Beachton Buck Rivet Report

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Episode 1: Shed Spartan is a Yard Spartan Now

This is my 1949 Spartan Royal Mansion. I bought it from a man in Florida eight years ago. I paid $2000 for it, delivered. I stuck it in my shed and haven’t touched it.

1949 Spartan in the shed since 2012

In January 2020 I decided it was time to work on it. Inside the shed it was really dark and kind of scary, so when my brother and his girlfriend were here one weekend I made them help me move it outside. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet. I just want the room.

Preferred parking place for the Spartan

The shed spartan is a yard spartan now.

There's a length of aluminum skirting that unscrews for access to the wheel wells

One screw would not come out and I had to grind it off. It was a brass screw. This showed little corrosion against the aluminum so I think brass is a pretty good screw option.

I’m missing a wheel on the right side. This is a 30’ trailer with 2 axles. The men that delivered it borrowed a wheel off another truck they had and they took it with them when they left. I’ve been trying to find a replacement this whole time.

I decided to try moving it with just three wheels. I think it would’ve worked better if my grandma’s old isuzu was a little higher. The hub was gouging out the ground. We really wore out what was left of that old truck’s poor clutch too.

I actually bought two Spartan Royal Mansions in 2012. The other one was manufactured in 1951. It was missing an entire axle. I paid $900 for it.

Ally Min with the one axle

This wheel had 2 lug nuts

Ally Min's wheels take 6 lug nuts. Ally Mo has hubs with 5 holes for bolts

I repurposed the 1951 Spartan straight away. I wasn’t sure what I would do with two of these revolting old trailers, but since there were two available at the same time it just seemed logical to get a spare.

It worked out pretty great for the real glass marker lights. The one with both axles only had one light, but the other one had the other three. So I should be able to rig up some new brackets with LEDs to make this one have some neat lights on it.

I need this light on Ally Mo to round out the set. Ally Min had the other 3.

Inside Ally Mo there was a cabinet randomly sitting in the middle of the observation lounge. This was moved from its original spot because the previous owner wanted to get the refrigerator out. He said it still worked and he was using it. I let him have it. I still have the original refrigerator from the 1951 Spartan. It did not work. I took the compressor out and refinished it and use it like furniture.

Here's some photos of the refrigerator from the 1951 Spartan.

Here it is after I cleaned it up and took it to an auto painter and had it painted BMW Speed Yellow because I thought that was hilarious. Fastest refrigerator in the fifties.

Old refrigerator is just a cabinet now.

Here are some closer photos of some of the bad spots on Ally Mo's aluminum skin.

Terrible corrosion on the bottom of the back door

Rifle entrance wound probably

Scrape and a puncture

Something ferrous was wired on here

This is how they dealt with random penetrations. Glob it up with asphaltic sealant

Exit wound. Whatcha think, .22 caliber?

Something poked this hard.

This is some kind of latch for holding the door open. It wasn't a great choice.

I'm not that worried about all this exterior damage because it was fun patching all the stuff like that on Ally Min. Here's some examples.

Round patches over big holes look kind of neat

Here's how I cleaned up rust and patched the spot from the door latch on Ally Min.
The aluminum handle stops the door handle banging into the wall from wind.

Ally Min has a new wider door big enough to get a washer and dryer inside.
A lever handle can go behind the handle on the wall and keep the door open.

I don't know what I'll do with the doors on Ally Mo. I want them to not let lizards and frogs come inside. And roaches. I will think about it.

Here's the subtitles from this episode:

01:00:03,033 --> 01:00:06,000

I've been storing this old trailer for 8 years.

01:00:06,000 --> 01:00:11,199

I bought two at the same time. I rebuilt one and stuck this

one in the shed.

01:00:11,300 --> 01:00:13,266

Linda: It's got to go a little bit forward

01:00:13,266 --> 01:00:16,266

I don't have plans for a grand adventure in a vintage

trailer

01:00:16,266 --> 01:00:18,633

I just want to free up all that room in my shed.

01:00:18,633 --> 01:00:24,766

And if I clean this thing up and make it mouseproof? I'd

have another 240 square feet of studio space.

01:00:24,766 --> 01:00:28,733

Linda: OK, now look. Look!

Harry: Somebody needs to back the truck up.

01:00:29,633 --> 01:00:34,666

My brother and his girlfriend came to visit and helped me

move the trailer

01:00:34,900 --> 01:00:37,033

Barbara: I'll go a tiny bit.

