The ‘RAITH Party Cart….

[Rick W]

I got the second coat of regal red on the outside, and the first coat of the gloss black on the top and bottom. I drilled 10 holes in the bottom in all the pockets to let any water drain. I’ll smear some paint on those holes from the inside before I put the insulation and tub back in. I’ll touch them up with paint on the outside before I bolt it to the frame.

I want to drill another drain hole right underneath the drain valve. The way this thing is made, there is a raised edge about 2 inches inside the perimeter. I want to drill a hole at either end to let water drain, but I can’t access it from the inside, too much of an angle.

I got all the handles and hardware first coat painted with my homemade maroon.

 

[Rick W]

I’m liking the way the basic box came out:

I still have to put another coat on the top, maybe two for durability

It all looked good on test panels, but I am not so happy on the handles and accents, but I’m working on them.

That’s not black. That’s a mixture of two parts regal red, and one part black. Technically, it has to match because it is a mixture of the two colors.

It almost looks brown instead of maroon. I’m trying to save the rose gold inserts, but I’m not liking that match either.

There are different aspects to the ornamentation, so I’m painting the inserts behind the handle holes red, and I’m going to put some red accents on the smaller pieces of hardware. When the paint dries, I’ll put one together and install it on the end and make a decision.

Part of me is thinking to just make it silver or gold, or both, which always goes with black and red. Remember it’s going to be on an aluminum diamond plate trailer

I’m thinking of some pinstriping, but I’ll hold off on that until the whole trailer comes together. These handles and accents are much easier to paint sitting on a workbench, so it’s a momentary bottleneck.

 

[Rick W]

And I don’t know what idiot decided to paint these things outside in the middle of pollen season

I washed the Missing Linc 3/4 days ago.

 

[RobbieD]

I washed the Missing Linc 3/4 days ago.

I "washed" all of my outside trucks two days ago; rain is the lazy man's wash. Yesterday morning the green Exploder was green; by afternoon it was yellow again.

I'm starting to see the coolness of the finished Raith Party Cart. In my twisted opinion, it is just begging for a shortened old-style coin operated parking meter mounted at the head of the casket, showing the orange "EXPIRED" flag. And you could probably modify the said meter, whereby the throngs of enthusiastic admirers can deposit well-earned tips in the coin slots, for the burgers, dogs and drinks.

And it wouldn't surprise me at all, if you actually have an old parking meter in the Shed of Miracles.

The RPC is coming along and looking good; looking forward to seeing it done!

 

[Rick W]

Damn. I know I should’ve save those parking meters…

 

[Rick W]

Everything I do, I find more to do. I don’t detail all the stuff in advance, I kinda do it on the fly.

All along I assumed this thing would open on the driver side, that puts the drain valve in the back.

The lid is split like 60-40, the long side to the front. You can’t open the short side unless the long side is already open. The short side is where I was going to put the drinks when I divide it up, but that means you have to open the whole thing up every time you want to grab a beer. If I cut the lip off the short side so I can open it independently, it will leak between the lids.

It’s easy enough to put another drain in the front side, and I have one except for the pipe nipple, but I don’t wanna be cutting it up anymore than I have to.

But I guess if it was easy, they’d let women and children do it…

And I didn’t think of the parking meter, but I did think of putting a “no exit“ sign inside the lid, and getting a sticker that says “Rest in Pabst“. But I don’t drink Pabst..

Keep those comments coming

 

[RobbieD]

I did think of putting a “no exit“ sign inside the lid, and getting a sticker that says “Rest in Pabst“. But I don’t drink Pabst..

 

[Rick W]

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I went out about 5:00, quick sanded the top, and foam rolled on another coat of black. It should be cured enough by the rain so it won’t get hurt. I envision a final coat after the rig is all together. Probably no way I’ll get it all done without scratching it somewhere.

Those rose gold inserts are stamped aluminum stickers. I put masking tape over them to paint the handles, and when I went to pull the tape, the one use for a few days good looking cheap as crap stickers wanted to come off too. I’m exploring replacement insert stickers.

I can assemble the handles in the garage in the rain, and they’ll go on quickly when the rain stops.

When I get all the handles and ornamentation off my table saw, I can shave the aluminum frame pieces. Trailer frame should take shape by this weekend, except I’m considering taking the Road Ranger to the GA Tech car show Saturday. 50-50

 

[sgtsandman]

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I went out about 5:00, quick sanded the top, and foam rolled on another coat of black. It should be cured enough by the rain so it won’t get hurt. I envision a final coat after the rig is all together. Probably no way I’ll get it all done without scratching it somewhere.

Those rose gold inserts are stamped aluminum stickers. I put masking tape over them to paint the handles, and when I went to pull the tape, the one use for a few days good looking cheap as crap stickers wanted to come off too. I’m exploring replacement insert stickers.

I can assemble the handles in the garage in the rain, and they’ll go on quickly when the rain stops.

