"A smart man covers his ass; a wise man leaves his pants on" - C.D. Bailey

(not the usual picture here; see below)
Blogger doesn't cooperate text wrapping around pics. Sorry.

As I got close to finishing the trailer and spent free time on that project I neglected other tasks around the place. The warm weather is here - low 80's most days - so I couldn't afford to fall much further behind spring gardening tasks. I've been chipping away at them for the last week and am almost completely caught up. The roses are pruned and fertilized, as are all the trees and shrubs around the house. Today I repotted the pond lilies, all of which already had leaf shoots. One has two buds rising to the surface. I still have some fertilizing to do but other than that we're ready for spring!

So far I'm 9 for 9 in both my brackets. This will certainly change soon. 

Wanna guess who didn't call today to tell me he was painting the car?

Aside from some small punch list items the trailer is DONE. Tomorrow I'll take it over to get it registered and licensed. I realize many of you have seen these pics on my Facebook page, but for those who haven't... (you can click to enlarge)

The trailer base is 4'x8'. Add the tongue and it's about 11' long. It came in two surprisingly small boxes from Harbor Freight at $280. I painted it black; the original red was a little overwhelming.  The front / top are anodized aluminum, .040" thick.

The sides, and pretty much all the other wood pieces, are 4'x8' sheets of birch laminate plywood. Eight coats of spar varnish should be adequate protection from the elements. The sides are natural, the trim stained. The trim is 1/8" thick aluminum flatwork.


The white box in the lower back corner is the connection for the 30 amp, 120v electrical service  in most parks. We don't need electrical; we're used to tent camping. But it's a nice option for reasons you'll see in a minute.

The windows in the door open outward at the bottom so even in the rain we can have ventilation, in addition to the roof vent.

This view looks in one door across to the other. The cabinets to the right are only 11" deep and are over where our heads will go. In the center is a small ceramic space heater plugged into an outlet just behind it. The floor and ceiling are insulated so it should stay cozy.

Vinyl tile on the floor. We'll get a 5" thick piece of closed cell foam, Pam will make covers for it, and we'll have a mattress and bedding. The sleeping area is 46.5" across and 6'1" long. Cozy.



This shows the cabinets over where our feet go. They're about 20" deep and tall enough that each has a shelf. The guy who drew these plans over designed almost every part of this thing. All edges have the same eight coats of varnish, then waterproof caulk, and then aluminum trim, in this case (around the door opening) 1/16" aluminum strips.

Along with the plans I ordered the windows, door hinges, a few pieces of specially shaped extruded aluminum pieces not available locally, and the door hardware. The rest was available either at Home Depot or, in the case of the electrical connection box and the ceiling vent, at a local RV parts dealer.

You can just barely see two small blue things under each front corner of the cabinet. Those are $3 LED flashlights from Harbor Freight that have a magnet on the back. I attached metal electrical plate covers to the underside. They'll light up the interior nicely, and when it comes time to go they'll be readily available.

I'm not sure we'll need that heater. The space is so small that body heat may be enough. But in last year's cold, wet weather along the Oregon coast we shivered all night in the tent so it will be a nice option.

This gives you a sense of perspective. I'm going to guess the whole trailer weighs under 700 pounds, maybe 500 lbs. It will be easy to tow, and when we get to a campsite I can unhook it and push it into place.

I may replace the 12" wheels with 13" that are available at Lowe's. And the cheap Chinese wheel bearings will be replaced with good German bearings from a local supplier.
Pam says it's "cute."


Here's the galley. This was taken in the garage this morning after I replaced the supplied weak hinge with a better designed and stronger hinge from a different supplier. In addition to the microwave we'll get a small coffee maker. And I'll put another one of those $3 lights on the underside of the lid for after dark snack prep.

So there you have it. Fun project and, aside from the bad galley hinge the plans and instructions (Big Woody Trailers) were superb. On page one they give you three phone numbers - shop, home and cell. They also build these for sale, but DIYers can call them with any questions.

David and Jennifer "are" the company and David wrote the build instructions, all 153 pages, incl. photos of key steps. Very, very thorough and written in an enjoyable, narrative style. After I got about half way through I sent an email telling them how much fun I was having building this and how well it was going. That's when Jennifer told me the story.

"David would be so happy to hear your comments."
He died last May after a 2-year battle with melanoma and she misses him terribly. She keeps the company going because it gave them joy as a couple and was their dream. We've exchanged several emails since then, the last few over the hinge problem. I felt so bad even bringing it up. But she was extremely gracious and felt equally bad I had hit a snag.

The internet is a good thing. I wouldn't want to tackle a project like this without the ability to tap into resources all over the world. But I also got to "meet" Jennifer, a kind lady feeling the loss of her soul mate. I hope she knows how pleased I am with the outcome and how much fun we'll have with it this summer.