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DuncanS
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2013
Posts: 4583
Location: New Hampshire
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 Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:39 pm Post subject: Re: Tintop to Ragtop |
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Just re reading to see where I left off and noticed this: [img]https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/2317295.jpg[/img What was that ? Added the bracket at the end and voila. Doesn't seem to add much, but at least I know what it was. In the end, I used just magnets to hold the string tight while the 5200 was curing and it all worked out except for one which is sort of loose and will need re doing with adhesive at some point Fine for now. So back to the middle of the "porcupine" program.
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While working on all this, the C pillar cross member was really a pain in the butt. I plan to remove it when I can get some reinforcing steel, but I wonder.....?
Duncan |
Took a hacksaw and cut through the C pillar cross member about 6" away from one side so if it were spongy, I could bolt it back together. Very interesting. The saw kerf didn't change at all it neither pinched the saw, nor opened up. Grabbed the long piece and with my back against the side pushed for all I was worth. Gap didn't change. Put a screwdriver and tried to lever it open more. With a really big screwdriver made for hammering which is 18" long, I pushed the cross member down so I had a half inch lever arm and with about a 40 pound thrust on the end of the screwdriver was able to open the .020 kerf to about .200. That's a separating force of around 30 x 40 pounds or 1200 pounds. That was all, not even a 1/4". Really impressive and close enough for my seat of the pants engineering so I took the entire thing out.
One issue is the wires don't go through the C pillar. They come out of the foam filled gap around under the cross member and then back through the gap.
Drilled a hole in the C pillar "dam" and after cutting the wires fed them through the hole. Spliced them back together and now none of the wires are outside of the roof edge cavity .
Drilled out the brackets and ground everything away, including the top of the cross member until it was flush with the vertical part of the tin where the lights and fresh air mounts go. These openings were incredibly handy for feeding the bases of the threaded hooks in. I also used wood blocks to lift the roof tin which was pretty flexible as I had cut out parts were the imbossed roof "ribs" were since I needed everything flat. This helped me get some of the hook backing plats into position. I used two strings for each one. One which went through the hole where the hook would go to pull it into position. The second one was fastened to a small wire loop fastened through a small hole drilled in one end of the rectangular base. Pulling on this string made sure that it was aligned properly inside the gutter channel and wasn't bridging across the curve. It needed to be flat against the tin for full adhesion and to insure the thread engagement of the hook was OK. I used every possible hole for access--light and vent holes, places where the embossed roof rib had been cut away and by pushing up the roof in others.
Here are a couple of shots of one in place after curing with the hook bolt in place.
Once they were all in and cured with the hook bolts installed, also in 5200, I filled in the cutouts where the roof ribs had been. The two center pop rivets hold a backing piece in place and the other at the joint ensure alignment. They have had this treatment as their is more work to be done before final welding, but I want to use the car and tape will keep everything dry until next year. The tape worked well last winter and so new tape should work fine for this one too.
Here they are all filled in and I'm working on getting the two new laminated oak roof ribs to be the right length so the tops of them are all in line with the tin roof at the ends of the opening front and back. And you can see some of the 26 hooks marching down the side of the top just above the gutter. After the tape was applied, the entire white part of the tin roof remaining was repainted. The older ribs are ash and have the toweling glued to the top as anti chafe padding. Unfortunately, although I pride myself on being good with wood, when I grabbed a piece of ash for the new ones, I didn't notice until after the epoxy clear finish was applied that they weren't made of ash. It was red oak. The colors don't match and I'm bummed, but too many other things to do to go back and make new once. Oh, well. White oak and ash are often interchange in boat building. They have very similar grain and color characteristics, but ash isn't prone to turning black if a finish surface is broken and water gets in like oak is. But notice I said white oak, and I had grabbed a piece of red. Inexcusable. D- Go sit in the corner on the high stool and put the dunce hat on.
And what it looks like with the canvas back on using the hooks instead of the clunky and not working particularly well gutter hooks.
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DuncanS
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2013
Posts: 4583
Location: New Hampshire
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| Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:41 pm Post subject: Re: Tintop to Ragtop |
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Sorry about the double pic. Hit submit when I meant preview.
