DONE!
Okay, not 100%, there are three very minor details that need to be finished, but for all intents and purposes, Bubbles is finally finished!
The issue that I struggled with the most was installing the dual-locking-bar rear hatch closure. I knew this would be difficult, but in retrospect, if I had known HOW difficult I think I would have suggested something different. Everything about this was hard.
What I learned was this: A dual locking bar system is great, but it has to be more or less designed when the trailer is built. Trying to 'add on' the locking bars required multiple levels of fiddling around, trial and error, and to be honest I'm not 100% thrilled with the results. But it works and it's done.
One of the difficulties we ran into was that the center latch mechanism and the two supporting braces were substantial, heavy pieces of metal. I didn't know if the thin wood of our hatch (about 3/8" plywood) would support such heavy pieces of steel. So, I came up with the idea of simply using a thicker piece of plywood on the other side and bolting (not screwing) the pieces from the back. I would have just put in rectangular blocks, but Liz came up with the idea of "mini-teardrops." Since I now have a band saw (a $20 garage sale find that Liz picked up a few weeks ago!) cutting the teardrops out was easy, and then sanding them smooth was accomplished with a bench sander.
In this picture the center reinforcing "teardrop" and the left one have been put on, the right side has not been installed yet:
The reason I haven't installed the right side is because I had to make sure the bars were lined up and functioning before I could position them.
Getting the bars in was easy. Figuring a way to "lock in" to the side of the trailer itself was not! Furthermore, I had drilled over-sized holes in the 'ribs' of the hatch which were ugly, and I needed to cover them up. At first I thought I'd have to have some thin sheet metal fabricated, but then I found these at Home Depot:
Those are steel "straps" used in home construction to 'tie' two pieces of lumber together. The large hole in the center is the perfect size for the locking rod to go through. But the best thing about these is that while they're made of metal, they can be cut with shears. These are what I made with them:
...and I installed them at every place where the rod passed through wood. Not only does it "guide" the rod, it also "dresses up" (i.e., conceals!) the oversized/ugly holes I had to drill to get the rods through in the first place!
I put similar pieces in on the side of the trailer where the hatch closes, and the locking rod slides into the metal ring, making for a very solid lock up! But it was a sonofabitch to finish!
After we had the locking rod and the three little teardrops installed, we put in the last "drip rail" where the builder had put in an ugly metal drip rail and where my removal of that ugly metal rail had left some damaged wood. We installed the same "leaf pattern" wood trim, painted, polyurethaned and then sealed with silicone. Here is the final result of what the rear hatch looks like:
Next we had to move the fenders. You may not be able to tell from the other pictures I posted, but after we installed the fenders for our 06/07 camping trip, we realized they were too high and too far forward. So we had to move them back and down for a better, closer fit. How close? Well, close enough that I actually had to remove the wheel in order to screw in the fenders!
The result is much more aesthetically pleasing:
Having the wheels off gave me a chance to test out the spare. It fit just fine. Considering the cost, it was an awesome find. $25 on Craigslist, and if the tire looks brand new, that's because it is.
OK, so the white spoke doesn't fit with the rest of the "theme", but hey, it's a spare! And at the present time, it doesn't even ride on the trailer, it rides in the roof rack of my tow vehicle!
I also ordered a fantastic set of taillights from eBay. They are LED lights and because of that, they are "surface mount" (meaning I didn't have to cut a hole to accomodate the 'bucket' that lights often have.) They are extremely bright and even pulse when the brake lights go on. I installed them onto the fenders, and the only thing I have left to do is wiring them up (but I have tested them out, so I know they work with our wiring.) HMMM...I just realized I didn't take any photos of the taillights, but you can see them in the above picture. I'll put better ones up later.
In the meantime, while I was working on that, Liz was working on some of the other decorations. She wanted to hide the tongue of the trailer when we were parked and got an idea to make a "picket fence." She did this all herself, with no help from me: She picked out the boards, cut the pickts on my table saw, and put the whole thing together. Then she painted it and started going crazy with the stencils!
Finally, she added license plates from states we had taken Bubbles into or through. She tried to find 1961/1962 plates when she could, since those are the years we were born. Nice thing about this is that it folds completely flat for travel and will make a nice addition to our campsites.
Here's Shaila posing in front of Bubbles. Notice also the green indoor/outdoor carpet, which will fold up and stow neatly in the tongue box, so we can have a little "lawn" when we camp!
So, for the most part, she's done. A little work this week and then Friday we take off for Glacier and Yellowstone!
Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions/guidance/encouragement along the way! We hope to see you all on the road!
