Divider Project

Waiting on the hinges to arrive so we can get started.  Here's a sketch of what we're hoping to achieve:

Hopefully we can find a screw-eye bolt large enough to attach the butt-bar clips too.  Or, at least, large enough to attach 2 large links or rings to, and then attach the butt bars to those.  That way they don't have to attach to one another anymore.


3/4" threaded rod and washers should hold it in place in the pin drops properly, and still give me some ability to remove the entire bar if necessary.

The hinge straps are 12" long.  We'll be using either 2x6 or 2x8 boards (leaning towards the 2x8, to make sure there's enough space for the cushions to attach).  That means on either end, 12" of steel will be sandwiching around 3" of wood together with heavy bolts.  I'm hoping this will prove sturdy enough for even the bounciest horses.

We'll need to measure and cut precisely, because I want the hinges to attach tightly to the end of the wood, and then be able to fit into the pin drops.  Once everything is put together, I'll paint it over with deck stain to seal it from the moisture.

Pretty sure we have all the details worked out- now if those hinges would just hurry up!!

Pics

With the cushions and walls installed, and the shavings down.  I'm pleased.

End of Year Updates

Pics to follow tomorrow.  Yesterday we got the side cushions installed- there has been too much humidity and rain to paint the plywood, so I decided to go for functionality first.  I can always cover them up when we paint.

Also have a promising solution to the divider bar.  We located these, a special type of gate hinge, online:

These appear to be a perfect solution.  They have a 3" width, so Ty suggested we fasten 3 layers of 1x6 board in, bolt them all the way through, and secure the ends with pins as we did before.  I feel that having equal pressure on either side will prevent any destruction if the horses lean on it again.  Once the hinges arrive, we'll get the boards and give it a shot.  Hopefully this will hold up.  Once it's put together, I'll seal the boards with deck stain same as the plywood, and then install another set of cushions to either side.  I'll probably order the chest and butt cushions at the same time, and get everything installed.  Then the horses will be nicely padded all around, which should improve Major's overall opinion of trailer rides.  :-P


Hoping to accomplish all this in the next couple weeks.  Installing the divider is the priority, the cushions will be added afterwards.  Once all of that is done, or if there happens to be a day of good weather, I'll need to hit the interior with the primer and sander and see if there's any chance we'll get to paint it before spring.  I'm also putting money aside to hopefully get a full set of tires done as soon as possible.  The exterior work is last on my list, I'd rather it was safe and comfortable for the horses first.  We're also picking up some thin plexiglass to experiment with new window options.

Forward march!!

What? Progress?

Well, after doing a whole lot of nothing for the past few months, I've finally managed to get something done with the trailer.  My dad helped me bolt in the new plywood sheets, so the walls are nice and blemish-free.  I'm hoping to get a coat of deck stain on it this week, and I'm ordering the new pads today, so hopefully I'll be able to get those in in the next week or so, depending on how fast they arrive.  

The divider is still a problem, the wooden one was destroyed and I'm not a huge fan of the temporary PVC contraption.  I talked to a couple welders, but they want about $350 to make something for me, and that's just too much.  I need to put money towards a new set of tires as soon as possible, that takes precedence over dividers.  Going to keep looking and see what I can find though.  

At some point we're going to tackle the wiring, and hopefully someday I'll get the paint done.  

The mats are pulled out in this photo because I scrubbed them like crazy with hot water and deodorizer, and from now on I'm keeping shavings in the trailer at all times.  The mats just get too gross otherwise.  I'm also flipping them over- one side has deep ridges, the other side has a much shallower honeycomb pattern that would be so much easier to clean, but I think it still has enough texture to help the horses grip as they're walking on.  

Wish I was further along, but, at least I'm still moving forward!

RIP, Divider #2...

Took 2 horses on a long haul, and ended up with a busted up divider.  Wood is apparently not going to cut it.  Replaced it with a temporary PVC pipe, and contacting welders about making me a metal one.  Sigh.

Been too busy to get much done.  I still need that one last day of sanding so I can prime and paint, and it just hasn't happened yet.  Next week my goal is to at least get the new plywood purchased, cut, and installed (I'm just going to put a thin sheet over top of what's already there, rather than trying to rip the old pieces out.  It will at least give me a smooth visible surface to paint and install the cushions on).  Hopefully painting will happen sooner or later.

