Food Cart Project Part XIII: Insulation, Backer Board and the Hawaiian Model of the Month

This weekend's cart project revolved primarily around installing insulation. I went with the pink roll insulation you've all seen, the stuff from Owens Corning that uses the Pink Panther as its marketing mascot (it looks brown here because it's faced with Kraft paper, but underneath it's as pink as Pepto Bismol). I chose the R-13 value, which should be plenty of insulation for the typical Pacific Northwest winter. Here it is on the sink wall and front wall:

And here it is on the cooking wall. I also started installing the cement backer board where the cooking area itself will be. It'll reach all the way to the ceiling when it's done, and will be covered with stainless steel, but here's what I managed to get done by the end of the day:

I also built a step platform, sort of a little stoop for the cart, which will be at the back, underneath the door. I'll need something like this anyway, and as I'm working more inside the cart than out of it now, it made sense to build it sooner rather than later. In the past couple of weeks, I've hoisted myself up into the cart on my knee about five hundred times and, well, how shall I put this... that'll make you sore in parts of your groin that you didn't even know existed.

I also picked up a new toy this weekend. It's a justified toy, though. My trusty Black and Decker cordless drill, which has served me well through the years, just wasn't cutting it for this job. The old Nickel Cadmium batteries don't hold a charge long enough, and I needed a bit more power, especially for that backer board, so I picked up this 18 volt Milwaukee lithium-ion hammer drill:

I've saved the best shot for last. This is, without a doubt, the most effective way to get a bunch of dudes in a shop to remember to turn the dust collection system on and off:

If you look closely, and I know you are, fellas, you'll notice that this is Miss August, despite the fact that I'm writing this in April. The month is not what's important here, though, so get your minds back into the gutter! Hated to censor this, by the way, but being that Blogger is owned by The Man, aka Google, who no doubt have some Draconian anti-nudity policy in place, I decided to play it safe here.

I was hoping to get the fourth wall up, and the door hung, this weekend, but that's going to have to wait until next Thursday. Still, a very productive weekend. Also, I managed to secure Burmasphere's first catering gig/pop-up event, which will happen at Civilian Studios in June. Pretty excited about that!