Holy crap what a day....

[Aloha]

Maybe you should have greased your ball...

 

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,73217.0.html

Good point!

When in doubt, grease your ball

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Total clustersmurf today..... it's now almost 3 in the afternoon and I'm really not much further than I was when I headed out the door at 0730 this morning.

Megan is going to have to ditch me I  the woods for a few hours and take her friend to the airport or she will miss her flight.

We'd be on the road right now but apparently the steel company I got the new tongue from can't count past two.  I ordered (and paid for) four holes and I got two.  Now I'm at a corner garage just outside the park waiting for the mechanic here to drill the other two holes which is costing more time and money.

Def

[Mechanickal]

Never count on people that aren't a MTO member...

[ducttapetech]

Never count on people that aren't a MTO member...

I not so sure if I would trust half of the MTO members. I mean do you really want me to show up and help?

[Don Pablo]

Never count on people that aren't a MTO member...

I not so sure if I would trust half of the MTO members. I mean do you really want me to show up and help?

I'm usually the guy who holds the light. 

[JP]

If you were on the right side of the River I could have swung by. 

Seriously though, it sounds like you have made it out of the Park and that the Trailer is now the problem.

Stay hydrated and if Megan doesn't leave you there for good I think you owe her an ice cream.

[redmond]

Holy hoppin' horse feathers!

Whatever you do, don't say anything resembling 'What else could possibly go wrong?'. Hopefully you've used up all your bad karma points.

We're all pulling for you big guy. Is there any help that could be given from a couple thousand miles away?

[TazzieRob]

Whenever I see or hear of someone baking themselves lobster red I cringe, gotta be one of the worst things!

Pluses: The Girls hopefully had a good time, and your trailer will be better than it was yesterday.
Maybe time for an inspection to make sure there aren't any other cracks developing elsewhere? Bit of time spent now hopefully save a whole lot of extra smurfache in the future

[kaput]

Man. I bet that was the best burger and beer of your life that night eh Grant?! Def worked for that one. 

[Alan K.]

I bet you could have fixed the trailer yesterday if only you had a Vic Tinker, a paper clip, and some duct tape.

[Aloha]

Note to self,  get a small welder just in case. 

I really hope this all got sorted.  I hope you are again enjoying a cold one and some good food. 

[kottskrapa]

Hope everything worked out in the end!

It's not failure if you learn something from it

[pfrsantos]

Never count on people that aren't a MTO member...

I not so sure if I would trust half of the MTO members. I mean do you really want me to show up and help?

I'm usually the guy who holds the light. 

I'm usually the guy who chases the light. 

[pomsbz]

Sorry about all your trouble. Heck it's about time we had MT's available that could do all of this stuff! That and stronger duct tape.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Here's the saga of Day 2:

I left around 0730 to be at store #1 as soon as they opened, a place called Princess Auto, which is way out on the south east corner of the city.  They have the coupler (the bit that hooks on the ball) but not the tongue, so I figure store #2, a dedicated trailer shop which is directly south of the city would be better.  I end up talking to the service guy there and he says they can't hep me, but there's a place just up the road from them that builds trailers and they would be able to help.  So, I go there, and guess what?  They can help, but not until tomorrow.   

Apparently the guy that cuts steel and drills holes is unavailable today, so I say that if they'd give me 20 minutes in their shop I can do it myself.  Unsurprisingly, they said no.  So, I ask them where in town I can buy steel and he mumbles something that sounds vaguely like a name, which is conveniently located in the south west corner of the city.  Bear in mind, I live as far north as you can get and still be in the city, so I am really racking up the mileage. 

On the way to the steel supplier I call my cousin, who lives in the city and is a mechanic, because I am concerned that I may just get the steel and may not get the holes drilled in it I need to attach the coupler and the trailer.  I figure that he may have a drill press that I could use, or maybe he would do it for me.  It turns out that he doesn't, but he suggests several suppliers that are in the end of the city I started in that would not only supply the steel, but also drill the holes.  By this time I have arrived at the steel supplier in the southwest corner of the city and so I figure I'll see if they will do it there.

