The AC Install is Complete

The air conditioner has been successfully mounted to a drawer slide. The slide I used is rated for 100 lbs. so it easily supports the entire weight of the AC. So I was able to remove the tacky little shelf that I had on the back of the trailer. I tried to take pictures of how it operates but I think you have to watch the video to really understand it.

The Door Has a Handle

My sister and I got the door handle on without any problems. We made a small mock door and installed it in there first to make sure we understood how it worked. The handle is a storm door handle with a deadbolt lock. I know it looks really modern in comparision to my jalousie window but my choices on what to use were very limited.

Jalousie Window

Jalousie windows were popular on travel trailers in the 1950s and 60s. As soon as I decided to build my own trailer, I knew that I wanted to use this type of window. I felt like it would give my trailer the retro look that I'm shooting for. Back in January, when my sister and I went to the junk yard, I was hoping to find some of these windows. There was only one in the entire junk yard. It was in the door of this old delivery truck.

We fought for 2 and a half hours in the blazing sun with no water to get the window out of that door. I really wanted to give up but my sister insisted that we keep working until we got it out. I'm really glad she made me stick it out because now I have a great since of satisfaction seeing it in the door of my trailer.

Knock, Knock

After 3 weeks of working on it, the door is finally on. I had been putting off building the door because I made a big mess cutting out the doorway. It was really hard to control the saw holding it vertically. So the doorway ended up being very crooked and uneven. I wasn't sure how on earth I would get a door to fit. I bought a sheet of 1/8 inch door skin, clamped it over the doorway, and traced around it from the inside of the trailer. After about 3 hours of shaving off tiny slivers, the piece finally fit inside. Then I put the piece onto a sheet of 3/8 inch plywood and cut it out. It fit pretty good but then I had to frame the door with 1 X 3s. That seemed to throw everything off and there were many more hours of shaving tiny slivers. Once I got it to fit with the framing on it, I filled in the middle with sheets of styrofoam and glued the door skin to the side that faces inside the trailer. All along, I knew that the piece of plywood was bowed out but I thought that the framing pieces would straighten it out but it didn't. So I clamed the top half of the door to a dog crate (just what was available) and let the bottom half hang over unsupported. Then I put a lot of weight on the bottom corner of the door and left it there for 2 days. It's not completly straighten out but I felt like was close enough to go ahead and attach the door.