Trailer Guts.

I feel so compelled, because the weather is chilling and I've little desire to freeze into a popsicle (nor turn MoonSox into a icicle), to share with you my trailer-rehab plans for spring. I've a fair chunk of things on my mind as seems to be the case lately, work is more repetative then exciting, so I doodle and dream about my little blue beast and how we shall fix it up to convey my little brown beast.

Here he is, good ol'Blue sitting on our parking pad in the city. Being where we are, I'm fairly sure this was a sight to the neighbors, a horse trailer parked in the city. It did get me thinking, that this might actually be pretty advantageous when we head out, as to pre-hook-up and pack will save time.

As you can see in the above picture, someone closed in the front portion of the stock-sides. I spoke with the daughter of the maker and she let me know that side and front windows were 'extras', so this is a pretty base-model trailer. I'm not sure why the previous owner would have closed in part of the stock-side, other then maybe reducing the amount of air/debris coming so close to the horses' heads. You can see that the last fellow was also touching up any spots of potential rust with silver rustoleum, which even though it doesn't match the blue interior, has helped prolong it's life.

I also plan on trying to rig up a screening system for those rear windows, to keep the bugs and debris out. Likely a velcro or latch-style system, which would allow them to be easily and quickly removed.

The 'orange' spots are from we can tell the primer they used and occasionally some of the original blue paint has chipped off. You can also see in this picture that the fiberglass roof is in need of a good scrubbing, since dirt has collected on and around it. 

The front door is actually still in pretty good condition. The front window still opens, the latch still works (needs a new key made) and the hinge is solid. It closes well, isn't drafty and really doesn't show rust. The blue paint has been worn from the edges, and like the interior, this will be repainted come spring (and warmer temperatures!).

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The little storage cubby. There's one of these under each front manger. They're about 2' wide or so and lack any sort of storage devices. You can still see here that some rustoleum has been used to keep the bottom from rusting and while it's dirty, it's still in great condition. I'm planning on putting diagonal saddle racks under each manger, though I might just do one and put more storage under the other.

Looking from the front of the trailer to the back, you can see the middle gate and the edges of the mangers. The flooring has been completely re-done and has some black matting to keep the horses from slipping. I'm thinking about getting two of the 'over-door' style bridle racks and hanging them from each manger side while traveling. They can hang low at the same level as the saddles when in transport, and then when we get where we're going and unload, I can hang them from the horizontal bars or stall sides for easier access.

Here's looking forward to the front of the trailer. Again, not a ton of tack space, but room for everything I'll need.

 

The one rear door needs some repair to the wooden slats, which will be another job for this spring. These are original and just showing some loss of life due to the evils of time. The metal sheeting behind the wood slats is in good condition, so it'll be a matter of pulling these out and replacing the rotting ones. And repainting the whole thing. I'm considering getting some nicer, new wood and redoing both, and instead of painting it, laquering it. That would probably last longer and look nicer. Glam up the trailer.

 

Here just showing the back corner of the trailer. More fun stuff to sand down and repaint this spring. Yippee...

 The tires. THESE need something done with them. That's a car tire. With very little tread left. NOT what we're going to be traveling with. Instead, we're going to repaint the rims a nice gloss black and have new proper ST tires put on (ST stands for "Special Trailer", which when you're purchasing tires is how you know they were specially designed for trailers). Because of the similarity in pricing, we're figuring we'll go with 15" D-Range tires, which is the maximum you can use on this trailer. It means we can haul just over 9000 lbs, but really, the axles and flooring would probably go first. Oh, and the truck can't haul 9000 lbs. : P  Also going to keep the original hub caps, since they're all there and are cute.

 Another interior shot. The gate. Again, some paint needed, but overall, pretty good shape for the year. It comes in and out with some pins at the front and back, but I'm going to pull them out and give them a good sanding and shot of lube before replacing them. You never know when something might happen and you'll need that gate out ASAP.

Last picture. This is the back half of the trailer and you can see my cute new trailer ties. In blue. : ) All my gear is blue. It's all about matching, right folks??

So finally, color choices. The exterior is staying the same, but I can't choose between the following interior colors (exterior color is the background color).

Anyone have a favorite? Remember, it needs to be bright enough to not scare the horses and not so bright as to scare the horses. Oh, and the walls will have poop on them at times. Find something that goes well with poop. ; )