Outfitting my box trailer.
 

I decided it was time to get a box trailer, and do some traveling. I retired a
few years back and now is the time to have some fun....too bad gasoline is
so high priced. [:o]

Anyhoozle, I got this trailer last Fall, and now it's time to fix up the inside. It's
a pretty big one. 16 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 7'2" high on the inside. It has
electric brakes on both axles, and the drop-down rear ramp is rated for 4500
pounds. This rig is multi purpose....it needs to haul a couple motor scooters
and my airplane stuff, but might be called upon to haul my hot-rod as well. ;)

FBD.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

The first thing I did was primer the floor with some oil base, it was bare wood.
Then I started rigging the hold-downs for the scooters. I got a couple neat
holders for the front wheels, and some other rigging for the rear tie downs at
the same place I got he trailer....they have lots of accessories. [sm=thumbup.gif]

I got some channeling normally used inside semi-trailers for tying loads. I put it
on the floor instead of on the sides of the trailer. The locks that fit into the channels
will hold about a ton each, so no worries there.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

rub it in why dont ya!!

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

A [link=http://www.westmountainradio.com/RIGrunner.htm]"Rig Runner"[/link] is a handy gadget.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

1. The front wheel mount does away with the need for tie downs on the front.
2. The front mounts can be removed by taking out the front thumbscrew.
3. The center rear mount is bolted down.
4. The rear side mounts are out of the way.
5. The rear mounts completed, and in service.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

I used an oil base clear urethane on the wood. First I rough sanded the sides.
Then I masked off the areas I didn't want to clear coat. I used a roller and put
it on thick, my friend came in behind me with a brush, and caught the details
I missed. We did it in one hour, and with one gallon of clear, and one coat did
the trick.

It was a satin finish, not a glossy. The mahogony trim got dark and came out
nice, with a contrast to the yellow plywood. ;)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

I had been thinking for months what to do about the ceiling. It is bare metal,
with metal ribs. Can you imagine the heat on a hot day with the sun beating
down on the metal....it would be like an oven in there. I went down to Home
Depot to see what I could get for insulation and covering material for the roof.

I was totally surprised at what I found. They had styrofoam sheets 4'x 8', one
inch thick for ten bucks a sheet. I only needed four sheets. Perfect....light as a
feather, and excellent insulation. Then I found some neat plastic paneling
material, and the molding for it.....just what I had been dreaming about. :D

The panels were a bit pricey at $30./sheet, but the molding was reasonable.
More on the molding later, I need a couple pics....but the molding really made
the job look kinda' Pro....rather than "back yard".

I cut and fitted the main roof foam panels....a piece of cake on the table saw.
Then came the curved corners along the sides. I cut some strips of foam with
an angle on both sides and fitted them around the corner. I glued them in place.
I ended up with a completely insulated top, except for the ribs. ;)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

The next problem was figuring out how to cover the rounded sides of the top.
The paneling is way too stiff to bend. I decided on some corrugated fiberglass
roofing material, the kind you might see on a shed, or on a homemade green
house.

This is the molding I mentioned before. It captures two pieces of material, and
is fairly strong. It goes between the sheets of material on the roof, as well as
along the sides to capture the corrugated material.

The corrugated fits down into the side about an inch where it contacts the
plywood siding, and gets captured by the interior ceiling panels, so it just
"floats". I glued the styrofoam strips around the curved parts of the roof, so
they wouldn't come loose later and fall onto the corrugated pieces.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

The last picture in the above post is the wheel I used to cut the corrugated
material in a electric hand drill. I tried to cut the stuff on the table saw, but I
didn't have the correct blade to cut the thin fiberglass, it just chipped and broke
like mad.

This picture shows the texture on the ceiling panels.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

The ceiling went in in one day. I had to cut the panels by hand, cause I didn't
want to damage them on the table saw. I drilled each hole and used a nice
pan head sheet metal screw instead of the self tappers with the hex head.
I looks better I think without those hex heads.

It turned out to be a bit of a chore cutting the panels because the ribs on the
roof aren't super parallel, and the right side of the trailer on the inside is bowed
out 1/4". The crank-out vent in the center of the roof off not centered either,
it's off a full inch. Good help is hard to find, I guess. :eek:

Anyway....good thing I measures three times, and cut once. ;)

See how nice the sides and panel joints came out with the moldings ? This really
pleased me, after wondering for six months how I was going to do this roof. There
is some slight sagging in the panels because they can only be fastened every two
feet. The flash on the camera makes it look worse than it actually is. Standing
inside the trailer it looks better than in the pictures.

