Request for Dog Club Utility Conversion Assistance

[aedcone]

Newbie here. Our dog club has a 1995 box trailer that it inherited many years ago, manufacturer unknown. It is in dire need of refurbishing, among other things. Here’s the particulars on it:

Dimensions: Width: 70.75 inches x Length: 11 feet 9 inches x Height: 6 feet 3.75 inches

Metal ceiling supports: 24 inches on center.
Double barn doors in rear, Single door in right front side, No windows, No vents
Doors are secured using a “Stanley Safety Haspâ€

[vreihen]

A local locksmith should be able to re-key or replace the existing lock cylinders. I would probably leave the existing hasps on there for insurance while towing, not necessarily to protect the contents from theft but rather to prevent the doors from flying open if the walls flex enough to let the door escape from the factory striker plate. (My trailer dealer warned me to use the deadbolt on my trailer's side door when towing for this reason, and it is probably why most cargo and truck trailers come with cam-lock bars on the doors.)

To get the doors to open from inside. I would suggest retrofitting an RV door handle and lock onto the side door. Here is a web page showing several different styles:

http://www.rvdiscountsuppliers.com/rv-parts-hardware-entrance-door-hatch-locks.htm

If you're lucky, one of those handles will bolt right in as a replacement for the existing handles. Shop the price, because I only linked to this particular web site because they showed the various options on one page.

There are plenty of pictures here of people installing pink or blue foam insulation sheets from the DIY home improvement stores. I will let someone else address vapor barriers and problems with condensation on interior wall screws if you decide to cover the insulation.

My suggestion from working with two different volunteer clubs and their equipment trailers is to get your core members together at someone's house on a weekend and pretend that you're setting up for an event. Once everything is set up, tear it down and pack up. As a group, figure out how to best make the trailer functional for both hauling equipment and as a mobile office at your events. The only design constraint is to make sure that you have about 10% of the trailer's total weight on the tongue when loaded, or else it will sway all over the road.

I have no idea what is involved with your events, but running autocross events in parking lots and airports requires us to transport 200+ traffic cones. We need to run a registration table in the morning, and then timing/scoring during the driving event. Our recent useful lifetime out of a 10' x 10' EZ-Up canopy is two events due to wind damage, and trying to operate computers in the rain or bright sun without a tent is really a challenge. One of the two clubs that I'm active in purchased a concession trailer with a flip-up side window, which allows us to run registration and timing/scoring from inside. The other club is already on their second EZ-Up of 2011, and is looking into a concession trailer or possibly a concession truck with air conditioning.

If you take a look at the photo galleries and postings of some participants here, you will come up with some great ideas for optimizing your trailer. In the past month or so, someone posted pictures hanging Suncast plastic garage cabinets in their trailer for storage. I am already sizing up the entire Suncast collection for my own race car hauler, since they probably weigh less than custom metal trailer cabinets and cost 1/4 the price. I saw someone a few days ago posted a picture of an over-the-door canvas shoe holder being used inside a trailer to hold loose cans and things, which I thought was another brilliant idea. I don't think that anyone here is a professional trailer builder, so everything including installing doors and windows that you see being done has been performed DIY by people who have never done it before. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.....

[vreihen]

One thing that I did notice in this picture:



The lock cylinder (on the left of the mechanism) looks identical to the one in my office desk at work. You may be able to replace the locks for under five bucks if you decide to keep those handles, since they appear to be common items used to lock toolboxes, desk drawers, cabinets, etc.....

[aedcone]

[quote="vreihen"]
The lock cylinder (on the left of the mechanism) looks identical to the one in my office desk at work.quote]

Thanks... Next question, if we are successful in reconfiguring the trailer for one of our members to sleep in at night, how would they be able to secure the trailer for personal safety?

[vreihen]

Thanks... Next question, if we are successful in reconfiguring the trailer for one of our members to sleep in at night, how would they be able to secure the trailer for personal safety?

Is your concern that they be able to lock themselves in at night, or not get locked in by someone playing a practical joke? RV door handles open from both the inside and outside, and some include deadbolts and locks. The link that I posted above contains several different types, and you might get lucky and find one that's a direct replacement for what's there.