01:00:37,033 --> 01:00:40,699

This Isuzu was my grandmother's daily driver. 25 years ago.

01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:42,400

Linda: Perfect!

01:00:45,966 --> 01:00:48,400

Harry: Alright, Clutch!

01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:04,800

Harry: Is it out?

Linda: Yeah.

Barbara: No, you're not out.

01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:10,800

Barbara: There's still a lot of trailer behind the wheels.

01:01:16,533 --> 01:01:22,733

Key detail here: There's supposed to be two wheels on this

side. There's a bare hub dragging on the ground

01:01:23,433 --> 01:01:26,033

Linda: Excellent.

01:01:36,900 --> 01:01:39,900

Barbara: What smells weird?

Harry: The clutch

01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:57,000

Harry: How am I doing with that tree?

Barbara: You're good. You're good on the tree side.

01:02:05,066 --> 01:02:08,066

Linda: Go forward, straighten it out, and then back it

straight up.

01:02:12,500 --> 01:02:15,500

Barbara: That might be as good as it can get until I get

another wheel.

01:02:19,366 --> 01:02:23,333

Harry: Go straight back now?

Barbara: Yeah.

01:02:29,333 --> 01:02:31,866

Barbara: STOP!

01:02:37,199 --> 01:02:40,199

Barbara: I can always move it again later if I get a wheel.

01:02:40,699 --> 01:02:43,699

Harry: The truck is kind of struggling

01:02:43,699 --> 01:02:46,633

Harry: I think I can move it just back. Make it a little bit

more even.

01:02:47,266 --> 01:02:52,500

Barbara: It's awful close to the side of the shed. I don't

think I'll be able to work on that side easily?

01:03:50,800 --> 01:03:53,800

Harry: I like the paneling. A lot.

01:03:54,433 --> 01:03:59,333

Harry: Haha, this is a weird fix. I guess the window leaked?

01:04:00,199 --> 01:04:04,133

Linda: The windows roll down! Like a car.

01:04:05,233 --> 01:04:10,033

Harry: Eww! It stinks like

Oh, there's a rat nest or a mouse nest.

01:04:11,900 --> 01:04:14,633

Barbara: All they gots to go!

01:04:14,633 --> 01:04:17,733

Harry: My nostrils are burning now.

Barbara: Right, let's get out of here.

01:04:17,733 --> 01:04:20,900

Harry: I might've gotten hantavirus.

Barbara: There's no hantavirus this side of the Mississippi

01:04:20,900 --> 01:04:23,900

Harry: >KLONK

Barbara: Awww, gosh!

01:04:23,900 --> 01:04:26,900

Linda: Ahh the hazards of being tall!

01:04:26,900 --> 01:04:29,900

Barbara: Oh, even I hit my head on that thing.

01:04:31,800 --> 01:04:34,800

The next day we worked on the blocks a bit more

01:04:54,566 --> 01:04:57,566

Hi. My name is Barbara. I'm a blank builder and a blogger

01:04:57,566 --> 01:05:00,866

and I'm on a mission to rebuild and repurpose this 71 year

old

01:05:00,866 --> 01:05:05,199

aircraft construction aluminum trailer home, Ally Mo.

01:05:22,300 --> 01:05:26,333

Now what is the deal with this missing wheel?

01:05:26,333 --> 01:05:31,166

When the previous owner delivered this trailer in 2012 they

used a wheel from another vehicle they owned

01:05:31,166 --> 01:05:36,333

They towed it over here from Blountstown and backed it right

into the shed.

01:05:40,400 --> 01:05:45,400

They brought a floor jack with them and put it on blocks for

me. Then they took the right front wheel.

01:05:45,400 --> 01:05:50,400

I wasn't worried about it because I'd bought another

Spartan that was missing an entire axle

01:05:50,400 --> 01:05:54,566

And I was planning to take off the remaining axle and put it

up on blocks for good.

01:05:57,599 --> 01:06:02,000

So I'd have two whole extra wheels.

01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:08,133

I'd completely finished rebuilding the 1951 Spartan,

currently nomenclatured Ally Min,

01:06:08,133 --> 01:06:14,933

before I noticed they changed from a 5 bolt pattern in 1949

to a 6 bolt pattern in 1951.

