Bilbo's Big Reno!

[KelseyL]

Hello!
So this is not a build post as we bought our trailer (it was a home build), but we're in the process of gutting it and redoing the inside so it's more of a reno post. Hope that's okay!

We bought our trailer, which we've named Bilbo, in October. I made a post about it back then in the Intro forums. The layout was weird and not very functional for us so we had always planned to update that. We did get it out once last fall but since then it's been sitting in our yard waiting for spring. Yesterday I finally got the motivation to get started on the project. I went out and demo'd the awkward and kinda useless indoor kitchen area.

Here's some pictures of it before:

Exterior


Inside the door


Behind the left bench toward the back of the trailer, they had a little fridge and sink, however it wasn't accessible and behind the fridge at the very end, it was just empty. We don't want a fridge or sink and it just was really poor use of space.

So yesterday this happened!


I pulled out the fridge and the sink and then took out all the cabinets back there.


It looks so much bigger without all of that gone!


This trailer isn't set up for a back galley hatch. We have a table that attaches to the side of the trailer that holds our stove and has a propane connection right there, so we have more of a side galley.


The plan is to make a baggage door on the side in the back there and put our camp stove and side table on a drawer roller so we can go outside, open the hatch, pull out and set up the table and stove, and we're cooking!

There's where the stove will go, then we'll put a wall up between the stove storage area and the rest of the trailer, and then put a full width bed up against that wall. Up next is more demo then adding a baggage door and patching the vents that were behind where the fridge was.

Here's hoping we can get our hatches watertight!

[featherliteCT1]

Nice rig. Do you know how old the tires are? There should be a date code on the sidewall.

[KelseyL]

Nice rig. Do you know how old the tires are? There should be a date code on the sidewall.

Thanks! I had a look but I didn’t see a date on the tires. Why do you ask?

[KelseyL]

I wanted to make a list of all our plans for the trailer and have it all in one place. I keep thinking of things or making notes but they’re all over the place. So this can be my “Trailer Reno Plan” list.

- Full size bed - foot of bed moves into bench
- Bed lift for storage under the bed

- LED wall sconce reading lights on both sides
- Book/Phone pocked on each bedside wall
- USB Charger plug and 110v plug on each bedside wall

- LED Strip lighting along the inside wall edges
- Fantastic Fan (done!)
- Replace current interior roof light

- Take out current furnace and bench it’s stored in (done!)
- Take out all current electrical and wiring (done!)
- Move electrical panel to foot of bed/bench (done!)
- Add 110v and 12v plug next to electrical panel
- Rewire all electrical (done!)
- Assess condition of current 7-wire plug (done!)
- If there’s not yet a car charging circuit, add one
- Run wiring for breaks

- Potentially upgrade taillights (done!)

- Take out water tank (done!)
- Clean out bench where water tank was, make plan for storage bins or something there (done!)
- Make foot of bed/bench slide out
- Make new folding table

- Patch old vent openings on back of trailer (done!)
- Add baggage hatch door there for storage (decided against)
- Add baggage door on door side to access stove and outdoor table

- Make foot of bed/bench slide out

That’s everything I can think of right now but I may add things as they come up. Today is another demo day and hopefully we can pull out everything that’s coming out!

*Edited June 6*
We thought of more things to add to our list

- Add storage for a spare tire, probably under the tongue box
- Add leveling jacks
- Look into undercoating

*Edited July 29*
- Adjust sheets and mattress protector to fit reduced mattress
- Paint interior
- Fix roof crack

[TimC]

That is a really cool project. Keep us posted on you progress.

+1 On featherlites tire concern. If the tires are over ten years old, no matter the tread left, replace them. I do that at six years when they still have some value as a utility trailer tire for someone who runs them until they fall apart (yeah, lots of those folks around).

Date code on tires started many years ago so if you can't find a code molded into the side wall they are probably the old code which started in 1971. The new code (since 2000) is a four digit number in a oval shaped space near the rim of the wheel. It may be on the inside or outside as mounted so you may want to remove the wheel to find it. A code of 2312 would mean the tire was made in the 23rd week of 2012.

[KelseyL]

Day 2 of Demo!

