The Fun Begins

[Aage]

Originally Posted by wasagachris

Aage you are dead wrong on that. No commercial member can actively promote his business in the open forums, can't quote prices or suggest links to their website. Nor is the PM system to be used in this way. You should know you are the one who slapped my wrist.

You're right on both counts. However, I didn't suggest you do any promotion in an open forum.

You would have to become a Commercial member, at which point you would be free to start your own thread in the commercial sub-forum, explaining and promoting your business, if you decided that was the way you wanted to go.

Could be fun.

[wasagachris]

Thank you so much for that image Sandy. I was literally rolling on the floor LMAO over that picture. Of course the trailer would have granite counter tops and the color of the shell would be slate. It would also have size twelve brakes ala flintstone style and not 12 inch brakes. No rubber rod axles though just timber like their cars. We would then have debates here on the forums over which rock is better for the wheels like the tire debates here now. Goodyear Granites over Michelin Marbles.
You would have an elephant under the sink for a garbage disposal. Not exactly sure what would be in place of the black tank though, this issue was never touched on in the cartoon. Come to think of it nobody on TV ever goes to the washroom.
Something else you never see on TV. anytime a person hangs up the telephone they never say goodbye. Check it out and watch for it and you will see what I mean. It doesn't matter what kind of show nobody ever says goodbye. Kind of weird.

[wasagachris]

Anyway back to reality. I neglected to mention why I was taking apart the old wing window and trying to fix it. It will be my test window. I need to fix both wing windows but was unwilling to try this rebuild without a suitable replacement on hand in case of an extreme failure like broken glass or a damaged frame.
I will install the new window and if the old one can be repaired I will attempt to repair the roadside one. I am however always on the lookout for a NOS roadside window like the curbside one I bought. Actually I bought two and sold one to another forum member. PS the old repaired one will be up for grabs if it works out. THIS IS A ONE TIME SALE AND NOT A COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE.
I didn't do anything on it today as I was busy restocking my store for opening next Friday. Next week will also be a little busy with grounds clean up and getting the water system up and running. I also have 7 suppliers coming next week to deliver goods to me for resale. It should be a busy week but I am still going to try to get some more polishing done. This weekend is my last one off until October and I hope to make the most of it with work on the trailer. Darn work gets in the way of the trailer reno. I will only be able to work on the trailer Mon to Thurs now.

[DanielB]

What kinds of stuff do you sell at the store there, Chris?

[wasagachris]

Originally Posted by DanielB

What kinds of stuff do you sell at the store there, Chris?

Are trying to get me in trouble or just stirring up s**t.

[wasagachris]

I tried this last night and just took a couple of shots to show y'all.
The first pic shows the window placed into the opening.

I have a small dilemma to solve. In the second pic of the rounded egde of the window against the curbside end cap of the shell you can see quite a large gap. Top and bottom and the straight edge of the wing window against the center window fit tight against everything. the old window frame was bent in to conform with the shell of the trailer and the new window frame is straight. If I try and buck this down like this I think it will deform the shell before the window frame bends to conform to the curve of the end cap. the gap is 3/8 of an inch and I doubt that I can even get the rivets to span the gap let alone grab the shell. I think the window frame needs to be bent first to meet the shell and I'm not sure how to do this without really messing it up. Any suggestions especially from the pros ( Frank this means you).

[DanielB]

I have no idea what you are talking about.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

...take the glass back out and copy it onto a sheet of luan. Install the luan. Paint the frame with dish soap and allow to dry. Heat with a torch till the soap turns black and stop. The aluminum is almost at the melting stag so be careful. Bend the frame. Put the glass back in and rivet away. Use butyl tape behind the frame. Should work.

[wasagachris]

frank this is a brand new double pane wing window. if I disassemble it I think it will destroy the seal between the two panes. I get the soap deal, the same trick for cooking over an open campfire to stop the pots from getting soot covered. do you think It could be done with the glass still in or will the heat transfer shatter the glass or destroy the seal?
I'm wondering if the frame would bend without any heat application. The original frame had a bend from top to bottom on the curved section of the frame. The bend begins halfway from the glass to the outer edge of the frame.