01:06:19,633 --> 01:06:25,933

OK, I've been operating under a false assumption. I thought

these were 5 on 5 spacing

01:06:25,933 --> 01:06:30,066

Which would mean that this distance should be three inches

01:06:30,066 --> 01:06:33,066

But this is three and a quarter.

01:06:35,366 --> 01:06:41,199

It's 3 1/4. There's no way that... How would I think that

was 3?

01:06:43,033 --> 01:06:46,033

It's obviously 3 1/4.

01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:53,300

Yes, I measured three times. Shut up! I'm not an expert in

wheels.

01:06:53,300 --> 01:07:04,133

The underside is like tarpaper. Like really thick tarpaper.

Some asphalt impregnated masonite or something.

01:07:04,133 --> 01:07:09,500

And these aluminum channels, I guess, are holding it up?

01:07:09,500 --> 01:07:19,566

So what I gotta do is come under here and remove these

aluminum channels and let all of this drop away.

01:07:19,566 --> 01:07:28,500

Here's the edge of that stuff. So it was two strips of 4

foot wide stuff, I guess.

01:07:28,500 --> 01:07:33,566

Two years later they'd switched to aluminum going across the

bottom of the trailer

01:07:33,566 --> 01:07:38,500

Taking off the belly pan was one of the first things I did

on Ally Min

01:07:38,500 --> 01:07:43,566

I wanted to put piers under it and the belly pan had to go

first

01:07:43,566 --> 01:07:51,500

They'd also switched from rock wool to fiberglass insulation

by 1951.Yuck

01:07:51,500 --> 01:07:57,133

Working on a slab was nice for that part. I don't want to

get insulation in the grass.

01:07:58,566 --> 01:08:02,300

It would be a lot easier to work under here if I jacked this

thing up even higher.

01:08:02,300 --> 01:08:05,300

But not today

01:08:52,399 --> 01:08:56,466

This is the only clearance light left on Ally Mo

01:09:00,399 --> 01:09:04,199

This part is glass and stainless steel.

01:09:04,199 --> 01:09:07,433

It'll clean up nice, like this one from Ally Min

01:09:10,833 --> 01:09:15,166

That Spartan had 3 clearance lights.

01:09:23,266 --> 01:09:26,266

Amber for the front, red for the back

01:09:31,533 --> 01:09:38,666

Since Ally Min is now a permanent structure I put patches

where all the lights used to be.

01:09:45,366 --> 01:09:52,800

I used a marine grade alloy for my patches. After 7 years in

the weather they're still shiny. I don't mind.

01:09:58,333 --> 01:10:01,333

I have not touched the inside of this since I bought it 8

years ago

01:10:04,100 --> 01:10:07,800

This is something I looked at and said, "Wow! I want to pay

$1000 for that!"

01:10:08,800 --> 01:10:10,366

In fact I think I paid $1500

01:10:10,366 --> 01:10:12,433

The door is about 5'8"

01:10:14,966 --> 01:10:18,399

So I can go in it no problem but I often hit my head coming

out

01:10:21,166 --> 01:10:25,333

This piece of paneling covers up a roof vent

01:10:26,300 --> 01:10:29,300

There's a hole right here in the roof.

01:10:29,300 --> 01:10:33,133

So I guess at some point they just covered it up

01:10:37,666 --> 01:10:40,666

This closet is where the electrical is located

01:10:43,766 --> 01:10:47,399

Latching handles are kinda cool

01:10:47,399 --> 01:10:50,399

I guess the latch is broken

01:10:52,566 --> 01:10:54,300

There used to be a heater right here

01:10:54,966 --> 01:10:59,699

The stock units had a heater so there's a sort of a roof

vent right there.

01:10:59,699 --> 01:11:04,166

Where anything and everything can come and go as it pleases

01:11:04,333 --> 01:11:09,133

So I like to remove things like that and just patch the hole

in the roof

01:11:09,666 --> 01:11:14,966

I haven't cleaned this at all. This is the way it was

delivered to me.

01:11:15,833 --> 01:11:16,933

I paid money for this

01:11:18,933 --> 01:11:21,033

These little shelves are original

01:11:21,566 --> 01:11:25,500

And I don't know what these little holes are for.

Ventilation?

01:11:26,666 --> 01:11:31,333

This is one of the roof vents. There's another one under

that ceiling that's just covered over.

01:11:34,133 --> 01:11:38,300

What I did on the other Spartan was I took out all this

business in the middle.