The Endless Grind (Pun Intended)

Another day of rough grit sanding completed.  Other than a few troublesome areas, I believe I'm down to fine grit sanding, as well as one more circuit of the trailer to find any additional loose paint patches I missed on the first round (I've spotted several while sanding down the Bondo).  I'm optimistically hoping to paint next week.  I've decided against additional Bondo on the interior- I still have the exterior to seal, for starters.  Beyond that, I've just come to terms with the fact that this is a very old trailer, and the original idea was just to get the rust off and get it painted white so it doesn't look so hideous.  I'm not going to spend my entire life trying to perfect the seams.  Once it's painted up, nobody will really notice anyway.  A few dips and dings will just give it character.

Going to be busy all weekend I think, so probably Monday or Tuesday will be my final run of sanding, and then I'll get ahold of some primer and slap that on to dry.  Next paycheck I'll get the cushions and butt bumpers ordered.  I think I'm going to go ahead and replace the butt chain itself, the chain is old and ugly and I want to look at securing it to the center post or divider somehow, and having the sides detach individually instead of from the center.  (That probably makes no sense, but I'll post pics.)

And so...  we forge on.

Still Hate Bondo

Took a week off due to illness, weather, other priorities, and basically everything you can imagine.  Got back to work yesterday with a couple more hours of sanding.  Finally worked out the best sanders and best grit to really get the job done.  Made quite a bit of progress before my arms gave out.  I think it's going to take one more night of sanding, and then I'll be ready to go back in with the last can of Bondo and fix all my mistakes.  And then start sanding all over again- sigh.

It's taking a lot longer than I hoped or thought, but I've learned a lot, and I'm comfortable that I'm taking the time to do it right and make it last.

Bondo Part XVIIVI

Well.  After much sanding, I'm please with some of the areas of Bondo, and disappointed with others.  I've decided the only solution is to go back and reapply some of the areas.  So there's a fresh gallon of Bondo waiting in the garage, and as soon as I can muster the enthusiasm, I will begin again...

Bondo Sanding

Sanding Bondo is not fun, but it's not as bad as I expected.  I'm about 1/3 of the way done with the rough sanding.  Going to use the rest of this week/weekend to finish it off, slap some primer down, and be ready to paint early next week.

Also got the new LED rear lights mounted, still have to test the wiring, but the car wasn't in a convenient place to be hooked up right now.

Progress is happening!  Will be thrilled to get a coat of paint in there.

Bondo Day 1

Today I finally started working with the Bondo.  Here are a few things I learned:

1.  I hate Bondo.

2.  It takes at least 2 gallons of Bondo to refinish the inside of a 1970s horse trailer.

3.  The horrible caulk crap I scraped off the inside of the trailer was NOT Bondo.

4.  I hate Bondo.


So this stuff essentially smells like paint thinner, dries in about 72 seconds, and is harder to sand down than cement.  It's impossible to apply it smoothly because it starts getting crusty almost instantly.  So I was left with no option but to glop it on as best as I could to fill the gaps, and hope like I hell I can figure out a way to sand it down again.

After day 1, the lower half of the trailer is mostly done with the application (still have a few small touch-ups to do).  I need to buy a second gallon to do the top half, and then sand, sand, and sand some more.  It's going to take a lot longer than I was hoping to get through the Bondo process, but on the bright side, I think it's going to be very effective in sealing all the seams, and covering up the rust spots.

Stage 1 Sanding Completed

All pre-Bondo sanding is now finished.  After finishing the Bondo applications I will of course have to sand again, at which point I'll hit any rough patches I missed the first time around in addition to smoothing out the Bondo seams.

I ended up pulling out that last piece of wood shelf, I decided it was pointless to leave it in.

After finishing the sanding, I applied rust converter spray onto all heavily rusted areas.  It now has to set for 24 hours before I can put anything over it.

You'll also notice I threw a coat of silver metallic spray paint over the divider board; the naked wood was starting to bother me.  It probably needs another coat, but at least it has some sort of a finished look now.  It's interesting that you can see the wood grain so much in the photo, because the metallic glitter makes it almost unnoticeable in person.

I also did one round of wood putty.  When it finishes drying I'll go back and apply some more to certain areas.  The worst damage should be hidden when I put up the new cushion strips anyway, but I figured I would patch, sand, and stain it thoroughly before putting the cushions up.  As a finishing touch I'm going to apply baseboards on both sides like I did in the red trailer, probably in black to contrast the walls and hide dirt.  

One of the rear running lights went out, so we bought 2 new LED ones to replace both back running lights (so they'll match).  We may look at rewiring the entire thing at some point.  I'm also pricing out a new set of tires, as that will eventually be needed, and I'm hoping we can replace the interior light and get that working as well.  

