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Who needs a house to dump money into? We have a trailer! The latest epic round of repairs began when we notice that the seal around the roof vent was leaking, Badly. Since this trailer was built as a shop project, we kind of expect this sort of thing to crop up. But water getting into the trailer only leads to more mold problems, and those suck up even more time, money, and elbow grease.
After doing some very basic research, we found a couple of prospective fixes for roof sealants. We just weren't overly comfortable undertaking the task ourselves with zero experience. So another round of searches for someone, preferably with small RV experience and Burner-friendly, to do at least the lion's share of the work ensued.
I'm going to divulge a bit here. When someone sends up a rocket on social media saying "help! I need advice and assistance on Topic A!" the absolute worst thing you can do is come back with a reply that does nothing to address the issue being asked about, but instead is a post about how important Topic B is. Because right now we are dealing with Topic A. For all you know, the world expert in Topic B lives next to us and has us covered. Because there is nothing more annoying than having such an appeal for help redirected like that.
Back to the Free Trailer Beowulf. Kirsten hauled the FTB from its home in South San Jose to her office, the really cool roofing guy came, and the job got done. Mostly. He covered the root top from panel seam to panel seam. What he suggested was that we buy a gallon of this glop from him for near wholesale, and finish off the front and rear of the teardrop roof.
That's what we did this weekend. The weather was great, and we put a couple of coats on front and back. Doing this involved pulling the old reflectors off and Goo Gone-ing the hell out of the adhesive. We also had to cover up the Imperial Man stencil and the red stripe. But we're happy about that. We know now how to better apply the stencils to get a cleaner man image. And the stripe? Well, about that . . . we thought we had a straight, even line around the trailer. Turns out it was quite canted. Plus, we weren't overly happy with the reflective overcoat we used. It showed no real ability to reflect light.
Which means we're going to clean and repaint the trailer sides and redo the straight red stripe so it's level compared to the base of the trailer. What I want to do is pick up some rectangular red reflectors and place them in the rear stripe for a cooler road effect. We'll also be re-doing the "Free Trailer Beowulf" markings, making them slightly larger and placing the words "Free Trailer" above the stripe, and "Beowulf" below, in a larger font. People like the name, so let's fly it proudly!
Other than that, there are only a few things left to do. I want to better secure the trailer's license plate, come up with a target on the front of the trailer for better aim when backing up to the trailer for a hook-up. We'll probably just pick up a set of magnetic hitch aligners, which do the same thing. I would really like to get a vent cover for the roof vent to cut down on dust and as an additional rain shield.
The big project for next year is replacing the trailer door. That thing is a kludge and it shows. Kirsten just replaced the shoddy lock with one that can be locked from the inside. But still, we need to even out the arched entry, clean up all the bits and pieces that make up this door and entry, and built something more reliable.
Lastly, and I have no idea where I'm finding the money for this, a headache rack for the truck. You see these things on contractor trucks that don't have the full four post racks. At its simplest, it is a set of bars or a screen that stops your cargo from coming through the back window of your truck in a sudden brake scenario. Truck drivers are extremely aware of Newton's First Law of Motion. Despite all our careful stacking, bungee-cording, and use of our tiedown points, there is always the chance that something will be unsecured and fly forward.
Part of this is paranoia a trait that severed me well as a commercial driver who did here six tons of cargo slam into the metal divider between my compartment and crushing death more than once. Part of it is it offers more options for tying down cargo in the bed and a place to mount a work light if needed. Part of it is they just look cool.
Speaking of cool, I also want a backup alarm . . . beep! beep! beep!
After doing some very basic research, we found a couple of prospective fixes for roof sealants. We just weren't overly comfortable undertaking the task ourselves with zero experience. So another round of searches for someone, preferably with small RV experience and Burner-friendly, to do at least the lion's share of the work ensued.
I'm going to divulge a bit here. When someone sends up a rocket on social media saying "help! I need advice and assistance on Topic A!" the absolute worst thing you can do is come back with a reply that does nothing to address the issue being asked about, but instead is a post about how important Topic B is. Because right now we are dealing with Topic A. For all you know, the world expert in Topic B lives next to us and has us covered. Because there is nothing more annoying than having such an appeal for help redirected like that.
Back to the Free Trailer Beowulf. Kirsten hauled the FTB from its home in South San Jose to her office, the really cool roofing guy came, and the job got done. Mostly. He covered the root top from panel seam to panel seam. What he suggested was that we buy a gallon of this glop from him for near wholesale, and finish off the front and rear of the teardrop roof.
That's what we did this weekend. The weather was great, and we put a couple of coats on front and back. Doing this involved pulling the old reflectors off and Goo Gone-ing the hell out of the adhesive. We also had to cover up the Imperial Man stencil and the red stripe. But we're happy about that. We know now how to better apply the stencils to get a cleaner man image. And the stripe? Well, about that . . . we thought we had a straight, even line around the trailer. Turns out it was quite canted. Plus, we weren't overly happy with the reflective overcoat we used. It showed no real ability to reflect light.
Which means we're going to clean and repaint the trailer sides and redo the straight red stripe so it's level compared to the base of the trailer. What I want to do is pick up some rectangular red reflectors and place them in the rear stripe for a cooler road effect. We'll also be re-doing the "Free Trailer Beowulf" markings, making them slightly larger and placing the words "Free Trailer" above the stripe, and "Beowulf" below, in a larger font. People like the name, so let's fly it proudly!
Other than that, there are only a few things left to do. I want to better secure the trailer's license plate, come up with a target on the front of the trailer for better aim when backing up to the trailer for a hook-up. We'll probably just pick up a set of magnetic hitch aligners, which do the same thing. I would really like to get a vent cover for the roof vent to cut down on dust and as an additional rain shield.
The big project for next year is replacing the trailer door. That thing is a kludge and it shows. Kirsten just replaced the shoddy lock with one that can be locked from the inside. But still, we need to even out the arched entry, clean up all the bits and pieces that make up this door and entry, and built something more reliable.
Lastly, and I have no idea where I'm finding the money for this, a headache rack for the truck. You see these things on contractor trucks that don't have the full four post racks. At its simplest, it is a set of bars or a screen that stops your cargo from coming through the back window of your truck in a sudden brake scenario. Truck drivers are extremely aware of Newton's First Law of Motion. Despite all our careful stacking, bungee-cording, and use of our tiedown points, there is always the chance that something will be unsecured and fly forward.
Part of this is paranoia a trait that severed me well as a commercial driver who did here six tons of cargo slam into the metal divider between my compartment and crushing death more than once. Part of it is it offers more options for tying down cargo in the bed and a place to mount a work light if needed. Part of it is they just look cool.
Speaking of cool, I also want a backup alarm . . . beep! beep! beep!
