Floor rot

Quick post to show the progress I made yesterday on the front of the trailer and the floor. If you remember from an earlier post that we found the front roadside corner of the trailer and the floor was rotted. I have removed the bad framing and then cut out the rotted floor Tuesday I will be starting the repair of the main wood frame and laying the new floor so we can keep moving forward enjoy the pics


This is a view from the curb side across the front of the trailer. It is amazing to me that after 45 years the black underlayment is still in great shape only one corner needs some help as you will see

This is a close up to the of the road side corner of the trailer.
The whole that you see is where the water tank drain would have been.
You can see the main wood frame peaking out on the side.

This was the most troubling discovery that the main wood frame had water damage.
I have come up with a repair taken from a home repair I once saw.
More about that on Tuesday when I do the repair.

TTFN, Nick

Rear of trailer repairs

Ok over the last two weeks I have removed the water damage in the back of the trailer this includes the birch panel and the wood frame. I was not happy with the way the trailer was originally put together. At the rear next to the bumper the inner birch panel and insulation was exposed to the elements so I came up with this fix.

I took a piece of aluminum flashing and attached it to the undercarriage of the trailer then wrapped it around the bottom of the trailer to form a seal to keep the road grim from soaking up into the trailer.

This is the underside of the rear trailer repair.

The cargo area in the rear of the trailer was rotted so we replaced it with new select pine and pressure treated lumber on the lower skirt

Here is a view of the new birch panel installed in the back.


I learned alot during the process and now am started on the front.

Damage

Well things are really coming along. I was able to secure a large metal building on the campus of the school we teach at. With shelter overhead I was able to start taking the skins of the trailer and get to repairing the damage.

Typical water damage in the front corners. This is the curbside front corner I was not expecting this to be as bad as it was. Glad we took the skins off to find this damage.


This picture shows the front road side corner of the trailer. The old fresh water tank was here and must of had a leak the floor and the side wall are damaged and we will replace the front lower panel the subfloor and part of the side panels to fix this area.


This is a picture of the missing/rotted frame that once held the side dinette windows in place. Both sides are like this and I can say that this is a design weakness of this trailer. the glass does not sit in a frame but is sandwiched between the wood frame and the aluminum skin. There is a seal that goes between the window and the lip of the aluminum and we will replace that but I am still trying to come up with a better design.



I try to spend at least two hours a day working on the trailer. When you start you think this is a weekends worth of work but once you get started you begin to appreciate just how long this can take. In five weeks we have spring break and we hope to have the trailer back on the road to do some test camping.

In June we will be off to Newburg MO for the first annual Yahoo Classic Shasta group rally. Hope to have the trailer 95% done and maybe a fresh paint job the interior done and a new axel. We shall see. Spring is coming and we have work to do in the orchard of SC and about 400 feet of fence to still put up. Life is never boring....... TTFN.