I spot John Roderick in the lineup there. How'd you two meet? The Long Winters are one of my favorite bands, and John's an awesome storyteller. His podcasts are great and he seems like an endless source of trivia and knowledge.
Seems like the perfect person to go on a road trip with.
Yes, Ben introduced me to John last year. He's a real character and a lot of fun to have on a trip. He's very good at figuring people out and seeing deeper into things. And funny as well.
It's likely that the temper on your aluminium swingarm was changed when it was welded. In the bicycle world any aluminium that gets welded gets a post weld heat treatment to return the temper to it's original state.
I vote new tubular steel swingarm. As long as your welds are good you won't have to worry about heat treat issues. Use aircraft grade 4130 from Wicks or Aircraft Spruce.
I believe you're right and after a lot of thought I'm going to repair this one and do some additional bracing and then have it heat treated.
Gregor,
Sometimes situations and events pop up that begin to dig at your foundation. Stuff that you're normally confident of because it's buried deep down and protected. The very tenets of who you are. And then you begin to doubt yourself.
DONT.
It sounds like that stupid cliché sports thing, but "you ARE who you think you are."
What you do and what you are capable of doing, build wise and ride wise is a direct extension of who you are.
Where you've been.
What you've done.
You are the fine, distilled product of a long process.
Don't let a mistake or two call into question who you are.
Reading your last post reminded me a lot of Pirsig's "Zen and the art..."
Pirsigs madness aside, you are that.
Zen
And motorcycle maintenance.
Thanks for this.
I think that when you have a foundation rocked you tend to start to look for other things that support that idea. Lately I have been busy with a lot of work and it's the sort that doesn't pay well but takes a lot of time because I refuse to do a poor job. I'm happy for the work and will always put in 100% but my free time has been next to zero.
And without any forward progress on personal projects I tend to focus on the things that I haven't gotten done. Which are overwhelming. Each one mocks me and adds to my frustration.
So when my friend Matt asked if we wanted to go camping with his family a couple of weeks back I said yes immediately. It was an opportunity to get the trailer cleaned up and maybe see what needed to be done on that front.
Camping is a real reset for me and is pure enjoyment for the kids. I don't think that we could do it enough if we tried. I like the way that the campground is a small community and that people open up and share. Our current societies breakdown of community is something I think about constantly and it's refreshing to get away, sit around a campfire, go fishing and talk to strangers.
And so, to get this thread back on track and hopefully me as well, when we got home I decided to finally tackle the last remaining trailer project that was imperative - resealing the AC unit and the remaining vents.
My long goal for the trailer is to make it a self contained guest room/house for visitors. Even though I'd sealed 90% of roof previously there were still leaks over the winter. The AC was the last bit and I dreaded dealing with it.
In a complete reinforcement of my dread one of the two retaining bolts sheared off when I removed it and then one of the three cover bolts also sheared off. Nonetheless I managed to pull it off.
Like most projects I hope it will be simple. I just need to clean the last seam, replace the gasket and reinstall the AC.
I decided to tape the opening with the Eternabond tape to prevent any errant leaks from going between the shell and the walls. Rot in the PNW is endemic.
There was one last remaining roof vent to be replaced as well as removing the TV antenna base. Basically I needed to be sure that the entire roof was sealed.
Like most projects it turned out to be way more complicated than anticipated. Each incremental repair necessitated an exponential amount of tools as screws were sheared, cut and removed.
This is a really amazing example of corrosion - it's the screws that held the antenna base on. They're all the same length and what's not shown are the ones that sheared off despite a days soaking in penetrant.
The ever present 5 in 1 tool scraping away ancient sealant.
Years ago I bought a Beverly Shear and it's one of the best tools ever for cutting sheet goods. They're not too expensive on ebay and I bolt mine to the bench when needed. It's worlds better than hand shears.
Similarly is the Roper-Whitney Punch No. 5 Jr. It's a simple tool, cheap and plentiful on ebay, that does a simple job of punching holes and is far faster than drilling. The throat stop makes consistency easy.
With the new patch in place I drill and place clecos and it's about that time that I get some help.
I usually let the kids curiosity drive them and seeing me on the roof of the trailer made them want to help.
They really liked the process of putting the clecos in. I think that it's universally satisfying to use them.
Nadia decided after one patch it was too hot on the roof but the lure of power tool use kept Lucas on board.
And with that last patch glued, sealed and riveted in place the last little bit of sealing the roof was done. I hope.
I struggled with what to do with the AC and finally decided to remove the sheared bolt and just reinstall it. We rarely use it and why make a bigger project of it? Well the sheared bolt then broke again at it's welded mount inside the AC's thin metal framework. I toyed with the idea of pulling it off the roof and trying to weld it back in but in the end I gave up. It's a 40+ year old AC, the sheet metal is galvanized (deadly to weld) and if I put in a modern heat pump style AC I would have a reliable way to keep the trailer comfortable all year while plugged in if needed. Yeah for mission creep!
Sadly new units are $800-1200 and I just missed on Craigs List. For now I've put the AC in place and will continue to look for a decent used one.
So it's not a project complete but at least it's closer. With any luck I'll find a heat pump soon. If I can't before Sept I'll pony up for a new one and get the thing buttoned up.
Next I'm going to turn my attention to the thing most bothering me and holding up other projects - the garage.
Gregor