When I get all the handles and ornamentation off my table saw, I can shave the aluminum frame pieces. Trailer frame should take shape by this weekend, except I’m considering taking the Road Ranger to the GA Tech car show Saturday. 50-50

Would it be worth the time to clean the adhesive off with some goo gone or similar adhesice remover and RTV them back on?

 

[Rick W]

Would it be worth the time to clean the adhesive off with some goo gone or similar adhesice remover and RTV them back on?

I know I can save them. After the first one started to pull up, I used a couple of picks and went very slowly, and didn’t have any trouble getting the tape off. Question now is do I want to save them.

The reason I bought that teeny can of spray Rose gold, was to shoot it into a cup, and then use an artist brush to touch these things up. There are eight of them on the handle brackets, and then four of them are folded 90° over the corner pieces, 12 total. Two are badly damaged, and another four have deep scratches. I’m pretty sure that if I touch them up with the rose gold, the defects will disappear in the grand ensemble.

My bigger issue at the moment is when I did my test panels, it looked like they would match ok, and now that I’ve got everything painted, they don’t look like they match at all. They’re roughly 3” x 5”, but again, in the grand ensemble, they probably just about disappear. If I can’t replace them, I want to save them, simply for the ghoul factor because they’re real Casket stuff.

I already have a call into Batesville Casket. I’m assuming this is a standard item that I could maybe purchase, but I don’t know what they cost, and again, they are in transition right now. If I can replace them, I would prefer #1 gold, or #2 silver. And they may have other colors. To look at them you’d think they’re $.50 each, but if they’re $10 each, we go to Plan B even if they’re available.

I don’t know if you can see it in my pictures, but where I painted the two ends of the handle bezels red, the pot metal is textured. From the little bit I could see underneath the corner of the one that started to pull up, I believe it’s textured in that center panel too. Options could be to just paint it to match or contrast, or to just get a completely different sticker, like a picture of it @snoranger , and use that.

 

[Rick W]

I may have been overly concerned with the color of my inserts. Looks a lot better when it’s all together.

I made Aluminum backing plates for the handles, and they are solid as a rock now.

@sgtsandman (thank you!) inspired me to really think out how I’m going to tie it down. I have to have that figured out before I put the insulation and tub back in.

I’m going to cut about a 2 inch long piece of 2 x 2 aluminum angle, I think it’s about 3/16 thick, and bolt it in vertically inside each corner. When I set it on the frame, the bolt in the front face will hold that angle in place while I remove the side bolt, install an external bracket, bolt it back, and bolt the outside bracket down to the frame. The corners are the easy part, because I get to set the frame crosspiece intentionally under the ends of the casket.

My concern was that I don’t know where the center of the springs will be (I have several options), but I’m going to do the same thing in a different sense. I know where the centerline will be plus or minus 10 inches. I’ll lay down a 20 inch long piece of that angle about where the cross piece will be, and bolt it on either end the same way. Once the springs are done, I’ll put in that cross piece. Then, when I set the casket down, I can put in an external clip the same way centered on the cross piece. That one I will just have to drill and tap from the outside. Nobody will ever noticed a couple of extra bolts here and there along the bottom (unless I paint them yellow or something like that).

 

[RobbieD]

That turned out good!

 

[Rick W]

That turned out good!

Thank you. In addition to the anchoring modifications, I want to divide the big tub into three, and add two more drains, but that should be pretty straightforward.

 

[sgtsandman]

How has the lid been at keeping the rain out? I imagine that split can be a cause for leaks since it leaves an open, horizontal seam for water to get into.

 

[Rick W]

How has the lid been at keeping the rain out? I imagine that split can be a cause for leaks since it leaves an open, horizontal seam for water to get into.

I don’t really know yet, but I think it’s going to do very well.

Every time I put a coat of red or black on the outside, I chocked it open with some 2x4s so the interior paint would dry (I poured it in pretty thick). The lids are actually designed like a pagoda, to shed water, and they extend past the box, so water will drip down and not run under. There was a little bit of water where I had it chocked open, outside the rise I described before that runs around the perimeter about 2 inches inside the wall. The rest of the inside was bone dry (get it?). I’m almost glad I saw this, because the solution will be to drill a hole in each corner, not simply on each end.

The thing was designed to be watertight, but that’s only if you crank the lid down. I suspect the water damage inside was from imperfect installation of the drain in the tub, and the way the tub was attached around the lip (not caulked). If water got into the interstitial space, there was no way for it to get out. Cleaning it up was nasty, but actually it was very little rust considering this thing is 10 or 15 years old or older.

There’s a very stout rubber gasket that runs around the top. The lids ratchet down with about a half a dozen catch points, operated by 3/8 Allen wrench from one corner. The design overall is really excellent, and the fit and finish are excellent, it’s just not built for durability (other than being covered with dirt!).

I’d be surprised if any water gets in from the top after this, nor from the tub or the tub drains when I redo them/add them. But if it does, it can leak out, won’t affect the insulation of the tub to keep the beer cold, and it can dry out now.

I hope to have the tub in with the new drains, and divided by this weekend. I can’t wait to jump on the aluminum.