Touch Down

After too many days of waiting in limbo, I finally got the shell back down into it's original position. I was held up waiting to put enough strong backs and weak minds together at one time so we could just lift it up and put it on. We all got together on a 100 degree, 98% humidity afternoon and put the shell back on. It took less than a minute to do this. Only one of the five guys I hired would stay around and eat some food and drink my beer in order to show my gratitude.

The next step was to lower her down off of the cross beams and into the channel. For this task I went back to working solo. There is a whole rant hidden in that comment. It hinges off of individuals not showing up, not being on time, and generally 100% unreliable. I guess that is why for the past 10 years I have worked alone, without an employee. I need about three right now.

Sorry, back on track now... I jacked the shell up a bit and disconnected the beams and most of the cross bracing. Then slowly lowered her down. There was a great deal of up again and shifting, then lowering, to be followed by more lifting and shifting and more lowering. There was lots of sweat, lots of cursing, a few "taking a walk", and a good deal of blood. The blood was a good thing. Almost everything went right into place when the blood came.

Everything went right into place except this rear corner. There was no way I was getting that down and around the plywood. This corner was all gone on my original piece of plywood. I had to extrapolate(fancy word for fly by the seat of my pants) the curve. So, some more lifting, some trimming, some sanding, some sealing, and a little more blood, it went right into place.

You can't see it so well in the photo, but "ooh, nice straight lines Rosie". In case your wondering why her tires are flat... I pulled the valves to lower her down. Amazing what it takes to lift a shell 4 extra inches.

Everything just slid right back into place. I did however, reinstall all the side channel slightly off the original location so that the holes in the skin would not align with the originals. I wanted as many fresh rivet holes as possible. Less hole slop makes for a better rivet set.

She is coming right back together. Now that I got the shell on, she should go back together rather rapidly. I will post some riveting photos in few days. There are a few panels being replace also, for those that find all that stuff stimulating.

Stay tuned for more excitement.

I will be putting Rosie aside for a few days to go on a consulting job. I hate to do this since I just got rolling again. The offer of a free ticket and being able to use rebate points for the family made a work trip into a family holiday. I will be hopefully helping a friend in New Mexico make the purchase he has been dreaming of for a long time. Tim has found about 12 that he wants me to inspect. His favorite he says is a 1973 Safari he found less than two miles from his house in Madrid. It may be Rosie's long lost sister.