Finishing touches

We’ve finally reached the point during the trailer build where all of the major projects were done and there were just a handful of random small projects to finish up.  Instead of doing a bunch of short posts I thought it would be the easiest to lump them all in one before doing the FINAL reveal post.

Hooking up the trailer lights

When we bundled all of the wires together for the trailer into the liquid-tight connector that would be going into the tongue box, there were four wires that were still left exposed.  This was the wiring for the running lights on either side of the trailer (a hot and ground wire for each).  We had run these wires to poke out the front of the trailer, and then we ran them behind the front running board so that they would be grouped in the middle directly under the liquid-tight connector.

After adding some caulk to the hole in the running board that they were coming out of, we fed them into the bottom of the tongue box through a hole Darrell had to drill out. We used the same type of liquid-tight connector we used at the vent fan for the solar panel lights. Inside the tongue box they joined the wiring that goes back to the trailer hatch (for the brake, turn signals, and license plate lights). These wires then all leave the tongue box through the same bottom hole and then were attached to one half of a four pin connector.  This connector then hooks up to the trailer hitch when we are on the road so that the car can power and control the lights.

Tail light cover plates

We found some simple metal blank cover in the electrical section to hide the holes we made for the tail lights in the hatch.  These ended up being a great idea in the long run because now we had access to the tail lights in case anything electrical were to go wrong with them.

Hatch wiring.

I put some of the left over black loom over the wires running from the hatch to the pin connectors in the trailer.  This just cleaned up the look a bit and finished it off.

Sink plumbing

Our sink setup was really simple (though it looks kind of complicated.  We found a drain connection at Home Depot that fit our sink drain opening perfectly.  After cutting the length of the pipe to be a bit shorter, we then were able to adapt it to a garden hose connector with some PVC components, rubber hose and hose clamps.  Instead of buying a long length of garden hose, we were able to get a brass hose connector and clamp a shorter length of vinyl tubing to it. It looks bit wonky but works really well. 

For our water, we simply cut a length of clear vinyl tubing that would attach to the connection to the hand pump.  This tubing could then be fed into a re-used gallon milk jug we could fill with water.  Simple but effective!

The stove

Before fixing the stove to the pull out shelf, we decided to protect the wood from the heat of the stove and cooking goo with some more aluminum flashing.  It was cut to size and then nailed down along the sides of the shelf with twist nails.  This would also give us a surface we could easily clean and possible replace if needed in the future.

For the gas connection, Darrell was able to modify the regulator that came with the stove so that we could keep the propane hose connected at all times and still push the shelf in.  After this was screwed in and the stove located, we used some angle brackets to secure the stove in place.

Hatch pole

Though many people used hydraulic pistons (similar to what you might see on a car) we decided to go low tech and just use a long pole.  So that we could store it in the trailer, we bought two shorter wood dowels and then used a threaded insert and double sided bolt so that we could simply screw the two pieces together.  On the bottom end of the pole, we actually nailed on a rubber doorstop to provide the pole with a larger and more gripping foot.

On the hatch we used a wooden closet rod flange that I stained the same color as the counter for the pole to sit in.

J-molding above side doors

Above each of the side doors, we installed some curved j-molding.  This molding acts as a drip edge above the door to help protect it from rain dripping down the wall into the door.  We did our best to bend it to follow the curve of the door, but ended up making it a shallower curve.  It was difficult to bend and we didn’t want it to disfigure the shape as we were bending.  Since the curve was different, we decided to mount it about an inch above the edge of the door frame trim.

Weather stripping  

About the most frustrating part of the project was the weather stripping around the doors and hatch.  When everything was installed, the fact that ours was a home built trailer was definitely showing.  Though it looked great, there were some definite alignment issues at the doors and hatch, especially on the driver’s side door.  It was tight along the hinge and bottom of the door, but the top right corner splayed out almost a ¼”!  Also at the bottom of the hatch, it no longer was closing flush and we also had a pretty big gap to contend with.

Darrell finally, after a lot of research and hair pulling, found some ½” x ½” and 1” x 1” weather-resistant neoprene/EPDM/SBR foam that came in 25’ lengths.  This stuff was closed cell meaning that it restricts absorption and could be used outdoors.  It also had a super strong adhesive back that could be stuck to the T-molding around the doors. 

What we ended up doing was first taping the strips to the doors and through a series of measuring, opening/closing the doors and test runs, we trimmed down the weather stripping in the areas we needed to, while leaving other areas thick so that we could get custom seals around the doors.  After this was done, we crossed our fingers and removed the paper backing, permanently attaching weather stripping.  At the side doors, we also attached some thin rubber P-strip weather stripping (which we got at Home Depot) to the foam stripping for added sealing and protection.