[ND10CentCan]

Originally Posted by wasagachris

Thank you so much for that image Sandy. I was literally rolling on the floor LMAO over that picture. Of course the trailer would have granite counter tops and the color of the shell would be slate. It would also have size twelve brakes ala flintstone style and not 12 inch brakes. No rubber rod axles though just timber like their cars. We would then have debates here on the forums over which rock is better for the wheels like the tire debates here now. Goodyear Granites over Michelin Marbles.
You would have an elephant under the sink for a garbage disposal. Not exactly sure what would be in place of the black tank though, this issue was never touched on in the cartoon. Come to think of it nobody on TV ever goes to the washroom.
Something else you never see on TV. anytime a person hangs up the telephone they never say goodbye. Check it out and watch for it and you will see what I mean. It doesn't matter what kind of show nobody ever says goodbye. Kind of weird.

I am going to pay attention next time to those issues when the Flintstones are on....just so I can make sure we have the manuevers just so.....when we make a sprint into Canada with the Albatross perched on our shoulders or dragging behind somewhat. If caught, I can always claim partial Canadian citizenship on my grandmother's side...but be prepared to send bail money if they don't buy my story.

Let's never take ourselves too seriously....
Sandy

[Colin H]

Originally Posted by wasagachris

I tried this last night and just took a couple of shots to show y'all.
The first pic shows the window placed into the opening.
Attachment 126457
I have a small dilemma to solve. In the second pic of the rounded egde of the window against the curbside end cap of the shell you can see quite a large gap. Top and bottom and the straight edge of the wing window against the center window fit tight against everything. the old window frame was bent in to conform with the shell of the trailer and the new window frame is straight. If I try and buck this down like this I think it will deform the shell before the window frame bends to conform to the curve of the end cap. the gap is 3/8 of an inch and I doubt that I can even get the rivets to span the gap let alone grab the shell. I think the window frame needs to be bent first to meet the shell and I'm not sure how to do this without really messing it up. Any suggestions especially from the pros ( Frank this means you).
Attachment 126458

Drill each attachment hole & insert a cleco, & work your way all of the way around, hole by hole. This will pull the window to the skin bit by bit. Then remove all of the cleco's & window, & deburr all of the holes. As the gaps are large, I would use butyl tape as the sealant, then re install the window & all of the cleco's. Start bucking from the middle, then divide the remaining space in half the buck again. Keep doing this until all of the rivets have been installed. If you start at one end & buck in one direction, you will create a wave & push metal, potentially creating a large gap or bump. As the window frame alloy is soft, it will bend into position when it needs to. Take care & go slowly.
Colin

[wasagachris]

Second opinions are good to have both from doctors and from airstream doctors.Sorry frank I just didn't want to tear apart the new window or try heating up the frame to bend it. Thanks to Colin for the suggestion and to give me the confidence to try this.
Colin I did try clecoing it in but the gap was too large for the clecos to grab the shell. What I did was to place the window in and clamp it to the spline from the center window to pull the two windows together. A few of the original holes on the bottom and the top lined up and I was able to cleco them in. I worked my way top and bottom towards the curved upright section drilling and clecoing as I went. Then as Colin suggested started in the middle of the upright section drilling and clecoing and worked my way up and down. As I said the gap was too large for the clecos to grab. So starting in the center of the upright section and using a white headed rubber mallet I gently started tapping the window frame until it snugged down against the shell. It now fits much tighter to the shell and it looks like the original window with the bend in the frame.The gap is now less than 1/8 of an inch. I will be using butyl tape between the frame and the shell and always planned to. I'm sure now that when I buck in the window the rivets will pull the frame tight against the shell.

[wasagachris]

Well I've been busy this week getting the park ready for opening day which was yesterday. I haven't done any work on the trailer at all for over a week now.
So yesterday morning I decided that it would be warm enough to get the water system operating. I got half the park watered up fine with no problems. Once I started the other half the first thing I found was a burst water line. I patched it but ended replacing the whole section as the line was so brittle that everytime I tried to push the pipe onto the coupler it fractured. Finally got it working and went to carry on and found the next spigot had no water. I thought I had another burst section so I started digging it up to find the leak. After about an houir and 10 ft of pipe exposed no leak could be found. For some unknown reason I tried the spigot again and low and behold the water was running. That section must have been frozen as there was still frost in the ground. So now the water is all good.
Next I turned on the entrance gate and found the card reader woudn't work. By that time everyone started showing up so I started using the remote to open the gate as they arrived. Which leads to the reason for this post. I was carrying the opener in my coat pocket all day. It also controls my shop door.
Some time that afternoon or early into the evening I must have somehow accidently pressed the button to open the shop door. If anyone remembers how close the fit between the trailer tongue and the door was, once the trailer was levelled after parking it into the shop the door brace wouldn't clear the tongue.
So here's the question for the day. What do you think is stronger the door opener or the tongue of the trailer. Answer the tongue.
Around 7:00 PM last night I went to walk the dog and heard an awful growling grumbling whining sound coming from the shop. I looked over at the shop and saw the door partially ajar. My heart stopped as I realized what the noise was. I ran over into the shop which by this time was full of smoke from the burning belt on the door opener motor. I quickly shut off the door and looked up. This is what I saw. If I don't laugh about it I would cry.




