Shipping during the Holidays in the Time of COVID

This post should be subtitled "Be Patient" or maybe "This One's for You Ken".

I knew I'd be taking some time off during the Christmas season so I'd hoped to make some significant headway on the Boles renovation. Well I've taken the time off but most of my materials are taking a long time to get here and I'm afraid I'll be making little headway.

My next major steps are: flooring, insulation, rough wiring (where the wiring needs to go in the walls), wall panel installation, ceiling panel installation. A couple week of productive vacation time, right? After all Becky is working through the holidays including a weekend inpatient shift and my Icon pass is blacked-out for skiing during Christmas, so there would be few distractions.

First I knew there would be significant lead time for the wood paneling I planned to use. Becky doesn't like the look of the original Birch wood so I ordered some alternative samples a while back from Columbia Forest Products (CFP). Their "Purebond" line has a lot of options and most importantly they will ship to the local Home Depot.

In early December I settled on B3 grade Khaya mahogany veneer 1/4" plywood. The CFP rep, Mike, was very helpful. He told me the lead time would be 3-4 weeks and he also provided the SKUs to order from Home Depot in case the Pro Desk had difficulty. It worked like a charm but the Pro said 4-5 week lead time due to the holidays and COVID disruptions. Okay.

Next I finally decided on the insulation I wanted to use in the walls & ceiling: 1.5" extruded polystyrene ("XPS"). 1" and 2" are standard at Home Depot and Lowes, but the 1.5" thickness isn't stocked nearby so I'd need to order it. Worse, the big box stores will only accept orders for a full pallet! So I contacted a specialty insulation vendor a friend had used recently. They referred me to an affiliate that said "sure we can get that, it'll be there next week". That was a week ago. It's supposed to be here today, but they haven't called to confirm so I have serious doubts.

So the last major thing to order (item with what I thought would be the shortest lead time) was the flooring. I originally planned to install a linoleum product from Forbo. It's sort of the traditial flooring for these vintage trailers. But after getting samples and deciding on a pattern/color I discovered that the small amount I wanted was going to end up costing a huge sum. So I went to plan B and decided to use the next thing recommended by the vintage trailer crowd: vinyl composite tile (VCT).

The local Home Depot has a few colors/patterns but it's really limited. So I trolled the manufacturers websites and decided on a pattern/color. It was available through Home Depot online. So I ordered it to be delivered last week, just in time to install this week.

I figured out how to keep the temperature in the trailer at the proper temp while the glue cured, filled the seams and countersink holes in the marine grade plywood, found a vinyl flooring roller I can rent, and bought a tub of VCT glue and brought it in side so the temperature would stabilize. Then I waited. And waited.

The UPS tracking website was tracking the 2 separate boxes of tile. One never made it past Ohio. The other got to the hub in Vernon, CA but seems to have gotten stuck. The delivery date kept updating and then just stopped. This morning my patience was done so I called HD customer service. First I got an automated message that the package was scheduled for delivery on 18 Dec (today is the 21st), but I finally got through to a human. They called UPS. UPS declared the packages "lost". My refund will take 5 days to process...

Call me a fool but I've reordered the VCT and it's scheduled for delivery on New Years Eve. So maybe, just maybe I'll be installing flooring next weekend.

In the meantime I've done a couple other important things. I started fabricating a compartment door to get access to the area under the bed from the exterior. Many other Boles Aero trailers have one but not all and mine was one without. I would be done and working on installing it but, you guessed it, I'm waiting on the specialty hinge that's hung up in shipping.

The second thing I've spent time on has been more fruitful, at least I hope it has. I really needed to put my thoughts down on paper about the electrical system. I've been spending a lot of time researching and thinking it through even to the point of ordering (and receiving) many of the long lead items, but I've been too lazy to put together some detailed drawings. Now I've done that and it's let me tabulate my wire needs so I can order the wire.

I ordered the wire last night from Amazon and it's supposed to be here tomorrow! Amazing. This isn't normal wire, it's "marine grade": highly stranded copper with a tin coating to resist breakage and corrosion. And it'll be here in less than 2 days? My faith in humanity, well I guess shipping, may be restored.

In truth I might be whiny but I'm amazed at how shipping and logistics has evolved so that now we take for granted 2 day delivery of even the most esoteric item. I've watched the various delivery personnel, UPS, USPS, FedEx and the mom & pop subcontractors all working their tales off. And they will be for months to come. I sure hope they are earning overtime and have plans for great summer vacations. Along with healthcare workers, "first responders", and those folks working to keep food shopping humming they'll deserve a well-earned break.

Oh and on the 2nd subtitle: "This One's for You" - My friend Ken said I wasn't posting enough lately, so this one's for you Ken. Consider it my Christmas rant.