Three days of hard work and one day of prep work has kept the Planner very busy. The Worrier came down for a three day weekend to help with the conex shuffle and slide. However before any shuffling or slide more prep work had to be completed on Friday.
More paint. The first step in prep work, or any work for that matter, is always the hardest. Unless the first step is touch up painting. Second coats of red primer were painted. One can never take too many precautions when it comes to rust. Rust, the arch enemy of coastal living. Besides, the rust red primer was a nice color. Thinking maybe the whole box could be this color. Hmm....
Adjoining plates. Second step in the prep work process was the addition of an adjoining plate. This plate was needed in order to combine the two boxes as one unit. In order to do this, both boxes had to be cleaned of all wall removal residue. Grinding divots, plasma dust, and old rust will result in the plate not laying flat. Non-flat surfaces mean tripping hazards. I trip easily enough on my own, don't need an 1/8" flat stock to trip me. Thank you much.
The plate was first tacked to the red box. Original thoughts were to weld the entire 40' of length.
However, once the longer tacks were in place it was noticed the flat stock was warping. Full length welding was scratched. Less work is ok by me. Not that I was welding or anything. Welding, ha! I wasn't even taking pictures. Later when when the blue box is slide over it will be tacked and welded into place too.
Simple, right? Sure, it was just 80' of additional grinding, 80' of plate cutting, and then 80' of plate tacking. Simple, yes. Time consuming, yes yes. 80' of yeses.
Corner punches. Next on the prep work was closure of the corner holes with pre-punched plates. The Worrier punched the plates in Big City #1 during the last two weeks. He has this handy dandy machine that makes it as easy as buttering bread. With warm butter that is, not cold butter. Both the red and the blue boxes were closed with plates. Four corners and 45 minutes later, the boxes were ready for the last step.
Release the tacks. The last step was the easiest and consisted of releasing of the tacks holding the box to the subframes. Mind you, the box was tacked into place but each tack still took several minutes to remove with a grinder. To ensure each corner was fully released, a high lift jack was used to pick up the corners.
Time to shuffle. With all the prep work done, it was time to start the conex shuffle. The shuffle is a two step process: slide red box over and then slide blue box off trailer and onto subframes. Having already slide on a box, I was not expecting to have any stomach issues with the second box. In fact I was so far from worried, I found myself staring off into space instead of taking pictures and videos. Oopsy #1.
Using a combination of tractors,
high lift jacks,
cables and chains,
and standard come-a-longs, the red conex box slide over with only one minor glitch.
C-clamps are not designed to be used as pull points. What was once a C-clamp is now a pretzel. Oopsy #2.
Ensuring the conex box was centered on the subframe, the Planner then tacked each corner. Last step before starting on the sliding of the blue conex box was to fully weld each corner of the red conex. As you guessed, there are no pictures of this. To my credit, I was cooking dinner, but still I know. Pictures make a blog. Sorry.
Saturday, dawned clear and cool yet again. This is some crazy weather. NO I AM NOT COMPLAINING! I am simply stating for blog purposes. It was cool not cold. The Kid never missing an opportunity to wear his most favorites. So there he was in well worn 6T khaki cargo shorts (for those of you without kids this means shorts of this size are not usually seen on kids aged 9 and 4'7"), his favorite surfer shirt now stained with white paint from the little peeper coops, a fleece lined jacket, and flip flops. That's a true Texan right there. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, wet or dry, inside or out, Texans wear flip flops. In college, way back in the day, I would wear fleece sweaters, rain gear, and flip flops to class in the winter. Feet get cold, toe socks. Yup, those were the good old days. Toe socks! What a concept.
Sliding the blue conex box was almost exactly the same as sliding the red conex box. Frame channels were attached to the subframes.
and secured to the correct height with a random assortment of blocks.
Frame channel ramps were placed under the conex, secured to the subframe, and then supported with more random assortments of blocks to keep it from bending like a wet noodle.
One major difference in the sliding of the blue conex was the use of the tractor. Unlike the red conex, the tractor was used to push the conex across the ramps. Having the red box in place also meant the blue conex box could not slide off the back side or slide off to one side or the other. Yeah.
The Worrier also built some guides while in Big City #1. These were FANTASTIC. They kept the conex from sliding off the subframes. Double yeah. Not the either box ever slide off the frame but there was always that potential. The Planner kept telling me it would not actually fall off but I think he is wrong. I believe once one sides slips off the remaining 39' will follow suit. Hasn't he ever heard of leaping lemmings?
The tractor pushed the conex until it reached the frame channel supports on the subframe.
High lifts were used to pick up the conex over the channel while being pushed with the tractor.
The tractor was then used to slide the box to its farthest reach. At this point, the box was almost completely on the subframe.
As before, the storage box ramps were used to push the conex into its final place.
Final center alignment of the box was done and completed. This too was made easier by the guides the Worrier built. See how far the box was off centered? See Planner, the conex box could actually lemming itself right off the subframe.
To counter the design error of subframes being too short in the middle, 5/8" plates were placed under the boxes and welded onto the subframes. Plates were then welded to conex box. Lots and lots of welding. Stick after stick of welding rods.
Last was the complete welding of the blue box onto the subframe.
Finished. Finito. Estodo. Complete.
Told you it was going to be easy peasy. It was so easy in fact, I cooked a chicken on the BBQ. No, I helped cooked a chicken on the BBQ. The Planner started the fire. I maintained the temp and asked about a bazillion questions. BBQing is harder than it looks.
The Kid and I also made a key lime pie for desert. This is the first time in a long time that the Kid wanted to help cook. It was just like the shake and bake commercials. It was mix and bake and he helped.
BBQ chicken and key lime pie after a days worth of work. What a great way to spend a Saturday. What a great way to end a very busy week.
Let me conclude with this image. The one on the left is the image I took. The one on the right is the edit Google Photo made on its own. Notice the BBQ pit behind this dratted rooster? It took all my will power to not cook this rooster. No amount of Google Photo touch ups can make me want this rooster. You know anybody looking for a rooster. He is free!