Well it’s December… it’s cold and time to get to work on the Acorn…
Just like “Scrat” here the Acorn trailer is a lot of work… And replacing the floor was no easy task. The body is held up by the floor and the floor sits on the frame… All three must be strong, it’s the integrity between the floor and the body that is key to the trailer’s life expectancy. The floor completes the “egg shell” . Now that the floor is installed and glassed to the body on the top side… I need to do the same under the trailer too. Only one way I see to do this is to lift the body / floor off the frame and roll it on it’s left side to have access to the whole bottom. Without the windows and no door the body is light.. but i will need to install some braces inside to keep away any sagging . First thing to do is build a dolly that will cradle the body on it’s side. With wheels so I can roll it into the shop.
So I built this dolly… We lifted the Acorn from the frame ….rolled it over… and!! It was too tall to fit through the Shop door ! Fine… Got a piece of carpet and we slid the Acorn off the dolly and into the shop. Good thing it’s not too heavy..
And there we have it.. Looks like it fell over and died.. Nope all is good.. Easy to work on the underside now.
Got up this morning and SNOW… boy did we get the Acorn inside on the right day ! Not a lot of snow …just an inch..but makes it hard to lay on the ground and jack the body off the frame. Going to leave it in the shop for a few days to warm up and dry out .. Seems the tarp was leaking a little but no damage done..
Here’s a small video I made…
I don’t seem to have a lot of ambition around this time of year.. but the Acorn is there when I do…
It’s into February now and I’m doing my best to get this bottom all done…
Here I have all the glassing done.. It’s taken weeks and a lot of resin.. But I got R done… And then came the decision of what to cover this with… I want it black.. And i want it to further protect the underside of the floor. I thought about epoxy truck box liner.. But the price was very high.. This is more area than a truck box.. So it takes two kits.. I settled on good old enamel.. same as the frame. and it was easy and quick to roll that on.. Two coats and we are done.
Next is to attach a dolly to the underside .. and while the roof is easy to get at I want to enlarge the vent to a 14 x 14 normal vent size. And I want to glass a wood frame on the roof so the vent is raised and some stiffener added.
Here I have the dolly.. taken apart and mounted to the underside.. Mounted only through the holes for bolting the frame.. NO new holes ! When it’s time to put the body back on the frame. I just lift it and remove the four lag bolts and the wheels will fall away..