scraping the excess resin off windshield

Over the last week I have blogged about a couple of security cameras that Larry received via the Home Depot Seeds program, he liked both cameras and wrote really positive reviews on them. He also received a Q see Security System which is an entire home security/video system, he started playing with it yesterday. He wanted to get the system up and running before he installed it permanently so he set it up temporarily in his workroom. He got the system and all four of the cameras working but he could not view the cameras via our computers or our tablet. He did a bunch of research via the internet and ended up working on it for a couple of hours, finally he gave up and called the Q-See tech support people. He was on the phone a long time and the gentleman was very patient and helpful. He connected to our computer remotely and walked Larry through the process. When Larry couldn't do a task the guy did it remotely. After working with the support gentleman he was in business, he can now view the cameras via our computer and tablet. So many times calling a support line is so frustrating but this was a great experience. Now he had to mount the cameras, first he needed to drill a bigger hole where the Ethernet cable protruded so he could feed the cable connectors into the eves. He was able to do this for two of the outdoor cameras, he will need to install a box for the one on the back porch. He also had to drill holes for the screws of the plate to hold the camera in place. Once the plate was mounted he connected the camera to the Ethernet cable. Then he put the extra cable and connector in the hole and then connected the camera to the plate. The plate was a ring that screwed on and off the camera. He installed three of the cameras and then he setup the NVR to our home network.

Q see Security System cameras and components for them

Q see NVR and components

Security camera installed in the hall

Screwing the camera plate before installing it

Drilling holes for the camera plate

Screwing the camera plate to the eaves of the house

Installing the camera to the eaves of the house

While we were doing these two projects I slow cooked part of a pork roast for pulled pork. When we bought the roast I cut it in half and froze it, if I didn't it would be way too much meat for the two of us. I thawed out half of it the other day, the piece was still too large to fit it my crock pot so I divided it in half. The first batch I cooked in root beer and liquid smoke, it took six hours to cook it. When it was finished we tried it out and it tasted delicious. The second batch I slow cooked without the root beer, just used the liquid smoke and a bit of salt and pepper. I added a cup of water so it would cover the meat. It took six hours to cook and came out even better. I didn't go to the gym so I worked out with Just Dance for 45 minutes.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and we watched the movie, Sherlock Holmes A Game Of Shadows on dvd. Then I worked on my book and played computer games until it was time to go to bed. Larry had a busy day doing a couple projects. But he had fun doing them.