2017 at the Hammond Barn

[chris vickery]

Sea cans use Cor-Ten steel, also known as weathering steel. It combines the properties of corrosion resistance and tensile strength. The idea behind this is a steel that requires little to no paint and will withstand many years of outdoor usage.
It is difficult to weld using regular weld materials due to the specific alloys used in it. The alloy materials include copper, nickel and chromium. Suggestions for non structural welds include the common E7018 electrode.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Well done guys. That should make it a lot more functional.

Alex

[Bob Carriere]

Here is a series of pictures of the process.

Door was heavy so we welded a ring at the top and used the tractor bucket to move it around and to hold it up while we installed the pins.

A few days a go while welding the frame into the can I kept hearing pings and boings created by the heat......well the hinges no longer lined up perfectly so a few mils had to be shaved off the hinges.

It eventually fitted in nicely. It was first primed then painted with the funny paint mix I have. The lock system is a 1 inch square tubing sliding within a 1 1/4 steel tube....well lubricated and drilled for a padlock.

The ugly "profilactic" is a section of inner tube to reduce water infiltrating the lock.

Strong as a bank vault.

Ever wonder how little side to side clearance there is when the truck in in the can...... about a hands width.

Still have to install foam rubber seals to make it water tight.

Cheers

[Bob Carriere]

Can't fit in if you are broadminded.

Truck sits close to the rear doors which will give room to build some storage shelves at the front.

It is obvious that I will be using folding rearview mirror arms in the future.

Cheers

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

Great Job, are you taking orders for Custom Modular CMP Homes?

How much room is there on either side of the truck? Are you going to put guide planks on the floor to auto center the truck?

Reason I asked about backing it in, met a guy out side of Portland Maine many years ago who back his F60S into the box and then would leave the passenger side windshield wide open so the could climb in and out.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Space is tight Phil. About a hands width....4 fingers no thumb....

Was planning to use a 6x6 beam (actually 5 3/8x 5 3/8) on the left side but with the 10:50 tires they are two wide..... considered building up some 2x6 but the tire cleats have a tendency of climbing on the boards......so I eye ball the right front fender aiming for 3 inches and then I am sure the left side is OK.

Have to remove the rear view mirrors every time.....so will salvage the special brackets from a cab 12 that allows the use of a folding mirror arm and save the original fixed arm for shows.

Was getting a little tired of climbing over the back of the cab, the tool box and into the cargo box...... now I can just drive in open the side door and walk out. The side door will also give me access to the battery for removal during the Winter .
.
Now I can go back to working on the steel roof.

Cheers

Cheers

[motto]

I have been using shipping containers as storage units for many years and from experience have been made well aware of their shortcomings.
First up is the flat top inevitably has undulations which causes water to pool in the low areas and despite the corrosion resistance of the steel and protective coatings nature wins in the end.
Another problem is condensation inside the container. This depends on atmospherics and can be quite remarkable under certain conditions. This is exacerbated by placing damp or wet objects in the container then closing it up for a period of time.
My recommendation to anybody using a seatainer for storage is to install a roof over it. Even sheets of corrugated iron spaced up with packing boards to give it some air gap and fall will improve the interior environment. It must be secured of course.
A ventilator is also a good idea. Some people instal a whirligig.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Buy two sea cans, cut off one left and one right side then weld them together? Would make an extra wide metal garage with room to spare.

[rob love]

The problem when you cut the whole wall out is the roof then sags. The wall is part of the structure.

A better idea is to take those same two sea cans, space them apart, and run suitable roof trusses. It will keep the cans dry, and give you a storage space in the middle. That said, putting a roof on will be expensive and time consuming, which kind of defeats the reason for using sea cans in the first place.

We used lots of sea cans for projects in Bosnia and in Afghanistan. We had them in 2 story and 3 story configurations, with various cut-outs and conjoining methods. Sometimes they would get secondary roofs, other-times they wouldn't.

When Canada left KAF, there were actually hundreds of condemned cans in various states that we could not bring back. No idea what happened to them, but our sea can manager did get some sly offers for some of them from other contractors (offers which were not accepted of course).

[Yeo.NT]

As Rob has pointed out we used/lived in sea cans in Afghanistan, the one I lived in was insulated, lined with plywood as well with a heater and A/C unit.

[RHClarke]

Some days are golden, some are less than stellar. Yesterday had its challenges. As with all equipment, things wear out. Bob's venerable tractor gave up the ghost for reasons unknown. So, we attempted to tow it back to the barn using Bob's vintage "buzz-saw" tractor. The old girl fired up nicely, and with buzz saw a buzzin', we hooked the dead tractor to her. While we made some progress towards the barn, eventually we hit the mud that has been a plague around here all Spring, Summer and probably all Fall. The old tractor spun away and despite our best efforts, there was too much drag to overcome. We needed more traction.

