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Lance M · 02-18-2011, 04:58 PM

That's my house with the trampoline. There is also a shiny cigar shaped aluminum thing there now! You'll like Texas. I never thought I would, but I love it here.

wasagachris · 02-18-2011, 05:07 PM

All those white squares you can see are trailers. I have 100 of them here. A little perspective from the main highway running N/S to the camp is 1/2 mile. You can seea white square on the river. That is a Hydro dam. Above the dam the river is 30 ft deep and 40 ft wide. The little white line to the right is the property line. I have 30 acres here and 19 is all bush and over 1/2 mile riverfront.

moparjohn · 02-18-2011, 05:23 PM

Stop "C" is close to me!! MPJ

wasagachris · 02-18-2011, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moparjohn

Stop "C" is close to me!! MPJ

Actually stop C is you. Well at least Ringoes N.J. which is where you listed your location.

moparjohn · 02-18-2011, 05:36 PM

Honnerd to be a point of interest on your trip, funny thing is I was thinking of a trip to your camp this summer/fall, LOL. Well good food and drink await if you come, I'm sure I can find a good local place to Airstream here. MPJ

wasagachris · 02-18-2011, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moparjohn

Honnerd to be a point of interest on your trip, funny thing is I was thinking of a trip to your camp this summer/fall, LOL. Well good food and drink await if you come, I'm sure I can find a good local place to Airstream here. MPJ

Thanks John I am hoping to get the A/S done in time for next fall and I was feeling energetic today about the maiden voyage and want to meet all my new friends that I talk to here. I would also love to have you come here. I especially would like to look out on the park and see dozens of shiney trailers here. One can always hope at least.

driftless · 02-18-2011, 11:15 PM

Hey, Chris, looks like a plan!! It looks like letter K is near our place.

There's an RV park about a block from our house, or if the snow is gone we can probably get you into our driveway. Either way it would be great to meet you and see the fruits of your labors in person.

ND10CentCan · 02-19-2011, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wasagachris

If all comes to fruition it will be some time late March. I need to be back here for April. i know it's not the best weather then in N.D.

Hopefully by next March we will have the Albatross in fewer pieces. We have lots of room to park living just north of Bismarck. If nothing else you can have a good laugh at our progress or lack thereof-but we will still be working on it for sure.

wasagachris · 02-19-2011, 09:08 AM

Lew and ND I may change the direction of the route and head west first all the way to CA, then south to TX and then back north. I have some time to think about it and plan some more. I would be starting out the end of Oct/ early Nov after the park closes and I get it shut down for the winter. I'm thinking it may be better to head west to Wi, Mn, and Nd first before the weather really turns bad. I dunno maybe I'll split the visits up in to two years so I can do it all in better weather. Unfortunately due to the nature of my business I can't camp during the summer.
I'm not feeling that great about it this morning, woke up to another foot of snow this morning and it's pretty cold and windy now. Roads closed and all that mess. Yuck I'm sick of winter.

driftless · 02-19-2011, 10:13 AM

You know, Chris, I almost suggested you reverse your route so you'd have fall (better) weather while travelling across the northwestern part of the US.

We've had temps in the upper 40's and into the 50's the past week so much of our snow has melted. Now we are supposed got get more snow and freezing rain tomorrow. Nope, winter isn't over quite yet. One of these days, though......

Minno · 02-19-2011, 10:36 AM

We have plenty of room for you to park in our yard for a few days, Chris. We can give you free elec. and water hookups too. There's a free dump station at the Holiday gas station 2 miles away. There are no campgrounds really close here to Mpls that would be open that late in the fall unless you wanted to drive 20 miles or so from a state park. We would LOVE to have you!

Kay

Trex · 02-20-2011, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wasagachris

Lew and ND I may change the direction of the route and head west first all the way to CA, then south to TX and then back north. I have some time to think about it and plan some more. I would be starting out the end of Oct/ early Nov after the park closes and I get it shut down for the winter. I'm thinking it may be better to head west to Wi, Mn, and Nd first before the weather really turns bad. I dunno maybe I'll split the visits up in to two years so I can do it all in better weather. Unfortunately due to the nature of my business I can't camp during the summer.
I'm not feeling that great about it this morning, woke up to another foot of snow this morning and it's pretty cold and windy now. Roads closed and all that mess. Yuck I'm sick of winter.

Let me know if you're coming to NorCal... We have room to park. Or give you information on some of the best places to camp on Shasta Lake, Trinity Lake, Lewiston lake, National Parks, etc. Just let me know what you'er wanting to do in Cali.... Dry camping, free camping, casino KOA's, River camping, we have it all in the north end of the state.

