Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Do It Yourself With All the Wrong Stuff

In an attempt to mitigate rain damage inside the RV I tried to think up something ANYTHING that could possible help.

So in the pouring down rain, I rigged up this hilarious ensemble in a feeble attempt to slow the rain down that was pouring inside my wheel estate.



It looks easier said than done. It took me nearly two hours to rig this mess up. I started at 7am and finished about 9am. Of course there was some head scratching along the way and a temporary abandonment. But during that time I felt so deflated, I decided I shall not be defeated!

So back in the rains, I plunked away some more. Mostly the umbrella kept trying to fall down and I was trying not to damage it further. When I obtained the umbrella last winter, it was already heavily damaged, but I had my old destroyed umbrella to cobble parts from. It was really out of laziness, that I had not hauled off the old umbrella parts when umbrella number two entered my life. Such luck!

Two broken things combined into one more or less "refurbished" item.

That is one heavy 9 foot umbrella. I had to move it around fully opened, which is not easy.  Besides it still jams opening and closing requiring a delicate hand, lots of patience and sheer will. It wasn't tall enough to touch the ground, which makes it even more "top heavy". The final result is attached to an umbrella holder, which is attached to a board sitting on top of a director's chair frame, which is sitting on top of 6 leveling boards with three on each side.

Not shown is the 6 foot step ladder that aided me in assembling this rig. But a 6 foot step ladder isn't enough to reach an 11 foot roof. All the wrong parts...

The umbrella itself is actually a dumpster deal cobbled together with old parts from an old storm damaged umbrella. Yepper, that's me always trying to make something out of nothing. (My modest budget causes temporary fits of random inventiveness!)

When all was said and done both me and my clothes were soaked to the bone and the dog was thoroughly amused.

It still rained inside but not near as much. I could open up my window and grab the umbrella post in case a heavy wind came along and tried to blow my contraption away. As a bonus, I could enjoy fresh air through the open window without the rains pouring in, since the umbrella was diverting much of the water.

Life is goof.

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2 comments:

  1. I was hoping you had a large tarp to put up there with the help of some one camping near by. But at least you have gotten a little less water from your unbrella.

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  2. No campground here, I am a volunteer Park Host in a non-campground park that has a lake, boat ramp, courtesy dock, swim beach, playground, picnic areas, fishing dock, picnic shelter, everything but a campground.

    ReplyDelete


Life is goof!