Duncan |
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DuncanS
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2013
Posts: 4583
Location: New Hampshire
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 6:06 am Post subject: Re: Tintop to Ragtop |
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Haven't posted any updates and so here is some more to the saga.
Roof worked really well this summer. This is what it looks like in the full convertible mode. In figuring out where to put the hooks and get the correct spacing, I made sure that they were all uniform so the top could be partially open. This is moving the front edge back 3 hooks and folding the extra underneath and re fastening all the bungee points so some are doubled up.
And this one open a bit more.
I did every possibility until it was about 3/4 open and at that point the folding got to be tripled and the hooks were having trouble with triple bungee cords. There isn't really much point in having so much versatility, but it's there if I ever want. For example, If I had the boat on the top, it might be nice on a hot day to have it partially open for both standing and cooling, but if a rain came, it would be far quicker to pull it forward and close it all the way up.However, I do need to get some sun blocking screen and make a bimini to keep the back of my neck from lobstering up. https://www.sailrite.com/Textilene-Open-Mesh-Vinyl...u0QAvD_BwE
And here's a pic from this summer at the Southern Vermont West River gathering where there were 106 of us. One or two splitties, and a smattering of bays, but the bulk were T3s. I spread the canvas and ribs on the ground because so many asked what I did when it rained. In fact getting to the campground was a bit circuitous as there was no cell signal, and my phone nav app shut down. A beautiful day with no rain forecast and I was in full convertible mode. Then some grey clouds appeared. They got thicker..............and lower.............and thicker...........and then some drops..........and then some more drops. Wasn't that bad and kept going. Finally stopped and put the canvas back on with just a few ribs and ties and was at the campground 5 mins later in full sun. Nothing got wet as most of the drops flew past the opening. Set up the top and went off to gawk and talk. It doesn't appear in this pic, but I also deployed the rear hatch tent which is where the bed extends.
A note about the tent.
Before I even cut out the top, I imagined having a tent as a stand up camping program. Don't need upper sleeping, but the idea of being able to stand is really important. As I said at the beginning of this topic; although I have made well over a hundred modifications to my current Orly friend, I always look back to my '87 bought new on the tourist delivery program. Had a factory sunroof which I loved. It made loading heavy and awkward objects much easier as it was possible to stand up and stick bulky things through the roof to aid in getting them in. When the car was a couple of years old, with two of my sons and a friend we drove from Vermont to Oshkosh for the AirVenture plane meet. Rigged a sling chair with ropes and hooks from the track and put a curved plexiglass windshield at the forward edge of the opening. It was a favorite place to ride for the view and breeze. In retrospect, it wasn't the safest, but it was the funest.
Speaking of Oshosh.
Wings and booms all demount and go in the trailer which has extra camping gear in it. Then when we get to Oshosh, set it up in the camping area. Slow turning motors for the props. Nerf props, so you can walk into them and not get a boo boo. A 100 watt amp with appropriate sounds. Smoke generators in the engines for startup puffs. I suppose a fella could just have plexi discs with a white rim around the outside, but in the way and feathering props would be cool too. Bottom of the starboard nacelle drops down to reveal the ice chest with cold bevos. Port has a water tank, black paint on top to heat the water and gravity shower. Wolfsburg logo with castle and wolf on the rudders.
From an ad a thousand years ago.
OK, enough of that--the tent. Found a French Army surplus pup tent which looked really promising, but the only source I could find was from Finland. $54 plus flat rate shipping of $9.95. There weren't any real specs, but for the price I decided I'd take a chance. Two or three months to get here wouldn't be a problem as I didn't need it for quite a while. Ordered it on a Wednesday. It showed up the following SATURDAY!! FOUR DAYS LATER!!! Holy Schmoly, do those guys have their act together. It turned out to be exactly the right length and width. I cut the top down as it looked foolish full height on top of the car and I didn't need 9 feet of headroom.