They agree to do it, but they need the coupler to use as a template, so I have to go and get a coupler.  I head back to the trailer place, which seems like the closest option, but it turns out they don't have any in stock, but happily offer to order it for me.  As I needed it ASAP, that really wasn't an option.  So, off to the next place, Canadian Tire, which is just up the road from the trailer place.  Guess what?  They have couplers in stock, but not the right size, so more wasted time.  Somewhat annoyed I head off to Princess Auto again, and get the coupler, some bolts and some cotter pins because let's face it, I just want to be ready for anything at this point.  And, to be sure, I try the coupler on a 2" ball, which is what I have, just to ensure that I don't run into the wrong sized ball issue later, because that's just how my day is going.

I head back to the steel supplier, draw the guy a diagram of what I need, and where to put all four holes and follow the guy into the shop where one of the guys starts drilling the holes.  Awesome.  While he works I head back to the office to pay for it (damned thing ran over $100 for five feet of steel and four holes) and when I get back to the shop the bar is sitting there and the guy says it's done.  Great, I am in a major hurry, so I grab the bar, load it into the Jeep and realize that the whole thing won't fit in, so I need to leave the lift glass open.  I'm far too paranoid to drive like that usually, but I don't have much of a choice, so I strap the steel up with some ratchet straps that I carry everywhere and head out on the road.

A few blocks away a guy on a Goldwing pulls up beside me and says the back of my Jeep is open, and I assume he is talking about the glass, so I tell him thanks, but it is to accommodate the large piece of steel I just bought.  I keep driving and a block later I see my spare tire in the passenger side wing mirror and I realize that the rear gate wasn't closed- the whole bloody back end of the Jeep is wide open.   

I stop at the next red light on this busy, four lane street and quickly close it, feeling like a complete idiot.

By this time it's about 11am, and I am still an hour or so away from the park, which is way north, well past my place and into the next province.  Our plan was for me to try and get the parts for the trailer as early as possible, then get the rental boat and paddle out to the campsite to help Megan and Sarah get back to the parking lot.  I am hoping (quite desperately) that they have realized that I'm not going to make it, and that they decide to start paddling on their own, because time is running out  for Sarah to make her flight home- and the ironic bit is, the airport is on the south side of the city and I have driven past it several times trying to get a few simple parts I need for the trailer.   

I start heading off to the park and along the way I start to think that I really do need to cut the safety chains off the old tongue and attach them to the new one, so I pull off at a mechanic shop just before the park and ask to borrow a set of bolt cutters.  The owner of the shop pulls out a small cordless angle grinder and the chains come off quickly and easily.  Yay- at least one problem solved sensibly and easily.

I'm back on the road, still a good 10 kilometers at least from where the parking lot is that I am hoping the girls are headed to so I try to make it as quickly as possible, just in case I still need to make the hour long paddle to get them.  I pull up to where my trailer is sitting in the bushes, quickly unload the steel and a few other parts then head down to the parking lot and beach area, where thankfully I see Sarah, standing proudly with the two boats.  Megan had wandered off to look for me, because she hadn't heard from me since I left the day before- there's absolutely no cell signals in that end of the park, so she hadn't gotten any text messages or anything since we launched.  Since I hadn't shown up to get them she started to get worried that maybe I had capsized and drowned in the terrible little rental boat.

I tell her that they need to take the Jeep and get Sarah to the airport, then come back for me, assuming that I can kill 2-3 hours working on the trailer and amusing myself.  They are also watching the time and say they have an hour before they really have to be gone, so they will wait until I can assemble the trailer parts, which really shouldn't take long.  I also need to splice the wires so the lights work, but we decide not to bother with that because we just don't have the time and the girls don't want to leave me behind.

That leaves us lots of time, because installing the tongue only takes a few minutes- it's a five foot long hunk of steel (I'd bought steel twice as thick as the old one, so much heavier- if something breaks I believe in upgrading rather than simply replacing) with holes at both ends- one end for the coupler and one for the pin that attaches to the trailer.  Very simple system, and it should look like this when done:



The bracket you see on the left is the front tongue bracket, and the tongue just sits on the pin there, so no need for a hole.  The one pin that holds it, seen close to the center of the photo is simple and doesn't need tools, so that's super easy.  I brought my wrenches and ratchets to bolt on the coupler and we are on our way, right?