And after finishing the weather stripping… WE WERE DONE!!!  Some final photos and documentation of our maiden voyage to follow soon!

Finishing the side doors

For real this time!  We talked about covering the edges of the doors with T-molding in this post about the door construction, but after a little over a month of sitting in the garage, the edges got bent and the more we looked at the overlapping detail, the less we liked it.  Unfortunately this meant we had to order new T-molding, but we figured it was a live and learn experience – and we have a lot of those.

While the new T-molding was on order, we still needed to sand down the door to get the correct spacing between the door and the side wall.  We decided to sand enough off to leave roughly a ¼” all the way around.  Then the door was fit in place with shims so that we could figure out the hinge.  The hinge was cut down to size and temporally screwed into place on both the door and wall of the trailer (we did three screws on each side).

After this we removed the hinge and sanded the face of the door down.  Then I was able to stain and protect the door with spar urethane in the same process we described here.

When the new T-molding arrived we decided to work as a team to figure this out.  We first slowly bent the top T along the edge of the door but installing stainless steel screws along the door and bending as we went.  The first time I think we bent it too quickly and it had a number of stress marks.  Luckily with the slower bending, they were much less noticeable.

For the corners, since we didn’t like the overlapping detail (and after asking advice from Grant of lil bear) we figured we have a go at mitering the corners.  I was able to locate an old protractor and to calculate the angle, you simply measure the angle and divide it in half.  We then traced the angle onto the molding and cut both the top and side molding with a hack saw.  After a bit of sanding with a rasp, it fit.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was a much better detail that what we had before.

We also mitered the trim at the bottom, a simple 45 degree angle.  On the hinge side of the door, both the curved top molding and straight bottom molding were cut flush with the edge of the door.

Next we carefully removed all of the T-molding so that we could attach some aluminum trim Darrell fabricated at his work.  This was done at the same time as the trim he made for the door opening.  This trim was glued on with construction adhesive with the corners overlapping to prevent leaking.  For the curved top we decided for a more simple fix and just cut a flat piece of aluminum to cover the exposed edge without trying to wrap around face of the door.  With this installed, we ran a bead of caulk along the T-molding and re-screwed it into place.  After all of this the hinge went back on and we attached it to the trailer!

Installing the 12x18 window proved to be a bit more of a challenge since it didn’t come with any instructions.  After pressure fitting the window and the frame in place, we were left with a gap leaving the door sandwich exposed.  There were screw holes on the inside frame but not the window itself, so we turned to website we ordered the window from to try and figure out how to attach the two pieces together.  It seemed to indicate that you needed to drill a hole into a small channel on the inside of the window frame.  So this is what we did and then we screwed them together.

We later figured out that by doing this we actually were drilling into the weep channel of the window.  During our water test water was definitely coming in!  AHHHH!  So to fix this, Darrell basically filled all of the holes he drilled with caulk and filled the underside of the window below the weep channel with additional caulk.  After it cured, we water tested again and had no leaks… yay!  There was still an ugly gap left, but we were able to buy some inexpensive foam tubing to fill it up.  It can easily be removed, which seemed like a good idea so we can periodically check on the window to see how the caulk is holding up.

The door handles were last on the list.  To do this we first had to decide on the position we wanted, then a hole had to be drilled through the door for the turning mechanism to push through.  After the weather stripping was installed (which I’ll talk about in the next post) the doors were too far out from the face of the interior wall for the latch to work.  We solved this problem by cutting small pieces of ¼” plywood to fit behind the inside latch.  This pushed it out far enough to have the latch engage while still keeping a tight seal.

Fenders & running boards

The fenders that came with the Harbor Freight trailer were two things; very ugly and very impractical.  So it was top priority to find a more attractive fender that we could actually install on the trailer ourselves.  In researching styles, we found a bunch of really cool retro designs we liked a lot.  Unfortunately the three digit price tag per fender was a bit more that we were hoping to spend.  Darrell finally found these 12" fenders that were the right size and the right price.  The design was a little simpler that what we originally wanted, but the galvanized finish really tied in with everything else we had done to date.

To attach them, Darrell first marked out the height of the fenders on the metal frame of the trailer with a pencil to give us their rough positioning - this ended up being about 2” above the wheel.  By removing the wheels he was able to access the frame and pre-drill the holes required for the fender brackets (which we had to buy separately here).  After the bracket holes were drilled into the frame, they were mounted loosely using stainless bolts (1 per fender bracket).  With the brackets in place, he then laid the fenders top of them to mark out the locations of the bolt holes that needed to be drilled in the fenders.  The holes were then drilled and the fenders loosely attached to the brackets using carriage bolts and nuts.  Prior to tightening everything down we decided to add an additional piece of aluminum to the sidewall of the trailer (between the finish wall and the tire).  The bottom of piece was cut flush with the trailer frame, and the top followed the curve of the fender, slipping up between the lip of the fender and the bracket.  This would protect the wood side walls from any debris or damage while we were driving.

