I ordered some cardboard boxes for Boomershoot 2025, and they are scheduled to arrive on Monday. So, I drove over Thursday after work and did some other stuff in the evenings and this weekend.
One of those things was to get the Boomershoot weather station back online. It had dropped off at 2:24 AM on March 7th:
I figured the AA batteries on the sensor array had gone dead. Yesterday, when the weather was decent, I took some fresh batteries over to swap them out for the dead ones.
When I arrived onsite, I was surprised to see the cover was partially removed from the solar power batteries which power the Internet connection. How could that have happened naturally? It is a piece of plywood with roofing material attached to it. Then there was an old piece of a 2″x6″ and a 2″x4″ on top of that. Things were wet, but everything was still working.
I put the cover on and turned to the sensor array. I was shocked at what I found:
Okay, maybe a large bird landed on it. It would probably have to be an owl because of the time of day. Perhaps, when it pushed off to take flight they put enough force on it to break it.
Then I noticed the base:
I took this picture after I put the block in the lower right corner back where it belonged. Then I saw the battery compartment. It was broken. I found one battery on the north side of the base and the other about two feet on the south side of the base.
I think this has to have been a vandal.
I will order another weather station. I probably will not get it installed and back online until just before Boomershoot.
Later in the day I went to our explosives production facility.
In October of 2020 I had plywood and TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) put over the top of the shipping container. The top of the steel structure was rusting away. And the 2020 improvement fixed that in a way I expected to last 15 to 20 years. It turns out it was closer to 4.5 years:
Compare that picture to the one from 2020.
Yeah. It appears the wind ripped off all the TPO and the vent.
When there was a break in the rain today, I went back with a ladder and a plan.
This is the view of the vent on the ground:
This is the view of the hole for the vent:
And my temporary repair to get us by until I can get a replacement covering:
The wind is not going to be blowing that off.
I worry about condensation. But I think the condensation will be less of a problem than the rain.
Sorry to see that damage. I’d like to think it’s I just a well fed owl but I think your hunch is correct.
See you soon! And as usual let us know if you need anything brought over.
Thanks. But almost everything gets stored in Idaho these days.
I wonder if it was random or specific actors on a mission.
There are lots of questions. I have no answers.
Any way to install cameras to watch over the camera(s)? Although, that might mean just morecameras to vandalize….
Is there any (simple) way to determine when vehicles visit the site? I’d think the perps are probably fairly careless because it’s such a rural area.
There are some solutions along this line. I haven’t yet finalized my plans.
Thank you.
Given that it’s an ATF regulated site, it could be worthwhile to involve them. There seems to be more Finding Out lately. Someone trying to tear their way into the roof of a manufacturing facility and magazine seems like exactly the thing they take as their jurisdiction.
The ATF regulated structure was not involved.
I’m 99.9% certain the roof damage was due to wind. The TPO was secured via flashing and screws into the edges of OSB. Those screws appear to have pulled out of the OSB.
I believe MTHead has a good solution.
Not completely sure, but it looks like the roofing material is still in good shape/reuseable.
I would screw 2″x4″ all the way around the outside of the conex. Then use some 4″x4″ steel edge metal over the roof material and down over the 2×4 to wind-proof it. Held down with copious amounts of screws. Bunches along the 2×4 top and side, shorter and fewer on the roof area.
A couple buckets of snow-seal should water-proof the whole edge seam.
Should keep that from happening again. But plastic/rubber type roofs are always high maintenance.
As for vandals, your just way to close to Moscow. I would move your weather station over to the range. Close out the camera all together.
You could also screw some greenwood across the top of it ever 4 to 5 feet. Because many times it’s not just wind getting under it, as the vacuum lift of wind traveling over it that rips it lose.
Any material not bonded to the roof sheeting will suffer that phenomenon.
Would you like to give me a bid on fixing it?
Sorry brother, I truly wish I could.