Vintage Travel Trailer-part4-home

Well, I got the trailer home. And it only took me half and hour to learn how to back up a vehicle and trailer... whew! I'm going to have to go find a big parking lot and do some practicing till it becomes second nature.



Got the trailer in place in the driveway and unloaded all the damaged wood and dinged aluminum and rusty nails. Idunno... maybe I am a fool.

I slipped all of the sheet aluminum up into the rafters of my garage and stacked all the damaged wood bits on the side of the house (covered with a large, reflective hanging tarp for protection from the elements). The windows, clean wood and appliances all went into safe storage in the garage as well.



Child 1of5 helped me sweep the remaining debris off the old floor...



and I got my first real look at what I was dealing with. You see that honey-comb of cardboard?

Wow.



I'm amazed it held up for as long as it did. Apparently, the entire floor piece is a 1-1/2" thick construct of 1/4" ply over an interior latice-work of cardboard held within a 1" x 1" wood frame.

Once the top surface had been cleaned of broken glass and such, 4of5 and 3of5 clambered aboard for some playtime.



Then the rest of their siblings swarmed onto the trailer and headed to the back. We all learned a quick little lesson in applied physics when the combined weight of his brothers and sisters tipped the back-end of the trailer down on it's tail and nearly launched the 2-yr-old onto the roof of the house. Okay... not really, but we all thought he was gonna get some serious air.



I placed a pair of automotive jacks under the rear bumper to keep THAT from happening again. With the jacks in the back, and the wheels chocked, you can now dance the Rumba on that trailer bed without worry.

The frame... I need to take a look at that frame.