Trex · 02-20-2011, 01:50 PM

Just looked at your travel map...is H the greater Redding area?

wasagachris · 02-28-2011, 02:34 PM

Kay Thanks so much for the offer. If I ever get this polishing finished I can move forward on the restoration. Maybe just maybe it will be finished by next fall.
Rex yes H is in your area and thank you as well for the invite. I may want to find a campground and spend some time there as the weather will be much better.

I spent some more time this weekend polishing and managed to get the curbside rear end cap and all the way forward curbside to the bathroom window. I worked from down to up as that's the way the polisher works best, starting at the belly and ending about 1 ft into the roof line. I stopped there because that's as far as I can reach from a ladder. The rest of the roof will have to be done from scaffolding later.Ther will be a 40" wide strip on the roof to do from the scaffolding. The rear will have to be done last once I can get the trailer back out of the shop. right now it's backed against the wall and I can't get to it.
Here are the results of about 20 hrs. work. I will continue moving forward curbside and sould get to the entry door next weekend which will have the first and second pass done for all the curbside. It is starting to look good as long as you don't look at the roadside.

driftless · 02-28-2011, 03:08 PM

Chris, nice work as always. I've been going to ask how you will polish around the awning cover, but looking back, I see you don't have one. I'm sure I have to remove the awning, but hopefully not the cover. Maybe someone on these boards can give me some guidance.

How many hours are into your polish job at this point? I think I've seen an estimate that says 8 hours per lineal foot....

wasagachris · 02-28-2011, 03:27 PM

Lew If you are removing the awning the cover comes off with it. I read somewhere here that the zip dee cover doesn't polish up. I'm not sure why it wouldn't.
I am guessing that I have 100 hrs. into it now and have managed to get about half the curbside done. Using that as a benchmark the compounding may take 400 to 500 hrs to do all the trailer. I am guessing that the two passes with the cyclo will take maybe half that time. So 600 to 750 hrs to get the flawless mirror shine I want.
I'd love to be able to get it done at 8 hrs per lineal foot. It looks like I will spend 20 to 25 hrs per foot.
I'm now looking for some kind of shelter to keep the trailer under so as to keep up the finish. I looked at E-bay and they want close to $5000 for those temporary garages big enough to put the trailer into. For that price I can build a permanent one. Today I contacted a company in PA that makes log homes and asked them for a price to build one the right size. The homes are kits kind of like Lincoln Logs but much bigger.I have been talking to them about some buildings for the camp.
Here is the link. I'll let you know what the tell me for a price.
Conestoga Log Cabins/Homes-custom kits: individuals, resorts, camps

Wabbiteer · 02-28-2011, 04:13 PM

I'm interested to see what a tall ceiling simple log shell garage would set us back - Farmtek must have 50 hours of my time by now gazing at their tensioned fabric buildings. Amazing that a 30x32x15' aircraft hanger can be had for $5200.

I tried the cheap way with a $250 10x20 tarp shelter from Sam's Club last fall, 12 tons of fill dirt to flatten the site, five huge bales of peat spread out then chipboard and indoor/outdoor carpet... some junk fence sections added as kneewalls, buried concrete anchors and pressure treated sleeper rails and presto, I have a $900 shelter to use as a mosquito farm this spring - and I can pull it down in a day and haul it elsewhere. The two 28w CFL fixtures I added makes it glow like a UFO after dark - and don't forget $ite prep.

wasagachris · 02-28-2011, 04:24 PM

Len I love it. $900 mosquito farm. LMAO. I looked at the Farmtek site and their RV garage is $4279. I rather put my money into something that wouldn't collapse under the snow load and could withstand a tree branch strike.
How do you keep the snow off yours. Do you need to clear it periodically or does it just fall off with the high peaked roof. I know someone here with something similar for his truck and he had to reinforce it and has to clear off the snow all the time.

Wabbiteer · 02-28-2011, 05:00 PM

As shown above it is self-shedding the last 3-inch snowfall, but only because the sun is high enough these days that some warmth is building up underneath inside the the polyethylene tarp tent.

Our usual snow response is wander out with a broom for some lift & flop action from the inside to set the snow moving. It has seen ~2m meters of snow this season and 150-200mm of fine flour snow build up at a time without problem - but a foot of wet snow coming straight down and one wouldn't have to worry about it any longer.

Again, am interested to hear quote on simple storage log buildings - the one garage they mention is attached to a $210,000 home.

DanielB · 02-28-2011, 05:01 PM

Chris, have you considered a dome? Some of the freaks that go to Burning Man make geodesic domes out of electrical conduit. Unbelievably strong, relatively cheap (can get a cover from FarmTek, and just all around awesome.

Here is the bible: Desert Domes - Home

Here is a pic. And another pic of what you can do with the dome when you aren't storing your Airstream in it.