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The inside after much scraping. I chose
not to use chemical stripers because of the difficulty of actually being
able to get out all of the stripping residue before applying epoxy and
multiple layers of varnish. I wanted to make sure the penetrating
epoxy and the varnish would not be repelled by anything left behind....especially
in the joints!
New coupler we added and front pin assembly
we machined. I made the pin removable if I ever need to change it
down the road. We also made some wooden accents to spruce up the
trailer!
Here are the stringers......completely stripped
of paint/varnish and sanded down to bare wood. They are still in
great shape!
Anytime you atomize epoxy you better have
the right protection! I put on two coats of deep penetrating epoxy before
building it back up with varnish.
The interesting point of this photo is that
I didn't fall off the roof when taking the picture and you cannot see any
black paint in the interior! (this is of course from 15').
A new rear bumper has been added to the trailer
along new with matching step boards on the sides.
Lisa made the mistake of coming out to the
shop and saying, 'Hey - whatcha doing?' She was immediately commissioned
as the 'Chief Petrified Putty Remover' and was put to work.
Once all of the putty was removed, the next
step was to back out all of the wood screws. Upon inspection, the
screws on the whole were in good shape but all of them were loose.
The actual screw holes were in great shape (none of them were stripped)
but they did have a very thin layer of soft wood within the countersink.
I put a small collar on a modified drill (the point was ground to match
the original countersink) and set it so that it just removed the thin layer
of soft wood.
Each hole was prepped with penetrating epoxy
and a new silicon bronze wood screw with a Frearson drive was installed.
Once all of the screws were replaced each
of the holes were carefully packed with putty and then hand sanded down
to be flush with the bottom surface.
Some of the main stringer attachments had
what appeared to be a hand-made countersunk stainless steel washers under
the heads of the bolts. Keeping with the tradition, we made a quick
hammer die and knocked out a couple dozen washers.
Agitator Restoration
Part 3
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My original plan was to re-fasten the stringers to the frames at joints
that appeared marginal. There was really a 'mixed bag' of bolts,
screws, washers, and nuts utilized over the years.........upon closer inspection
they ranged from rusted blobs that were once bolts to fractured lag screws.
The more I looked....the worse I felt about each of the joints. After removing
a few of the fasteners I discovered there was no actual bond between the
frames and the stringers at ANY of the joints. Therefore, I have
removed, stripped and restored the stringers with penetrating epoxy. Here
is my father and I getting the last bits of black paint off of them and
ready for the epoxy. I will re-fasten them with new stainless bolts,
locknuts and washers.
The washers give the main stringer attachment a nice finished look. The
restoration will keep progressing throughout the winter in my new heated
garage.