New to me trailer project.

I went and looked at a trailer yesterday, and while it is rough, the price was right.  I got it for $40 (what he said he would get for it as scrap metal), which considering smaller rusty crappy ones are going for $500+, I don't think it was a bad deal.  I really didn't need another project, but I think the work it needs before heading to KY with it is pretty minimal.  It is a 7x12 former popup camper.  The decking feels solid when I walk on it, but will still need replacing in another year or two because it is the floor of the popup and is now exposed to the elements.  The frame is rusty; it will need to be wire brushed and painted and refurbished like my old one, but there weren't any rust holes that I could see, and the rust looks repairable.  The trailer needs lights, but the wiring harness appeared intact at first glance, so I don't need to rewire it (unless the wiring doesn't work, which I had no way to test).  For the KY trip, I might just pick up a cheapo pair of magnetic lights and bolt them down or something.  The coupler is rough (I had to loosen it up with a hammer before putting it on the truck) and will likely need replacing when the trailer is refurbished, which will not be a simple task since it isn't a standard coupler; it is a camper one with the emergency braking system and stuff.  I will probably bring it somewhere and have a standard one welded on.  The trailer jack on it works, but is rough, and I will likely replace it when I refurb it.

It has some weird looking wheels on it, but the guy claims they hold air.  There was some minor dry rot in them, but I don't think they need immediate replacement.  One of the wheels shifted around a tiny bit so it will need bearings eventually, but it wasn't as bad as my old one which if I recall correctly, went to KY at one point to bring back the Cub Cadet (I don't think I put that in the back of the truck, it wouldn't fit with the snowblower, but to be honest don't really recall).  That said, I never took my old one more than a couple hours away.  Having said that, while it never failed on me, for all I know my old one failed 5 miles after I sold it, it isn't like I put a lot of miles on it.  It did come with a spare.  I put my hand on the rims when I got home, and there was no excessive heat, so they at least spin freely.  Ironically the one that wobbled a little was ambient temp, it was the other one that was at least warmer than the outside air, but not hot.  The trailer towed home surprisingly nicely.  It is also kind of nice to be able to see the trailer in the rear view mirrors.

In short, it is a project, but I think lights are the only thing it needs before I take it to KY.  I will probably repack the bearings, or at least pull off the dust caps and look and maybe install some bearing buddies before the trip, just to help ensure it makes it that far.  Alternatively, I could just buy a more expensive one that is more ready, use it for the trip, and then sell it if I open up the dust caps and get scared with what I see.

The drive to pick it up was actually quite pleasant.  I got to see a nice sunset, though I didn't get great pictures.

Next up is the wheeler.

Current To-do:

• Design deck
• Build deck
• Build armoire.
• Install whole house filter.
• Refurb cap
• Access panel upgrades in master closet
• Back yard drainage.
• Insulate the water lines
• Take scrap metal to Buffum
• Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
• Storm doors

Long Weekend

During the week last week it got pretty toasty.  Despite that though, I didn't need to turn on the AC at home.  It was cool enough at night that I just opened the windows and chill the place at night, and then close everything up (including the blinds) in the morning before I left.  The house only picked up 5-6 degrees during the day.  While it was only one day, that even worked when it hit 90 on Wednesday (though I don't think Sullivan quite got to 90, only upper 80s).

Saturday was the only nice day of the weekend, and the big project for Saturday was fixing the mower.  It took me several hours to mow one piece of the front yard with the push mower, which is not sustainable.  As I found on the internet, the deck is actually really easy to drop.  While it took a little bit longer than I used to with the Craftsman deck, now that I have done it this one will get much faster.  It is much simpler than the Craftsman deck to drop once you know where everything is.

The only annoying part is I hate these type of clips, so I replaced them since I mangled them getting them off.

The mechanism on the deck had all but seized (was excessively stiff).  After a lot of penetrator and a few swift kicks, it broke free.  

