Saturday, February 14, 2015

Digging out!

Yesterday I needed to dig out Moonraker, as we are in the midst of yet another snowstorm with over a foot expected. Next year this trailer is either headed for warmer climates or it's going under cover!

Another foot and it would be over the windows!


 At least after digging it out, the snowbanks are tall enough that snow shouldn't drift into the Airstream.  That's called looking at the bright side LOL...


This was pretty, until I realized that these ice crystals were INSIDE my trailer!!


It was a gorgeous day, but bitter cold, How cold?   Cold enough that whenever I touched the trailer, my gloves kept sticking to it! Brrrrrrr

 All done for now!  Good thing I opted for the manual jack and the higher angle on the axles!

It's snowing right now with blizzard conditions tonight and Thundersnow expected!.  Yeah, cause we weren't having enough weird weather lately...... Jeezum crow.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Got Rust?

Well, its no news to anyone that the Northeast is currently having yet another winter storm.   This is the third major storm in two weeks including one official blizzard.  To add insult to injury the groundhog not only saw his shadow but emerged in the middle of a snowstorm!

So what's a person to do?

Snowshoeing works! At least it does if you don't have a eager Border collie that's stepping all over the back of your shoeshoes!


There's a car under here somewhere....I think.

Moonraker has seen more than its fair share of snow and because the skins aren't in yet (just the endcaps),  we are continuing to remove snow from the roof.  It's gotten pretty old, in fact the snow is so deep, just to get out to Moonraker is a major challenge.  The snow is mid thigh and that was before the two feet we got yesterday and today!   

As New Englanders are fond of saying.... ya can't get they-ahh from hee-yahhhh.

 There's a bumper under here somewhere....I think.


Enough about snow!  The topic for today is rust!

I picked up a couple of fixtures on Ebay recently and they were covered with a good coating of rust. 
I soaked them in a couple of quarts of water with a few tablespoons of Oxalic Acid,.  And they came out beautifully.  This isn't really  a well known trick,  so I thought I'd show you the results here.

First, this is Oxalic Acid, commonly known as wood bleach.   It can be found at any decent hardware store (including the big box ones).  I have always used the powdered stuff, but I guess it comes in liquid too. 

I added a couple of tablespoons to a plastic bin of water and soaked the parts for a couple of hours.  This isn't an exact science and some people leave really cruddy parts in overnight, I didn't need to do that as this surface rust dissolved pretty fast.

Before....



And After....


How many of you just tilted your head sideways!  LOL  Sorry about the orientation change!

Okay, if I'm being really honest, if you put your nose right up to it you can still see the remnants of the corrosion/pitting.


 But from a foot away they look great!  A little polish with some Wizards, and a coat of  Jubilee wax and they are SHINY!


So go dig out that rusty stove top and clean it up!  I'm off to play in the snow with my buddy Finn!