My First Production Trailer, Ep. 2: Pandora's Box

And lo, many ills were released, but also hope,
in the form of shiny new frames from cool neighbor.

It's been a week and a half since I took the leap and sprang for a "pre-owned" (2005) toy hauler. Might be a 2006. There's some disagreement in the paperwork. In the last chapter I outlined the rigamarole I went through negotiating the sale after discovering more damage than initially discovered. This chapter could be titled "Why people buy from a dealership, new or used".

It towed great with my friend Sarah's pickup. Definitely needs a solid rig to pull it. We have a Ford F350 dually that's going to fill the bill nicely after a few repairs, but that's another story. When we got it home and parked it in the back yard, the real inspection began. The first thing we found was that there was more than one leak in the front end. Not only was there damage down the front right corner, but the front left, where the ladder

Damage under ladder

attached to the roof, was even worse. Instead of lifting the skin and doing some minor repairs, we ended up removing the ladder and stripping the entire skin off the front end. Pretty much about 75% of the frames and a good portion of the inner skin were mush. That alone means I still paid more than I should have, but I doubt the guys in Tacoma would have gone lower. We ripped out the insulation batting over the sad areas, and friend Rick, who had some time, went to work ripping out the spongy frames.

Neighbor Marcel, who basically has an entire woodworking facility and machine shop in his garage, ripped me some nice cedar frames and cut a piece of steel to patch the bad corner of the roof where the ladder will be reattached. The weather has been cooperating, and the whole area is dry now, especially since we parked the trailer with the nose facing south. It's rained a bit on a couple of nights, but I just threw a tarp over the front end and that worked fine. Today I'll be pulling staples so Rick can finish the framing on Monday and stick in new insulation. Marcel suggested the pink rigid foam stuff, so I picked up a couple of sheets. The water damage seems to have only affected the nose of the rig, so that's a blessing.

Crumbling water heater is crumbly.

The second area of woe was the water heater. I don't think any of the previous owners had ever done a lick of maintenance on it. The zinc was down to a skewer, and the faceplate was rusted away at the bottom. I found one on Craigslist for $175 (they retail for over $300) from a guy parting out a trailer down in Belfair, and with a modicum of struggle we switched it out. A new anode/zinc was $18 from the RV parts place in Silverdale.

Third surprise was in the head. When we turned on the water pump the back of the toilet started spraying water. Looked like a bad gasket at the intake, which is fixable, but...I found almost the exact same model on Craigslist (again), new in box, from a guy right here in Kingston for $100 (they retail for around $135). I figured by the time I bought parts to fix the old one I'd be halfway to a bill, anyway, and the crusty unit in the head looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years so...bye.

Fuleing station box: wee bit precarious.

Fourth item on this list, and not a surprise since it was so obvious when we looked at the rig in Tacoma, is the fueling station. This is a nice feature on toy haulers: a gas tank with a hose and spigot for fueling your ATVs or whatever. The box that houses the hose and spigot is falling away from the frame, and the spigot is missing parts. Again: previous owners just didn't care, apparently. It's a project I can do easily, just not a #1 priority.

Shiny new frames almost done.

The rest is nickel and dime stuff: replace wobbly pedestal legs on the table with folding ones, remove dinette chairs, replace burnt-out light bulbs, fix the one broken window blind, clean and line drawers and shelves, and just a general overall cleaning. Found a couple of office chairs at Goodwill for two bucks a pop, and I've been collecting other little things to furnish the place over the past few months. Now I just have to make space in the garage to store the folding sofa, chairs, and extra queen bed. Or maybe I'll sell them...I don't know. Am I going to sell this trailer someday? Probably. If I sell it to another film industry worker they probably won't want that other stuff, either. I'll think about it.

The good news is the AC seems to work, the sound system functions, the generator fires right up, and there are no soft floor spots. I think we're on the way to a functional Props/Armorer/Scripty trailer.