Westerner Cake

It has been such a long time since we have had anything to post about the trailer. It has been too cold here to work on it outside so just waiting for some warmer weather so we can put some leveling compound on the floor and get the marmoleum installed. Once we do that we can start building the cabinets...yay!

Just celebrated my birthday and Steve made me a Westerner cake. It was really awesome, and it tasted good too. Who knew that among his many talents was cake decorator.

Happy Trailer

We finally got the trailer out from under the tarp...yay!. It is happily resting in its new covered shelter. We hope to get back to working on it now that the holidays are over.

Also finished restoring our one and only jalousie window. What a lot of work cleaning around the window opening mechanism. But must say the worst part was getting the new pile weatherstrip and bulb seal in. Definitely a two person job. First picture is before and others are after restoration.

Sad Trailer :(

So after removing the trailer from the neighbors garage, it has been covered with a tarp in the driveway...so sad!

We bought a 10' x 20' structure to give it a more appropriate, permanent home. We had to build walls to set the structure on, to make it tall enough to get the trailer under it. Steve added lights to the enclosure today and will back fill it with gravel tomorrow. May have the trailer resting comfortably in its new home by the weekend. Then we can start working on it again. By the way, the truck next to the trailer is a 1946 Ford that Steve has had since high school.

We have windows!

We have been working our tails off to get the trailer weathered so we could get it out of Greg's garage. This last weekend brought  us closer to that completion. We got the door on and four of the seven windows in.

 The door is ajar because we didn't have the door hardware yet. It is so nice to see it this far along. Just compare it to the before picture at the top of the blog. One more weekend and we may have gotten two of the other windows in and the door finished up. Unfortunately Greg, the neighbor, had moved his nicest boat out of his garage so we could work on the trailer. The boat has a 454 engine with aluminum heads and he doesn't winterize it because he uses it year round. When Steve went over to talk to him Monday night about needing one more weekend, Greg reluctantly said he really needed to get his boat back in the garage. The forecast here was for weather in the teens and he didn't want his engine to freeze. It was getting dark and beginning to snow when Steve got this news so he had to get it all tarped up and get it out of Greg's place ASAP.  It looks like we won't be doing anymore on the trailer for a while :( But we thank Greg for letting us use his garage as long as he did. We would never have gotten this far on the trailer without his generosity.

This is the rear window. It has cargo doors that go on it too. They will sit below the tail lights.

This is the door from the inside with its new cherry paneling. It was originally metal, but we thought the cherry looked nice. 

 This is the inside view of the front window.

Inside view of the passenger side window. You can see the new screen in this shot. I used the original galvanized type screen when I rebuilt the windows. I now know what a diabetic feels like when they have to test their blood. The screen was very pokey and I pierced my fingers dozens of times while installing the screen...ouch!

 Inside view of the rear passenger window. 

This is Dixie our helper...LOL! Dixie is Greg's dog and she is the sweetest dog every. She would often come out to inspect our progress.

The new siding is on!!!

Last weekend we took on the siding. it was quite a task with just two people, but in the end we prevailed.

Here is the first piece.

The first side done, complete with child sized door.

The other side complete (sorry trailer is too close to wall for a good shot).

 Here is a shot of the back. Check out the cool 1950 Pontiac tail lights.

Here it is all complete except the last piece on the front that needs to get cut around the tongue.

You may have notice there are no window holes, except the one in the front. We have decided windows are highly overrated, and since I resigned from my position as window cleaner/polisher/restorer we won't be having any...kidding. We will cut each hole out and install the window as I get them done. This pictures shows how funny it looks to go inside the trailer and see siding out the window holes.

Here is a pile of tinsel. Well actually it is what is created when you trim tiny bits off the edge of the siding.

Not sure what this weekend will bring. We may work on installing the new glass and glass seal, and getting the windows back together, at which point I may be able to reclaim my kitchen, office, guest room, and garage. A person can dream can't they! 

 

The Guys at D & S Metal Designs Rock!

Sorry I didn't post anything sooner this week but left my camera at Steve's and didn't have any pictures. I want to express my thanks and gratitude to Jared at D & S Metal. This trailer is 52 years old (jeez that is as old as Steve). There are many aluminum parts on the trailer that are trashed and being that it is as old as Steve, you can't just go out and buy new parts at Camping World. I decided to see if someone could replicate some of the most damaged pieces and took them to Jared. He did a fabulous job making new ones that look exactly like the original ones. This is a picture of the exterior door trim, the one on the right is the old piece (duh, like I needed to tell you that!). The one on the left is obviously the new one.

Thanks Jared!

Wiring and Insulation

The goal this weekend was to get the rough wiring done and the insulation on so we could be ready for the siding installation next weekend. Despite that brief interruption for Halloween, we got it all done.

Wiring to vent, dome light and kitchen area.

 Wiring to rear of trailer.

Insulation on passenger side.

Insulation on rear of trailer.

Not very exciting this week, but things that needed to get done before we can put the siding on.