Slaving Away on the Base

I've spent 2 days slaving away on the base.  I think I have enough basic support.

It is 8 ft wide and 20 ft long.  It's 2" longer on the front than the original camper.  7-1/2" Longer in the rear because I extended from where the back wall used to be, to the back edge of the bumper.  That gave me the total 20 ft length.  The original width was 7ft-8".  I widened it 2" on each side to get the 8ft width.  Due to using 2x4's instead of 1x2's, the inside space will be about the same as the original camper ... just better insulated.

I still need to run some strips up the middle and re-enforce a couple of spots before covering it up.

I kept the original gray-water and black-water tanks.  The black-water tank will be used for the tub.  The gray-water tank will be for the sinks.  We'll be using a sawdust toilet -- we've had good experience with it.

Up towards the front there are things that just don't line up.  Side tabs not lined up with the metal cross-ties.  Step tabs that are just wonky.  I did put crosswise 2x4's centered at the 8ft and 16ft points.  That's so my plywood sheets will properly secure lengthwise.  This all makes for inconsistent measurements between the 2x4's.  And the more expensive pressure treated 2x4's are the ones that warped the most.

I'm going to have to shave the high spots on the twisty 2x4's to level out the floor surface.  I'll use my triangular toothed tree saw to do that.  It's called improvise to make it correct.

My neighbor has offered to use the forks on the front of his tractor to lift the wood frame off the metal frame so I can put flashing on the bottom.  Then he will put it back on the metal frame.  And I can proceed from there.

Shuffling the Trailer Around

The landlord was shuffling things a week ago in accord with his project plans ... so he put the extended forks on the front of his tractor, just picked up the entire frame, and moved it down next to the cabin ... where we re-stacked the bricks under it and set it down.  I've gotta straighten the brick piles a bit, make some wooden wedges, and get it all leveled out.

I've also purchased the pressure-treated lumber and flashing to build the wooden base.    Need the foam and 3/4" sheets to cover it.  Oh, and the plumbing connectors to come up through the base for the tub/shower, vent, and sink drains.  That will take some adjusting before I can frame up the walls.  I'm sure it would all be a lot easier if I wasn't dealing with the drain tanks.  But that gives me more options.

Gettin' Down to the Bare Trailer

After it was all unbolted, it was still too heavy to lift the floor off by myself.  So, I borrowed a skill saw and cut the OSB flooring wood just inside the 2" x 4" frame work.  There were red chalk lines marking the framing,  along with a trail of nail-heads.  So I just guessed based on the width of a normal 2" x 4".

These are the OSB rectangles all stacked on a pallet.  

As you can see, some of them had wood-rot ...

OSB just falls apart if it gets soaked with water.

These are the sections of 2" x 4" lumber all stacked up.

The really dark ones have wood-rot.

Here we are down to the metal bottom pan.

I had to knock out the remaining side boards

and then just rolled the thin steel up.

The steel frame is in surprisingly good shape.

This is going to require a lot less sanding than I expected.

Looking from the rear towards the front.

The very back tank is for "black water" ...

Since I will be using a composting toilet,

I will probably just remove this tank.

Next up:  

1) clean up all the junk from the yard.

2)  sell the scrap metal.

3)  Sand and prime trailer as needed.

4) Check out brakes and grease hubs.