Preparing the trailer and laying the foundation for the Vardo.

A couple of issues had to be addressed before any real construction could begin.  Unfortunately, a day job and early sunsets dictate my work hours so I only have a short time each night to get something done throughout the week.  Here’s the summary:

The fresh slate, as delivered from the factory.

The trailer arrived at about 990 pounds.  I liked the floor but the extra weight was not desirable.  I was going to need to lift the old ledge body about 1 1/2″ anyway (to get the current ledges over the welded rails) so I decided to replace the original floor with a wooden frame to provide the proper height.  Does anybody want to buy some 2 x 8s for cheap?

Unnecessary floorboards removed.

A half hour of work, after locating the proper T40 screw driver head for the drill, and the boards were free.  Removing the floor boards from the flatbed relieved us of 209 unnecessary pounds, bringing the trailer down to about 780 pounds.  That weight-savings can be better used elsewhere and we already have a plan for it.

Test fitting the treated lumber under-framing to build upon.

I’m not a fan of the chemicals in treated lumber but I bow to it’s remarkable ability to survive some pretty harsh treatment.  My desired dimensions overhang this trailer by a couple of inches and this was a pretty good way to support that plan without compromising any length.  Every inch counts, right?  Before you ask, the asymmetrical layout is due to old habits of building on standard centers (16″ in this case).  It will only really benefit the laying down of the sub-floor but it saved me some arithmetic.  It’s comforting to slip back into zen construction mind.

The coming weekend will hopefully yield some real progress as we are now coming into the difficult bit… moving the old vardo onto the new frame.

If you are looking for Part 1 of the rebuild/addition then CLICK HERE.

ON TO PART 3