The Trailer is almost finished... and her name is Molly

Yes, Molly is nearly complete. She is mostly water tight and roadworthy. We've hauled her over 1000 miles over the previous 2 weekends without a single problem... whew! The next phase to to finish the interior.

Perhaps I'll make it a project for this winter to actually write about the rebuild. For now, I have recompiled all of my previous photos into a new google / picasa web album and added the good new photos through last weekend. Enjoy!

https://plus.google.com/photos/102819596034614513648/albums/5785924698439768145?authkey=CPbGyqGRp4f-lAE

Wow... So it's been since September 2009 when I started this blog and made the first and only entry. I can certainly say quite a lot has changed with that little trailer in the last 2-1/2 years. Most of it not good. I will re-start this blog where I left off and we'll quickly move on to the current state things. 


Getting it home could have been easier. The people we bought Charlene (I'm testing the name) from recommeded that we replace the tires before we haul it from Pacific City (on the Oregon Coast) back to Portland. I wasn't prepared to spend money in new tires, so I had to track down some used ones. I don't have much experience with the used tire market, but it turns out it's not as simple as heading down to your local tire center and picking out a set. And for trailer tires? As someone new to the whole trailer  thing, it was a bit more difficult. What? You can't just use passenger car radials? Bias ply? What century are we in? I called around to about 10 shops and finally found some. The right size. The right rating. Cool. Now I can go get her.


The trailer was easy enough to hitch up. It was more of a challenge to get the lights hooked up and working correctly. To be honest, I didn't know the difference between a four pin and a seven pin connector. This trailer , if i remember correctly, had a round 4 pin and it didn't match my simple u-haul trailer light connector. OK, whatever. I can deal with it. About an hour and half later, I have the lights hooked up and "working". If I had the turn signal on, the brake lights didn't work. Heck, if I hit the breaks, only one light was really visible. Throwing caution to the wind, I said screw it and, for the first time in many years, set off to drive down the highway a with a trailer in tow. Heck, if I get pulled over, it'll probably be because the tabs are expired, not the lights.


The coastal range pass was fun. My little V6 Toyota seemed to get along just fine with the extra weight, but I was pay more attention to the fact that I really could see behind me. The trailer is wider than my truck, and I hadn't brought along mirror extensions - like I owned any in the first place. And how wide is this thing? How do you keep it between the lines. It seems like I had 6" on either side if I was between the paint stripes and this curvy mountain road was not ideal. In reality, of course, the trailer isn't that wide and I had plenty of space, but it was all new to me and I was nervous about the lights, the tabs, and all that goes with towing an unfamiliar 45 year old box on wheels. There was also this new sensation of the weight pushing the truck along that was a little disturbing. Any little roll in the road seemed to cause the trailer to want to drive the truck instead of the other way around. And down the hill form the pass - the truck overall seemed to handle it quite fine. Turn off the overdrive and I didn't need to brake too much. But when I did brake, I had to plan a little earlier and press a little harder. In the end, of course, I made it home. All that was left was backing the trailer into the drive way...


That was the first impressions driving it home. Since then, for the past 2 and a half years, it's pretty much sat in the driveway. It turns out that cute little trailer had a few secrets that she was hiding under the stained painted walls and spongey floor. I should had seen the signs. There were plenty of little hurdles just to get it on the road. What was I thinking. I was was obsessed with the notion of this cute little trailer parked beside a babbling brook, reading a book and cooking on an open fire. Ahh... no more sleeping on the ground. And it was cute as shit!