The existing lock that I linked to the picture above looks like it can be opened from the inside by pulling the linkage bars up and down, or else sliding the slider plate to the left towards the lock cylinder. Not an elegant solution in an emergency, but the parts are already there if money is a concern and you can't get an RV lock that fits without major surgery. Your trailer actually has a nicer locking system than most cargo trailers, which come with external cam-lock bars to hold the doors closed.

Here is a link to a recent post about preventing intentional lock-ins, which also shows both sides of an RV door handle lock:

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=43452

One thing that I noticed was absent in your pictures is a fire extinguisher mounted to the wall and ready for use. This and a smoke/CO detector are minimum requirements if someone is going to be sleeping inside, and should be in your event equipment anyway if you don't have one yet. Without a vent or window, the inside of your trailer is probably going to be dark enough to develop film during the day. There are posts in this forum detailing how to install RV windows, which I would recommend to let some light in during the day and air in whenever someone is sleeping inside. There are several RV surplus places on eBay that sell windows, with a caution that they are held in place by the inside trim ring which is sometimes not included and needs to be sized for the existing wall thickness to hold the window in place firmly.....

[aedcone]

vreihen, sorry I didn't see your first reply come through. Thanks for the link to the door locks. I just checked the locks on the trailer. Unfortunately, the locks are not your typical door locks i.e., with a cylinder and strike plate, as the door is actually trimmed all around with metal.

What we might have to do to secure the door for inside security would be to use standard "hook and eye" hardware, if we can make space available for sleeping. Also, we have access to electric hookups, i.e., run a heavy duty electric cord. We have events in June and in the Fall. One member does have an oil filled heater, so that might be a choice if it becomes necessary to heat the trailer when used as a sleeping quarters. I did see that someone has used this type of heater on this list.

We are very fortunate that where we hold our events at the Westfield Fairgrounds in Westfield, Massachusetts, they have a small building (3 or 4 people max) to take our entries and do some paperwork, but we'd like to build a drop down table so that when we remove the ring gates and tables, workers can organize the ribbons, awards in the buidling w/o having to drag everything out.

The canopies are not E-Z Ups. We have King Canopies http://www.kingcanopy.com/pc_product_detail.asp?key=46953A95AABE4785A0E63928C89B71C3. They are used to shade the judge's tables, paperwork, and exhibitor. They are 20 x 10.

One thing we need to figure out is where/how rain is coming into the trailer, even after patching the cracks on the outer surface. Not sure what kind of sealant to use, any suggestions would be welcomed.

[aedcone]

Our posts crossed... Thanks for your most recent post... Never even thought about a fire extinguished... either if someone isn't or is sleeping in the trailer... I will add that to our checklist...

[vreihen]

A simple drop-down table can probably be put together pretty easily. If all you're holding up is ribbons, you don't exactly need uber-expensive piano hinges. Depending on the available space, I wonder if the table could be constructed in such a way as to also be a bed platform at night?

As long as you are not running an air conditioner or electric heater, this will let you install an electrical outlet and a light or two inside if you have someone who knows how to do electrical wiring:

http://www.marinco.com/product/15a-125v-board-charger-inlet-black

The problem that we have with canopies is that we are always working on pavement and can't use tent anchors. There's only so much that you can do with weights on each corner, and 100 square feet of canvas (10' x 10' canopy on end) is enough to propel a small sailboat. One good gust of wind and an EZ-Up type canopy turns into scrap aluminum.

I can't help you with advice on how to seal for leaks, since I have not had to deal with that problem myself yet. From what I've read here, it seems that most campers and RV's are constructed cheaper than cargo trailers, and they require frequent sealing to plug leaks. You may wind up having to gut the interior to seal things up, which may be a good thing if you're planning to re-design the layout and have the volunteer manpower and tools to build it better. If not, it might be worth a trip to a local RV or trailer dealer to see if they can give you a ballpark quote for sealing up the leaks and maybe making some modifications.....

[aedcone]

Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same as you... making the table so that it could possible double as a platform for sleeping. I've seen some posts on the list about using foam mattresses, but I personally wouldn't want to deal with carting something like that around, so I would think that one of those blow up air mattresses would do the trick. I've used them even here at the house when we've had a mama dog whelp a litter of pups and I needed to be close by to keep an eye on her to make sure things were ok. Probably could put legs under it that could be tucked under it for storage, thus making it a little more sturdier/stable to sleep on.

Thanks also for the link to the outlet.