The motor actually buckled the track the door rides on and pulled the bracket from the door as well as pulling apart the upper brace of the door.
It also pulled itself forward about 4 inches, tearing open the drywall in the ceiling. I actually consider myself lucky that it didn't tear itself free from the ceiling and fall onto the top of the trailer. I called the door company and left a message and will see next week how much this fiasco is going to cost. I hope they can fix it with the trailer in place because they way the track is buckled I can't even open the door by hand.
To top it all off the weather forecast has changed and It's now going to snow about 2 inches tomorrow and be below zero overnight for the next three days. Hopefully I won't have any more burst pipes to deal with.

Other than that it has been sort of a good opening weekend. The weather is s**t though. Rained cats and dogs all day and the wind has been howling. Somebody please order up some spring weather.

[DanielB]

Dang, dude. How deep is the frost line up there? I think here it's like a foot or a foot and a half down.

[wasagachris]

Originally Posted by DanielB

Dang, dude. How deep is the frost line up there? I think here it's like a foot or a foot and a half down.

Most of my water lines are only 3 to 6 inches underground here. They don't call it Rocky Park for nothing. The older section of the park is close to the river and only has at most a foot of soil before you hit bedrock. It was built over forty years ago and not with any heavy machinery so the water lines are very close to the surface. A couple of times every year somebody punctures one with a tent peg. The new section I built has the lines down at least three feet. Most of it was excavated with a high hoe and some even needed a high hoe with a hammer($200/hr). The only problems I ever have are with the older section. I built mine right with proper spacing between power, water and sewer and all packed in sand. It took over 500 tri-axle dump truck loads of material( soil, sand,pit run gravel and A gravel) to build 46 campsites. The mateial ended up costing more than the wire, receptacles, breaker boxes,power panels water and sewer pipes and all the excavator time totalled together.

[66Overlander]

If you are really concerned about freezing pipes, you could turn on a few strategic faucets to keep a little water dribbling out of them to the water moving and help keep the pipes from freezing. I had to do that in an old poorly insulated condo I used to live in on very cold days and nights.

[Minno]

Wow - thank goodness the trailer is ok!!!! Repairing the door will cost a bit, but not as bad as if you also had to repair the roof-vents-a/c on the trailer. Let hope they can repair it in place, or can remove the door without damaging the trailer so you can pull it out of the way.

MC

[wasagachris]

Joe the only problem I have is all the spigots are attached to the trailers water hoses so I can't leave them on or the trailers would flood.

MC yes I am really glad the trailer is OK. I was amazed that the door wasn't capable of lifting the trailer. It shows how strong the tongue jacks are as they can lift the trailer. I will see what they say in the morning when they look at the damage.

It's another wonderful spring day here in the great white north. Over 2 inches of snow has fallen in the past 3 hrs and the wind is howling causing whiteouts and it's a balmy 28 F right now and to take ours minds off the weather gas is now $5.15 a gallon up from $4.90 last night.

[Minno]

It's 37 degrees here and windy, but, Hey, the sun is shining so I won't complain! We got half an inch on Friday nite, making this the 4th snowiest winter on record here. I could have lived without the designation!
Daniel B.: here in tropical Minnesota, the frost line is 3 feet down. That's why we have to pour footers at minimum 42 inches down to meet code. When it thaws, the frost line actually goes DEEPER initially before thawing out. Some people up north actually have septic system freezes some winters and springs.
Hang in there WC. Spring HAS to come soon! (doesn't it?).

Kay

[wasagachris]

Hello Kay at the rate the weather is going I think when we have our Xmas in July we'll still have snow on the ground and Santa can use a sleigh to get around the park.