Getting some of the hard work out of the way before Dad shows up. Mostly I need to realign the bed a bit, just a squooch but its heavy and if needed I have a strapping young grandson to assist. Dad would help but I don't want him hurt. He's recovered a bit from a broken back at 70 years old and now at nearly 73, he still pushes it but I gotta mitigate the Wrath of Momma. So, get this out of the way and focus on some work with Dad that we can do with minimal grunting and risk.
All the pine needs rabbits and dados milled in it...each edge is first milled just a whisker over 5/8" wide and just under 1/4" deep. This will eventually establish a lip for the skid strips to latch on to. The second cut is a groove for the edge of the skid strip to fall into, its a bit under 3/8" wide and 3/8" deep. The opposite side of the bed side strips also needs a groove 1/8" deep and 1.5" wide to slip up under the bed side angle strips. As you can see in the photo, the wood is all milled at this point and temporarily placed under the angle strip to mark the holes for the carrage bolts. Each hole is drilled 7/16" diameter, same as the factory holes.
And the final layup of 2 coats of primer. Bed skid strips are 77" long and the wood is trimed to 76 7/8" with the space in the bed being 77 1/8". Room for expansion, no worries.
I'll blacken up these strips of wood this week with the lightly textured Rustoleum bed coating and work on an install and final alignment of the bed to the frame.