Bob's solution was get his CMP out of the storage container and drag the tractor to the barn while using the four wheel drive. After hooking up a tow line and without a moment's hesitation, Bob's truck pulled the tractor with nary a slip in the mud.

It was a memorable moment: a Hammond Barn build CMP hauling the very tractor that initially hauled that truck off the trailer when it first arrived, that tractor that ferried parts back and forth and manoeuvered all of our trucks in and out of the barn over the years.

When we got to "dry land", we got the tractor going again and Bob set to uncovering the culprit. It was kind of fun making use of Bob's truck for its first "tow job".

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by rob love

A better idea is to take those same two sea cans, space them apart, and run suitable roof trusses. It will keep the cans dry, and give you a storage space in the middle. That said, putting a roof on will be expensive and time consuming, which kind of defeats the reason for using sea cans in the first place.

I couldn't agree more with the first and second sentences. As for the third sentence, it cost me around $300 to put the roof on my two sea cans as shown in the pic below. The majority of the cost was for the tin and screws required. The wood came from a neighbour's deck, which I repurposed into sturdy trusses.

If I were to do this again, I would increase the span between the cans. Right now, the Pilot Model HUP (in pieces) resides in this quite dry and spacious home. The front and back are now covered with mod tents, as seen in the second shot - the front rolls up on a pulley system. Ultimately, I cannot but sing the praises of sea cans and sea can shelters.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

....

If I were to do this again, I would increase the span between the cans. Right now, the Pilot Model HUP (in pieces) resides in this quite dry and spacious home. The front and back are now covered with mod tents, as seen in the second shot - the front rolls up on a pulley system. Ultimately, I cannot but sing the praises of sea cans and sea can shelters.

Suggest two layers of modular tentage if possible. I was inside my shelter when a rainstorm outside. I was not surprised that water was dripping off the insides surfaces of the somewhat weathered fabric. A second layer of canvas would give a form of run-off protection.

[rob love]

Two layers of canvas is fine, but only if you leave a space between them. Otherwise, any leakage through the first one will cause the second one to rot.

[Grant Bowker]

First, my apologies for not posting more frequent updates on what the barn people have been doing. I will try to catch up.
Recently the barn team went on a parts recovery roadtrip. Not a crosscountry or crossborder trip but with some interesting results. Rob got some interesting parts for the M-37 series and I ended up with most of the CMP Cab 13 parts. 2 seats of a pattern I didn't recognize, a cab back panel in fairly good shape, a cab floor of a pattern that I had not seen before (but should have known would exist, a cab nose in less battered than average condition, a couple of 20" rims, PTO tire air compressor and transmission and transfer case (also of a pattern I had not seen before). We were told the CMP parts had all come from a C60L operated by the RCAF. This is consistent with the parts provided and the yellow paint on them that didn't appear to be a recent respray.

[Grant Bowker]

From above it looks like CMP seats I'm familiar with. perhaps less abused than many but otherwise much the same.
From below the mounting I'm familiar with from cabs 11, 12 and 13 isn't there and there are cone shaped mounts on extended studs below the rail. All welded neatly in place. Also the seat position lever is much fancier than I'm used to in cab 11, 12 and 13. Does anyone know what the seats come from?

[Grant Bowker]

As a teaser to the next posts, this is the floor recently recovered. We had it home before we noticed it wasn't the "normal" floor associated with 2 speed transfer cases (or for that matter any other I had seen before).

[Grant Bowker]

Attached to the transmission is half of the tire pump PTO assembly. The drive gear and shift lever are there but no pump. The blanking plate is a factory looking light metal part, not the crude steel plate you would expect Bubba to make if he just ripped the pump assembly off. Also, since the six bolt attachment to the transmission is a standard size/shape, it would be so easy to find a cover. Also taking it all off would leave more clearance around the transmission. I don't know of anything else that used this style of PTO so I can't think of a reason only half of it would be installed at the factory to let the other half be installed later. Most PTOs transmit more power than I would expect them to put through the light metal castings used here. Everything else CMP is so heavy this seems out of character for a PTO intended to transmit much power.

