Coming to an end with the metal work, for the most part. I painted the trailer in the garage with Rust-Oleum primer and gloss black paint. My original and ultimately the final plan will be to paint the frame with bed-liner. I will need to do some minor welding to the frame in the future for the fenders and I didn't want to mess with the bed-liner melting off with the localized welding, to include the frame most likely getting a little banged up over the course of the build. At least I got the metal painted to prevent rust over the build and got paint in the areas getting covered by the cab.
One word of advise - Making a 5 x 9 trailer adds several more steps and a bit more waste in lumber. As you can see here, 2 ea. 4x8 sheet needed to be cut into 5 ft lengths to cover the trailer width and for the length. I joined my trailer floor with biscuits at one of the x-members to provide some support for the joint.
Once the joint was glued and set, I coated the bottom of the cab floor with a roll-on bed liner product to protect the joint and bottom of the trailer from moisture rot; I also covered all 4 edges
Once the coating dried, I attached the deck to the frame. I used T-nuts through the top side of the deck which I recessed approx. 1/16 inch so the deck is flush for whatever finish flooring is. The T-nuts were aligned with the tabs I previously welded to the frame so I can easily take the cab off the trailer if ever required in the future.
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| Recess for T-nut |
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| Flush mount to finish deck |
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| Attached to tabs welded to frame |
I could not find any veneered plywood sheets, locally, that were 4 x 10 to cover the 9 foot length of the trailer side walls, so I had to splice 1 ft onto the 4 x 8 sheets I purchased. I started by biscuit jointing the ends together, The splice will be located in the galley area, which I have an a idea how to cover the the seam. I was concerned with the strength of the joint so I did some research and decided to fiberglass the joint on both sides.
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| 9 ft plywood board spliced |
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| Prep to route joint |
I routed 3/32nd inch out of the surface, 5 inches wide to receive 2 layers of fiberglass and resin.
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| 5 inch wide X 3/32nd deep groove at joint |
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| Glass and Resin in Groove |
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| Bondo Infill Flush |
I will repeat this process on the other side of this panel and again for the other wall panel needed to build the trailer box.
I know this process will not work for those who want a wood facade on the exterior, but my plan will have the exterior clad in a mill finish aluminum. I have read that other people have had some issues with imperfections and seams reflecting through on the aluminum cladding, that's why I am dong this same fiberglass strip on the exterior in hopes the seam will not reflect thru on the aluminum.
As far as addressing the galley area where this seam could be seen, I plan of covering this portion of the wall with another 3/4 inch thick veneered plywood that will be set slightly lower than the hatch profile so the hatch can rest and seal up against this plywood piece, All is good in theory, I will get into the details of this later on in the build.
Tires and wheels have been ordered and should be here later in the week. Most of the big $$ have been spent on frame steel, suspension, wheels & tires, doors & windows and the majority of the lumber, (approximately 80% of my budget or $2,700 to date). I will share my cost spreadsheet later as I get closer to the end, but I will most likely exceed my $3,500 budget. Biggest bust to budget were the wheels and tires (couldn't help myself). Looking forward to the getting the cab taking shape.
Until next time!!!!!!!!!!!!
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