Snow season is about over in the (relative) low-lands of Washington, so it is time to put the snow cat to bed.
I made a final trip up to the cabin on March 30th to see how the new brakes are working. Overall they're doing well -- equal travel on both sticks, a solid feel when they engage, and assertive steering. There's a bit of chatter when it is warm, but nothing too offensive.
The snow is staying late this year. Normally we plant trees on the last weekend of March and it is a shirt-sleeves only work day. Cool in the morning, but quite comfortable by mid-day. Fortunately, we took the year off from planting, so I don't have 300 seedlings waiting for the snow to melt. This is one of our baby trees from a couple years ago.
I don't have a garage or shop to stash the Imp in during the off-season, so I've resorted to tarping it in the front yard. I wanted to do this in a way that would keep it relatively dry, protect the belting from the sun, and keep the house from looking like a snow cat grave yard. I used treated 4x4s to create a stand that would keep the tracks off the ground and then split an 8'x10' poly tarp in half to cover the tracks. I tacked the ragged edge of the tarp to the outside 4x4 and then used 1"x2"x8' furring strips and bunji cords to hold the top end in place.
I was planning to just tarp the cab, but I've found water pooling in the foot wells. My guess is that rain is landing on the rear deck, trickling forward, and finding a way in through the back of the cab. I'll be getting a longer tarp that will cover the Imp from nose to tail. I went with a gray 10 mil tarp for the extra durability and lesser visual impact -- for some reason gray seems to fit in better with the skies of Washington than blue.
The end result is pretty good (IMHO). It is clear that there's *something* unusual in the front yard, but if you drive by at 60+ you might not even notice it.
For the off-season I'm hoping to make one or more of the following changes (in priority order):
There's no way I'll get all this done, but I'll hopefully be able to pick off one or two of them.
Happy trails.
Ron
I made a final trip up to the cabin on March 30th to see how the new brakes are working. Overall they're doing well -- equal travel on both sticks, a solid feel when they engage, and assertive steering. There's a bit of chatter when it is warm, but nothing too offensive.
The snow is staying late this year. Normally we plant trees on the last weekend of March and it is a shirt-sleeves only work day. Cool in the morning, but quite comfortable by mid-day. Fortunately, we took the year off from planting, so I don't have 300 seedlings waiting for the snow to melt. This is one of our baby trees from a couple years ago.
I don't have a garage or shop to stash the Imp in during the off-season, so I've resorted to tarping it in the front yard. I wanted to do this in a way that would keep it relatively dry, protect the belting from the sun, and keep the house from looking like a snow cat grave yard. I used treated 4x4s to create a stand that would keep the tracks off the ground and then split an 8'x10' poly tarp in half to cover the tracks. I tacked the ragged edge of the tarp to the outside 4x4 and then used 1"x2"x8' furring strips and bunji cords to hold the top end in place.
I was planning to just tarp the cab, but I've found water pooling in the foot wells. My guess is that rain is landing on the rear deck, trickling forward, and finding a way in through the back of the cab. I'll be getting a longer tarp that will cover the Imp from nose to tail. I went with a gray 10 mil tarp for the extra durability and lesser visual impact -- for some reason gray seems to fit in better with the skies of Washington than blue.
The end result is pretty good (IMHO). It is clear that there's *something* unusual in the front yard, but if you drive by at 60+ you might not even notice it.
For the off-season I'm hoping to make one or more of the following changes (in priority order):
- Move the battery box from between the seats to the rear deck to allow room for more clutter in the cab,
- Convert the windshield wipers to something with an intermittent setting, self parking, and pantographic arms,
- Add side and rear lighting, and possibly a Unity spotlight up front, and
- Replace the weather stripping on the door windows.
There's no way I'll get all this done, but I'll hopefully be able to pick off one or two of them.
Happy trails.
Ron