The Trailer’s Front Side & Doors Are Transformed
After the excitement of The Traveling Pheasant officially getting MD tags and the reclaimed cabinet adventure, I am back to work on sanding the exterior.
Picking up where I left off, I am now tackling the front of the trailer and the two side doors. Looking back at the photos it is hard to believe that what I did was actually an improvement – but it is, I promise!
Front & Center
The sides of the trailer are most visible from the road, and of course, while ordering, but the front area is just as integral. Eventually it will feature a counter and bar stools for fellow pheasants to gather, so it also needs to look its best.
There were a few dents and LOADS of little rusted chips near the bottom. I worked from right to left (in know that seems backwards), top to bottom and despite how she looks, “Betsy” is now smooth as velvet.
The rust caused dents were the most time consuming in this area because they were so small – some like the head of a pin – and there were so many. I hear repeatedly “you are being too particular”, “does that really matter?”, “I think it’s fine, it adds character.” I completely disagree.
It might look just fine until you go to spray primer or paint the finished topcoat and your “canvas” looks like swiss cheese. It is ugly and unprofessional. Of course, I realize that the trailer is 36 years old and she will not look brand new, but I can ensure that I do my best to make her look the best she possibly can. This horse trailer renovation is going to end in one beautiful mobile coffee bar (fingers crossed)!
I had to apply two rounds of the Bondo to fill out the dents. The inevitable frustration of it all is that you can’t tell until sanded and you give it the rub down, or even until you spray the primer and the areas that still need work start screaming for attention.
I am very happy with how it turned out, even if she does look like she has the chicken pox. I know that it’s going to look fabulous when it is finally painted!
Side Doors
I had previously begun work on the exterior of the service side door and roughly sanded the interior sides of both. Since the trailer was once used for horse, they bore the scars of equipment dings and reside from where padding was once affixed. It took much soaking with acetone to remove the goo, then loads more sanding to polish down the layers of paint.
To fix the deep scratches into the metal, I of course attempted to fill them with Bondo. It worked well for the most part, but there will be more about the doors and further work in a later post ;)
Today I tackled the driver’s side door to round out the job. The process followed much the same pattern of sanding, Bondo, then re-sanding. It feels like it’s becoming the story of my life!
On the whole, this side door was in far better condition than it’s neighbor and it is now looking even better. Stay tuned on how the doors get their finishing treatment and finally a coat of paint.
Spoiler Alert: They look awesome!
Barn Door
The same day that I had started playing around with sanding the service side door, I began work on one of the rear barn doors. I completed the sanding and patching of the outside face but had not yet completed the inside face. Completely out of the norm, I actually had extra time today and was able to finish the first round of sanding.
I will still need to revisit the area and apply Bondo to the bottom ledge that is very badly damaged by rust after I clean and treat the metal with rust inhibitor. Yet another work in progress, but still a step forward!
On to the Next
All-in-all it was a very productive day and I feel so relieved that another side of the exterior has been finished. The doors are in excellent shape to be touched up closer to paint time and I am officially ready to start work on the final side.
Check back later this week to see how I progress with back side of the trailer and the new challenges that I discover!
Riding the momentum,
Heather
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