The underside of the deck didn't look bad at all.  I tried to get the blades off to sharpen them, but even with my breaker bar they wouldn't budge.  I used to have a longer breaker bar, but I couldn't find it.  Unfortunately my "Leverage Enhancement Device" doesn't fit my breaker bar, and I didn't have a 3/8" socket large enough (the nut is a 15/16").  The blades weren't in bad shape to my surprise, so I sharpened them as best as I could still attached to the deck, and I will deal with it next year.

After making a run into town it was kind of late in the day and my motivation had left, so I didn't reattach the deck until Sunday morning.  I sprayed the mechanism with some lubricant (as opposed to penetrator) and reattached it.  It works, kinda.  The mower bogs really bad and starts blowing smoke when the blades are engaged (like the old gray Craftsman we had in NY), but once it managed to get back up to speed it worked so that is a problem for another day.  After that I did the rest of the mowing.  The other section in the front is still really rough, I really need to smooth it some.  But it is chopped down.  It really needed it.

After that was done, I turned my attention back to the cap.  It was sealing time.  I got the sides all done, and the front piece on the bottom done before I ran out of cheap wood glue.  The reason I am "painting" the wood with wood glue before glassing it in is just to give it a second layer of protection.  In theory, after painting the wood with wood glue, I don't even need to glass it in, but I will anyways.  

It dried pretty quick thankfully since I got some surprise rain in the afternoon.

Monday I decided to work on inside stuff courtesy of storms, so it was back to the armoire.  I got the outer box glued and nailed.  The glue is the primary workhorse here; I am only putting a couple of finish nails in each board as a last resort, and because I am not using pegs, cams, or other joining materials.  I am a bit disappointed in the large clamps I bought for furniture building; of all the ways they could be cheap and disappointing, the metal bar flexing under pressure was not the one I expected.  

I also got the upright part glued to the shelf.  The corner clamp I bought works but not great, the Harbor Freight motto.

This is what the inside is going to look like when it is done.  There will be hooks on the board on the right, two cubes for storage on the left, along with another couple short shelves for hats and gloves.

I did manage to get a cookout in on Monday (albeit a little early), but just barely.

I also went to Harbor Freight on Monday to pick up one of their cheap utility trailers since I had a coupon, used ones are obnoxiously expensive, and renting one for my July trip costs as much as buying one, but apparently they are out of stock in the entire northeast.  So I am still poking around on trailers as well.  I have one I intend to call on today that while a nicer trailer, costs as much used as the Harbor Freight one did new.  On the wheeler front I have had a bunch of no-shows for the wheeler, which is why I waited until late Saturday to go and pick up the new clips.  I have gotten a bunch of emails on it, but so far no real action.  I also still haven't found an excavator, though some are starting to reappear online, just not anywhere reasonably close.  Most are on the far end of CT.

Equipment update.

So I was wrong about my trucks appointment being yesterday, it turns out it was the 13th and I wrote it down wrong (I only wrote down Monday at 2:30, and apparently I went on the wrong Monday) so I went home since it was nice, albeit a bit warm, and did some more work.  

I started by firing up the auger.  It works, there is no longer a leak by the carburetor, but there is still a leak at the grommet for the gas tank.  It will work as long as they don't completely fill it though.  I might take a look to see if I can get one at Home Depot or Tractor Supply, though I am not sure how standard they are.  

The next thing on the list was to finish mowing.  My push mower probably already has more hours this year than it got all of last year.  I only finished the one area up front, I didn't bother with the others.  They need it too, but they won't get so thick that I won't be able to get through it with the rider once it is fixed.  Using the push mower is good exercise though.

After that I was toasty, so I decided to wash the cap.  I can't reach the middle of the top, but the areas I need to repair are clean at least.  I didn't wash it as thoroughly; the first part I did I took a cheap brillo out there and really scrubbed it.  All I used for this was a brush which didn't clean as well, but oh well.  

After the water cooled me down a bit, I went and jacked up the riding mower.  I quickly discovered that while it is a mechanical PTO, it isn't just an arm like its Craftsman predecessor.  The arm disappears into the bowels of the machine (it is the black bar, the other is the deck height).