After the fenders were installed, we moved onto some running boards.  We really didn’t like the look of the red trailer fame against the richness of the okoume.  We had thought of using some type of wood to cover the frame and add to the ‘woody’ style we had initially dreamed about in the very beginning stages of design.  After a trip to Home Depot, we decided on 1x6 cedar boards.  Though not the prettiest of woods, we wouldn’t need to treat, stain or really do anything to them besides attach them to the trailer and they would be a nice contrast against the dark side walls.

Before installing them, we first used a router to cut a simple bullnose into the top edge of the wood.  We had decided that at the back of the trailer, we would cover the trailer frame and wood frame with aluminum, so no cedar was needed back there.  This aluminum wrapped the corner of the side walls, and the cedar would run straight to the back edge of the trailer.  Darrell had already installed the running board at the front, so at this point we only had to do the sides.

W first had to cut the boards to length.  Since they weren’t going to run behind the fender, we had to cut the boards to the shape of the fenders.  This was a little challenging since they were already installed, but we managed.  The cedar was then glued and screwed into the wood sidewalls of the trailer. 

After trimming down the long sides at the front, we used an elliptical sander to round the edges to match the top and back.

With these done, we got to install the markerlights.  Because these weren’t being installed directly into a metal frame, we had to tape a grounding wire we had run to the back of the light.  Luckily this worked like a charm!

Exterior trim & finishing the hatch

With the paint fully cured and the electrical done, now came the fun part, installing the metal drip edge, re-installing the hurricane hinge and finishing out the hatch!!  With these steps done, the end would finally be in sight.

Our first step was to re-install the trailer side of the hurricane hinge.  We first ran a heavy bead of caulk along the bottom of the hinge, then simply centered it on the roof where the previous holes had been drilled and screwed it in.  We did this before the metal drip edge so that we could later notch the drip edge around the hinge.

The metal drip edge was purchased from Lil' Bear Tag-Alongs (the same place we ordered the hurricane hinge).  We first applied the same silicone putty we used at the vent fan.  We were left with up to a ¼” gap between the edge of the roof and the edge of the wall, so we hoped this would help seal this gap.

Then we ran a heavy bead of caulk along the drip edge and carefully lined it up on the bottom corner of the trailer.  We decided the best way to bend the trim was to install the screws from the bottom up and bend it into place as we went.  It took a little muscle and care, but worked out pretty well.  To help with preventing water infiltration, we also added a dab of caulk to each hole before tightening down the screw.

We ordered our drip edge in 4’ lengths for easier shipping, so this would leave us a seam above the door.  Before installing the second length of drip edge, we carefully measured out where it would hit the hinge so that we could notch out the trim.  The goal was to have the face side of the trim run past the hinge to protect the wood and give us a more finished look.

Next step was to trim out the hatch after re-installing hatch side of the hurricane hinge.  Darrell was extremely excited to find this trim from McMaster-Carr.  It was a simple c-channel that fit our ¼” plywood perfectly.  For this install we simply ran a bead of caulk along the edge of the plywood and carefully bent the trim into place screwing it in as we went.  We were also lucky that the screw holes lined up almost perfectly with the spars!  Happy coincidence!  We also installed a straight length of this same trim along the bottom edge of the door to protect the edge.  Since we didn’t have any screws short enough to not poke through the ¼” plywood, we simply used a grinder to cut off the sharp points.

 

With the trim done, we could finally install the hatch light and re-install the tail lights, and license plate light.  One snafu we found though was that the taillights protruded slightly too far to be completely covered by the interior plywood skin.  Our solution was to cut out holes at each of the lights to let them poke through and then to find something to cover the holes later.  With everything hooked up, we did a test fit of the hatch, to do a capacitance test to make sure everything was wired correctly.  With the interior skin on, we wouldn’t be able get to any of the wiring!

We then stuffed all of the hatch cavities with blue jean insulation and installed the plywood skin in the exact same way as described here – only difference being that we had to be a little more careful to not damage the new paint job.

The hardware we described here could now be installed.  To act as a catch, we screwed a 12 gauge metal plate to the lower corners of the exterior walls that each had a hole pre-drilled into them.  The two metal locking bars would then be able to slide into these holes to secure the hatch closed.  In order for the locking bars to reach these plates though, we had to pad out the hardware a bit, but we used some leftover scrap oak to provide a solid anchor.