Post by joeolympique on Feb 25, 2020 4:53:29 GMT
This Flexible Flyer toboggan arrived under the Christmas tree in 1971, a year after the 70 335 came home. What a blast we had with this thing. Countless weekends and evenings bombing down the suicide 17th hole par three at the local golf course with school days buddies and girlfriends on board (a bottle of blackberry brandy tucked in our jacket). The biggest fun, however, was towing it behind the ski doo. What a wild ride, especially in fresh snow. Pile everyone on and hit the gas. My job, as the driver, was to flip the toboggan. That was accomplished by carving big S-curves across the fields. The toboggan would whiplash and eventually succumb. Everyone would tumble, laugh their fool heads off, then climb on and doo it again.
It went into retirement in the late 1970s, stashed up in the rafters, now brought back to life.
Not much left of the original urethane finish. Chemical stripping took off what remained.
The left side chain let go back in the day and was left unattended for a number of years during which time
left front curve opened up some. Sometime in the mid 1980s it was submerged in a vat of boiling water and
curled back into place with a sloppy chain replacement.
The dark factory stain on the center board and two outboards extendend only as far as the eye
could see... mass production, they saved a lot of stain dooing that way.
The skis are maple. When stripped and sanded clean you have a beautiful white wood, great pallet to work with
The dark boards are stained with Jacobean, the light boards are left natural and turn amber with the polyurethane.
Eight coats of poly on each side with all the sanding and cleaning in between to get a Louis the 14th finish.
Look how whacked out the fronts of the skis are. But that's wood. As soon you release it it wants to go back to being a tree.
Made assembly a real challange. I started putting it together at the front, you know, doo the hardest part of the job first.
After half an hour of struggle I realized I was going in the wrong direction. Pulled apart what I had and started over at the rear.
The cross braces are cherry
Perfect curve on both sides, seven links of chain, should steer nice and straight
The top brace was originally fastened with wood screws. But you know how that is, they never get
a good bite the second time around. So stainless button head, socket head cap screws and nuts this time.
The leather rope guides, although worn, are thick and robust, have survived well
New one inch number 10 wood screws held well. They were a little longer that the originals, no need for glue
Tried to find a replacement for this on line, no luck. Don't care, glad to have the original
The original pad survived intact, new tie downs sewn on. No mildew no mice, how did that happen?