thanks for the vote of confidence guys, I won't be able to strip it down to metal till it gets a little warmer outside I live in Maryland and it has been very cold . But I will for sure post pics as soon as I can get out side and strip it... I had one suggestion to cut relief cuts in the wood sturts in the worst areas and jack them up then sandwich them between some 3/4 plywood to get them to hold in that position... that seems like a good way of doing it all I have to do is make a pattern out of paper cardboard once I get it into position then cut it out of plywood... does that seem like a good fix?

thanks,
simon