Wow, time flies and we went from Winter to Spring.  We have been working on the trailer with interruptions for our usual February trip.

We are feeling some time pressure to meet our goal of an August trip.

This part of the work has been a challenge for us as our carpentry skills are pretty basic.  We have had to learn how to use new tools as well.

Here is where we are.



We finished the floor and installed the old wheel wells. The wheel wheels did not fit as well as we would have liked and we had to make some adjustments.  They were installed with stainless screws and it feels really solid.

On the left in the picture above, you can see one of the cabinets that will also support the bed.


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Here is the front of the trailer with the two benches.  The table becomes the bed.






Another shot, this time from the front, hopefully the angle of the front bench will allow the skin to be attached, guess we will know soon enough.  Lots of hope and faith at this point.





We bought 3/4 inch birch plywood for the sides and traced the metal as a patterns.  It was cut with a jib saw, the windows seem to fit, that was a relief.




Here are the cut pieces, these were hard to work with due to their weight.




We bought a plate joiner to put the pieces together.  We had never used this tool and their was a lot of uncertainty how not only how to use it but how much glue to use, etc.  It seems to be okay.




We were able to gently move the now completed walls into an upright position.  You can't see it but we reinforced the other side to reduce flex.  I can't imagine what would happen it they broke.

This weekend we put the completed cabinets on the trailer and our plan for next week is put the walls in place, this is a big moment.

Floor, flooring and beyond .

We finished the floor and it turned out okay.  We did have an issue when we bolted it to the frame.  I chose bolts that I thought would go through the wood.  So, I took all the bolts out and then installed large fender washers.  It seems more substantial now, would hate to be going down the road and the whole thing fall apart.  Here is the floor

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This week we took the wheel wells to a metal fabricator and he said they were in good shape and it would be expensive to rebuild them.  So we grinded the rust and dirt, primed them and so far have one coat of truck bed on them, will add a couple of more, they look fine.

We layed the flooring the last couple of days, it was easy once we got the hang of it.







After we laid it, we had to trim off the excess, also went well.

So, we will move on to completing the wheel wells and then start the inside.  After the inside, the walls go up.

Frame and Floor!

We painted the frame in preparation for the rebuild.  We used the Rustoleum system, first primer and then two coats of black.  It seemed to have turned out well.




Then, we moved to the floor.  We decided on a floor that was two 1/2 inch layers of plywood with 1 x 4 framing.  We were relieved when the boards seemed to fit the trailer, we even help up the skin to make sure we were okay and it seems we are.

First, we pained the bottom layer with asphalt fence paint, it is really nasty stuff.

See Susan paint!

Here is the after, hopefully, we are preventing rot.

Then we began building the floor, notice we painted where the seams come together, hopefully, no rot  :-)





If the weather holds, we will bolt the completed floor to the frame tomorrow.


 

We continue .......

We have continued to work on the trailer but took a break to be in Sanibel over the holidays.  It was hot!

While we were away, the bare frame went to the welder who beefed up the frame a bit and added stabilizer legs, removed the waste tank and added new jacks.  New brakes were installed as well.

This is a picture of the frame, before, not horrible.



Here is the after, we are getting some pretty damp weather with rain so priming will have to wait.  This was easy and it did not take as long as anticipated.  Notice the new stabilizers.  The base is welded to the frame but not the legs so they can be replaced when needed.  See Susan grinding!






We have also been working on the skin removing the rest of the stables, and struggling with the windows, rusted screws are "screwing" the process.  Very slow going.

We learned how to use a pocket hole jig and and reworked all the cabinets, they are much stronger than the staples that were used.  Fun tool and easy.





No pictures yet, but we cut the bottom layer of the floor, put it on the trailer and made sure the dimensions were correct.  Held up a piece of the skin to insure the the width matched so we will not have any nasty surprises later.

Onward, I think it will get more challenging during the next few weeks.

So, this has been a busy Thanksgiving week.  We have removed everything from the trailer, put the remains in a safe place and readied the trailer for repair.

This seems like a milestone, now we get to put it together, seems more fun.

The floor has been removed from the trailer

Our window collection

Our skin collection

The bathroom compartment was a bear to remove, and heavy

The bare frame, off to the welder for any needed repairs

Well it has been a busy week or so and we have made a lot of progress, the deconstruction at this point is about 90% complete.

Here you can see Susan working on the front end.  You can see that all of the wooden structure has been rotted.  This was true of just about the whole trailer.  It was amazing it was standing up.

This is the roof and it was removed.  We were not able to remove the awning screws on the other side so I manhandled it with a crowbar, no loss since the wood was so badly damaged.  We will have to find an awning track but there was no way to get it off.

Did a lot of measuring and drew a complete plan of the trailer for rebuild.  Had to measure from the metal since most of the floor was rotten too.

We were able to get the roof off without too much trouble, not so confident about getting it back on but too late now.

It took a bit of pulling, pushing and sawing but we were able to finish by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, we have been starting to understand how to repair our windows, Susan is working on the cabinets and I am planning the electricals.

I know a great trailer person and the trailer will go in later this week for repair and make sure it is sound.

Here is a video of about four minutes to introduce you to our project.

https://youtu.be/JuWt7mL_emg