Trap Machine Submerged,But May Be Salvaged

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stubblejumper

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Our club will no longer offer trap anytime soon. I discovered yesterday that whoever built the trap house many years ago, never bothered to install bilge pumps, and the water level was up to the carousel. I spent considerable time last year fixing the roof, and replacing a motor and considerable wiring because water leaked in through the roof, but I never noticed that they had never installed bilge pumps. Since most people at our club shoot skeet, and the trap only operated a few times each year, a small club like ours, will not be able to justify the expense of completely rebuilding, or replacing the trap machine.
 
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We had a trap house fill up with run off water a few springs ago and the trap was mostly under water but fortunately it still functioned once it was allowed to dry out. We've since done some landscaping to hopefully prevent this from happening again, especially since we put a new Pat Trap in that house at considerable expense! We didn't replace it because of water damage but because it was pretty much worn out after a 20 plus years of use.
 
I pumped out the house this morning, and installed a sump pump, but it's so humid, I don't see everything drying out properly . If and when we can dry things out, I will energize the trap and see what happens, but I am not hopeful. The trap hasn't been used in three weeks, so it may have been submerged for a couple of weeks. It is an older Beomat unit, that I replaced a motor and transformer in last fall after water leaked through the roof. The trap was only used twice last summer, and once this year, so we won't be spending a lot to repair it, for such limited use.
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Is it a Western? I can give you a killer deal on one o=if you want to replace it!
Southernman rebuilt mine, and it is even on a dolly if you want to move it around instead of mounting it in the trap house:cool:
Cat
 
Not sure I'd want to trust a sump pump, since the power is too likely to go out in the sort of weather that gives you floods, and likely nobody's going to be around the field to notice or fix it then either.

Might almost need to park it somewhere a bit safer and only lower it into its bunker when the weather is good and you're using it.
 
old303 said:
Not sure I'd want to trust a sump pump, since the power is too likely to go out in the sort of weather that gives you floods, and likely nobody's going to be around the field to notice or fix it then either.

Might almost need to park it somewhere a bit safer and only lower it into its bunker when the weather is good and you're using it.
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I can absolutely guarantee that we will not be installing and removing a trap machine, when we need it. If the machine does not function after a dry out period, we will simply not offer trap, it's not worth the cost and effort for a few people to use it , two or three times per year.
 
I personally find it odd that more aren't interested in trap. I guess only because it's what I shoot the most. Last club was trap only, 2 fields. New club has 5 fields for trap or skeet, but I shoot at least 3 rounds of trap every Sunday. We shoot trap leagues all winter, and many shoot the registered targets in the summer. Is there really not much interest in trap?
 
Falconflyer said:
Once you get the water out then put a fan in there to run 24/7 for a few days or weeks. Circulated air dries things out way faster than stagnant air does.
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It is so wet here, that unless the rain stops for several days, there will still be water seeping into the bottom of the house, and the humidity will keep things from drying properly. The pump will keep the water level low, but water was still seeping in when I left today.
 
2tall2 said:
I personally find it odd that more aren't interested in trap. I guess only because it's what I shoot the most. Last club was trap only, 2 fields. New club has 5 fields for trap or skeet, but I shoot at least 3 rounds of trap every Sunday. We shoot trap leagues all winter, and many shoot the registered targets in the summer. Is there really not much interest in trap?
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My last club had two trap fields and one skeet field, and there were at least twice as many people shooting trap. At my current club, almost everyone shoots skeet.
 
stubblejumper said:
It is so wet here, that unless the rain stops for several days, there will still be water seeping into the bottom of the house, and the humidity will keep things from drying properly. The pump will keep the water level low, but water was still seeping in when I left today.
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Sounds like you've had a lot of rain. I think the water tables are really high from all of last summer and fall's rains.
 
Sounds like trap is a bad bet if you don't have the ground drainage to keep it dry. Skeet has the advantage of keeping the machines higher up out of the ooze then.

My club runs both, but if there are only enough shooters to keep one going it does seem like you'll see them gravitate to the skeet field. Add a few people and you see trap get going too.
 
old303 said:
Sounds like trap is a bad bet if you don't have the ground drainage to keep it dry. Skeet has the advantage of keeping the machines higher up out of the ooze then.

My club runs both, but if there are only enough shooters to keep one going it does seem like you'll see them gravitate to the skeet field. Add a few people and you see trap get going too.
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A properly designed and built trap house won't case issues, but our trap house was built many years ago on the cheap. Instead of poured concrete, with a proper grade, and a sump pump, it is just a plywood box sitting in a low spot, with no sump pump.
 
The amount of rain this year in central Alberta has been quite insane.

The sump pumps in our trap houses (castor) have been running all spring and summer.
Usually they just run during the spring runoff.

I would reccomend spraying a couple cans of wd40 all over everything before it starts to rust too bad. It should help displace the water from all the nooks and crannies.
 
I drained the water from the junction boxes and sprayed wd40 into them yesterday. I also sprayed wd40 into the motors. Today I energized the unit and it ran. I still need to check the gearbox for water, and lube the linkage, but at least it ran. Now we can only hope that no water found it's way into the motor bearings.
 
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Mister Stubblejumper:

You have a drainage problem at your range. Just like on my farm this year...and last year. The folks in your community like growing grain and raising cattle. Not raising ducks for that useless DU.

Call up some professional civil engineering firms asking how to to manage your water flow problems. And get some hard numbers of the costs involved in solving the issue.

Next, Take an assessment of your wonderful "little" range and what sort of requirements are needed to upgrade the facility to a more "touristy" level. Get some hard numbers of the cost. The more traps the better.

Next, Go to the Camrose MLA with a request for provincial assistance in keeping your operation a going concern. Show the numbers.

If the current provincial government is pro gun..let them show their support of you in hard cash.

If you get into problems with the Alberta government please post them.
 
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