'74 Argosy 20' Motorhome restoration/rebuild

[martin300662]

Hey Brad, there is something very symbolic with being able to literally see the 'forest for the trees'.

Step back and enjoy what must be get cracking sunsets from your workshop!

PS I love the glimsy of Peanut behind the pile of branches on your trailer.

With travel restrictions lifting and hours of daylight increasing its time to make some plans to get the projects moving again.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

Hey Brad, there is something very symbolic with being able to literally see the 'forest for the trees'.

Step back and enjoy what must be get cracking sunsets from your workshop!

Sunsets were something I never got to see previously. There have been some really spectacular ones since the view has started to expand

PS I love the glimsy of Peanut behind the pile of branches on your trailer.

That should give you an idea as to just how many tree limbs I'm dealing with.

With travel restrictions lifting and hours of daylight increasing its time to make some plans to get the projects moving again.

Now if we could just get the weather to cooperate

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by bkahler

....

Now if we could just get the weather to cooperate

We all need to move to Austin during the winter months to get that Brad!

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by martin300662

We all need to move to Austin during the winter months to get that Brad!

I am afraid you will have to wait until next Friday, Martin

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-350LE

I am afraid you will have to wait until next Friday, Martin

It will probably take Martin that long to get his bags packed anyway so Friday shouldn't be a problem

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

It will probably take Martin that long to get his bags packed anyway so Friday shouldn't be a problem

I am not worried, he is all talk. I have offered him food, shelter, camping trips and even an Airport pickup with a 350LE and onboard Butler service, to no avail....

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by PeterH-350LE

I am not worried, he is all talk. I have offered him food, shelter, camping trips and even an Airport pickup with a 350LE and onboard Butler service, to no avail....

Don’t speak too soon Peter!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-350LE

I am not worried, he is all talk. I have offered him food, shelter, camping trips and even an Airport pickup with a 350LE and onboard Butler service, to no avail....

Originally Posted by martin300662

Don’t speak too soon Peter!

Peter, your wish may come true sooner than you expect.......

[bkahler]

The Argosy was moved outside for the first time since I replaced all of the drivers side panels, painted the roof, replaced the front vent fan and installed the new antenna.

Now I get to find out just how many leaks I've stopped and how many new ones I've created




Now that the Argosy is out of the shop I will be able to replace the front brakes on my Ranger inside on concrete instead of outside on gravel

After the Ranger is done Peanut will be moved back inside for some fan and AC swapping.

On a side note, I hadn't started the Argosy since last summer. I turned the ignition switch on, the fuel system pressurized and the engine started in less than two revolutions. Gotta love the TBI system!

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

Looks to me like you need to do some tree trimming

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-350LE

Looks to me like you need to do some tree trimming

I have been......

[bkahler]

I'll be glad when all this tree removal is finally finished and done with. The first and most difficult task was removing the limbs and I spent over four months off and on cutting them off and hauling them away. To put things in perspective I de-limbed 85 trees for a total weight of 19,460 lbs. and I made 17 trips to the landfill at a total cost of $576. The average trailer load was about 1,150 lbs.



Next will be cutting down the trees and prepping to load them on a log trailer. I have someone willing to take the logs if I can load them on his trailer. The latter part is what I'm not sure of just yet

After that I will be grinding the stumps to below grade level. I'm pretty sure I'll be at this for the rest of the year, or longer....

One of these days I hope to get to where I can actually work on the Argosy again

Brad

[dadstoy]

I installed a new garage door opener yesterday and I thought that was a lot of work!

[dadstoy]

…and I got a sliver in my hand from my ladder that I’m digging at!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

I installed a new garage door opener yesterday and I thought that was a lot of work!

Originally Posted by dadstoy

…and I got a sliver in my hand from my ladder that I’m digging at!

