Maintenance & Restoration

William Smith · 08-04-2016, 12:18 PM

Any chance the recycling center was weighing in kilograms?

Jack L · 08-04-2016, 01:07 PM

There is an old joke, A scrap metal dealers son asked his dad "how much is 2+2?'' and his dads reply was "are you buying, or selling".

Carol H · 08-04-2016, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

One of our problems is to make sure we keep it tongue-heavy. We have big, empty pontoons under the back bed; if we fill those, it's hard to stuff enough items up front to counter-balance it. So at this point, we carry only an extension cord in one side and some trash bags in the other, keeping them mostly empty.

I had the same issue with my 16' Scamp side bath - not much in the way of storage at the front of the trailer so it was hard to counter balance the impact of the weight taken off the tongue when I needed to travel with water in the fresh tank which was at the rear or when I carried bikes on the rear.

Solution was to carry a large Rubbermaid plastic tote that I carried all the hoses, electrical cords, hammer, axe, electrical adaptors, levelling blocks and other odds and ends in. I carried it along with my portable fire pit on the floor of the trailer over the axle but when I added extra weight (water or bikes) to the rear of the trailer I simple moved the tote and fire pit to the front of the trailer to put some weight back onto the tongue.

Glenn Baglo · 08-04-2016, 04:44 PM

I use cases of beer. They have handles and are easily stacked forward or over the axle.

Carol H · 08-04-2016, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I use cases of beer. They have handles and are easily stacked forward or over the axle.

Yup no more plastic tote for ballast for me either.

New trailer has a storage hatch in the perfectly location for a mobile wine cellar.

Johnny M · 08-07-2016, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Smith

Any chance the recycling center was weighing in kilograms?

No it was pounds I asked

Johnny M · 08-07-2016, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve L.

I was thinking to myself that this is sort of a bummer situation. What if you measure again and it's significantly heavier. Now, which measurement do you believe? You almost have to measure it twice more to get a sort of tiebreaker. Three separate weigh stations I suppose.

I've only had mine measured once by the RVSEF group. I was about where I expected so I chose to stick with it but it is a bit arbitrary.

All the trucks stop could not weigh my unit unless I weighed the tow then removed the Boler and weighed again, and they are busy with trucks on an off every few minutes. The feed place/grain silo I went to that regsitered 1420 is a reputable place for the local agriculture industry and I believe there scales are inspected by the GA Dept. of Agriculture where the recycle company I am almost certain is calibrated by a for profit company, could not find anything on the net for GA state certification of recycle center scales.

Since I am preparing for a new axle I decided to remove my lower floor since the previous owner flipped the axle, glad I did as he welded the axle to the lower floor supports in addition to the main frame. So I went ahead and cut those 3 welds loose from the lower floor frame, left the axle welded to the main frame for now. Since I had to take out the lower floor I decided it was a good time to fix a minor problem with my door in which the bottom opening was wider than the top by about 1/2" (my error from last year glassing in the floors. In order to fix this I also had to cut the front corner floor piece away from the body to make the move and the re-glass it back in place after a small trim to it. In the process I had to disassemble my wood work of the bathroom walls and shelf and the refrigerator cabinet to do all this. So while I had all the wood out I weighed each piece of wood to see how much it accounted for. The refrigerator cabinet weighs 44 lbs. The bathroom walls including the drivers side front corner shelf weighs 69 pounds for a total of 113 pounds. I did this based on previous comments from another post about adding to much weight in the re-design of my Boler. It is all constructed of 3/4" plywood for strength with pine 1x2s for the accordion door frame and all held together with wood screws. I am comfortable with that added weight as the bath walls and refrigerator cabinet are also roof support, I considered going lighter weight construction but after weighing it I feel good about it.

Kai in Seattle · 08-07-2016, 01:11 PM

Our problem with redoing our trailer is that each project gets done by us for the first time. We have no practice trailer. So we usually learn enough by the time we've finished to do it entirley right the NEXT time.

We've redone some things, always with better results. Such a learning curve!

I understand learning new things is very good for the structure of our brains--we can use all the help we can get!

Sounds like you're going great guns there!

BEST

Johnny M · 08-07-2016, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

Our problem with redoing our trailer is that each project gets done by us for the first time. We have no practice trailer. So we usually learn enough by the time we've finished to do it entirley right the NEXT time.

We've redone some things, always with better results. Such a learning curve!

I understand learning new things is very good for the structure of our brains--we can use all the help we can get!

Sounds like you're going great guns there!

BEST

Yes I agree, same here this is our first trailer and yes everything we have done the 2nd time turns out much better, I guess practice makes perfect here is so true. Nothing plumb square or true about the Boler so what construction, fabrication, engineering etc. skills that I have don't seem to be as beneficial as one would expect when tackling one of these small fiberglass creatures of mystical thought from long ago...

Kai in Seattle · 08-07-2016, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny M

Yes I agree, same here this is our first trailer and yes everything we have done the 2nd time turns out much better, I guess practice makes perfect here is so true. Nothing plumb square or true about the Boler so what construction, fabrication, engineering etc. skills that I have don't seem to be as beneficial as one would expect when tackling one of these small fiberglass creatures of mystical thought from long ago...

Yes, the mythical, jystical "egg"

sometimes referred to as a "Draggin' Egg."

(and variations thereof)

BEST!