01:11:38,300 --> 01:11:41,300

I put closed cell foam on the bottom side of the cover

01:11:41,300 --> 01:11:45,899

And then just used a cricket clamp and just cinched it down

tight

01:11:46,100 --> 01:11:49,100

And I don't often open the covers

01:11:50,433 --> 01:11:53,966

But I still have the vents, in the other Spartan.

01:11:54,133 --> 01:11:57,133

And they haven't leaked or given me any problems. They're

air tight.

100

01:11:58,833 --> 01:12:00,800

Look, it came with a fire extinguisher

101

01:12:04,233 --> 01:12:07,233

There's a sort of a duct from the heater. Interesting

102

01:12:11,633 --> 01:12:15,800

The kitchen was just this nasty when I bought this thing.

103

01:12:18,866 --> 01:12:20,533

The other one I just gutted it.

104

01:12:21,133 --> 01:12:24,933

I didn't try to clean it or do anything, but, I don't know.

105

01:12:24,933 --> 01:12:27,933

We'll see when I get into it what I want to do

106

01:12:27,933 --> 01:12:29,500

Another roof vent

107

01:12:30,066 --> 01:12:33,066

Here's a dome light just like in a car.

108

01:12:34,533 --> 01:12:37,533

I don't remember there being one of those in the other

Spartan

109

01:12:39,300 --> 01:12:42,333

This stove is original. It was a propane gas stove.

110

01:12:45,199 --> 01:12:48,199

And it's probably in pretty good shape. I don't know what

the hell this is

111

01:12:48,766 --> 01:12:51,766

I think a rat has probably built a nest in there. That's

awesome.

112

01:12:53,133 --> 01:12:57,899

But I will probably remove this and clean it up and see what

the story is.

113

01:12:58,133 --> 01:13:00,899

Maybe I can use that

114

01:13:00,899 --> 01:13:03,899

I don't even have an oven in my house

115

01:13:06,199 --> 01:13:08,433

There doesn't seem to be any rats living in there

116

01:13:11,766 --> 01:13:14,033

I think it's weird though, how it covers up the cabinet?

117

01:13:14,033 --> 01:13:17,033

I mean, why is there a door there? How are you supposed to

use it?

118

01:13:18,100 --> 01:13:21,100

But that's really the way they made em. Just weird.

119

01:13:23,399 --> 01:13:25,233

It really takes up a lot of space

120

01:13:25,233 --> 01:13:30,966

To actually use the thing it would be better to not have

this cabinet and just have a hot plate or whatever

121

01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:37,800

Oh here's an example of what the insulation is like

122

01:13:38,699 --> 01:13:41,300

It's like a rockwool product

123

01:13:41,300 --> 01:13:47,233

And the rats and mice have been extricating it from the

inside of the walls and floor this whole time

124

01:13:51,066 --> 01:13:54,366

This little tightness here? I don't like that

125

01:13:55,533 --> 01:13:58,533

The way this door works it's a slider

126

01:14:03,800 --> 01:14:07,966

But it's so very narrow. Still works though

127

01:14:11,533 --> 01:14:14,533

I can't even back up far enough to show it without bumping

my head on the ceiling

128

01:14:16,533 --> 01:14:19,300

But it's just really dark and creepy in here.

129

01:14:19,300 --> 01:14:23,100

But it's not nearly as dark and creepy in here now that I've

moved it out of the shed

130

01:14:29,533 --> 01:14:33,199

It needs to be gutted

131

01:14:34,466 --> 01:14:38,966

And even these cabinets that look nice, its a nice curved

surface

132

01:14:38,966 --> 01:14:43,300

But down at the bottom the plywood is delaminated and it's

just not....

133

01:14:43,300 --> 01:14:48,566

It just all smells gross and is just too damaged by moisture

134

01:14:49,466 --> 01:14:50,466

The floor is damaged

135

01:14:52,366 --> 01:14:55,366

It just all has to be thrown away

136

01:14:56,733 --> 01:14:58,766

But I'll save the parts I can

137

01:14:59,766 --> 01:15:06,466

Look at this little light switch with a pull switch. The

whole wall flexes when you pull on it

138

01:15:10,300 --> 01:15:13,300

This window is broken. There's a piece of plexiglass stuck

in there.