All in all I'd say you had a pretty easy time of it

I think what surprised me the most is I lived to write about it all

I was frequently 12 or 13 feet off the ground on an extension ladder trying to use a 10 foot electric pole saw one handed. Out of all that I only got wacked by falling limbs a couple of times. I was definitely the antithesis of the safety post boy

[Smartstream]

I don't know Brad. In the PNW we cut the trees down and then cut off the limbs. The logs are then sold. The limbs go into a slash pile to be burned or hauled away in an end dump or walking floor trailer. We also don't spend time grinding stumps unless you are going to build something over it. From the looks of it, the excavator used to load the end dump could pop the stumps and toss the in the trailer with the slash. Your Argosy needs you.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Smartstream

I don't know Brad. In the PNW we cut the trees down and then cut off the limbs. The logs are then sold. The limbs go into a slash pile to be burned or hauled away in an end dump or walking floor trailer. We also don't spend time grinding stumps unless you are going to build something over it. From the looks of it, the excavator used to load the end dump could pop the stumps and toss the in the trailer with the slash. Your Argosy needs you.

Dan, cutting down and then cutting the limbs off would have been my preference however, I don't have the time or space to deal with all the limbs at one time and burning was out of the question. Even though I live on 9 acres the land is all wooded or else pasture and I don't have a place to pile all of the limbs. Burning is not one of the preferred options because even though they are all acreages I do live in a HOA managed subdivision.

The other factor was the only person I found willing to take the logs only wanted to make one trip which meant all the logs need to be void of limbs before he got here. Even with the cost of lumber being sky high I am only able to find one person willing to take the logs. I did find a place that will take logs that are a 96" long which meant I would have to load them on my trailer and drive an hour and a half each way to deliver them. I'm not sure how many trips I would have to make but probably in the neighborhood of ten trips.

As far as the stumps go if I had them all removed I would still have to deal with hauling them away and the mess of making the area look reasonable again. I decided to buy a stump grinder (already bought) and just take my time and grind a few at a time. Kind of like how I cut the limbs off, a few trees at a time and I eventually got it done.

Bottom line is I would have loved to do it how it's done in the PNW but my situation here just didn't allow for it

Retirement is coming in the near future so time will eventually be something I have more of!

[Smartstream]

Well Brad I feel for your situation, especially having to deal with a HOA. We are a registered Stewardship Forest, so we have rules to deal with, but they deal with the benefit of trees not the neighbors.

We did a commercial thinning a few years back and the logging company brought in a feller buncher, processor/loader and a skidder and went to work. They cut the logs 36 to 40 feet long and each species went to a different mill. The junk logs were ground into hog fuel for the paper mill. The slash was spread around for mulch because we didn't want to burn. We got a percentage of the sale, and the loggers got a percentage for their work.

96" logs around here are called fence posts. I wonder if you put out an ad for firewood if you would get any takers? When they clear for a new house around here, there isn't enough timber for a logging operation but there are a couple of guys with self-loaders that handle the logs. We buy the mixed species loads from them for firewood.

As far as the stumps go, you are a tougher man than me. When I expanded my woodshed, I had to pull a hemlock stump that was about 42" across. After I got the stump out there was several good-sized roots that were still in the way. I rented a stump grinder rather than abuse my chain saw in the dirt. After that if I had to do it again, I think I would destroy the saw, throw it away and buy a new saw before I would use another grinder.

Just thinking about all that work, I think I need an adult beverage. Good luck my friend.

[bkahler]

The only HOAs I've ever been involved with benefit the board members and no one else

Years ago in Kentucky we had half of our property (5 acres) logged for the pine trees. The logs went to the paper mill and then we hired someone to remove the stumps so we could make a pasture. I found it interesting that we made just enough money from the logs to pay for the stump pulling

I'm assuming the 8' logs were going to be made into fence posts although I've not pursued that angle just yet as I'm still hoping to have someone come pick up the logs. As far as the log remnants (4' and shorter) go I've asked around and talked to quite a few people and once I mention the word pine they just say no. No one wants to burn pine logs. I took the first two loads to the dump the other day, 3,000 lbs total and the cost was about $80. I figure I have about 10 more loads to go so it will probably run me around $500 or so to dispose of them.

Keep in mind the stumps are all pine stumps so they are a softer wood. The stump grinding will not happen all on the same day. I'll give them some time to decompose before grinding the large ones. I'm not looking forward to the task but it will give me something to do when I get bored on the weekends

[bkahler]

Last year I painted the center roof section with Bus Kote in the hopes that it would resolve the problem with water dripping down onto the dash top. Well, we had a nice rain storm last week and the dash was again covered in water

At least now I know the leak isn't coming from the roof center section. I'm going to have to sit in the motorhome the next time we get a good rain to see if I figure out where it's coming from. I HATE roof leaks