After that I went and made some dinner.  After dinner, I went and looked up how to drop the deck and how the PTO on this machine works, and it is just a cable.  The deck is a lot easier to drop than my old Craftsman too, there are only three pins and the PTO cable.  I might try to do that during the week.  

Current To-do:

• Design deck
• Build deck
• Build armoire.
• Install whole house filter.
• Refurb cap
• Access panel upgrades in master closet
• Back yard drainage.
• Insulate the water lines
• Take scrap metal to Buffum
• Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
• Storm doors

More broken equipment.

Last week was relatively uneventful.  I did catch a nice sunset on Tuesday.  Sadly this was the picture I managed to snag since there was someone behind me.  

It rain pretty much the rest of the week so I did a little organizing inside.  I finally started to clean up the guest room.  The clips for the shelves finally came in.  And sure enough, as soon as I put the shelf in, I found the original clips for the shelf.  Sigh.  So I have a boatload of extra shelf clips now. I put all my camping stuff on it.  I didn't realize that this picture was so awful so my apologies.

I also bought these, but didn't end up needing them, all the camping stuff fit on the shelves.

Also in my clips order were the clamps I need for the cap.  

The first big project for Saturday was mowing before the rain came in the afternoon.  First time of the season.  It was bad, some of these weeds were knee deep, and almost all of it was shin deep.

Then I found out the mower was broken.  Sigh.  The PTO won't actuate.  It worked fine last fall.

So I ended using the push mower.  It at least ran.  The only problem was that I put the rest of my gas in the riding mower.  So I ran the push mower until it ran out of gas.  I got most of the one section of yard done before it ran dry.

I need new shoes, I went skiing a couple of times, didn't tear myself up too bad though.

The other big project for Saturday was to bring the wheeler to the Honda dealer.  I expected the answer, but it still makes me sad.  They wanted a $500 deposit just to look at it because of its age, and he predicted a 4 figure repair bill.  I could find the parts on ebay, but it is a bit out of my depth to fix (I expect it is a transfer case), and the last thing I need is another project. So I took a bunch of pictures of the wheeler, and will get it listed today.

Saturday night I started some sanding.  It is a little weird and awkward connected to a regular vacuum, but it made very little mess.

I found out Saturday night that I cut the boards wrong.  D'oh.  At least they were too long.

Sunday was a really nice day. I started by cutting the boards.  This is why I don't like building using plywood with only hand tools, errors compound and then you end up with this.  The corner there isn't perfectly square.  Assembly won't be fun. But everything is cut.

Since I can assemble the armoire in the evening and during rain, I moved on to work on the cap.  I got the board cut and planed for the front. The second try (I don't want to talk about the first failure) fits like a glove.

It is all screwed in, and I took my belt sander and sanded down the edges so the gasket has as smooth surface all the way around.

In the afternoon, I discovered that my glue was not good.  I don't think wood glue separates, so I don't know what is going on here.  I decided not to try it.  I am planning on "painting" the wood with wood glue before I glass everything to give the wood itself water resistance (wood glue acts as a sealant) as well as the glass which will be an impervious layer.  So I ended up making a run into town.

I was running short on light when I got back, so I decided to go and clean up  the cap a bit.  I got the crap all scraped off so I can finish repairing the holes.  The fact that I got it all off with a putty knife most likely means the bondo he applied was not applied properly.

I also finally pulled out my hose so I can finish cleaning the cap, but there wasn't enough daylight left.  My hose has apparently developed a rather minor leak.

After dark, I finally got around to reassembling the Auger with the new gasket.  I will test it hopefully today to see if that fixed the leak.

It was getting late at this point but I also laid out the armoire.

My truck goes in today for its recall work and the pinion seal, so I took the afternoon off.  It is supposed to be nice today.  I have started looking around at other wheelers.

