Saturday morning I got the wheels back on, and this was the first that I've seen how my wheels/tires fit into my wheelwells. Or more accurately, as I see now, LACK of wheelwells.



I figured I'd be sticking out about an inch, and had planned a minimal "cover" for the wheels, but I now see that I have about 3", and will make something a little more substantial. I haven't planned it out yet, but something that follows the angles and attaches to the the outside of the aluminum framing, as opposed to the wood.
Having it back on it's wheels after a month reminded me of how much easier it is to work on when it is higher, so I immediately lifted it back up onto the jacks to put the tailgate on. All I had to hold the tailgate while attaching it was a little rolling cart, so I leveled the trailer to the cart and got to work with the piano hinges. I was worried about alignment, and if either of the hinges were off a little I'd have major problems, but I managed to do it correctly, so that's good. I've gone through 3 riveters... the 3rd was a brand new replacement riveter that broke on the first rivet. So that was nice. I actually have 6 rivets left, TOTAL, and don't want to have to buy another riveter just for that.... but they won't rivet themselves, so I guess I have to.




I'm a little bummed by the back posts of the box. The tailgate looks like it wasn't made correctly, but the problem is actually that there is no top rail at the back of the box to hold the top of the two back posts inwards to correct dimension, so they tilt out slightly. I've debated cranking them inwards and adjusting the tailgate latches to hold them in place, but I'm afraid to do more damage than good. They aren't TERRIBLE right now, just annoying, and I'd hate to break things just to avoid annoying. The latches work great.
The above photo shows the raw aluminum edge, and I have plastic caps for them all for a more finished look.

And then I put weather gasket on the sides of the trailer, both to help keep water out, but also to give the posts something to compress against when latching.


I need to figure out a solution for the bottom edge of the tailgate. I'm not looking for perfect water-tightness, just to keep splashing water out. I don't know yet whether I will be doing ANY wet weather camping with this, but I want to keep road-wetness out.
Fir the first time since receiving it, I pulled the tent out of the box to fit it so I can place and mount my post mounts. I put it in and immediately realized that if I proceeded any further that the sharp corners of the trailer would instantly rips holes in the tent...


... so I stopped everything to go get some rubber furniture baby-safety corners for the 4 corners.

I'll be using these stainless steel bimini mounts, but need to erect the tent a couple times for exact placement. I will want the tent as far FORWARD as possible in order for my AC to stick in the front window, but I don't know how that will affect the back of the tent at the tailgate. I should have an answer this evening.

And as I was cleaning (I use that term loosely) and closing up, Kinney decided she is ready to go camping and jumped up in the back. LET'S GO!
