Back Wall

The back wall is up. That was very quick and easy. The front and back walls are 1/2 ply up until the walls start to curve. I will need to switch to something thinner in order to bend around the curves. I think I will be using two pieces of 1/8 doors skin glued together.

Girl Power ROCKS the Powder Puff!

Craig is gone so it was time to get some girl power going on my trailer. Deanna, a teammate from my flyball team and my sister came over to help attach the walls. We used 2 car jacks to get the walls into position. Deanna and Kimberly held the walls steady on the jacks while I scewed them on. It was a seamless demonstration of team work just like when we are on the flyball lanes. Today was the most fun I have had so far working on my little trailer project.

Wall #2

The second wall is done now. The walls are 5/8 inch CDX plywood. I decided to go with the cheap stuff since I am painting everything inside anyway. This was around $15 per sheet as opposed to the nice stuff which was over $30 per sheet. The walls are 3 sections that are butt jointed together with 1X3s. The framing pieces around the perimeter are 1X2s and custom cut 5/8 ply to match up with the curves. There is a slight size difference where they meet but I feathered it down with a sander pretty easily. In order to make the walls match each other, I stood them up and clamped them together and sanded them with an angle grider. Now they are ready to attach.

I Have a Wall

I said in an earlier post that Craig would only be an advisor on my trailer project. I told him when he got here that I did not want him to help with the construction because it was important for me to be able to say that my sister and I built this trailer without any help. But as it turns out, the three of us make a great team. Kimberly and Craig built this awsome wall while I finished putting the rest of the cleat on the floor. I know that I could have done this without his help but I couldn't have done it as well and it certainly would have taken ten times longer. I didn't start this project because I wanted to build a trailer. I am doing this because I need the ability to travel with my dogs and there was nothing that I could buy that suited my needs. I won't be able to say my trailer was 100% chic built but it will be finished sooner than I thought and it's going to be very well built. Thanks for everything, Craig.

More Floor Progress

One side of the cleat is on. The cleat is a 2X2 attached with 1/4 hex bolts, locking washers and titebond glue. The bolt goes through the cleat, through the floor and through the frame. It is a super strong connection, no worries about the walls coming off.

Using the Right Tool for the Job

No luck finding self tapping screws with a Robertson head. I ended up with the same screws but a different driver bit. It's a special bit with little ridges on the tip that are supposed to hold on to the screw better. WOW, what a difference. This time the screws went right in with no problem. Ace Hardware rocks, thanks Brian!

The Floor is Attached

Putting the floor on wasn't as fun as I thought it was going to be. I was excited about using the screws that I got to attach it with. The guy at Lowe's said they were self taping and that they would counter sink on their own. Well, not exactly. They were Philip's head screws and they were a real pain to deal with, lots of chewed up bits and stripped screw heads. I will try to find some Robertson self taping screws to finish the job.

Not Exactly What I Was Hoping For

The floor still isn't attached. Believe it or not, it took almost the entire afternoon to get these 3 pieces of wood into the frame. I need to use 1/2 inch plywood for the floor to keep the over all height down. But because I am using such thin plywood, there are some places in the frame that need extra support. The piece in the back needed to be put in because I am extending the floor out further than the original floor. These pieces were 2X6s that had to be ripped down and a small notch taken out in order to fit within the frame. They are screwed in on the ends with 2 inch screws. Getting them in took much longer than I thought it would but I am very happy with the results.

Technical Advisor/Floor Started

My technical advisor has arrived all the way from Canada. Craig is an engineer. He will be an advisor only. He will not be doing any of the building on my trailer. After a 4 hour planning session, Craig left and I got started on the floor. I got the holes cut out for the wheel wells,



and I got the protective coating (roof tar) on the underside of the floor.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will get the floor attached.