A Small (okay, LARGE) Divergence...

Most of you will hope for an assessment of our Thermal imaging event in this blog. But it isn't. Only because it's already late and I haven't begun putting too much more thought into it. Why? Because today was "Operation Pimp my Pony Trailer".

I walked into it thinking this would be straight forward. We'd haul the trailer I bought in January over to my dad's, weld on a patch for the back door that had rusted through, pull out the old wood to replace and I'd be all set to start rubbing the rust patches out with a wire brush over the week. Mid-April I'd put some coats of Rustoleum on it, and voila, refurbished pony trailer.

You remember, this one:

Well, I should've known better. My dad is Mr. Talented. My boyfriend is Mr. Perfectionist. When you make the mistake of putting the two of them together for a Celebratory Sunday Birthday where you begin operation "Pimp my Pony Trailer", you wind up with serious pimping.

....except pimping takes time and $$. And who would expect them to understand show season the way a horse-obessed girl would??

Let's start with my dad grinding the hinges off the trailer. Yup, from the back doors.

WHAT?!

Well, he was pretty convincing that I might want to have removable rear doors. You know, in case the horses load better without them. So off with the hinges I say!

We pulled out all that rotted wood in the rear doors and found some "cancer" (aka. rust roles) in the bottom of the left door. So we cut the bottom of the door off. And Dad doesn't want it looking like a half-a$$ job, and since the other door has the beginnings of rust as well, we hack that one down too.

All the wood needs to be replaced. So tomorrow, I'm off to hunt down some replacement tongue and groove solid wood to replace it with. I suggested I buy some end of stock oak flooring. The BF thinks it's a great idea. I joke I'll get some excess and line the tack area with hardwood floors.

The BF thinks it's a great idea.

See any future issues here?! I've begun on the path to serious pimping.

So we've got the doors off. We pull the old plate off, since Dad can weld the holes and I can make a new licence mount (with the light I bought) for lower on the trailer. Sweet. We pick a spot to mount the brake module later on. Sweet.

Dad asks who the idiot was that welded patches over the old open stock sides. I don't know. A chisel comes out. The patches are easily hacked off. Dad proclaims: "They were sh*tty welds anyways".

The BF says he's gonna do up some sweet opening windows to replace them. I put my head in my hands.

The crummy weld job has left a fair bit of crud and rust around them. No perforation though. The BF suggest new rock guard since the old stuff is battered. So Dad pulls the old stuff off...

And we find 4 small patches of rust perforation, since the rock guard was added by a later owner and not properly sealed. Dust got behind it, collected moisture and it rusted. BAD people! So Dad's going to weld some new patches there too. And the BF will rig them up.

Dad tells me to buy some weatherstripping for the door. Then removes the handle and the window. The BF promises to polish the window so it's clear again. And buff the stainless. Dad gives me the  handle to take to the locksmith tomorrow to have a key made.

We remove the old tow-chains. They're rusted and have been lengthened with chain too weak to hold the weight of a full trailer of horses. I'm given instructions to purchase replacements.

I need to buy a new jack plate. And I'm told they're no longer made in the size I need, so I'll bring it back to Dad's and he'll weld it up to fit.

We pull off the old canvas rock guards on the wheel wells. Those will be replaced with some checker plate as well.

We remove all the old reflectors, which will be replaced with nice metal trimmed ones.

The mats are pulled.

My dad suggests we recoat the fiberglass roof with a nice white gel coat resin. It'll stop the caulky lines that keep running down it and allow it to last longer. The BF, poking around, discovers that some of the rivets that attach the roof have let go. Dad and him stand around agreeing they need some membranous grommets under them or something.

Suddenly the decision is made that the roof will come off. I mean, it'll make it easier when I get it sandblasted.

Say what?

Yes. Tomorrow I'm off to get a quote to have the trailer sandblasted, head to toe. To something called "White Steel"? Or something.

After all that, and a long discussiong regarding the painting process (yes, rustoleum is no longer good enough), I'm on my way to getting a quote from Maaco to have the whole thing repainted as well.

And after removing the rock guard, we saw the original color. BEAUTIFUL color. An awesome blue with small bits of shimmer. Sigh.

Yup. We'll investigate putting it back to its original color. 1974 Chevy Blue.

I believe this is about the point when we called it a day. Everything that could (and in some cases, couldn't) be removed from the trailer, had been. I was given a long list, including door holders (smart, to keep the doors from swinging closed into the horses during loading), and every other part we had mentioned to pick up.

Then my mom, my wonderful mom, hands me a birthday card, lightly stuffed and a whispers "for the trailer". She knows. I know. We don't do things half-a$$ around here anymore. Happy 13th Birthday Moon, this is all you're getting, you spoiled pony!

For my birthday tomorrow, I'm visiting 2 sandblasting businesses to get quotes. I'm stopping to get a quote from Maaco for a repaint. I'm speaking to the paint company about getting the metallic Chevy blue paint. I'm going to Princess Auto and Metro trailer sales for a handful of parts. I'm stopping at the locksmith to have a key made. I'm searching out a distributer of checkplate rock guard, as well as a slide window that will fit.

I'm getting some weather stripping and new plastic to recover the bum chains.

Yup. And my trailer sits half naked and kinda sad looking on my folk's driveway. To be honest, I still haven't tried fitting my pony in it! At this point, I'll jam him in if he doesn't fit. I'm now nearly in for full restore, barring insane prices for the sandblasting and repainting. Though it very well could be finished (including my gorgeous saddle racks, and hardwood tack flooring : P) by May.

Yup, operation pimp my pony trailer is in full force. And to be honest, I'm thrilled about it. My dad and BF are stellar at refurbishing, and I know it'll be incredible when it's finished. Anyone ever see our camper rebuild!?

Anyone wanna lend a hand???!

And finally, our before (as in, the day I bought it), and Now (as in, after the special projects start...)

(Then)

(Now)

 

(Then)

(Now...Note, there aren't any DOORS!))

(Then)

 (Now)

Seriously, this is going to be an INTERESTING adventure. You know, with 4 day until our first practice show, 3 weeks out of saddle, 4 weeks to our first travel adventure and a whole lot of scouting going on tomorrow!