Wrong.

The smurfing piece of smurf smurfholes at the steel place only cut holes to bolt on the coupler, they didn't cut the holes for the safety chains or the pin, which means I can attach the coupler or I can attach the trailer, but not both.  And, I was in such a hurry I just grabbed it and ran without checking it.   

The hour that we have left before Sarah absolutely needs to be at the airport is then spent going back to the garage and getting the mechanic there to drill the holes for me- but as he doesn't have the super powerful drill press that the steel place does, this takes a lot longer than I am comfortable with.  As soon as it is ready I take off back to the park, programming the GPS for the airport as I go.  I get to where the girls and the trailer are and I notice that they have been packing the gear up, which is great because it's one less thing I have to deal with.

When I arrive, I don't even shut the Jeep off- I get out and just say "Good Bye" and get the girls on the way.  I have everything I need now, so I can get started while Megan takes Sarah to the airport, then stops at home to get the dogs out, since she has to drive right by it on the way to and from the airport anyway.

Literally minutes after the leave the tongue is installed, the safety chains and coupler are bolted on and the trailer is (mechanically at least) ready to go.  Since I have tie to kill I figure I will start trying to splice together the trailer wiring that got shredded the day before, when the trailer broke.  Needless to say, it was a slightly involved job...

This is the Jeep end:



And this is the trailer end:





For those not familiar with trailer wiring, there's actually four different wires in there.   

No problem, I have time to kill so I sit down and figure I'll take my time with an OHT and some electrical tape and clean it up a bit and splice them back together.  It's a simple job, just a bit time consuming, but I have time so why not?

As I'm doing that the bugs start driving me nuts.  I am super tasty to bugs.  I produce at least three times as much of whatever it is that bugs are attracted to, as usually no one else gets bitten and I will come home with hundreds of bites.  No problem- out comes the Ben's bug spray, loaded with DEET and I spray the hell out of myself.  I don't care if I get so toxic that my father starts to retroactively start to experience birth defects, I needed those friggin bugs away from me.

The good news is, it worked.  The bugs started keeping their distance, which made me happy and I got back to trying to clean up those shredded wires.

And that's when the rain started.   

Def

[hiraethus]

A big bundle of type 2 fun right there.  Glad you got it sorted.

[dks]

You mean you wee unable to fix everything using just your multitools???

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'd heard the thunder off in the distance but as it was over 30C and sunny I didn't worry too much about it.  I briefly thought about setting up the tent that Megan and Sarah had used and left behind, lying there in an open gear bin, just in case, but decided not to bother.  After all, it was probably a heavy truck and not thunder- there wasn't supposed to be any rain today- less than a 30% chance according to the guys on the radio.

Well, the guys on the radio were wrong.  Not only did it rain but it went from sunny to torrential downpour in less than three minutes.  It started with just a few drops, a nice, light summer rain, the kind that feels very nice on a hot summer day.  I decided to stop with the wiring because electrical tape doesn't work well in the rain, and seconds later I was sprinting around trying to close up the holds on the boats and the gear bins and get my tools away before the rain soaked through them.



It came down like that for about a half hour, then lightened up and continued that nice, light summer rain for an hour or so after that, but I was already completely soaked, so it wasn't really that pleasant.  As I stood there, rain soaking through every stitch of clothing and every orifice of my body, all I could do was laugh to myself and think about how great it was that I wasn't wearing a leather belt.

When the rain let up enough that I could get my phone out of the bin I'd chucked it in I snapped this photo of myself.  Some say it was just after the last bit of may sanity ran screaming from my mind.. others say I never had any to begin with....



Since I had nothing else to do, I packed the gear bins and boats onto the trailer as the rain streamed down all around me and thought about how funny this write up would be on the forum.

