So, two more drills that were in the flood burned up....thats it, I'm out of drills. Hells bells, lucky the last on burned up on the last hole and it was only sheetmetal work, nothing in the way of difficult. But I'd begun to think differntly as I broke 2 #29 bits for the rivits and dulled a 1/4" bit (I think it was dull to start with, I don't care that I got it out of the package 5 minutes before) but, all the non structural repairs are done and the bed is essentially ready for Dad to arrive on the 20th and help me with that Son and Father bed replacement project he knows nothing about!
Fortunatly, all the structural members of Ol John Lees bed are in fine froghair shape. Each secure point is relatively rust free with thick metal and plenty of residual strength after near 48 years outside with basically wet wood sitting on it all the time.
The non structural cross ties and bed header left a bit to be desired. Still plenty of metal but a few places where rot ate out the bolt holes past the normal size washers to be used. The ties I am repairing are the three floating members that serve to stiffen the bed left to right and keep it from warping/waiving.
Borrowing from carpentry, I sister in some strap aluminium. It will be plenty strong as the member itself is not compromised...just needs a bit of extra metal to drill a right size hole for the bed wood bolts to grab on to. Once the pairs of outside bed wood bolts/nuts are installed, the aluminum will form a sandwich and be more than strong enough to hold the wood down and function correctly to keep the entire bed from developing a waive from left to right.
In the lower photo you can see the predrilled angle iron that I used to repair the bed header. Plenty of predrilled holes and guess what? They basically line up where the need to for the skid strips to tie in. I had plenty of good metal left in the bed header just above the old shelf so left it in place to guide and position the new angle iron shelf. Primed and painted the back of the new angle iron and installed 3 1/4" bolts with fender and lock washers on the back side to spread the load up and out into the stronger metal above the shelf. I'm pleased with the result. Here's a shot I remembered to take before gettin all the dark grey primer on the front side.
Here is a couple shots after the paint is applied. I think the good news is it will be plenty strong to hold the ends of the skid strips in place and it stiffens up the header again. The best news is it will virtually disappear once the wood and skid strips are installed. Sturdy, serviceable and will be just fine in the long haul.