If all goes well, I should be able to start painting and staining in the next 7-10 days.  I'd like to move quickly and get this done before the weather cools off too much, and also before any of my major trips in October.  

The current progress doesn't really show through on pictures well, but it's all adding up to an awesome final reveal!

Sanding Progress & Unexpected Renovations

Spent another day and got most of the interior rough sanded.  I'd like to get back in for one more day and get everything as smooth and bare as I can manage before I start in with the Bondo.  Meanwhile, Major decided to add his own special touch to the trailer renovations.

So here's the nose of the trailer after I finished my second round of sanding.

  Just as a reminder, here was the before shot:

A great deal of the metal surface is now down to at least primer, with much bare metal starting to show through.  So that's great.  Meanwhile, here's the image AFTER Major's "contributions":

If you can't see it right away, try scrolling back up.  Find it?  Yes, the majority of the wooden shelf in the nose is now missing.  Major decided to yank it out when I tied him to the rings attached to it.  I suppose in the end, it's probably better- I couldn't sand behind the shelf and it was probably housing spiders.  Also it took up head room, and we all know my gigantic horse needs lots of headroom.  So, no shelf it is apparently.  Now there's another section of black paint I need to attack with the sander.  I'll do that section when I go back to touch up the rest, and then I'll get to work on my patching.  

Sigh.  

Round 1

Sanding is going to be a little harder and more time consuming than I thought, but, I'm confident it will get done.  I took the rotary sander after one side of the interior today, with reasonable results.  I need to go back with a detail sander and then the Dremel to get into the nooks and crannies that a round sander just couldn't do.  But I found some bare metal!  I think this is going to shine up real nice when I'm all finished.

A quick before and after of the sanding.

The Beginning

Meet Big Blue.

Big Blue is a 1971 steel horse trailer.  I purchased her in Delaware after Major decided the the trailer I had previously purchased was too short for him.  I will not go into great detail about the absurdity of having to buy a Thoroughbred height trailer for a ranch-style Quarter Horse, but horse-folks, feel free to point and laugh at my stupid horse.

Meanwhile, Big Blue is due for a major overhaul, so I wanted a blog to show the progress of my renovations.

Primarily, the entire interior and exterior need to be sanded down, patched, and then repainted.  I've purchased wood filler and a number of Bondo products to make this happen.  I'm also purchasing a paint-sprayer to make sure I get full coverage.  I'll be using white tractor/implement paint, as I'm told this is the best way to go for trailers.

I plan to start with the interior, sand and scrape it fully, patch it, and paint it.  We're also pulling out the home-made divider they installed, because it is too wide for my taste, and also it's not removable.  We will be building our own to replace it.  The cushions/bumper pads are coming off as well and being replaced with new black ones.  They are all torn, plus they're an ugly shade of brown.  Also the one on the right hand side is missing entirely.  The final color for the interior will be a light metallic silver- I'm going to start with a good coat of the white tractor paint, to make sure it's fully covered and sealed, and then go back over it with spray paint to add a little color and shine.  The wood, to include the side panels, divider, and that homemade shelf in the nose, which is actually quite handy and I plan to keep, will all be stained with white deck stain.  The floor is fine and the rubber mats are good, so I will not be doing anything except possibly throwing a coat of stain down to help waterproof it, and washing the mats well.  I also plan to take some tubing to cover up and protect the wiring.

When the interior is completely finished, I'll go back and start the exterior.  There are two holes in the nose being covered up by those white weather strips; I'm going to remove the strips and use metal patching to fill them in.  All other holes/rust spots will be sanded, patched, and filled.  The lighting is good, I think there is one bulb that needs to be replaced, but the system is fairly new.  When everything is patched and sanded down, the exterior will be painted solid white.  I will probably try to preserve the silver trim for some nice contrast, but I don't know what kind of control I'll have with the sprayer.  At least the large lower sections of silver will be easy to keep.  

I may try to see if I can find replacement windows, as the current ones are green tinted and one is missing.  Barring that I may just remove the windows entirely and perhaps put a screen or some bars over the hole.  I also plan to start saving for a new set of tires, and replace the tow chains.  I may look at installing a break-away brake as well, because it doesn't currently have one.  The tires and brake would be long-range goals however.  

She has a long way to go, but she has definite potential.  I'm actually glad to have the extra height, because many of the SAR team horses are taller, and most people have much larger rigs than mine, so I can see the usefulness of being able to take my smaller rig into tight spots while on searches.  There's storage space in the nose as well, which is definitely handy for searches when I have so much gear to bring with me (like his entire portable paddock).  

So this week, the first goal will be sanding the interior and starting to patch the wood and metal.