Woody's Wagon

[glake]

I've lurked on this forum for a few years now and am always impressed with the great builds. I've toyed with the idea of building my own adventure trailer, but for one reason or another I never got around to it. Over the last few weeks the urge to build has really hit. House remodeling is done (for now), other chores are caught up, and time waits for no man!

So today I took the plunge. I've had this old boat trailer for over ten years now and it's time to put it to good use. It's been taking up space in my friend's yard so I went and picked it up and hauled it home. I then made a quick list of essential items I needed and went shopping. Tomorrow, the fun begins.

No real plan. I like to wing it. That's part of the fun for me. I've thought about building a small Jeep trailer, but I really like the idea of building a teardrop. Plus I'm getting too old and lazy to sleep in a tent!

I'm going to call it the Doghouse because it's these kinds of things that put me there with my wife, so the name seemed like a good idea.

 

[Titanpat57]

Congratulations. ..welcome...and good luck!!

 

[dakota123]

Awesome! can't wait to see the progress. I to am just starting a build. Working on all the registration BS first should be starting on it next week

 

[RagnarD]

Congrats on getting started. Don't have much to start with so it may be worth considering building from the ground up.

You will likely end up with a decent amount of time and money spent so you might as well make sure you are starting out on a good foundation.

 

[glake]

Thanks for the welcomes and the encouragement. Woke up this morning raring to go, unfortunately, it was too early to start making noise in the garage. I need to wait for the rest of the house to come alive.

The plan for today is to work on the frame. One of my goals is to not to have to order stuff on-line, so I will be using what I have and what I can get local. This will be a ground-up build, as the frame is not usable, however, I will use some of the metal. The main item is the axle. I'll be cutting and sleeving it to match the width of the Jeep. Probably a 4.5' width trailer. I've got metal and plywood left over from some other projects that I can use so that will help on cost.

 

[glake]

You never get as far as you hope, but I made pretty good progress. I stripped the boat trailer frame and got the basic frame welded up.Tomorrow I should be working on the axle and the tongue.

 

[glake]

I've made some good progress over the past week. I've completed the frame. I made a jig to build the fenders, which I temporarily sheeted with plywood to get it to the DMV for registration. I also borrowed the plate from my other trailer to get it down there. The inspector kind of frowned on that because I forgot to remove it before I pulled into the inspection area. I pulled it off and told him he never saw it.






After a 2 hour visit (with appointment) to the DMV, it was registered.


Yesterday I finished up the fenders and got the deck made and painted.

 

[KLT88YJ]

Looks great, so far! My trailer that I built, lived it's life previously as a galvanized boat trailer too!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[glake]

Haven't posted in a while, been busy building. Also took a little trip to Moab, which was awesome!

So I'm actually getting real close to the finishing stages. Since my last post, I've built the doors, framed the rest of the trailer up, skinned both the inside and the outside, and pretty much got the kitchen area done.






My inspector...

 

[canorisa]

I just love people with skills can do. I salute you for the skills you posses and for making it look good. I wish I had those type of skills my friend. I have to rely on others to do the type of work I need. Besides, I'm also handicap so I have a lot of limits to what I can and can't do. The story of my life, lol

Thanks for sharing your build.

Joel

 

[SurferJacoby]

Subscribed, that is very impressive and that's an awesome inspector

 

[fortel]

Looking good. I like the profile much better than a traditional teardrop. Good luck with the rest of the build.

 

[campfj]

sub'd

 

[glake]

Thanks for the compliments.

Yesterday I wrapped the box in canvas using the "poor-mans fiberglass" method, mixing a 1:1 ratio of Titbond II wood glue with water, rolling it on and then placing canvas drop cloths from Harbor Freight over it. It's not the best canvasing job, I know, but it'll work. I'm amazed by how strong this method actually came out. Hopefully a few coats of paint will help it look a bit better.






I've got the side doors and the rear doors to do today. Then I'll paint with a watered down exterior paint, followed by a few full-strength coats.

 

[Kingsize24]

Incredible work. Subscribed