#17: You're Gonna Flip!

Remember our two electric hoists we were waiting on back in April in order to flip the roof? Well, they came in immediately, but we ended up working on the barndo until mid-October. But the very next day, we put those hoists to the test! Hopefully we won’t ever have to “call the police,” as the Chinese product displays.

Nick made holes on each side of the roof so that a strap could go through to lift it up. We removed the forms from below and, slow and steady, let the hoists work their magic. For the next flip (right side up), he’s thinking we’ll just wrap around the narrow end instead of the middle in order to minimize repairs.

The real excitement started with making sure the roof didn’t slip by just using our feet as supports on the ground, but soon we realized we needed to use the real heavyweight: our resin on a pallet jack.

And once we flipped it straight up, we wheeled our trusty resin to the other side for support as we lowered the roof top side down.

The roof touched a fan blade during the flip (eek!), but luckily nothing was damaged. Nick realized that the fan placement wasn’t the best after all, considering we want to store the roof directly above the boat instead of to the side/above, so he later moved the fan to a beam closer to the barndo’s laundry room and bathroom.

We needed all hands on deck for that flip, so thank goodness Nick and I have willing help!

Ever since the flip, we’ve been mixing epoxy, filling in holes, sanding, and gluing supports to the roof. Rinse and repeat. Tristan and Nick were the first to try out their bunny suits for sanding the fiberglass. Just too much fun over here, y’all!

Onward and upward!