Pre-season June 10, Day 11

Harry and crew were up and out early. Josh and I meandered in just before noon and picked up what we hoped would be the flashing that will be used to wrap Lynnie’s cabin (we couldn’t get strips of tin, so we’re using flashing horizontally, with the idea of lapping it like siding. I think it’ll work to protect the plywood. It’ll sure be shiny, though. I hope it doesn’t cause any airplane crashes.

The stack in the back of the truck was high. We had a tote (that did contain the flashing) and probably 16-20 fish boxes stacked on top and wrapped in plastic wrap. We did decide that prudence called for lowering the stack a little – so it didn’t tip over, taking the whole column of supplies with it.

Back at the cabin, Josh and I set up the portable winch. It was a process. It kept cutting out. The winch is attached to the top of the stairs with a strap and a couple of hooks. The tram is at the bottom of the stairs (of course, we loaded it up before testing how it would work. Sigh.) When the winch pulls on the tram, the line goes taut and makes the winch leave the step it was resting on and align between the tram and the anchor point, tipping downward. I think that makes the oil come off the oil sensor so the winch thinks it’s out of oil and stops. It took a number of tries before we conceded that we just weren’t going to be able to anchor the winch to a higher point on the stairs. Fortunately, there is a screw anchor sunk into the cliff a short distance from the stairs. We used that as the “dead man” (that’s setnetter parlance) and eventually placed the winch on a metal tub at about the same level as the pulley that guides the rope to the winch from the tram.

The photo to the right shows the strap running through the eye of the screw anchor and hooking onto the winch. One end of the line (special, low-stretch line) runs down the stairs to the tram. The other feeds through the guide pulley hanging by two shackles off the stairs (to keep the tram moving up the stairs instead of off the rails when the winch pulls), back to the winch with a few wraps around the drum, and over to the stairs where we can tie it off as a brake.

We put that big black pipe on the stair because the rope was rubbing on a right angle, shortening its life. So we used some black pipe, cutting it to length and then slicing it lengthwise with a skill saw so we could force it over the angle iron on the stairs. But still, the rope rubbed a groove in it. So we robbed some of the flashing from the cabin tinning project to cover the black pipe (secured with three screws).

If you look at the second photo, you can see some chain looped through the big shackle. This leads over to the side of the stairs and secures it there to prevent it from “walking” to the edge of the stairs (in line with the winch), threatening to pull the tram off the rails. It would be such a bad thing to lose the tram off the stairs part way up the cliff – damaging the stuff and worse, anything (or anyone) below.

We’ll have more to bring up tomorrow.

Liz