[RHClarke]

You can count the number of rain free days this "summer" at the Hammond Barn on one hand. The weather has a heavy influence on productivity anywhere, but Ottawa seems to embrace the extreme: too hot/wet in summer, too cold/wet in winter, too wet in the springtime, leaving only autumn as the only somewhat dry/cool/reduced bug period where work really gets done. That said, this past week has been somewhat autumn-like with a good breeze blowing. Perfect Pilot Model work weather. Finally!

This stage of the refurbishing project has transitioned into the rebuild stage. The rear floor component of the truck is too far gone to restore. The only saveable piece is the curved section at the rear. So, the rear portion was removed from the front. This involved removing eight floor screws that secured the driver/pax station floor to the rear portion cross member. Then the frame had to be cut on both sides, freeing up the components.

I knew that the underside had lots of salt damage and had to cut some of the hat channel out for replacement. Once the hat channel was opened, it was evident that there was more damage on the inside of the channel than what we could see from the outside. Bob's learned opinion was that it would be impossible to weld new sections in. Reluctantly, I concurred and decided that the whole rear component (less the rear curved supporting channel) had to be replaced.

Photos:
1- Floor components joined
2- Side panels removed
3- Front nose - in surprisingly good shape!
4- Post surgery