A lot has happened since you last saw our trailer. Unfortunately, unless you look closely, it looks almost the same. I suppose that's a good thing though, right? I think there's a saying, "If you've done a good job, no one will notice you've done anything at all." Or something like that. I don't know. Anyway, when we last updated you all, the trailer was mostly built except for exterior walls. So, out of fear of completing it too quickly, we took it entirely back apart and started over. Just kidding. Not really. We DID take it entirely apart, but that was just so we could do some finish-welding and apply paint to all the bare metal surfaces, inside and out. Part of the necessary finish-welding included adding a pair of shocks and mounting brackets. So it was also start-welding, before we got to the finish-welding portion. While everything was apart, we also took the opportunity to break down all the wooden structure to its constituent parts and coat those as well. We used an epoxy product popular among boat-builders, in hopes that it should help the wood to remain dry and to last as long as possible without deteriorating. Time will tell! We didn't get any good pictures of the epoxy application process. It's dull anyways. Imagine painting a whole bunch of plywood, except the paint is clear, so it basically looks the same afterwards. Thrilling. We got pictures as parts were completed and reassembled, though. You were warned; it looks basically the same as it did before. We also realized that it was time to start addressing little detail things that we'd left out for quite a while. These are all the things that become a major time sink and give you almost nothing to show for it. Some examples follow. The drawer for the grill was only ever ~80% complete, even though we may have called it "done". It finally got the attention it needed to get it to actually complete. This included cutting a slot in the utensil drawer to act as a handle, disassembling the grill to bolt it down to the drawer, and finalizing the propane connection with a quick-connect fitting for setup and stowing. This also meant we had to finish soldering a few connections, apply joint compound to threaded connections and final-torque everything, as well as leak-check the propane system. We also had to put some finishing touches on the battery compartment. This included painting the steel bottom surface and hold-down brackets to prevent rusting, locating and drilling mounting holes, and running and terminating a few of the wires. We also finally got the rock lights actually mounted correctly. Until recently, the whole harness has just kind of been laying in the trailer loosely, approximately where it belongs. Mounting them for real meant removing the electrical connectors to pass the wires through a small hole, and then reinstalling the connectors. It was tedious. There's also been a bunch of other little things. The most significant is probably routing and securing all of the wiring harness. It was roughed out before we tore everything apart, but it needed a little work. Everything got wrapped with split loom for protection and all of the zip tie bases got secured with screws in case the adhesive backs fail (spoiler: they failed). We also got latches and seals put on the openings in the front panel for the refrigerator and the water heater.
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"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
- Bilbo Baggins AuthorsWe're just an adventure-loving couple with a puppy looking to share our stories with the world. Archives
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