Okay. I'm in the office now, which means I'm ready to NOT work, so I'll post this instead.
If my screw-ups can help ONE person here, it's well worth it to me. (Yeah, right.) But get ready, she's a long one:
I get to the boatyard with the semi-intention of getting a few little things done, and MAYBE taking her home for a week...a week and a half...to get ready for Anastasia. I say "maybe" because I was still tentative about having my city's Code Enforcement lay down their fiery wrath upon me, but I figure that for a week, they'll let me slide. And if I DIDN'T take her home, no way I would be ready.
The day begins with a joyous trip to HD, because as we all know, how could a trip there be otherwise? I easily find my can of Rustoleum gold metallic, a few foam brushes, and I cut a piece of 8' outside corner pine molding from a 12' piece, which is the only length they had.
As you may know, these long pieces usually contain SEVERAL stickers of the UPC code, for the very reason that people often cut them, and this way, the cashier knows what to charge.
Well, the piece I chose to cut DIDN'T have the UPCs, but didn't think any further about it. I figured I would later just explain to the Haitian cash register, real slowly, that this is 11/16" outside corner pine molding, and it should come up at $1.15 a foot.
More on this stupid assumption later.
I need one more item at HD, and I'm amazed that it just doesn't seem to exist (there). Imagine a small "L" bracket, like with 3" stems, that you would use to hang a very narrow shelf. Well, I need a few pieces like this that are in the shape of a "U." Not a 'U" that's rounded like a U-bolt on the end, something with 3 straight edges.
Seems that when you consider the combined manufacturing might of China, Korea, Mexico and Taiwan, this little piece would be available to me in the land of the free. But I guess not.
I made a little shelf for my stereo amp, and since the amp is so thin, I only need like 2 inches of clearance for it. So the perfect spot to put it is under the overhang. In other words, I would have used the U pieces to hang it from above--no reason to go into the wall because of shelf depth and other factors.
I bought brass colored L brackets instead, and stared at this engineering puzzle at the boatyard for around 30 minutes, trying to figure out how the heck to make this work. (If there was a cartoonist nearby, he would have drawn a large "Duh!?" over my head.) My confusion had nothing to do with drinking, since it was Sunday and they weren't selling beer until noon. (Again, I don't understand why us JEWS have to suffer because you guys can't drink before noon.)
But I do deserve a round of applause, because later that day, I did indeed figure it out, but this necessitated my 3rd trip to HD for the day to buy 4 small nuts and bolts. Yes, I have a LOT of nuts and bolts! But can you believe they weren't the right size? Plus, they weren't brass?
But now back to that other HD in the morning--and let's leave that piece of pine molding with the Haitian cashier--and just forget about it.
I tried to explain the details to her of this very complicated transaction, real slow like I said I would, but it just didn't compute in her world. After 10 minutes of her phone calls for assistance, and getting nervous about the big impatient guy behind me who was removing his new weed wacker from the box, I figured better safe than sorry:
I decided I would get the molding later at the HD closer to my home, where only 8 out of 10 of their salespeople are foreign-born--not like the company average of 9 out of 10.
So off to the boatyard I go, finish my little tasks there, and yes, I am brave enough to hitch her up for the second time in a year! And I actually backed the truck up all by myself and got her in position!
Is 45 minutes an excessive timeframe to get this done? I'm not sure.
Except, now, where are my glasses? I'm nearsighted and need them to drive and for TV, but I always have them handy. I search the truck, I search the cabin, and I search the ground--and found them:
BADLY broken--one lens is out, both are badly scratched, and one stem is off. I obviously stepped on them--repeatedly. Great, just GREAT!!!
I test the running lights with someone's assistance, and all is fine. She is locked onto my Silverado tight, and all that's left to do is raise the tongue jack and swing her back. I raise her all the way, but the wheel is still touching the ground. She ain't moving under light, moderate or heavy pressure, not even very intense pressure.
Why is it touching the ground, you ask? When this exact configuration worked fine a YEAR ago when I first BROUGHT her to the boatyard, you further ask? I pondered this long and hard, and I came up with this conclusion:
I have no idea.
