Siding purchased and “safely” transported

We purchased about 5000 feet of clear red cedar tongue and groove siding off of Craig’s list. Retrieving it from Easton Mass over 2 hours away near Boston was quite the adventure. I rented a 15′ trailer for the occasion, but before I could do that I needed to get a brake controller installed on the truck. (A brake controller allows one to utilize a trailer that has its own brakes.) I probably should have had a hitch installed as well, but I ran out of time to get that done. It was quite risky putting such a heavy trailer on the bumper.

Loading up the trailer and strapping it down went well–or so I thought. Though no boards fell of the trailer, two of the stacks were slowly slipping off the back. Luckily I saw what was happening and readjusted the piles and straps. Lesson: make sure that the the straps are putting solid pressure on all of the boards. Not more than several miles later I heard a bang followed by scraping coming from the rig. It turned out that the cotter pin that held the trailer tongue jack fell out requiring another pit stop on Route 2. I was relieved I was not at fault, and I used my last strap to fix the jack in place.

The adventure wouldn’t have been complete without violent winds and sheets of rain. At least the storm didn’t last long and occurred during the middle of the journey home. An hour of air rushing through the boards no doubt dried out much of the moisture that penetrated. In the end, only the 16′ and 17′ footers that were overhanging the trailer were wet by the time I arrived home. Next time, I won’t cheap out on the tarps.

Before going to John’s barn in Gill were the boards are now safely stacked I stopped by our current residence grabbed some dinner and a couple of ibuprofen for my stress-induced headache. We finished unloading the boards after dark and they are now safely stored in John’s barn in Gill. Thank you again John!