It's Raining Men...

Words cannot describe my anger over the past couple weeks after finishing the wire-brushing and sand-blasting. The only times the weather was nice I was working or had other obligations. Literally it would be gorgeous all day while I was in the office, but the moment I would get home from work it would cloud over and start to sprinkle. It will be nice once the job is moved into my shop so I am no longer a slave to the weather.

Ranting aside it was finally nice today after work so I got a coat of red primer on the underside of the frame. Will then have to flip it back right-side up and paint the top and touch up the sides. Have already decided the final colour will be black to match the "undercoating" that will protect the plywood floor, but otherwise this red primer doesn't look half bad. I haven't touched the wheel hubs yet as I think I'll be removing and greasing them up anyway and will take care of them at that time.

Flip it!

As you can see in the picture some of the paint just wouldn't come off with the wire-brushing. Scuffed up, but not totally removed. The grinder also couldn't get into the tight corners. This would be a job for another tool I purchased while at Princess Auto, a sand-blaster. The sand-blaster did a great job getting into the nooks and crannies the grinder couldn't reach. Also sandblasted all the paint and rust off the tongue, axle, and leaf springs. For a cheap sand-blaster I was impressed with how well it worked.

Got the idea of propping the trailer up on three points and using a bathroom scale one at a time at each point to figure out the total trailer weight. As long as the frame is kept level adding up the three numbers should be approximately equal to the total trailer weight. Total came in at approximately 350 lbs. Not a bad starting point although I think my goal of staying under 1000 lbs is going to be really tough, but it was light enough for my wife and I to flip the trailer upside down for the wire-brushing and sand-blasting of the underside.

Ugly is only skin deep...

I went to Princess Auto on the weekend. For you "South of 49'ers" Princess Auto is like a Canadian version of Harbor Freight. The kind of store any man would love to be locked inside overnight. I bought five of these wire-brush wheels you can see in the picture on my grinder. These things are usually $20-$30 at Canadian Tire or Home Depot, on sale at Princess Auto for $3.99. I'm sure the quality isn't the same, but since it took four of them to clean up the trailer frame I'm sure I still saved money even if one of the "good" ones would have done the job.

What Lies Beneath

Had to use the crowbar to remove the floor. The screws, every couple of inches into the steel cross beams, pulled straight through the plywood flooring and aluminum sheeting. I'll have to use my grinder to cut these screws off top and bottom as they are almost all seized tight. The remaining intact wheel well was also removed and should make a good model for creating a new one or repairing the shredded one.

Look at me when I'm talking to you!

One last option would be to use the paneling backwards and paint. This would mean filling in all nail holes and joints as they wouldn't be hidden with the "grooves". Think I might at least do this for the ceiling since this 1/8" thick paneling will bend much easier than 1/4" plywood. Also paneling "grooves" on the ceiling would definitely look terrible.

Painted Lady...

Another option for using this paneling is to paint it. It still looks like paneling, but painted. Test painted this piece white, obviously needs more coats, but doesn't look too bad. Thinking a light green might look good. I can always use it unpainted and paint it down the road if we can't live with the fake wood. Someone mentioned to me that painted paneling looks like you are trying to cover up water damage when reselling. If that time comes I think showing all these pictures would set any prospective buyer at ease.