139

01:15:15,699 --> 01:15:18,699

I need to get a new roll-up window

140

01:15:18,699 --> 01:15:22,899

I replaced these, I mean, I replaced the gasket and stuff,

in the other Spartan

141

01:15:23,899 --> 01:15:28,566

You know it probably took me two weeks of just working on

the back windows

142

01:15:29,466 --> 01:15:31,899

I took these parts off and repainted them

143

01:15:32,666 --> 01:15:34,233

And it came out nice

144

01:15:34,699 --> 01:15:37,533

The trim around this is kind of weird

145

01:15:37,566 --> 01:15:40,566

I built new trim around the other one, in the other Spartan

146

01:15:40,733 --> 01:15:43,733

And I took off all these window parts and cleaned them and

repainted them

147

01:15:47,433 --> 01:15:51,966

I do not know why these light fixtures are here. This makes

no sense.

148

01:16:01,399 --> 01:16:05,133

This was the bedroom. I don't know where the bed was? I

guess it came straight off the back?

149

01:16:07,566 --> 01:16:10,566

I'm not sure. Look! There was a phone in here!

150

01:16:11,966 --> 01:16:13,466

Oh, you wanna see the bathroom?

151

01:16:13,466 --> 01:16:17,633

There's a mirror on the back of this door. I don't think the

other Spartan had that feature

152

01:16:20,000 --> 01:16:21,933

I think these mirror clips are original

153

01:16:23,199 --> 01:16:26,199

And I think there's one missing because a guy in Sweden

bought one from me

154

01:16:28,533 --> 01:16:31,133

I love this door handle

155

01:16:31,133 --> 01:16:37,566

I took the door handle from the other Spartan and I gave it

to my Aunt Jano and she uses it on her screen door

156

01:16:37,566 --> 01:16:42,366

Look at the lock on it. You just slide that over and now you

can't...

157

01:16:42,366 --> 01:16:49,199

Well, if it holds. And then you can't do it from the

outside. Maybe you have to push it the other way

158

01:16:49,199 --> 01:16:51,233

But anyway, it's a pretty cool door lock

159

01:16:52,166 --> 01:16:55,033

This bathroom is all aluminum

160

01:16:55,033 --> 01:16:58,033

Maybe I can have enough light if I come inside here

161

01:16:58,033 --> 01:17:02,300

The other guy the previous owner tried to polish it to see

how that would work

162

01:17:02,866 --> 01:17:07,533

It works good. So this could be a very shiny aluminum room

163

01:17:09,833 --> 01:17:11,066

And this is the vent

164

01:17:12,466 --> 01:17:16,733

That looks like some sort of radiation warning

165

01:17:17,899 --> 01:17:19,666

And it's open to the outside

166

01:17:20,533 --> 01:17:23,100

There's a light in here, in the ceiling

167

01:17:23,633 --> 01:17:29,066

And the way it worked was you just stood over the toilet and

just showered in here

168

01:17:29,066 --> 01:17:30,966

Just washed down the whole thing

169

01:17:33,166 --> 01:17:35,233

It's kind of small and closed in and scary to me

170

01:17:35,533 --> 01:17:40,333

The '51 Spartan had a window right there inside the shower

171

01:17:40,366 --> 01:17:42,633

But this one doesn't

172

01:17:43,533 --> 01:17:45,966

I just took this whole thing out

173

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The floor gets really damaged in the shower areas.

174

01:17:49,399 --> 01:17:52,000

So I just gutted all of this out of the other Spartan

175

01:17:52,166 --> 01:17:56,266

I cut it up with a reciprocating saw and took it straight to

the recyclers

176

01:17:56,899 --> 01:17:58,500

I got about $170 for it

177

01:17:58,866 --> 01:18:01,866

Even the back of the door was covered in aluminum

178

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On the other one I took that metal to the recyclers

179

01:18:07,533 --> 01:18:11,899

Without realizing it was a different alloy than is available

today

180

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I should have saved all the aluminum for the patches

181

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I didn't know

182

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My bad

183

01:18:22,100 --> 01:18:25,833

I don't know. It just reminds me of a brig. I just don't

know if I want that

184

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Kind of spooky

185

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Anyway, that's the inside

186

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Maybe tomorrow I'll clean the kitchen

187

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You know, throw this junk away at least.

188

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Or see if it's any good.

189

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I don't know, could be a good coffee cup!

