VAL Digest V1 #210

VAL Digest          Wednesday, April 7 2004          Volume 01 : Number 210




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Topics in Today's Digest:

[VAL] Washington DC Unit; 5th Annual Cherry Blossom Rally
Re: [VAL] Ding King Product
[VAL] Odd Hinge happenings.
[VAL] emptying the black tank
[VAL] Flatbed Hauler

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Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 08:17:36 -0400
From: <harley.muse@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
Subject: [VAL] Washington DC Unit; 5th Annual Cherry Blossom Rally

Tom,

Thanks so much for bringing back some very fond memories regarding the
formation of the Washington DC Unit.  Tom Howarth was indeed the Founder
of the Unit, and Bill Scott was its first Membership Chairman.  Our
first formal meeting and induction ceremony was held in October, 1999 in
Shartlesville, PA and was a memorable event.

We just this past weekend held the 5th Annual Cherry Blossom Rally at
Rogers Farm in Upper Marlboro, MD, the first having been held at RFK
Stadium in April 2000.  There were 28 actual units in attendance and
several other members attending without trailers.  The majority of the
units were vintage, as always, but the span of years represented was 50
as we were treated to Patty Raimondo's '54 Flying Cloud fresh from
Jackson Center after its refurbishment at the factory and a 2004 Classic
Limited owned by Dimitri and Florence Paras from Toronto, Ontario.

The record for distance traveled to attend is held by Anthony Slocock
who traveled from London after not having been here for several years.
It's always a treat to see him and to hear of his exploits to ventures
toward getting Airstream into the European markets.  He held audience
over the four day weekend showing those in attendance his plans and
telling them about progress being made on his prototype.  There were
four Canadian units in attendance and others from New York, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Virginia,
Maryland, North Carolina, Rhode Island and New Mexico.

Despite nasty, wet and cold weather everyone had a wonderful time of
visiting with each other and swapping stories of past Cherry Blossom
Rallys and of their travels over the winter season.  Several had a bit
of slipping and sliding to do upon arrival as the pasture we were parked
in was very soft and mushy and several others were a bit concerned about
departing after the weekend's rains but everyone made it out safely and
were on their way to other places or returning home.

It was another successful weekend for our signature rally and we're all
looking forward to another season of camping and camaraderie that comes
with being a member of the Washington DC Unit and WBCCI.  Out unit motto
"Just Camping" is what it's all about.  Our unit has grown over its five
year existence from its 20 charter members to almost 70 member families
presently and 26 affiliate families.  Members of our unit come from as
far away a London, England and from many states in the US as well as
Canada.  I think our Unit probably has more states of the US represented
than any other unit of WBCCI, as well as our Canadian and British
members.  We're glad to have each and every one of them and welcome all
comers from far and wide.  It has never been possible to gather all
members at once, but you can rest assured that when we do meet there are
thoughts about all of them.

Our next rally will be held Mother's Day weekend (May 6-9, 2004) in the
beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia at Creekside Campground in
Edinburg, just off I-81 south of Winchester.  There are a total of 27
sites available, so give us a holler if you'd like to attend.

Safe travels and we'll see you down the road.

Harley C. Muse
President, Washington DC Unit (#170)
WBCCI
532 Bridges Creek Road
Washington's Birthplace
Colonial Beach, VA  22443-5108
804-224-5186

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Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 07:32:31 -0500
From: "Tom Patterson" <tommyjoe@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
Subject: Re: [VAL] Ding King Product

There are pictures from Thomas Dickieson that I posted on the photo gallery
at  http://www.tompatterson.com/VALgallery/index.php of the results of using
a Ding King to remove a bad dent from his trailer.

