On Thursday I bit the bullet and went to “The Beast.”

This is what I should have been using all along. It was my Dad’s DeWalt 7.8 amp drill, and it made short work of the remaining 13 corner holes. It was a bit harder to control but at least it has a grip, variable speeds, and doesn’t overheat or have to be recharged. The trick is to lock your elbow up against your rib cage lest your shoulder gets ripped out of its socket.

I even avoided buying a new 6″ hole saw, which means one tool made it through 48 holes in 1/16″ aluminum. And that’s the equivalent of a 3″ block of aluminum in total. Not bad, Milwaukee Tool!

On Friday I aligned and jigsawed the last four interior holes and tomorrow morning we’ll install four windows in panels D3, D4, D5 and D6. And then, mercifully, I’ll be done with cutting windows. I’m surprised I have any teeth left after all that metallurgic gnashing.

The D3 panel is behind the galley base cabinet which is fashioned from a heavy stainless steel tool chest. So I’ll have to disassemble and move the galley’s wood cabinetry to get access to the lower half of it. And while I’m there, I might as well figure out my plumbing for the sink, faucet and water pump.

My six-terminal bus bars arrived today so now I have everything I need to pre-wire two banks of six LED lights in the ceiling cavities. That’s going to take forever because I have to cut, strip, crimp and heat-shrink dozens of ring terminals on 16 AWG wire.

This weekend is supposed to be 95° again so I don’t expect to get a lot done outside. But Gary will be here working on the RETROpad in all that heat. He’ll be burying PVC conduit, digging a trench for the northern curb, and building the forms to pour the concrete steps and curb. All while I sip iced tea and heckle him from under an umbrella. 🙂

Seriously, I’ll have to post a recap of the amazing timber-and-rock decks, stairs and hot tub platform Gary and I built in the back acre.