More dodging the rain. Yesterday and today (mostly) were rain-free. Beautiful blue skies. On Monday the 14th I got the trailer tail wired and temporarily back in shape to get it inspected and approved by the DMV, but didn’t fix anything beyond that. I’m working on the rear window. I disassembled and painted that, and am experimenting with the gasketing and screening. The original screening was just pressed in place. Since the screen was steel it was rigid enough to hold its shape. I’m amazed it hadn’t disappeared from rust, but it was hardly rusty at all. These days screening is made from fiberglass or aluminum. I chose to work with aluminum, but I’m still seeing what will work to hold the screen in place. Once I have that together the other windows should go a lot faster.
I decided to laminate new lower corner pieces. So that was the main task today. So here’s the right rear without the side panels:
Strange thing becomes obvious without the side panels. The last couple feet or so of the trailer are tilted up.
It’s not quite as extreme as this picture makes it look, but it’s real. You can see a break just to the left of the aluminum piece, which is at the door. (At the red arrow.) The plywood floor continues between the center and rear sections, but the stringers are separate and not connected. What were they thinking? It’s not that the trailer sagged- the aluminum skin proves that. It was made that way.
Back to the corner pieces: I cut 1/5 inch strips from 1/8″ doorskin. Here’s where I wish I had a table saw. I could buy one, but garage is already crammed and I don’t have anywhere to put it. I had to cut it by hand, but it’s not that bad. I made some simple guides and fastened them to the interior side panels (1/4″ plywood). That gives me the shape of the existing structure.
I have some good boatbuilding epoxy and a few clamps. So now it looks like this:
When that cures I’ll have something stronger than the original and less likely to rot. I intend to do the same thing on all four corners.
I got all the staples, bits of what the manufacturer thought was insulation, and wiring out. I was going to apply a coat of the wood preservative I’m using, but then it started to rain. So no more work on this for a few days.