Stretching my 1988 17 ft Bigfoot

[ken h]

I am adding 42 inches to my trailer. Thought about it for awhile , then stripped the inside out . Just before I cut it in half , I did hesitate but it was already to late . Here are some pics so far

[ken h]

I guess I need help with my pictures .Can any one give me some advise
Thanks

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by ken h

I guess I need help with my pictures .Can any one give me some advise
Thanks

I'm not expert but maybe I can help. You need to have your pictures uploaded to an image hosting site, then use the "insert image" button (it's yellow) above the reply box to enter the web address for the image. You may want to keep your images under 100K or 200K size.

[Matt in SV]

Actually you don't need them uploaded to an image hosting site, they just need to be small enough to upload. If you don't have a tool to resize the photos to under 100k, and you're on Windows, just right click the photo and select send to mail recipient, choose make my pictures smaller, then just save them back to the desktop.

When you post your message, click go advanced and manage attachments.

Donna has a tutorial if you need more help. I'm looking forward to the stretched egg. I always thoughtbabout going the other way and hacking down an Airstream!

[Donna D.]

Oh please don't use a picture hosting site, if you post them here they'll be in the archives. Click here for info: Picture posting help by Donna D.

Can't wait to see pictures!

[ken h]

Well here we go

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Oh please don't use a picture hosting site, if you post them here they'll be in the archives. Click here for info: Picture posting help by Donna D.

Can't wait to see pictures!

[ken h]

Originally Posted by ken h

Well here we go

I think this may work, Thanks

[Vickie B.]

Whoa---unbelievably gutsy! Sweet!

[Matt in SV]

Wow, it looks like you're adding a second axle, too?

I have been reading a lot about fiberglass repair. It appears you need to "dish" out the interior margin of the existing fiberglass. So if you're 1/8 inch thick you're supposed to grind it back a couple of inches, tapering out from the edge to get a good bond with the existing glass. Apparently, slapping on a new seam is not strong, structurally. It's probably the first thing I would have tried doing, myself, though. Try looking up fiberglass repair in YouTube if you're not familiar with the process.

Whenever they stretch cars or chop tops for convertibles, they gave to really beef up the existing frame, so maybe look at doing that first, while things are in parts.

Can you get far enough away to get a straight on profile picture?

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses!

Regards,

Matt

[Bill K]

Another place you might check is boat yard's that stretch fiberglass boats.

Bill K

[Mike Magee]

Ken, this qualifies your work area as a Chop Shop. Pretty amazing!

[ken h]

Here are some pictures I took along the way. It was started in Oct. of this year . And yes I did spend a few nights on utube before I began, watching videos on fibre glass repair.

[Byron Kinnaman]

I think by doing it with one cut in front of the axle the balance is going to be way off. Tongue weight could be way too high. I think might work two smaller extensions on each side of the axle. This way just doesn't feel right.

[Matt in SV]

I think Ken's got a second axle already bolted on in the last photo in the earlier post, Byron, but I'm interested on how the weight distribution was anticipated.

Regards,

Matt