190

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Oh yeah

191

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Gross

192

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Gross gross gross

193

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Gross gross gross gross gross gross gross

194

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I only just realized I got one of the original steps for

this trailer. They were both broken off Ally Min.

195

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It's supposed to slide under here.

196

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It's going in the shed for now

197

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That was the first episode of the Beachton Buck Rivet Report

198

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Go buck yourself

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Introducing Ally Min and Ally Mo

I haven't updated this blog in 6 years. But I paid the URL registration fees every year. In January 2020 I decided to get Shed Spartan out of the shed. I'm gradually working up to a routine of documenting the process of making it usable. I've been filming everything as I go. And now I'm trying to catch up with editing. I decided to write up blog posts as I go.

These are my two Spartan Royal Mansion trailers.

Repurposed trailer where I work. I dub thee Ally Min. March 2020.

Project Trailer. I dub thee Ally Mo. March 2020.

Here's how it all went down. In 2012 I bought two Spartan Royal Mansions. These trailers are 31 feet long and 8 feet wide. From the coupler to the tail lights they are 33 feet 7 inches. They have two axles and 4 wheels. At least that's how they were manufactured. One of the ones I bought only had one axle. That one came off the assembly line in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1951. The other one was a 1949 model with both axles. It had fewer large holes in the skin, but the overall patina wasn't great. The previous owner started to restore it and sprayed it with acid. I really wish he hadn't.

Condition matters aside, there are some subtle differences that distinguish the 1951 and 1949 models on sight.

1949	1951
no bathroom window	bathroom window
trapezoidal side window openings	rectangular side windows
sliding glass window panes	2 hinged glass panes in aluminum frames
5 bolt wheels	6 bolt wheels

Spartans all have a serial number badge inside the front door jamb that have a date code right in the number. This is how you really know what you're looking at.

1949 Spartan Royal Mansion Serial Number Badge

1951 Spartan Royal Mansion Serial Number Badge

When they were delivered I put the 1951 Spartan on the slab where my childhood home once stood. It burned down in 1984. The whole site was abandoned for 20 years. I moved back here in 2004. I got the slab cleaned up and in 2010 I hooked up the power and water to it again. In 2012 I figured out the cast iron pipe to the septic tank was still viable. So it was logical to put the Spartan above that pipe and use that septic tank, water, and power. I desperately needed work space, and I needed a place for my washer and dryer.

I had the two axle Spartan backed into my shed so I could focus on the one missing an axle. For 8 years I referred to them by their location — Shed Spartan and Slab Spartan. Slab Spartan is now typically referred to as the lab. This is a natural term for me since in my professional life I always had an office plus an electronics lab and usually a machine shop space whose nomenclature varied from job to job. The people I interact with on social media mostly have labs too, so it is my habit to use that term online since they wouldn't have any way of knowing what a Spartan is. I suspect my relatives think it's pretentious to call it the lab. Just one in a long list of failings, I'm sure. Fortunately I don't give a shit.

Last year my brother told me about the Sampson Boat Co YouTube channel. This guy Leo is rebuilding a boat called Tally Ho. I started with the episode where Leo comes down near me in South Georgia to get some Southern live oak for his boat, and then I went back to the beginning and watched every episode. The Tally Ho project made me yearn for a project of my own. Something I could document with videos. And I had something sitting right there in my shed. I'd clearly meant to do it this whole time, sitting on this blog and everything. But the last few years I've been hit pretty hard with chronic fatigue and migraine and arthritis in my hands and disc damage in my back. It all made me hesitate to start. But you know what? I'm not going to get any better. That's sort of what chronic means. But I can't just leave that piece of shit in my shed forever. I have to just get it out and get to work. I won't be able to do very much in a day and it might take years and years, but it's got to get done.

I do love me a time lapse of a job of work. Especially in my advanced state of decrepitude. On days when I'm too stiff and sore to stand up I can sit in my good chair and edit my video. Then for the rest of my life I can watch it whenever I want, remembering how fun it was. Hopefully I can block out the memory of the pain and misery of actually doing it.

As I was thinking about how I would do my videos I pondered imitating Leo's fixing up Tally Ho, just for the lulz. It's an aluminum trailer. I could call it Ally Ho! Not crazy about the Ho part, being a single woman and all. Maybe Ally Mo is better. Although that makes me think it's an alloy of molybdenum, which isn't accurate as the Spartans are covered in Alclad. The composition of that alloy is aluminum, copper, manganese, and magnesium with a pure aluminum coating for corrosion resistance. This alloy discrepancy is a minor issue that is unlikely to bother anybody but me. And I can learn to cope with it.

