Besides being an interesting and relevant addition to our garden, the former coal-yard, the coal truck has an immense storage capacity. Big trouble though has been the end door. Top hinged, it was designed to open when the entire truck, and its load was tipped up and discharged into a ship or wherever.
When horizontal that door is immensely heavy - at least a two-man lift. Once lifted, what then? Unless there is a way of keeping it open it drops again, so limiting or forbidding access to the loadspace.
Today I have solved that problem, after a very long time thinking about it. I relocated the T Davit crane from the top of the tower to within the truck by that large top-swung door. With a winch, this enables the heavy door to be swung open or closed at will, enabling access anytime:
Even SWMBO was impressed "You should have been an inventor" she said.
UPDATE Two problems with that set up. 1. That's a lot of pull on just one wire. 2. The in-line tensioned, once the door is raised, remains locked - it is a one-way pull - upwards!
IMPROVEMENT Double the number of wired=s by introducing a snatch-block on the door with a two-way and neutral windlass:
Much easier and safer, should the door suddenly drop. When in operation the wire is above head height. When idle and the door closed the wire is wound back in.
Meanwhile, here is this morning's view from our bedroom balcony - not bad for a garden full of 'weeds' eh? Dalehead vets looks a lot better with its cedar cladding and solar panels. The greenery and the trees make it hard to believe we are in the middle of the town of Settle.
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