Sunday, December 04, 2011

Oh So Knackered

You might guess by the photos below that I did not make it to the Cardington Cracker. It's a great race and I'm not overly pleased to have missed it but my body was aching from all that bashing through forest, hurdling felled trees and the tearing through bramble that went on yesterday - I am still picking out bits of thorn from my arms and legs. In fact after an early rise I knew I wouldn't enjoy the race as I should so I went back to bed.

I haven't wasted the day though. I decided to finish the main build of Vera's bench-bed. The only weak point in the design was whether I could support the front legs rigidly enough without requiring some sort of bracing. Ideally I wanted the sliding section to sit flush to the main bench when retracted - as you can see in the picture I managed that  - and without sacrificing structural integrity. A trip to the local(ish) diy store to the purchase of some f*(% off big brackets did the trick. I think the brackets I bought are more likely intended for holding structural steel together than a few bits of wood but they did the job lovely. The front legs and top do not move a millimetre.

All I need to do now is ply over the front legs and back section, upholster it and then purchase some foam to make up a couple of mattress sections, one 9mm thicker than the other to balance off the step to the slinding section. Oh, and of course, some toggle clasps to clamp the bench in place.

After that it's on to laying the vinyl floor and upholstering the walls...

Bed, Extended

Bed, Retracted

3 comments:

Simon Anderson said...

Nice effort. Is this where you'll be kipping after epic runs?

The Mad Runner said...

cheers, yep that's the idea plus it'll enable me to head up north - Lakes and Wales - on the weekends for races and training, need to recce the Bob for an attempt in a couple years

Spikeypikey said...

Blimey, that is impressive!!

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