Month: July 2015

It’s not anywhere close to done but it had a toilet and a floor to sleep on. It was missing propane tanks, a heater, a wall for the bathroom, well everything.

I welded 2″ angle iron to the top of the frame to create a new battery tray. You can still see the old battery tray below which I later cut off. I need to run a new positive cable to the distribution box to support larger loads like an inverter. 

I had to remove the propane tank mount in order to properly place the brackets for the load balancing hitch. The propane tank plate got moved up a few inches on the frame. 

The hitch came with a 2 5/8″ ball but our trailer uses the 2″ ball. This thing was a pain to remove with the lock washer. 

Rear wall disassembly and reassembly. I won’t narrate much of this but it was a pain getting the stables out of the aluminum siding without damaging it. It was also difficult to remove the J-trim on the corners of the trailer. 

As I keep going up the wall – more rot…

Seriously why do they design these things with 1″ thick walls? How does it all hold together? Structurally the aluminum siding was hold up the wall. The board you see crossing the picture was placed to support the roof of the trailer. With the rear wall gone the structure got a bit wobbly. 

I did some weird angle cuts to try and match the angle of the trailer wall. 

Lots of new 1x2s sandwiched with glue to the old 1x2s. 

Much better looking! Yes, i left a lot of the plywood and tops of the studs out of convenience. 

Back wall gets some skirting. 

Finished J-trim and insert.

New foam. 

Side walls got some love too. I cut this plywood backwards. Oops. I got painted so no one will ever know. 

So much better than before. Duh.

The previous owners apparently had a tire blowout so bad it ripped a metal frame support right off the frame. It also did damage to the wheel well as it had been rebuilt with plywood at some point. I didn’t  notice the missing frame support when I bought the trailer. The wall spanned from the rear of the trailer over the wheels to the door. It’s no wonder the pressure from the wall caused wood to squeeze around the rear frame support. 

Holes left when the support was torn from the frame. Let’s fill those in a bit and fix that crack.

Much better.

I couldn’t find anything pre-built so I used what I had, some angle iron. 

The rusty frame made it difficult to get a clean weld. If I’d had more experience I probably would have cleaned it up with the angle grinder first. 

All done. No saggy walls now. You can see in this pic how at some point a 3″ lift was added to the spring shackles. I don’t like how long and unsupported those shackle supports are and I might try to fix it at some point. 

No pre-built wheel well solution that would fit my needs so custom galvanized steel and staples did the trick. 

After this was built I used caulking and rubberized spray to waterproof it. 

You can see why the kitchen had to be removed in order to properly rebuild the floor and wheel wells. 

Finding some new parts for the J-trim since I decided I needed to re-do the butyl tape and screws. 

Finishing up the plastic from under the floor and adding a metal skirt to help deflect water splashing up from the road. The skit was wedged between the floor and the frame and brought up over the edge of the wall. 

You can see here the addition of 2″ angle iron. I decided it would give the wall something firmer to sit on than the 1″ metal supports coming out of the frame. When I rebuilt the floor you could see the bottom 2×2 was compressed down to about an inch at the points it connected with the fame support. Also This would allow for more bolts through the wall to the angle iron. I welded the angle iron to the frame supports. On the long spans the angle iron wasn’t providing much support but once bolted to the wall the whole package was very sturdy. You can see the metal plates I used on the bottom of the studs supporting the door fame in this picture. 

Custom cut 2×3 replacing 2×2 main support for trailer door. It was rotted on the bottom and structurally compromised. I added some metal brackets top and bottom. 

So this is how I rebuilt the floor with 2x4s and 3/4″ plywood:

Here’s a good shot where you can see how the flat 2×4 acts as a surface for the subfloor to screw into. You can see the 2×4 floor joists (I would have loved to stand them up for added support but couldn’t change the height of the floor without causing a lot of other work). You can also see the type of foam insulation used and how I filled the gaps with spray foam. 

I added plastic over the original aluminum and under the wood. 

Add 1 1/2″ insulation and spray foam. 

Tricky subfloor install around all the plumbing (I really did not want to re-do that as well). 

Some brackets added for strength through the wheel well area. 

I chose to run floor joists perpendicular to the frame as opposed to parallel with the frame. I’m not sure why but most trailers run the floor joists parallel to the frame. I decided my design would offer more support for the walls which were seriously sagging below the frame height. I am satisfied with the finished result of the floor. Very sturdy (not perfect) and easy enough to build. 

The panoramas look a little wonky but give a wider perspective. 

I drilled in half way before using decking screws (water resistant, stronger than brass grabbers) then screwed the floor joists in to the bottom plates. 

Plastic foam and 3/4″ plywood complete the job.

The bottom plate in the wall above the wheels was a bit dry rotted but not completely compromised so I glued and screwed a 2×2 on the interior to provide added support for the wall and new wheel well. 

Finishing the new subfloor. A milestone in the trailer project.