- -Tom

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Pfeffer" <pfefferd@xxxxxxxxxx.ibm.com>
To: <valist@xxxxxxxxxx.com>
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 6:52 PM
Subject: [VAL] Ding King Product


> Folks:
>
> I have two old Pontiac GTO's sitting in my garage, I've painted one myself
> and have learned to perform minor body work.  Knowing what I know about
> dent removal, when I heard about a product called Ding King I was
> skeptical.  Using a glue gun, special adhesive glue sticks combined with a
> small bridge that goes over the ding, you apply the melted resin to the a
> flat plastic foot that sits at the end of a screw shaft called a pulling
> tab.  Then, you put the resin covered screw on the center of the dent,
> this goes against what I've learned about removing dents, but this tool is
> suppose to be applied to small door dings in automotive sheet metal.  Once
> the pulling tab is attached to the dent via the adhesive, you put the
> bridge over the top of the screw, then you attach the pulling knob, a
> start shaped device that screws down on to the pulling tab.  As you screw
> downward the pulling knob comes in contact with the bridge, and begins to
> pull the metal upwards.  Here's and example on eBay.
>
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35625&item=2470873681
>
>
> Anyway, my Overlander has two dents in the classic locations, one is curb
> side, rear, where the body shell curves over the head, the classic "hit a
> limb," scenario, it's about 8" X4" in size. The second is curb side, front
>  lower corner where I suspect the trailer was jack-knifed backing it up.
> The dent is on the belly pan where it curves up from beneath the trailer.
> I found the Ding King on eBay ($25.00 included shipping and extra glue
> sticks.) and decided to give it try.  Well I'm happy to say it's done a
> pretty good job, most of the upper dent has been removed though it still
> shows a little bit of a ripple.  I need to keep working it, but I'm
> hopeful I'll get most of the dent out. As mentioned the tool is really
> intended for door dings, but the aluminum is so soft the ding king had no
> trouble pulling the dent out.  You have to continue to work your way
> around it pulling out creases as you find them.
>
> >From an automotive standpoint the idea is to work the dent out from the
> back starting on the outside, with your hammer, and working your way
> slowly in toward the center, tapping lightly to avoid stretching the
> metal.  I tried to apply this same philosophy to the dent in my Airstream
> using the Ding King, and it didn't work well, I had to end up going right
> to the middle of the dent, then work my way back out toward the edge.  For
> those of you with softball size dents, give it a try it may work for you
> with only a small investment.
>
>
> David Pfeffer

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Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 21:04:54 -0400
From: "Nick & Ruth Warren" <nickruthwarren@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: [VAL] Odd Hinge happenings.

Okay,

Something very odd happened yesterday.  We pulled into a camp site after a
longish road trip to find the top door hinge off.  Only the middle section
of the hinge was off, the bit that holds the smaller screen door in place.
BUT, the hinge pin was still in place holding the upper and lower sections
of the door hinge in place and the actual shaft of the screen door hinge was
undamaged (my first thought was that it must be broken open).  We simply
pulled out the pin and put everthing back in place and all is working
perfectly now.

How on earth did this happen?  Could the pin really jump out and back in
again.  Any thoughts?

Ruth Warren & The Tin Can Clan
A bit further down I95

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Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 20:54:17 -0400
From: "Nick & Ruth Warren" <nickruthwarren@xxxxxxxxxx.net>
Subject: [VAL] emptying the black tank

Hello all,

I can't seem to empty the black tank on our 61' Tradewind.  There is a
square pipe sticking out of the side of the trailer just next to the hookup,
I thought all you had to do was pull.  It won't budge, is there something
I'm missing or do I need to apply the "brute force and ingnorance"
technique?

Any ideas?

Ruth Warren & The Tin Can Clan.
Currently on I95, 170 miles north of Miami.

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Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 21:18:57 EDT
From: Okydokey@xxxxxxxxxx.com
Subject: [VAL] Flatbed Hauler

Hi,

Can anyone suggest a flatbed hauler to move a trailer from Chicago to 
Detroit?

Thanks,

Jason Jablonski
#15562 '55 30' Liner

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End of VAL Digest V1 #210
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