Shiny, Happy Frame

After getting the trailer back from the welder last week, I've spent my time cutting the plywood and treating it. As you can tell, there is nothing left of the curve on either side, which is why it was critical that I create the template before removing the old subfloor from the trailer.



On the bottom, I used two coats of Thompson's water seal. Hopefully that will help keep out the water from below at least a little bit. For the edges, I sealed with Minwax wood hardener. It is a solvent-based sealer that is designed to penetrate the wood and leave resins embedded in the substrate as the solvents evaporate. It did make the edges of the plywood very hard and sealed them up pretty well.


So far, I haven't used anything to prep the top of the plywood subfloor. I know that during their restorations, some people have prepped with several coats of polyurethane, some people have used Thompson's or Olympic water seal for the top as well, and some people use nothing at all. Since I plan to put glue-down vinyl tiles over the top, I'm concerned that any choice of top-coating might interfere with the tile adhesive's ability to bond the tiles to the floor. I'm open to suggestions from anyone with ideas, or experience, along these lines. Thanks in advance! :)

Next I prepped the frame with wire wheels on my drill and wire brushes to get into nooks and crannies. I knocked off all the loose rust I could find, and then treated the bumper and frame with Marine Clean, treated the new steel with Metal Ready, and finally painted the bumper and frame with two coats of POR15.




Next steps include top-coating the bumper and other external parts with Stirling Silver, and then fitting the plywood into the trailer. After that it's time to bolt down the floor to the frame and outriggers. That's thinking far enough ahead for me for now, I've got a TON of work to do! :)