Once everything was packed I pretty well just stood there looking like an idiot as other park patrons drove by, wondering what that fool was doing just standing there.  I'd thought about going to the Rental Office or down to the change rooms at the beach to get out of the rain, but once you are that level of soaked, getting more wet no longer matters.  Plus the bugs are gone....



As the rain dies down and I'm just standing there I start to think that I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, and maybe I should unpack the gear and see if there's any food left in there from Megan's trip, but in the end I decided it wasn't worth getting the gear even more wet.

The sun started to come out and I greatly enjoyed it, even though the bugs started to come out and I had to re-toxify myself a few times while I sat in the sun and dried out a bit.

I wandered down to the beach and stretched out on a picnic table to dry out and warm up while I played Freecell on my phone.

Eventually Megan returned and we hitched up the trailer and went home, happily ever after.

But of course that wasn't the case.  It turned out that the couple I tried in the store apparently fit quite well on a 1 7/8 ball that must have been mixed in with the 2" balls, because there's no way it was fitting on my 2" ball.   

After all of that, I still couldn't pull the trailer. 

Off we went to one of the local hardware store, hoping that they would have balls in stock, and happily they did.  I bought a ball, a mount to put in on (in case the 2" ball refused to come off) and a large adjustable wrench because I didn't bring mine, despite it normally being wrapped up with my regular wrenches.   

I get back to the trailer, put the new ball on the Jeep and hook it up.  All goes well and I start to think maybe I have finally succeeded.... until I realize that the safety chains are not long enough to attach to the Jeep, so that's a bit of a problem.  It's highly illegal to drive without them, so I need them.... and so I drape them over the ball so it looks like they are attached.  I'm not going back to get more chain.

We hitch up as well as it is going to hitch up and get going, only to find the next problem....

You see, the old tongue had a wider spot where it went in the front bracket.  This tongue is made of metal that is twice as thick, but the exterior dimensions are exactly the same as the old one, and since there is no thicker spot to fit in the bracket, every time I hit a bump the trailer started swaying from side to side quite violently. 

One very long, very exhausting ride later, we were home, safely, finally, some time after 8pm.

There's still some work to do on the trailer, like maybe visiting my cousin to see if he can weld a wider spot to the tongue and painting it since it is currently just raw steel, and maybe replacing the coupler with one that fits a 2" ball, and new safety chains, but the bottom line is, Sarah made it to the airport and now at least everything is home safe and sound, and I can finally put this adventure to rest!

Def

[JP]

Well, smurfen eh man. Those are two long days.

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

[Mechanickal]

2 days of hell, now 4 days of recovery.

Who the smurf said the outdoors were fun?

[kottskrapa]

Sounds like a real adventure! For all three of you. Happy you are home safe but even more happy that you still looking glad in the photo

It's not failure if you learn something from it

[Aloha]

Soo, the ladies had a pleasant camping trip?

Murphy needs a kick to the groin.   

[ducttapetech]

 Two days of hell. Damn Grant. I you get some rest and I hoped the girls had fun.

[JP]

I suppose Calvin's Dad would tell you that this was good for Character.

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

[SteveC]

There must have been a lot of colorful language in those two days   

Glad you are both home safe and sound and way to persevere 

[Poncho65]

Well by the sounds of it you can look on the bright side and say that it probably couldn't hvae been much worse

Glad that is all over for you Grant Hopefully stuff like that doesn't happen to you for a good long while

[pfrsantos]

Cheer up, boss!

For the next months, you'll have a great excuse to get out of doing stuff you hate about the house.

"What, walking the dog, in this weather?! C'mon, Meg... Why don't you go?! Remember that kayak trip, what I did for you and your friend?..."

"Taking out the garbage? I'm still sore from that kayak trip, remember what I did for you and your friend?..."

"Washing the dishes? I still got blisters from towing your friend in that kayaOUCH! Why did you hit me with that frying pan?!"

Yup, you might want to still keep doing some chores...

[pfrsantos]

And, once again...

[pfrsantos]

  Poncho...

[Mechanickal]

Poncho...

He's slacking...