Anyone who knows anything about Western New York knows that it is a milestone on the calendar, but the outdoors conditions mostly make it difficult to tell it from the preceding winter. Or lack of winter, as the case is this year. But, timing is everything... For the first time I have had to struggle with a medical problem that took all the free time for recovery, drained the bank account, and generally sapped my ambition away. The Winter never really got started, and should have been a spectacular time to start the next rebuild.
It did not all go smoothly, The one real snow that we got in the area took out the storage building, and it collapsed on the trailer inside. (Maybe it's a good thing the rebuild was not in progress...)
It sure didn't look like much in the photos, but there was plenty of tonnage on the top of the structure.
 |
I have thought all along that it wouldn't need to be taken all the way down but just replace a couple wall and ceiling panels, and patch a couple trouble spots, and we'd be camping in her. Not so much now that it has become a much larger project.
The one building support that caused the most damage came down squarely on the front corner. It hit in front of the door frame, in the weakest part of the standing structure. The skirt board was already removed, and the siding as well, so the wall blew out from the floor. It was amazing though that it didn't do any more harm than it did, a true tribute to the engineering of the canned ham trailer and their strength. It should have been knocked completely sideways, and would have been if it were any more taken apart. But the weight was distributed through the whole structure and there she stood...
It sure was not as much as I would have expected but it still expanded the rebuild project by lots...
The roof was torn along the seam, and the curbing and top frame of the wall broken. The weight had knocked the framing loose from the floor and also buckled the front wall below the big window. Opening up like this exposed a lot of rot that I was not really noticing before.
The interior was also broken in, but it didn't totally crush the corner. The sliders in the front cupboard still slide freely.
Fast-forwarding just a bit, it has taken some time working around the weather, and getting enough help, but the tent structure has come down in stages.
 |
| March 16 |
 |
| April 3 |
 |
| March 30 |
 |
| April 4 |
 |
| April 5 |
The 16SC is uncovered and out in the daylight now. It will probably be covered back up, once it dries out good.
The roof is off the Airflyte, and it is in its new digs under the carport. There is still a lot of cleanup to do and a few details to work out for storing parts, but the trailer has now become a full-on frame-off rebuild project.
In case you are really intrigued, there are a bunch more photos here:
http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/crw2620/library/Airflyte/Ham%20Down?sort=2&page=1
Happy Spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment