Winter Surf Prelude 2

Tailbox split can be seen above the white water bottle holder

Inside the box. Outside panels held on by fold back clips.

Break detail with outside panel below - the panel boss won't get in the way of the repair which was -

Started by clamping some splints behind the broken part and drilling through.

Then the splints were screwed and glued in place. Screws were driven in from inside the tailbox, that meant........

The final deburring of the screw tips could be done easily, and there'd be no pointy screws sticking inside.

Leaning trike is back together again.

2nd repair / imporovement, I lengthened the tailbox hinges so they could be extended if required.  Occasionally I carry bike wheels, and the hinged lid can now have 5 different positions and be up to 100mm from the base. Some new slots mean the excess leather can be tucked away neatly, .... 

as shown here.

 Hi

After the wet ride to Kennet River (see my last post), I decided to pull down the tailbox and clean it, and I was glad I did. There was silt and water in lots of spots, so I took it apart, hosed it down and cleaned all the bits. As well, there was a break in one of the sidepanel supports, and I set about fixing that as shown above.  

At first I was a bit concerned that I was only fixing one side, and that other similar places would break too. Then I thought of a new tactic, and that is just to screw the  sidepanels onto their supports instead of clipping them on. Then the sidepanels could do their bit and be structural, and stay removable as well. I haven't done this change yet but plan to soon.

A second change to the tailbox was to make extendable hinges for the lid at the front. This should let me carry more things like bike wheels.

Overall I'm very happy with this sort of work on this tailbox. It is the heavy / load carrying / dignified and well presented tailbox, one of two styles that I make.  The second 'box is shown in this post and is a full 2kg lighter, and I believe more aerodynamic than the one I've shown today. (See https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4201871/files ) for plans of the trike described in this post)

Should have the bike back on the road in a day or 2, meanwhile I have been doing 20 - 30 k a day on the slower trike to keep fit enough for the 200k ride next week.

Back is still a bit sore when I lean back while riding but in general, I'm healing well from the slip I had a few days ago.

Regards Steve Nurse