lumber

Springtime Ritual #1 – Upstream Edition, Part II

With the dovetailed box sides assembled I moved on to attaching the board bottom.  The orientation of the wood there was such that it will cause the maximum swelling and thus compression sealing that panel.

My strategery was to lay down a bead of asphalt and screw thing down tight for each board.  I left each board over-length by about an inch to reduce the risk of splitting from the screws.  I left the end board even longer to allow for a more stable outrigger effect when sitting in the stream after installation.

The successive board was tarred to both the sides and the preceding board.  Tidiness was not the objective, sturdy durability and performance was.  My only real objective was squeeze-out.

When the bottom was in place I turned my attention to one of the side boards that had a bit of surface cracking.  I trowelled on some tar on that whole surface just to make sure it would remain intact.  Probably overkill.

A line of tar on the inside and outside of each corner completed the assembly.  Using a hole drill I installed the shower drain fixture that served as the connector for the penstock water line.

Now all I had to do was make the screen lid and haul the monster up the hill.