[Grant Bowker]

The part of this that first caught our eyes as unusual was the shift linkage for the transfer case and transmission. Most 2 speed Chevrolet CMP transfer cases we've seen have a tower that is mounted to the transfer case crossmember and pokes up through the floor. it has multiple rods and interlocks and requires quite bit of fiddling to set up. Bob detests the fiddling. It lets you select 2wd, 4WD High, 4WD Low or neutral for winching.
This setup will only let you have 2WD or 4WD Low. The same movement of the lever that engages the front axle also selects low gear. This case does not have a PTO fitted. In this style linkage winching (or other transfer case mounted PTO functions) are controlled separately so I believe could be engaged while the truck is in gear.
This transmission and transfer case also explain an engine cover with shift plate that came with my C60L (with REL body) that made no sense with the "normal tower shifter T case on the truck.

[Grant Bowker]

Better view of the linkages

[Grant Bowker]

Shift plate. The people we got the engine cover and other parts from know each other and the parts all came from the same general part of Ontario so it is possible they might have all come from the same truck. We haven't asked questions yet. The weight on the engine cover is consistent with a C60L.

[Grant Bowker]

There seem to have been early and late shift linkages with changeover at the start of "1944" production. The tower style being early and the one shown above late. Only a theory - but perhaps the style shown above may have been developed to reduce the fiddling to set up the tower style? Perhaps to ensure drivers didn't use 4WD on pavement (they would select high and as a result 2WD for speed)? I had noticed the later style linkage in the C60X parts book but hadn't been conscious of it in the others until I saw the linkage in person and started trying to understand. The C60X version also shows a brace rod from the transmission to the transfer case that isn't illustrated in any other list. Again only a theory - to support the greater torque of the 270 CIG GMC engine compared to the 216 CID Chevrolet?
The C60S and C60L parts lists I have only illustrate the earlier linkage but they do list the later parts. (There is a later version of these lists than the ones I have.) The C60S and L illustrations appear to be the same as those shown as the earlier pattern in the C30 and CGT lists. The illustrations in the CGT and C30 lists appear to be the same. As far as I know, no C60X had a winch as the usual transfer case winch location is used to drive the second rear axle.

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

Shift plate. The people we got the engine cover and other parts from know each other and the parts all came from the same general part of Ontario so it is possible they might have all come from the same truck. We haven't asked questions yet. The weight on the engine cover is consistent with a C60L.

Hi Grant

I've had both engine covers for my Pat 13 C60S and Pat 13 HUP off and side by side believe them to be the same, but now that I look at the photos I wonder if they are. Never tried switching them. Tan is the C60S and OD is the HUP.





More info and measurements on http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Pattern%2013%20Engine%20Cover%20Drawings.htm

Now I'll have to check some measurements to see if they are the same.

Good to see more parts being saved.

As to the seat I would not be surprised if they are from a radio or cypher truck, where there were keyhole mounting points on the floor.

Cheers Phil

[hrpearce]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

Shift plate. The people we got the engine cover and other parts from know each other and the parts all came from the same general part of Ontario so it is possible they might have all come from the same truck. We haven't asked questions yet. The weight on the engine cover is consistent with a C60L.

Hi Grant, I have one of those shift plates and finally found out that it came from a fire tender. Your pictures are the first I have seen of the shift linkages and answer questions I have had for years.

[Frantisek Nachlinger]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

From above it looks like CMP seats I'm familiar with. perhaps less abused than many but otherwise much the same.
From below the mounting I'm familiar with from cabs 11, 12 and 13 isn't there and there are cone shaped mounts on extended studs below the rail. All welded neatly in place. Also the seat position lever is much fancier than I'm used to in cab 11, 12 and 13. Does anyone know what the seats come from?

I KNOW THOSE SEATS I NEET THOSE SEATS, AS MANY AS YOU CAN FIND!!! PLEASEEEEE!!

PM sent

Frankie

[RHClarke]

It has been a busy year - away from the barn, and so not so many posts. However, this will have to suffice until the New Year.

From Bob Carriere, Grant Bowker and myself, enjoy your holidays and Merry Christmas!

[Bob Carriere]

Did my last run of the year today at minus 21 C ....... with no top so open roadster style........ ran like a charm once I had the battery was recharged,

Now I am ready for New Years Day snow run 2018........ forecast for Jan 1st morning....... minus 28 C ......nice fluffy snow every where.

....... what I would give for an Australian sun burn right now!!!!!!

Cheers

[Frantisek Nachlinger]

Sorry for spamming this tread again, but I am still in a huge need of those seats

Mr. Grant Bowker - The seats in your post #46 are the rear seats from a FAT, here is a picture of the original mountings in my cab 13 FGT. I have found one pair allready, but still need 2 more seats. please, if they were free to swap/sell, let me know, I am highly interested in them.

Frankie