It's been a productive winter! For those of you who care to remember, there were a few things that were driving me nuts about this beast, which I mentioned in my last post.
Well, happy to say, I've fixed them all! All 3, what an over-achiever! And I couldn't be happier with the results.
First item on the list was a tarp system. Easy-peasy. Anchor on the front, a decent tarp, and a little ingenuity, and we have a simple, easy-to-pitch canopy setup. There's a clever little bar that holds the tarp tight to the hinge, which means there's not much sag when you open and close the hatch.
No photos, forgot to take any. Too lazy to set it all up again. You'll have to take my word for it. I'll set it up on the lawn sometime to give the neighbours something to talk about.
Next up -- those damn doors! They leaked in heavy rain, and the hinges sagged when I put them on, which meant the latches dragged and the bottoms of the doors scraped a little on the frames.
Two changes here -- first, I switched to round-top screws on the hinges, which provide a little more room for adjustment than the stock flat-top. Careful to use the same gauge thread, and a little longer, so as not to bung up the existing holes. I was able to twist the doors up a little and get rid of that damn metal-on-metal drag:
Yup, those are hinges and screws all right. But the little adjustment I was able to perform -- literally millimetres -- means the doors now open and shut like a dream. Smooth and easy, no scraping. Brilliant.
Next, an inner door frame, which provides an extra seal lip and also covers the last unfinished part of the trailer. They came out looking quite nice:
Attractive and functional, carnival red to boot! Looks and feels so much more finished on the inside now. Here's the double seal that water will have to get through before it will dampen our enthusiasm:
Haven't tried it yet in the rain, but I'm sure it'll help! It makes good contact with the inner door. I think this extra layer will help a lot.
Last item -- the hand pump. That hunk of junk is gone for good. Worked for all of about 3 days, and I couldn't find another decent model. Here's our new tap and the switch for the new 12V electric pump:
And the pump itself, nestled neatly under the sink with the other detritus:
It was an awkward but fairly simple gig to fit it all together. It's fairly noisy because it's basically screwed to a giant drum. I have urges to fix that problem, but I think I'll see how irritating it is in the wild first, then rank its importance on the long to-do list of my life. But water comes out of that tap now, which is much better than before!
Come on summer! I plan to spend it shaded under a tarp drinking warm beer and eating cold food. Or ... however it turns out will be fine.
Next up -- glamour photos of the finished product! Sometime.
Happy Spring!
