Lessons Learned - first of many

set two pair of overalls on fire with my demo saw before I decided to invest in chaps. if you buy the warranty on carhartts at gander mountain for 10 dollars. they will replace them if u set them on fire.

Thanks Bear and Sledge 42. I should have mentioned this was in Jan. of last year, before I invested in a skid steer and made two more trailers. I now have five trailers and only one is factory made. I will be adding more posts of my mishaps throughout the year.

Sledge, I have not experienced your situation but am sure I will sometime in the future. If it helps I forgot to lock the coupler on my gooseneck and when I loaded the skid steer, the hitch came undone, the back of the trailer dropped, and the hitch slammed into the rear of the box. I have also forgotten to open the tail gate when unhooking from the trailer. The advantage of this mistake is that it is easier to hook up the gooseneck now that I have a dent in the middle of the box.

Bear you are such a knowledgeable individual and offer so much insight to every post. "Would you bend down to pick up a penny" is the first post where I realized the renaissance man your are. It is hard to believe you have not had to learn the hard way. Please share. Many members would find it very interesting that a master could make a mistake.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

Best Lesson of the Year

...First was cutting the roof. The roof on goosenecks is engineered to support the side walls. After some research I thought I could reinforce the side walls to replace the strength produced by the roof...

You had mentioned this detail earlier this year where the trailer walls and roof serve as structural members as a caution to another scrapper who was looking at modifying a trailer. I wondered how you would know about that detail 'cause it is a pretty fine point in the design of a trailer.

Now I know the REST of the story!!

I heartily tip my hat to your willingness to tell your learning stories, especially taking the time to post photos to help the descriptions. Even though it may not be directly related to the subject of scrapping, many of us are independent thinkers and doers who may need to take the roads less travelled to get to our desired result, which is, in the case of your story, a heavy duty trailer for carrying scrap. We need (or want) to take the "long 'way 'round to get to owning a heavy duty trailer because of many reasons...shortage of cash, to make something that suits our needs, etc. And sometimes the scrap that passes through our hands is just begging to be modified to suit our uses.

Thanks, and keep the stories coming!!

Jon.

Now the rest of the story. This busted up trailer became some of the best and worst advertising I could have had. It sat on the side of the only major highway between the small town I live in and the city I haul to. It was a conversation piece for the community. Some thought I was the dumbest person alive and others admired someone willing to jump in with two feet to pursue a dream. Regardless the conversations communicated some one in the area trying to make a niche to continue to be part of the community.

Sawmilleng, You are right. To me it is always the challenge. I wanted to make a trailer and love to reuse scrap. The combination created the challenge. I share my stories because I strongly believe no one has enough time in a life time to make all the mistakes they desearve. We can learn from others or the hard way. I hope others will educate me before I have to learn everything the hard way.

Trot, Another option for warmer weather is Duluth Trading Company Fire Hose pants. I used these doing the demolition of the water tanks and burned holes in them with all the cutting. They replaced them free without any questions. In colder weather I use chaps, but hate to take them off when I go to town. It is just to cold.

Bear, Well said. I am an avid back packer and outdoorsman and could relate to the canyon walls. I appreciate your description, method of presentation, and diplomacy. I respect all thoughts, opinions, and types of scrappers. Even though we travel different paths, each pursues their own passion and dreams.

PC Scrapper - Thank you for the reinforcement. I consider every event a blessing as long as no one gets hurt. Sometimes even when I get hurt I consider it a blessing because I could have been hurt worse.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

Don't be afraid to fail. Don't waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It's OK to fail. If you're not failing, you're not growing. - H. Stanley Judd

Good post Patriot!

Oh an meant to add...That trailer looked liked it was used to haul cattle/animals! Yes..odd to note..but then, I'm far from the definition of sane.

Sirscrapalot - Learn from your defeat, an you've not really lost. - Not me.

Someone didn't secure their boat well...

Sirscrapalot - <>

fishing for meybe

2 things we all either know or should learn

You learn from your mistakes(I should be a genius by now)

Everyone makes mistakes, but it's how you recover from them is most important

what a bad a5=5 ... bet it was the snow that did u in

All I know is that it started with an s. Snow, stupidity, or s*** happens.

Or...all three!

Usually is a result of all three s's.

Sirscrapalot - If mistakes, or screw ups equaled genius or rich...I'd be retired an have people quoting me all over!