We took out everything that's going yesterday!

We started the day with this:


And ended up with this:


It was a successful day over all. We took out the furnace, waterpump, water tank, and electrical panel and their storage bench.

That's all gone.

We also went out and got a fantastic fan, everything we need to do the wiring, and new tail lights and fittings for them. The tail lights are an issue we've been trying to make a plan for.



They work but they've seen better days. We went to take one out and have a look and it turns out the get them to sit vertically against the slanted trailer, they were just built up with some kind of putty that was then painted to match the trailer.



We're making a plan of how to replace them but I think it will change as we go. We got some 4" tail lights at Princess Auto and found some 4" rubber grommets that are enclosed on the back, so they're kind of a rubber cup that the light sits in. The holes aren't big enough to fit those, but we can cut them bigger to fit. That would probably be best anyway as then we can cut away anything that's deteriorated or damaged.

And finally, we got the electrical panel moved to the back bench! I didn't get a picture of it installed, I'll grab one today, but I got some hard-at-work photos of the process.



As of tomorrow, my husband is working 12 hour shifts for 12 days, so anything requiring his expertise will have to wait, but I'm hoping to paint the inside and get some parts ordered. I'll see if there's other tasks I can figure out on my own while he's at work. We're going camping for Father's Day and we're hoping to at least be able to take it out with an air mattress in it, but if not we'll just continue tenting for the time being.

[KelseyL]

That is a really cool project. Keep us posted on you progress.

+1 On featherlites tire concern. If the tires are over ten years old, no matter the tread left, replace them. I do that at six years when they still have some value as a utility trailer tire for someone who runs them until they fall apart (yeah, lots of those folks around).

Date code on tires started many years ago so if you can't find a code molded into the side wall they are probably the old code which started in 1971. The new code (since 2000) is a four digit number in a oval shaped space near the rim of the wheel. It may be on the inside or outside as mounted so you may want to remove the wheel to find it. A code of 2312 would mean the tire was made in the 23rd week of 2012.

I looked again for a date code but didn't find one on the main tires (maybe their on the other side), but I think the spare is from 2011. We bought it from my uncle so I'll ask him if he replaced them at any point when he owned it. If they're from before he owned it, we'll replace them for sure. Thanks for the concern and the explanation on how to find them and what to look for.

[KelseyL]

We managed to get some more work done on the trailer reno!

We hadn’t planned on redoing the wiring, however when we tried to install the new taillights we realized the current wiring was a bit of a mess. We tried to work out what was going on but there were so many splices and different colours spliced together and a lot of it ran through the frame so we couldn’t track it, so in the end we decided to completely re-wire everything. We brought it all to a junction box in the tongue box. I’m glad we did because now we both know how everything works and have everything colour-coded and labeled.



We also put in new taillights. The old ones worked but when we replaced them they stopped working. We think it was an issue going to ground. But once we re-did all the wiring they were back online!



In the process we also realized our 7-wire plug wasn’t wired according to standard so we re-wired the plug to match the factory ones at Princess Auto. We currently only have a 4-wire plug in our car but we’re planning on swapping it out for 7 so we know it’ll work.



When we removed all the appliances inside (fridge, sink, furnace, water pump, etc) we were left with a lot holes in the back of the trailer that needed to be patched. I got some good advice from the folks here and it ended up working out really well!

We made wooden patches that fit the holes tight and were slightly inset. Then we glued the patches into the holes with PL Premium. Once that was set we painted the wood with a good quality exterior paint that we had that was actually a pretty close colour. Then we caulked around the patches inside and out to keep them watertight. The inset helped with this as we could be quite liberal with the sealant without having a ridge of sealant higher than the trailer wall. The final step is to cover that section of the trailer with aluminum to keep everything sealed and make it look nicer. We’re saving re-doing the exterior until the very end though so the patches will be here for a bit yet.







We were in a rush to finish these projects as we wanted to get it campable for Father’s Day Weekend. In the end it all came together in time and we were able to hit the road! We bought a 9” foam double mattress and it fits in perfectly. We threw that on the ground and off we went!





This isn’t the final stage of the renovation but we took it out twice in this state and it was great! This weekend we’re working on stage 3!