Notes from Windward: #67

 

Moving a Tool Shed

getting ready to work on the bathroom

A cab-over loaded on the flat trailer
  


     Steady readers of this blog will perhaps remember that the work on the kitchen counters was started as a way to clear out some of the things stored in the room that will become the kitchen's bathroom--primarily because the bathroom was where we were storing things like the granite slab and the tools that we use to do things such as install tile.

     Well, now that the counter work is wrapping up, it's time to get on with moving the tools out of the bathroom and Bay 5 so that we can start finishing those spaces. One of the reasons we can do our own construction is because over the years we've acquired a large stock of tools--the challenge then becomes one of finding ways to organize and store those tools so that they can be found when needed. Sometimes we'll go to find a tool only to have to conclude that it's in "deep storage" meaning that we're sure that it's somewhere on these 131 acres, but its exact location is proving to be a mystery.

     Over the years we've used a variety of small trailers, campers and cab-overs to provide temporary housing, work and storage space, and we're very pleased to be at the point in our development where we're able to tear down one or two of them each year. The exception to that will be our four cab-over campers which will continue to be useful both as what we fancifully call our "away shuttles" and as portable tool sheds.

     Given the cost of motel rooms, it's often cost effective for us to load up one of the cab-overs onto one of the work trucks when we're attending a conference or some marketing event,. For example, I used to take one of the campers and use that as a place to work out of when I went to renaissance fairs to market my coins, and no doubt W-TNGers1 will use them in similar ways as they market the products they develop at farmer's market or community fairs.

backing a cab-over into place
  


     Here on site, the cab-overs make for handy, portable tool sheds that allow us to sort and store tools at a worksite. In this case, since we're about to start work on the last of the open areas in the dining hall, we'll just transfer the tools and materials that are in our way to the cab-over.

     Moving one of these cab-overs isn't all that hard, it's just a matter of taking your time and being careful as you jack them up--especially this time of year when the jack stands can shift if one leg sinks into the soft ground. So far, we've not dropped one of the cab-overs, and that's a record we'd like to keep intact.

     Once it's backed into place, it's a matter of using the camper jacks to lift the cab-over off the flat trailer, pull the trailer out of the way, and then carefully lower the camper down onto some railroad ties so that it's not sitting on the ground.

the cab-over in place aren ready to use
  


1 Windward-The Next Generation


Notes From Windward - Index - Vol. 67