A couple Fridays ago I took off for Mineral Wells after dark.After a rest stop at Runaway Bay,I noticed that the tailcone for the bed cover was missing.
I'd been driving in total darkness.
This weekend I made the same trip,but left during daylight.I retraced the route,scanning for anything that might have remained.I never saw hide nor hair of it.
The cone was the original mockup:cedar/foam/glue/and polyester resin.No glass.40-hours work.
Highway 380 has been under construction (widening) for years now.The roughness of the 'open' section of the road was enough to eventually break a plumbers tape hold down.The boat tail displaced rearwards,ripping the screws out of the poco loco bedcover attachment points,leaving only a trailing edge anchorage.
At up to 70-mph,the air would have caught the leading edge,lifting and ripping from its remaining purchase,sending it airborne for a bit.
My apology to anyone following.
Some of the fractured passenger side headlight cover went away as well.
I had made a concrete cast of the tailcone,and I'll be able to recreate it as an FRP shell,much lighter.Better secured.
BamZipPow gave the thumbs down to plumbers tape and he turned me onto a more robust version of perforated flat stock available at the Home Depot.
TexDOT may not improve on the road situation so I'm just going to have to build stronger.