I do have two of these. Shouldn't they both have names? What if the lab is Ally Min? It is the minimalist version with the axles gone and the tongue cut off. That makes the other one logically Ally Mo, since it has more parts to it. I've been calling them this to myself for a few weeks to see how it works. I like it. I'm going with this now.

While Tally Ho, a 109 year old sailing yacht, is a she, as is conventional, I don't really think of my lab as a she or a he. It's an it. Or maybe a they? I'll have to see how it shakes out linguistically as I go.

My other influences from YouTube are Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't and Rare Earth. These two channels are nothing at all like The Sampson Boat Co and nothing at all like each other. But I think that's what makes them meaningful to me. I have blatantly copied specific parts of their format and modified it for the Buck Rivet Report in appreciation of their work. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right? My whole art form is based on parody of greater works, y'all. Reduce, reuse, recluse. I'm sorry if this is too meta or whatever. You can take it up with Evan Hadfield. He encouraged me on Twitter.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Buck Rivet Report: Under Construction

| Start at the Beginning |

In January of 2012 I bought two Spartan Royal Mansions, 31 foot long mobile homes built by the Spartan Aircraft Company. One was a 1951 model at a North Florida second hand store about 50 miles away. It was missing an entire axle. It was not in good shape. I paid $900 for it.

The other was a 1949 one about 150 miles away in the Florida panhandle. I paid $2000 for it. It had both axles and seemed structurally sound despite a lot of bullet holes. It had been kept under a pole barn. Unfortunately the man that bought it to restore tried an acid wash on the skin and made it look terrible. It will have to be completely polished to make it nice. I had the men that brought it put it in my shed and I haven't touched it.

1949 Spartan Royal Mansion on delivery day. Partial acid wash means it needs a complete polish.

They backed it into my shed. It sits there to this day, untouched.

I had a backhoe come out and build a ramp up to the old slab where my childhood home burned down in 1984. Then the people from 50 miles away on backroads delivered the 1951 Spartan Royal Mansion. They pulled it up the ramp, disconnected the trailer hitch, and drove away across the brick front porch, breaking the steps. Worth it. This Spartan came with one of two axles, and the wheel on the right side was only held on with 2 lug nuts. I am constantly amazed by the bravery/stupidity of the locals when it comes to mechanics.

1951 Spartan Royal Mansion on delivery day, January 2012.

The inside of the 1951 looks salvageable, but on close inspection it's very nasty. I saved
most of the cabinets in the shed just in case. (In case anybody wants them? You can have.)
I ended up reusing only one cabinet in the whole thing. And I had to paint it inside and out,
even the part against the wall to cover the stink of old plywood and mouse piss.

Here's the 1951 after I finished the exterior in 2013.

Here's the interior the day I finished putting down the floor. That black cabinet at the front
is the one I reused. I call that part up there the melon, like whales and dolphins.

The Beachton Buck Rivet Report is going to be my documentation of how I converted this old trailer into a permanent structure, serving as my laundry room and lab. I took thousands of photos as I worked. I will create posts for each logical step and fill out the blog and probably release it all at once. Blogger requires you to work live, so if you see stuff appear and disappear, trust it will all get organized at the end. I have to publish things to test how it works.

Start at the beginning and click Newer Post at the bottom to go to the next step in the restoration.

And if I get my energy back enough to start working on the Shed Spartan I will document it here as I go along.

Happy Riveting!

Barbara aka Beachton

Decide to Buy

After looking at these two dilapidated old trailers I had to decide what to do. I had enough money saved up to buy them. I had a place to put them. But I knew it would be a hell of a lot of work to fix them. It was just so compelling that there were TWO of them. My research showed that there is a market for these things fixed up just like when they were new, same as cars. This doesn't actually appeal to me at all. I like things customized to how I want to use them. I am not the target customer of a young family starting out after a World War.

But because there are two I can combine the original parts from both of them to get one that has all the trappings of the original Spartan. And the other one I can modify however I want to. Somehow preserving all the parts to be used on the other one made me feel ok about trashing the other one.

I emailed both the sellers and said I'd take the Spartans. I mailed the man in Blountstown a check for $500 as a downpayment and to cover delivery.

