CUSTOM HITCH CARRIER FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE, PART 3: TRIM OUT

In Part 1 of this series, I described the predicament we faced in obtaining a hitch carrier for our Yeti cooler.  Part 2 described our solution, which we (mostly my husband) custom-fabricated ourselves. But we also needed to accessorize this accessory, so here's Part 3 to describe those add-ons designed to make this project easier and safer to use.

The first thing I needed to do was to fashion a cover for the Yeti, both to repel road dirt and to provide an extra measure of protection from the fierce southern sun.  We noticed as we were building the hitch carrier that the Yeti would become almost too hot to touch as it was sitting there in its carrier rack, and that cannot bode well for its on-road insulating potential.  To help combat this solar heat loading, I cut a top piece of closed-cell foam (cut from a six dollar sleeping bag pad obtained at Walmart), because the top is where the worst of the sun's incident energy lands.  I also fashioned a cover out of what is now being called "reflective" tarp.

I had the camera flash on for this pic so that the "Woman Working" reflective sign would light up like that.
:-)

It used to be that most tarps were blue, and the "blue roof" phenomenon is well-known to those of us who live in hurricane country.

A collection of tarp-covered roofs, reportedly from somewhere in Florida, as the pic appeared in some FL newspapers. 

But at some point in the recent past, someone apparently got the brilliant idea that something closer to a radiant barrier would be a better bet for tarps, and they started making them out of this semi-reflective silver material instead.

Here are a few pointers on sewing a device like this cover.

I got a tarp of approximate size 7' x 9' at Harbor Freight for about eight bucks.  This project only consumed a portion of it.

 A really good T-square is indispensable for this job. 

This cover didn't need to be completely waterproof - the bottom of our hitch basket is open, after all.  So I wasn't shooting for waterproof-ness, but neither did I want any horizontal seams to invite water in.  Using the T-square, I cut out an appropriately-sized cross-shaped portion of the tarp, leaving margins for four side seams.  

As with almost all of my projects, I tend to fit as I go rather than relying on precise measurements.  This is especially true of strange materials that are not typically run through a sewing machine, like tarp, for instance.  It was a challenge to sew - I had to foot it myself as the machine would not advance it in the usual way, probably because it was too slippery.  I folded together the side seams and fit them one by one, sewing right sides together using an outdoor grade of heavy thread, and then turning the resulting cover right-side out when finished. 

If you read my blog posts, every once in a while, you will be forced to listen to me pontificate about some aspect of healthy lifestyle.  Today the topic is yoga, which is my all-time favorite exercise practice.  How many women in their 50's do you know who have the strength and flexibility to sit spread-eagle on the floor like this for the purposes of completing a sewing project?  How many women in their 50's have the strength and flexibility to work both on the roof of an Airstream Interstate, and upside down squeezed under the chassis?  Without yoga, I simply wouldn't have the physical capacity to do any of these things, and life would be so much more restrictive and less fun.  OK, sermon now concluded.  

Here's what the proto-cover looked like once all seams were completed and right sides were turned back out.

Dog be like, "Huh?? The Interstate is in the driveway - are we leaving soon?!"

Once the project had reached this stage, I needed to put it back on the carrier in order to fit the bottom seam, which is shown cuffed up here like a pair of 1970's bell-bottom pants.  

I'll show the finished tarp below, but let me also mention the other accessories.  I wanted to obtain a product called 3M Safety Walk to line the step of what I'm now calling the "back porch", but I couldn't buy it in a convenient size, so I went with this instead:

A competing product, apparently, and both the size and price were right.  

Two of these pieces fit quite nicely.  There's one piece dry-fit above, as I was sanding out a patch for the other.  

I also edged both the hitch carrier and the hitch apparatus beneath it with DOT C2 reflective tape.  Small quantities are available for sale at big box auto supply stores such as O'Reilly Auto Parts.

Reverting to the tarp cover for the cooler, once I completed the bottom hem, I just cinched it with two ordinary rubber bungee cords linked together, but we may eventually do something more polished, such as snaps or marine fasteners, as time allows.

This money shot is also a night shot.

That pic above doesn't appear nearly as homey as this one below, which I took using a flash to show up the DOT C2. "[A] report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency under the United States Department of Transportation states that reflective tape can effectively reduce impacts into trailers by 29%", said this article.  I wonder what the percentage would be for the extended rear ends of camper vans?  As my high school Driver Ed teacher used to chant, "See or be seen."

Home is where the see-able back porch is.