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let me tell you about the first 2/3 of my day today

gabagoo

New Member
I must be getting to old for installs (54).
One of my good customers called last week that they had a new straight truck and that they needed me to do the drivers door and the passenger door with new graphics, but that they had graphics for the box that they have had for 3 years ( rolled up in a box). I know this as they had me do 2 of their tanker trucks 3 years ago. It's all Mobil graphics and esso.

the graphics came from the US and probably from a pretty large company. Everything was comply and was done very well. The issue I was uncertain of was how would these graphics be after 3 years rolled up....

My regular installer was out for today so I decided I would do it, and I like installing, errr well I used too.

I made an appointment to do the truck at the penske leasing company which is almost downtown, and I am in the sticks, so we will say 20 miles and a toll road.

I get there at 10 as we had discussed and i was told the truck would be washed and inside. I see immediately upon pulling into the parking lot that there is a brand new truck parked outside and i know it is theirs by the options on it.

I go inside and find a guy and explain to him blah blah blah and he pulls the truck into the washbay (pretty big, hold 2 full size straight trucks) and he washes it while I sit in my car bored and check emails.

I knwo this is going to be a real ***** of a job as i see this truck is pretty big and I only brought my 6' platform ladder. i was told the truck had no rivets but now I saw it had 2 lines of those 1" buttons running down both sides and based on the graphics I would have to work above them ( a 10" 20' long stripe). I could reach the top on my tippy toes so all was good.

the truck sort of dried off and I went over it with towels and now had to deal with 3 year old rolled up comply graphics. NOT FUN.
I had nowhere to really spread the stuff out as the floor is always wet so I mumbled and talked to myself, how I would never allow myself to get into this situation again.... I will, I always do.lol

I basically had no layouts except a picture of how I did the tanker trucks and it was enough to do what I needed to. the comply feature made it a little easier than conventional 2ml, but the premask was old and troublesome with some graphics as it seemed to be a bit moist or maybe it had been on to long.
i dealt with it...up and down my ladder at least 200 times.
the wash bay was so humid I had to take my sweat top off and I was really overheating. The air was so humid and I cursed the day I was born.

After 4.5 hours I finally finished and was so happy to hop back into my car and go back to the office.

I am so sore now, I need a nap.
maybe 54 is a bit to old to be climbing up and down a ladder all day.

here are a couple of pics... I couldnt get to far away from it and it doesnt look like much but those graphics were a lot larger than I expected.
 

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gabagoo

New Member
I wasn't really meaning to rant , I just had to tell it the way it was.....

I need Advil...NOW!!! or :bushmill:
 

gabagoo

New Member
pppffffff.... you can't manage a 4.5 install.
if you're a little sore, just walk it off... on the golf course. hehe

it's winter!!! I out of shape!!!! Good thing my gout went away last week or who knows what would have happened.

the worst part about doing an install like that, is that they are not my graphics, so if something goes bad, I cant fix it easily and I was working off site which I rarely do.
In fact I could have got the truck in my bay, but it would have been pretty tight. Seriously though if I had, at least i could have set up my scafold and easily apply without the rain forest humidity too.
lesson learned for next time......
 

Jillbeans

New Member
Sounds like an episode right out of my own life.
Hey you got it done though and it looks good.
Make sure not to take Advil on an empty stomach.
I take 4 after a day like that, ladders just kill me anymore and I'm still 5 months shy of my 50th.
Love....Jill
 

cdiesel

New Member
I'm pretty much a full-time manager now.. a real keyboard jockey. I still like to install every once-in-awhile though.

December and early Janurary were not nice to me. Removed & wrapped a Transit and Sprinter by myself in two days.. then went to San Francisco and helped Prowraps wrap a million buses. That was BS. My body was pissed.
 

Deaton Design

New Member
Im 55 and I hate ladders, but sometimes they are necessary evils, hopefully not too much longer though. Jobs like these are trying on your patience, but you held on and made it work. Good for you...
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Good story - good thing you didn't take a header off that ladder.
Those 50+year old hips heal real slow.....

wayne k
guam usa
 

Red Ball

Seasoned Citizen
At 52 I don't have trouble on the stages. At least not until the next and second day after.

I don't think leasing companies are doing any of us any great favor by loaning the use of the wash bay.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Its Friday and I just opened a bottle of red wine! Cheers...

What does Friday have to do with this equation ??



Oh.... and great job gaba :thumb:

At my age, I'm doing as little as possible around the shop. I don't want mistakes, so the more I stay away.... the better :frustrated:
 

Arlo Kalon 2.0

New Member
At 58, my wife won't let me do ladders anymore. This reminds me of when my shop was in a huge, unused aircraft hangar. We got some of those rolling stairs out of a junk pile at the airport and made a rolling stage that went on both sides of 18 wheelers (we could get 5 at once in the hangar). We could roll right across the hood, put a walk plank across between stairs, and letter on the aerodynamic wind dam above the cab. Those were the days. It's amazing how much more profitable the job is when you are set up for easy installs. Nice job - despite the less than ideal situation.
 
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