Cargo trailer/Camping trailer

When we left California in 2017, one of the first things we did was to by a 16ft, v-nose cargo trailer. It's first purpose was to haul things from California, to South Dakota. Later, we decided to turn it into a combination cargo trailer/camping trailer. The idea was to be able to set it up to camp in, but be able to take things out when we wanted to haul cargo in it. It has seen a LOT of use for both purposes, and now we're starting to make it even better in the camping department. 

It didn't take long to realize the trailer was a bit under built for hauling, and that it sat too low. First, I took it to a good RV shop, replaced the 3,500 lb axles and springs, and 15 inch 6 lug wheels, with 7,000 lb axles, 5,000lb springs, and 16 inch 8 lug wheels, and put 14 ply tires on those. Then they installed a spring bar hitch. After that, I removed the 1/4 inch interior paneling and insulated the walls and ceiling with 1 inch ridged foam.  Then I installed another layer of 3/4 inch plywood flooring over the existing 3/4 inch plywood flooring, put the 1/4 inch paneling back on the walls, installed 1/4 inch paneling on the ceiling, then installed a layer of 3/4 inch plywood over the 1/4 inch plywood on the walls. I then took it back to the RV place, and they wired it for 30 amps of shore power, installed a 3 speed fantastic fan in the ceiling, a roof mount air conditioner, windows on each side wall, installed a window in the door, and installed a roof mount air conditioner. 

After all that was done, I built a bed frame, installed vertical E-tracks in the back, got clips to hole 2x4s, installed 3 of those with a half platform, and built a clothes rack over the open slot. I made some other shelves, and put a full width shelf across the v-nose. 

Last year we spent 4 weeks in the rig traveling, and decided on some mor storage type improvements.  The last couple days I installed a couple overhead cabinets, and a narrow 3 drawer dresser, and I'm looking for a 3 drawer night stand of the right size to go next to the door. We had a retractable screen door in there, but it was kind of flimsy, and last year our dog went through it because he couldn't see the screen, so today we bought a residential screen door, and I'll install it tomorrow. I also built, and installed, a new shelf/spice rack in the front V. When I'm done we'll have a ton more storage, and be much more comfortable. We have a lot more planned for the trailer, but these improvements will make our 2 week camping trip at the end of this month much more enjoyable. 

I'll put up more pictures when we get it loaded and ready to roll. 

 And the business continues

If you're going to garden, springtime is a lot of work. If you're planning to garden long term, it's even more work. And, if you're going to garden long term, and you're starting off with a place that hasn't been taken care of in years, all that work increases exponentially. Thankfully, this winter I bought a tractor, and that has come in very handy, and this week I sprung for a 4 stroke mini tiller. With that I can do a lot of work, but I can get it into much smaller spaces that I can with a full size tiller. Right now I'm concentrating on weed removal/control, and that small tiller is getting in a lot of digging time. Yeah, it's a lot of sweat equity now, but it'll pay big dividends later. The ultimate goal is to create and awesome gardening/landscaping space, but make it as low maintenance as possible. That will take time, but small steps daily equate to long stride in the end.

 

It's been another busy week

I have been working in the dispatch center 3 days a week this month, and then I come home and try and catch up on the project time I missed while I was gone. That's rough on an old fat guy like me, but since the project elves aren't going to show up anytime soon, I suppose I just have to keep plugging along. I don't know, but this all seemed a lot easier 30 years ago. 

My number 1 project yesterday was to replace a fruit tree that was dying. I've said before this place had not been taken care up properly for a good number of years, and there was a small fruit tree, of unknown type, that just wasn't coming around, so we decided to replace it. Mrs. Goodwrench said she wanted a nectarine tree there, so I located what might have been the last one left locally, and picked it up yesterday morning. I brought it home, and me and a shovel had a date with the old and new trees, and now Mrs. Goodwrench has her nectarine tree. Of course I had to put some protection around it to keep the two Bambis from next door from eating it, so after it was in the ground I grabbed the remaining fencing scrap and wrapped the tree. It'll work for now, and maybe someday we'll be picking nectarines from it.

We have one peach tree out there. Last year it was half a step away from ceasing to exist, but we tried to make it happy this spring, and it worked. If you zoom in a bit you can see that it's got a bunch of fruit on it. Hopefully they all mature and we can have a few to munch on later. 

And, in the dog world, the new puppy is getting along great with the old dog, and they have already become good buddies. I'm sure hoping old dog can help me train new dog.

 A new family member

This morning, after my wife's doctor appointment, we headed east a bit to pick up our newest family member. We've been talking about getting current dog's replacement for awhile, but when Silas suffered his spinal injury in December, it kind of put that more at the forefront. Si has been the best dog ever, but with his injury he's never have the full use of his back right leg again. As a hunting dog that will slow him down tremendously, and I will never be able to send him out into a river to retrieve a bird because of his limited swimming capabilities. Since I have no plans on quitting duck hunting, it necessitates a change, and that means a new pup. I'd love to get one fully trained, but that is cost prohibitive, so here we go. Our lab Si, is named after Uncle Si from Duck Dynasty. We have decided to name the new pup Jep. In the real world, Jep is Uncle Si's nephew, so now our Si can really be Uncle Si. Here's to puppy days!

 A long Week

Not much activity here from me this week due to the fact I was down south working fires in dispatch for 4 days. 14 hours a day having fun without the sun. The three new dispatchers did a good job, and being this early in the year the fires weren't going to go big, so these were actually good training fires for them. I like making the extra money, but dang, at age 67 this is getting tougher and tougher every year. After coming home for a short break last night, I'll be headed back down later today as I'm working again S/M/T for the rest of May. I will say it was nice to be greeted by blooming flowers this morning, and that made me smile.