This afternoon I finished bolting the floor to the frame. I was going to get 50 elevator bolts for this and my friend Steve said that I should get 100. It turned out that even with 100 on hand I was 4 short and I have not even bolted the shell back on yet. Live and learn I guess so it will be back to Fastnal for me tomorrow.

After killing a turkey in 2 days instead of five I have a few extra days to work on the Airstream so here is how the new step assembly turned out. It not only looks good but I had a 300 pound guy stand on it and bounce around a little so its also strong.

It turkey season in Wisconsin and as of 8:00 this morning there is one less Gobbler on my friend Jim's farm. I thought that I had missed my opportunity at this Tom when he came from a direction that I was not expecting and I scared him off when I tried to move in preparation for a shot. I stayed there and it took about a half hour of continuous hammering on the box call but he came back looking for the love sick hen that was making all the racket. He found me instead and I let him have it with my Benelli Nova with 31/2 inch copper plated and buffered number 5's. He got an acute case of lead poisoning and croaked. What a morning. His stats: 1 inch spurs, 12 inch beard and 23 pounds

I am pretty lucky to have a friend like Jim because even when I'm not able to be at his shop things still get done. Here is the new step frame and step, and then the back half of the trailer frame is complete with two coats of POR-15. Thanks Jim.

It worked and the new coupler is attached. The new one is for a 2 5/16 ball and can pull up to 12,500 pounds, I figure just over three 1958 overlanders. The welds still need to be ground off and it needs to be painted.

wow, arc welding is a lot brighter than wire feed but Jim says that we needed the extra power of the 220 V welder for the welds on the coupler.

Using a cutting torch and a grinder and a sledge hammer Jim removed the coupler which was for a 1 7/8 inch ball.