Current To-do:

• Design deck
• Build deck
• Build armoire.
• Install whole house filter.
• Refurb cap
• Access panel upgrades in master closet
• Back yard drainage.
• Insulate the water lines
• Take scrap metal to Buffum
• Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
• Storm doors

Getting ready for spring.

I went out Friday and picked up some stuff, like the oil changes for the mowers and all that.  The weekend was supposed to be chilly, wet, and drizzly, but it actually wasn't too bad.  Being chilly was kind of nice because it allowed me to wear pants so I didn't get consumed by black flies, though they weren't too bad over the weekend anyways, likely because we were in a frost watch.  

I started the weekend off by putting out dunks.  It was good to get out and walk the property again.  It is a bit late for them to take out the black flies, but hopefully it keeps the mosquito population down.

I listed the big pine logs on Craigslist.  Hopefully someone comes and takes them away.  I have no use for a bunch of pine logs, and there is enough there that I don't particularly want to burn them up in the burn barrel, it will take a week.  

It wasn't really warm enough according to the can, and is perhaps why I had some problems with it not sticking, but I installed the spray foam anyways.

The other big thing I needed to get done over the weekend was get the other sheet of plywood cut up.  That is now all done.  

I put the plywood on blocks to raise it up off the sawhorses to cut it.  Apparently I didn't raise it up enough.  Oops.

Then I turned my attention towards my equipment.  I got the new battery installed in the riding mower.  

I did the pushmower oil change first, since it is a lot easier.  I needed a ratchet torque increaser to get the blade off though to sharpen it.

It didn't particularly want to start, but it lives.  Because it is one of those automatic everything (meaning it has no throttle, no primer bulb, no choke, etc) they always start rough the first time for the year.

Sunday was not quite as nice as Saturday, but I still got some stuff done before the weather turned sour.  I started with getting the wheeler out since it was blocking the riding mower.  Surprisingly it started immediately despite having not been used since January-ish.  

I was intending to run it up and down the hill to try to empty out the carport, but with it being a FWD only right now, it struggled to go up the hill.  The first time it didn't make it since I didn't have a running start and wasn't leaning far enough forward.  

I put it in the truck, I intend to drop it off today to see if I can get the 4WD fixed and hope it isn't something like the transmission.

After that it was time to start working on the riding mower, since I could actually get to it.  It turns out that it has the same stupid plastic drain thingy that the cub did.  Only I didn't get a hose with it, so it was extra annoying.  And also really slow; it took literally over an hour to drain all the oil out.  

Part of that might be my fault though.  Apparently I didn't change the oil in it last year?

While that drained, I also got the foam cut and smoothed, and I attached the 2x6 boards on the sides.  I think I am going to stick with a 2x3 for the front.  

As I was working on the cap though, the rain came back.  

So I went and did a couple of things inside.  I got the torn fake linoleum tacked back down.  

I went to do some sanding on the boards for the armoire, and then realized that the sandpaper pack I bought doesn't fit my sanding block.  Sigh.  So I ended up doing it by hand.  I mostly just want to remove the writing that is printed on the sides of the boards.  I miss the days when they used stickers for labeling wood.

The oil in the riding mower did eventually drain though, so I got that all finished up and fired up.  It didn't want to start either, but it did.  

I didn't get the blades on lawn tractor pulled off and sharpened, but oh well.  To be honest, I don't know how to drop the deck on this machine.  All the spring stuff that I have left is to drop the snowblower off the tractor, and paint the snowblower and bucket on the tractor to try to keep the rust to a minimum.  Most of this isn't on the checklist though.  The cap is starting to get pretty close though.  It is far enough along at this point I could put it back on the truck if I absolutely had to, like if I end up moving.

 Current To-do:

• Design deck
• Build deck
• Build armoire.
• Install whole house filter.
• Refurb cap
• Access panel upgrades in master closet
• Back yard drainage.
• Insulate the water lines
• Take scrap metal to Buffum
• Close up tiny home.  Seal up plumbing.
• Storm doors