The only POSSIBLE answer is that the TD was only partially weighted a year ago, and now that she's almost done, there's more weight. Also, remember that I have 12" wheels, so this inexpensive HF jack may not be the right one for folks with the same trailer.
Also, I have the straight removebale hitch with the small drop-off at the end, a drop-off that now goes DOWN. If I reversed the hitch and ball so that it RISES instead of dropping, this would have fixed the problem, giving me that extra few inches.
But this doesn't help me now because it's impossible to remove that ball without the proper tools, so I figure my only solution is to temporarily remove the jack while squinting. (God bless 10w-40.) This was a situation where it would have been nice to own a second pair of glasses, but not only would I probably have not had them with me anyway, I can't afford another pair because I'm spending all of my money on a TD. (Priorities.)
But all is still good, the jack is off, and I'm ready to roll!
But oh--by the way:
I would have had to remove that jack under ANY circumstance, because since I installed my tongue box AFTER it made that first trip to the boatyard, there was no room to swing it back!
Yes ladies and gentleman, I'm laying it all out here. And no, it isn't therapeutic at all. But this tongue box will not continue to be a problem after all! More on this later!
Fasten seat belts, start engine, let's drive--to Pep Boys to find another jack.
But alas, they only have ONE box of ONE model that's still unsuitable, because they're too busy stocking their inventory with woodworking tools, generators, and canopies. You know--stuff REALLY related to automotive needs. So let's go home, reinstall the old jack, and we'll hammer her into position. Another time, we'll buy a crank-up jacl with no swing-back.
So here I am on Ira Avenue, approaching my house, and I expertly swing out into the ongoing lane to make my approach for backing in. And I DID it!
Except I'm off by about 15 feet.
So I try again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
In between the 8th and 9th "and agains" up there, I learned a valuable lesson, and this shows you the kind of man I am. An HONORABLE man who will admit his faults and give credit where credit is due:
Gage was right:
The tongue box was too big, and I cut too sharp and destroyed it. Thankfully, the crabs are fine, but now I get to build another tongue box.
WHOOPPEE!
(Remember that I told you above that my large tongue box is no longer a problem when it come to that tongue jack? Were you paying attention?)
Stop laughing. If you believers were REALLY in church praying, this wouldn't happen to one of your fellow teardroppers.
It's now still fairly early, about 3PM, and I install my miracle amplifier shelf, remove and prep my portholes for painting (today), and I'm doing all of this with the air conditioning on. (The power at the boatyard was always screwed up and it never drove the AC; it kept cycling.)
Now I'm sorry to tell you northerners this, but it was like 89 here yesterday, and that AC felt WONDERFUL!
I now run my speaker wires from the amp to the speakers at the other end of the cabin, and figure I would use the good, heavier speakers that match the amp. (Since I now have to buy another pair of glasses, I can't afford new smaller ones.)
I put the speakers in the front cabinet, actually BEHIND the luan. I can easily move them so they project through the curtains, but this way, they store nicely in there.
I have dinner, it gets dark, but of course, I have to go out and play with my toy some more. I turn on the air, turn on the lights, I take my son's portable DVD player, hook her up, and pop a copy of The Little Mermaid in there and go right to "Under the Sea."
Folks, it was like being in Carnegie Hall. The sound quality was beyond belief!
Having the audio project THROUGH the luan had to have something to do with it, as well as the overall acoustic attributes of a TD. I mention this to newbies who may have been sitting on the fence about installing an entertainment system. This was WAY down on my list of properties, but way above my expectations.
And laying on my back there last night with my younger son, with the AC gloriously cooling and the light magically glowing, watching Spongebob Squarepants, made all of the past headaches worthwhile. The HELL with having to build another tongue box.
By the way, on my drive home, not one person gave me a thumbs up and I didn't receive any attention at all which I so sorely yearn for, and that really pissed me off.
Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailersor t n ttt for short (tnttt.com) |
I can't discuss it now...
71 posts
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Did you get any 
! Or a video of the backing!
Oh I am so sorry about the tongue box getting messed up. Heres another chance to miter some corners. I think you can do it and I really think you should make a box like Mary K's. but more crab shaped. 