Then I had to clean up my shed. Here's where I wanted to put the Spartan.

Before. That stack of 1x6 T&G pine is bigger than it looks.
I will use all of it up in the Spartan project.

Where the stuff went when I moved it.

This used sheet metal I was saving got put out in the woods.
I need to just take it to the recyclers.

Clean empty half a shed. Ready for a Spartan!

While I'd been out of town in Austin for a year and a half
my skylight in the shed started leaking.

So I replaced it. (Paint cans for weight while silicone cures)

The 1949 Spartan, the one in better shape, came from 70 miles away on January 22.

I won't see this side again for a while.

My shed is obviously bigger than my house too but
that never seems to bother me. The way things are.

This Spartan is still exactly where they parked it. The men that brought it helped me jack it up with a floor jack and put concrete blocks and chunks of wood under it, just stuff I had around. They took away one wheel they'd put on it temporarily for the trip. I paid them the rest of their money in cash on delivery. I think it was probably $1900 total for the Shed Spartan.

It is sort of a problem that it's only got three wheels. My mechanic in Tallahassee is on a mission to find me a fourth one that will fit. The Shed Spartan has the same hub as an old Ford. It takes a wheel with 5 x 5" spacing with a 4" center hole and 4 windows. It takes bolts instead of having threaded studs sticking out. The other Spartan was like a Chevrolet or Toyota, 6 x 5 1/2". I don't know why Spartan changed the hubs and wheels between '49 and '51.

For the other one I drove to Havana to take a check in person. I gave her $1040 to cover having somebody tow it to my house. It only had to go 20 miles on two lane backroads through rural Florida and Georgia. When I went to pay for the Spartan I got a better look at some of the things I was confused about from my subsequent research. Like, why did it only have two wheels with the other Royal Mansion had 4?

This explains it. The second axle was there and is just... not anymore. The Seller swore she could tow it like that.

Here's the one remaining axle

I also managed to snatch the front door open to look at the
serial number of this one.

Can you believe I went ahead and wrote a check for this? Admittedly I was pretty anxious about it from January 14th to January 25th when it was delivered.

More in the next post about how I got ready for the delivery of the 1951 Spartan.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Shopping: 1949 Royal Mansion

The other Spartan for sale in my local Craigslist area was in Blountstown, FL. I used to drive through there all the time when I worked for FDEP Beaches. It's on the Appalachicola River. It's a nice drive, so I arranged to go see it the next day.

First look at the second Spartan.

After looking at the first Spartan I did some research. These only came with two axles.
Not sure why the first one only had two wheels. So I was looking at this part more closely.

I'm curious what is going on underneath. I failed to get this view of the first one.

This one has obvious jack points and the frame looks good.
The skin underneath and insulation is compromised, of course.
It all has to go.

By comparison to the first Spartan I can see this front ceiling panel is not original.
They just skinned right over the vent. That's sloppy.

This delaminated paneling isn't even the original stuff. More brown painted aluminum.
This sconce isn't as cool as on the other one.

OK, now they aren't even trying. Dinette trashed in both of them. Good thing I don't care.

This roll down window actually worked.

The only working window handle out of four in two Spartans.

I was so interested in the broken off window handle I didn't notice that the actual window
was broken and replaced with plexiglass.

I found the window crank. Turns out to not matter based on what is broken.

These switches are intriguing. Why the pull style? More than two positions?

The bathroom wall isn't trashed. Can't see through the floor. Bonus.

That's the original sink and shower controls. Once again no toilet tank lid.

This kitchen light fixture with the switch right next to it makes sense. Brown painted aluminum again.

This cabinet looks fine. Why was the one in the first Spartan so disgusting?

I guess this is some kind of ventilation system for the stove. I don't think this one was ever used.

Dovetailed drawers

Look at this oak corner where it transitions from a curve to square. That's lovely.

I don't remember where this light is.

Here's how the hinge works for the screen door. There was only one screen door between
the two Spartans that would have had two each originally.

My research after looking at the first Spartan taught me to look for the serial number
information inside the front door frame. Same as the vital information on my car.
The middle two numbers are the year. This was built in 1949.
I didn't see it on the first one because I couldn't get the front door open.

I confirmed on SpartanTrailer.com that this is a Royal Mansion serial number for 1949. Weight 5200 lbs, original price $4681.27, which is $42,345.78 adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars.