Newest project, mini camper.

[W.Lynn]

I'll usually tent camp, if only because taking the huge coach some places often isn't possible, and sometimes it's just more work than I want to do.

So of course, the alternative is going to be a small camper, because there's no hotel rooms among the trees.

So this is the RP's fault.

He started by setting the bar for Mother's Day really high:

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2014 XTerra Pro-4X, very nice inside. Skid plate, twice the towing capacity I need for anything, off-road lights, 4WD. It will rock-crawl. Or get to/from deer camp. Or to tai chi class.

Now, for the next part of the equation, for some reason my brother in law got hold of the RP about taking their mother's old mower and utility trailer off his hands, and did he know anyone who wanted a motorcycle? So RP and the grown son went off, and came back with all three.

Now the little boys can run into everything with riding mowers, my son has a motorcycle to replace the one he had before, and the RP has a project. Welder, safety gear, and a generator big enough to run the welder have all been purchased.

This weekend, we cut the drop-gate off the back of the second trailer, salvaged parts of the angle-iron, and did unspeakable things like slinging the axle under the springs, resulting in a fairly decent lift.

From this:

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To this:

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I have to study first, so I'm not welding anything yet, but the RP did this:

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There will be more, mostly on weekends.

[kickstand]

That's awesome W.Lynn! Sounds like y'all had an expensive weekend. Congrats on the new Xterra. I bet that you have a great time with it.

I can weld...kinda, but am far from being "a welder". The vast majority of my welding experience has been welding two pieces of exhaust pipe together, so it didn't have to be structurally sound, just mostly airtight. Clownsrule took a welding class at the Community College several years ago and reallly had a blast.

Now he just needs the current ham in the house to push for a decent HF rig, and for said ham to actually use it (says the AE that hasn't turned the HF rig on in probably two years).
Again, congrats on the new acquisitions. Have fun.

[W.Lynn]

The RP actually did it for a job, about the time the oldest was born. So he played around with some of the scraps he cut off before he tacked the braces down where he wanted them. That worked out ok, so he started laying a bead everywhere no one would see, before we turned that thing over and he did the welds that would be more visible. He also gets busy with a chipping hammer and a wire brush while the machine has rest cycles. Knocks off any garbage or overcooked crispies that may not be wanted.

I have learned more from him, than I have from the dull, dry, boring book I picked up. But the book has some historical facts in the introduction for a redeeming factor.

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[W.Lynn]

Well, he's thinking if he was uncomfortable stepping up onto the trailer deck with it raised, it will be near impossible for me in the dark, when I'm tired, wearing costume clothing, and might possibly have been drinking. The axle will go back where it was.

Today we went out and bought angle iron to do some bits with.

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It's not much, but it was something we could do before the rain moves in again.

[W.Lynn]

We still have the trailer, it's nowhere near ready to use for anything, he did brush up on his basic welding but didn't like my suggestions not to put an a/c unit under the bunk, but to make a grownup's toyhauler out of it. Motorcycle tie-downs, kayak, and water gear, etc, we need to be on the same page.

[W.Lynn]

No updates in a LONG time, between health concerns and not much getting the welder out, but we talked about it on the way back from deer camp, where no deer were seen. He's sounding like we might be getting back onto this But I still think some of his ideas are pretty hare-brained.