Anyway, the roof is well insulated, and looks better that I had hoped for. [sm=thumbup.gif]

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Hey Dave. That motorhome looks familiar from when you were up visting in WA state. Have fun with your new trailer.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

I made a mistake when I cut out the dome light. It wasn't centered either, and
I was cutting the material up-side-down. So I made a molding piece for the
light out of a piece of scrap material to cover up the boo boo.

Turns out....it wouldn't have looked right without the molding. :D

I still don't know how I'm going to carry the airplanes, but I've got it narrowed
down to two ideas.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Rob....were you up at Flaming Gorge State Park ? I went up there and flew with
Ernie Milsner and the Fellas last Fall. They even made me a member of the Club.
We had a great time, and the weather was perfect. :D

Dave.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Hey Dave. Yeah, I flew that day. Ernie is a friend of mine. He's a great man and teaches me a lot. I remember you're U Stick with a K&B (?) The weather was perfect that day but don't tell anyone.......;)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

That's right....I met you, right ? You were down a couple tables towards the
out house. Yes, the Ultra Stick has a .61 K&B. :D

Were you the guy that gave me the zip-tie to fix the Ultra stick aileron ?

Ernie flies the snot out of the Uproar 40 ! :)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Yeah, Ernie introduced me to you. Ernie is really good with the Uproar. I'm not sure what I was flying that day. Could have been my U Can Do or a Katana profile that I have. Not sure. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your trip to Washington. It was much better weather last year than we are having so far this year. Yuk! Maybe I should get into RC submarines. [>:]

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

I got some accessories made by this Pit Pal Company. I ordered them through
Northwestern Tool and Equipment. These pieces are made for racing trailers, I
guess....made of aluminum and all heli-arced together....nice stuff.

First I installed a wall locker and this fold down aluminum bench. It is bigger than
it looks, 4 feet wide. It will support 150 pounds, and folds down flat against the
wall. The wall locker is 3 feet wide. This bench is really gonna be handy, it's already
in use. ;)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Next accessory is a door mounted shelf with a paper towel holder. The shelf
folds up when not in use.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Another shelf type item is this rack for liquids, fastened to the wall. I think
it will hold five gallons of model airplane fuel, plus a bunch of other stuff.

No tipped over and spilled liquids in the trailer, thank you. ;)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

I got this Pit Pal fire extinguisher holder, and mounted it right inside the side
door on top of the air compressor. The compressor used to ride in the closet
of the motorhome....now it has a permanent home. It is not touching the wall
and is not mounted tightly. It has rubber feet, and is free to vibrate, shake, or
do just about anything it wants to....except fall over.

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

All I can say is WOW [X(][X(].

Do you have a link to that Northern Tool? I couldn't find it in a search. Thanks

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

....thanks, bolar. [sm=thumbup.gif]

It's NorthernTool.com 1-800-533-5545 will probably get you a free cataloge.
They have all top notch stuff. Tools, generators, tractors, automobile lifts,
Bobcats, gasoline engines, some farming equipment, welding, painting, ect.

FBD. ;)

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Last item is a "helmet Box"....I got two of them, and mounted them up
high in the back of the trailer, out of the way. A good place to keep your
jacket, helmet, gloves, goggles, ect all in one place. One box for each scooter.

The scooters are Chinese, the brand name is "Baron". They have 150cc four
stroke engines, smog legal in Calif., go 60-65 mph, and get just over 100 MPG.
I measured one at 103, and the other at 104. Most of the site seeing will be
done on the scooters. I stocked up on some spare drive belts for the automatic
transmissions, and some clutch parts as well.

The trailer is starting to look like a small garage !! :D

Now for the airplane racks, I got all the stuff for them yesterday. [sm=thumbup.gif]

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Hey...just a post to let you know this is a great thread!! Keep 'em coming....i'm always looking for new ideas on how to organize my trailer......it's great to see such detail!

RE: Outfitting my box trailer.
 

Thank you, jmiracle....

....my computer died on Friday, and I ordered parts on Saturday. They didn't
ship till Monday....but I had them send Fed-Ex 2nd day and they were here
bright and early on Tuesday....had 'er back up by afternoon. :D

A new power supply, a CPU fan assy., and a new floppy drive (it was acting
up anyway) and good as new. I was under the weather for 4 days as well,
some kind of stomach bug or food poisening....don't really know, but better now.

I was scratching away at the trailer as best I could and got the planes hung.
Well most of them...eight to be exact. The good news is, I didn't use up much
room inside the trailer....even with the scoots there's some party room left ! [sm=thumbup.gif]

First, I mounted the Dragon Lady. She's so big I had to hang her on the wall
like this to keep her from sticking out too far.