Preppers: Finishing Up Loose Ends
Kevin Felts 05.10.18
Guys and gals, does it seem like you have a list of loose ends a mile long? How many of us start one project with the best intentions, only to start something else before it is complete?
Then we find some kind of justification to not finish the first project. “It’s okay, I will get around to it one day,” only for “one day” never to arrive.
For example, in 2007 I built a barbecue pit out of a 250-gallon propane tank. In 2008 a smoker was added to the front of the pit. For the past decade I have been wanting to wrap up a few odds and ends on it. One of those was adding another assist spring to each lid.
The lids were designed to have two assist springs. When the pit was built, only one spring was put on. The springs were attached to the pit by pieces of chain link welded to the tank, then stainless steel shackles were used to attach the springs to the chain link.
The second assist springs were put off for a decade. Why? Because the pit worked well with one spring at that time. When the springs were new, the lids opened easily. However, over the years the springs have weakened and the lids have become more difficult to open.
A year ago, my wife and I were having a cookout when one of the lids fell forward and hit me in the head. Let’s just say it was a very unpleasant experience. The impact gave me a slight cut on the head, but nothing bad… but if a child had been under the lid, things could have been a lot different.
Rather than waiting for another accident to happen, I finally added the second assist springs. It took several hours to get the stuff from a local hardware store, then weld everything into place. The end result is that both lids are much easier to open, and will not fall closed.
Now that the barbecue pit project is almost finished, I keep asking myself, “Why did I wait so long?” There are a few other things which need to be done to the pit before it will be considered “finished.”
Maybe we reach a point where we say, “That is good enough.” Or maybe we say, “That is good for now.” Who knows, maybe one day I will get around to building a shed and setting up the reloading bench again?
Okay reader. What projects have you been putting off? Any records, such as beating my decade to weld something on the pit?