A better view as you can see the bed still hanging out. The boat was at the overnight site and we loaded it into the car right on top of the bed with the top canvas as a sheet and blanket shield and drove it down the 200 yards to the launch site. You can see it on the beach at the left.
Still at West River, a really clean Syncro Doka with a couple of young kids building a complete ham 'n eggs breakfast with home fries and toast. Jealous as all I had that morning was a thermos of coffee and some cereal.
One of the really great things about the West River event is they raise money for a local cottage hospital and have a drawing for a huge amount of donated VW stufff. There is a three-church-table-long spot where there are all kinds of various crud from Bus cookie jars, to t shirts and Vdub salt and pepper shakers. There is a single jar for tickets for this table and as numbers are pulled out the winner gets their choice of what's there. Literally hundreds of items. Then there are ten or so more tabes filled with serious loot with a jar for each item. Window regulators, expansion tanks, new Westy canvas and so on. There was a brand new gas tank. One of my plans is to add a 15 gallon aux tank over the tranny which would be permanently plumbed with the main tank in front. The mods would require welding new inlets and outlets and plugging existing holes. Since mine is 31 years old and with God know what on the inside, it makes sense to start with a new tank.
So checked out the jar and there were only four tickets inside. I bought 11 $10 and put them all in the jar. Then there was music and a fabulous feed bag with 20 different pies, along with other sweets. After all was over, the ticket drawing began. The tank was one of the last to be decided and...........
There was one really funny item. A very nice CNC wood carving of a Westy in a pine tree setting about 10 x 14" in size. When the ticket was pulled, no one came forth to claim it so they went on with the drawing and came back to it about an hour later. Unfortunately, by that time they had lost the ticket. The MC asked everyone who had bought a ticket for it to stand. 20 stood. "All those who drove less than 50 miles to get here, please sit." 15 left. "All those who do not have children, please sit." 6 left. "All those who are not bald, sit. 2 left. "Those who have a green van remain standing. They both did. "Whoever has a birthday in the first part of the month, sit. 2 left. "Whoever.........sit. 2 left. This went on for about 5 more questions and the last one was. Whoever's wife liked it, but could live without it, sit". There was a discussion among the two couples and finally one guy was left. Later over beers, the winner admitted he probably didn't fall in the winning category, but didn't want to hurt his wife's feelings. Huge laughter the whole time from the crowd of 200. Everyone got something.
On the 75 mile drive home, I had the top off and a beautiful day bushwhacking and navigating by looking at the sun. Wandering through beautiful Vermont countryside with hill farms and all sorts of great things to see including:
Duncan |
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mikemtnbike
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Joined: March 26, 2015
Posts: 2797
Location: North Carolina
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DuncanS
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2013
Posts: 4583
Location: New Hampshire
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 3:58 pm Post subject: Re: Tintop to Ragtop |
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One thing I didn't mention was the guilt on the drive home. $10 for a brand new gas tank and it was for a charity? Bad dog. If they had had an auction, I'll bet they would have got $50 at least. So next year when I go, I'll give them an extra wad with thanks.
Yes, the trip and various boat rides, etc. were fun. Sailed all the way down most of the length of Lake Willowby in Vermont without a single oar stroke. Just in case the Samba gods pull the pic and substitute a box with a blue question mark, the 12' long dinghy weighs 20 pounds without the sails and spars. So it's easy to toss on top or shove inside. With a huge amount of fussing and sea trials, I discovered that the hull form does not like to sail to weather; it's strictly a down hill coaster., so I switched from a standard rig to square sails and can go any where with 155º to 205º from the wind behind. There is the option to row. All three sails can be dropped in 1 second if a gust comes from the wrong direction and threatens a capsize.
Also found a pic of the Oshkosh car rig. This is the new version, the other was a rigid frame item and didn't sway much. This one is simply for "hanging", not driving. Mounts N,E S and W. Well, maybe a short dirt road explore. It also lacks a drink holder so has almost no value atal, atal. I'll look for one with an "ottoman" as well as the drink holders.Checked out a few with foot/leg support, but no one seems to have the drink holder right. No hill for a climber.
Duncan |
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