2012 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Rob Do you have the wood spacer or you need more dimensions? I used rubber roof membrane as a gasket under the wood to seal it to the roof gooey stuff to work with but seals nicely. Had to replace all the bolts on mine because they had rusted in the wood and lost a lot of their thickness. Ended up having to buy all the bolts long and then cut the length to fit. Cheers Phil

Hi Phil, As Grant mentioned, my spacer is in very rough shape. I am in the process of producing the first of a few prototype replacement spacers. I originally thought about bending some wood up using a steambox etc..., but being a lazy sort, I took the easier route. I cut a number of curved sections of MDF and then glued them together. Once solid, I cut the inside diameter to match the outer hatch ring diameter (just below the flange). After some sanding, it fit nicely. I cut the rough outside diameter and then fixed the spacer to the outer hatch ring. Then, I used Bob's belt sander to get the outside diameter down to the flange diameter. After detaching the hatch ring, I sanded the blank down slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the flange. The contour of the blank spacer mimicked the original spacer, but may have to be adjusted as the old spacer has shrunk. If there is any adjusting needed, I will use body putty to fill the gaps and to ensure that the bottom of the spacer fits the roof close enough to look good. Once that is done, I plan to wrap the spacer in fiberglass, sand it down and paint it green. It should outlast the truck. I will use a rubber gasket to put between the bottom of the spacer and the roof and that should take up most of the remaining slack.

I am still checking to see if there are plastic pipes available with the same or close diameter and wall thickness. If I find one that fits the bill, I plan to cut a number of blanks, drill the bolt holes and paint them green. It may temporarily take care of the great spacer shortage in our area.

Too bad we don’t know of anyone local with a steam box and a desire to make some money…it would save me some time and effort.