# Trailer renovation



## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

I bought a 2 horse circuit CM trailer from a friend in May, it's older and needed some work but i got a really good deal on it.

I needed to haul my horse in August so didn't start the repairs and renovation until the middle of September; since i paid very little for it i decided to do most of the work myself so it's probably going to take an age to get done.

(Sorry if the photos are huge)

Taking it from the barn to my work:


Tackled the worst of the rust with an angle grinder (so hard to do without it running away):




Sanded the rest by hand, i've still got to get up on the roof and sand that off but when it's not parked on an incline.



Power washed the outside and inside, got soaked and ended up with bits of rotted wood and rusted metal flying everywhere. The inside needs some major work, floor needs to be pulled up so i can have a trailer repair place weld an angled piece along the front to cover the holes down at the bottom that have rusted through, then the floor can be put back over the welded metal so the horse doesn't catch his toes on it. The end pieces of wood on the floor need to be replaced and the wooden side panels need to be pulled off and replaced. 



Today i primed some of the places where i had sanded right down to the metal, and used a filler primer to help smooth out the rust spots that have caused dips; as you can see it's very bumpy pretty much all over, i suspect the rust spots have just been painted over in the past without sanding or have been sanded and not filled. 





Even though it looks patchy and a bit scary right now i think it already looks better. I picked silver paint but after trying a section this afternoon decided i didn't like the colour i had picked so decided on white, at least it'll paint on all one colour, the silver changed colour if the paint was thicker in spots. 

I'll update the post once i've done more work.


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

I love a good trailer reno. I think you made a good call on going with white paint. I've seen several trailers repainted a metallic color, and it just doesn't look....right. I think solids turn out much better.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

I think so too. I'm going to get new reflective strips to out of the back and maybe a nice decal for the front. It's a fun project, wish I'd tackled it while it was warmer out though. 

I'm also lucky that all the electricals and lights are in good working order and my friend had new tires put in it just last year with new wheel bearings too, so at least I don't have to do that.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

Primed and ready for paint. The top will be tackled in the spring when i have ladders tall enough to reach it. Sadly i am short and the trailer is parked on an incline, and i just don't trust it enough to go climbing around up there without a ladder to stand on.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

First coat of auto enamel.





I did the second coat of enamel today but it was dark by the time I finished so didn't take any photos. If I do say so myself it looks awesome! A random UPS driver even stopped to ask if I would paint his auto trailer and said he'd been watching the progress and that I'd done a fantastic job. Made me smile considering its my first venture into trailer repair. 

I'll post photos of the second coat tomorrow, then the trailer will be covered and tucked up for the winter to await repairs to the inside in the spring as well as the roof being sanded and painted.


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

Mind me asking...what is the length of the trailer, 12 foot? And how long did it take you to sand everything?

My husband got a little 2 horse slant/ stock trailer a few months ago for a little run around trailer and I like it a lot...but it's pink. Pepto pink. Lol...I keep wanting to repaint it but I'm a little intimidated by the whole process.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

jenkat86 said:


> Mind me asking...what is the length of the trailer, 12 foot? And how long did it take you to sand everything?
> 
> My husband got a little 2 horse slant/ stock trailer a few months ago for a little run around trailer and I like it a lot...but it's pink. Pepto pink. Lol...I keep wanting to repaint it but I'm a little intimidated by the whole process.


I don't mind, i just measured it; from front to back including the tow hitch it is 12 ft. I did the sanding over about 2 weeks, an hour here and hour there. It's sitting out the back where i work so when i got a spare 15 minutes and i stayed after work for an hour or so some nights. I'm guessing all the sanding probably took between 5-6 hours. That includes using the angle grinder on the worst bits of rust. 

I did most of the sanding by hand, i don't have an mechanical sander; i used a fairly smooth piece of sand paper (so not really really rough) and wrapped it around a small piece of foam. I found the really rough paper cut gouges into the paint and didn't really take it off in a uniform way. 

It's not a hard process really, a little time consuming but quite relaxing once you get to the painting part. I used cans of spray paint, spent a little ($10) on a proper rubber sprayer handle, got it from lowes and it's been a life saver. I used primer that was a filler primer and where the rust was grooved into a dip i primed it a few times to fill the gaps and make the surface smoother. The way to get a nice finish without too many runs is to do the final enamel in layers, 2 or 3 is best. And make sure you hold the can or whatever you use about 8 inches from the surface so you won't get too much paint in once place or it will run. 

If you just want to freshen it up and change it from pink to a cleaner colour go for it. It's not hard and you'll be proud of yourself once you're done.

okay. So the pics from yesterday of the finished version of what i've done so far. I've still got pieces of tape to pull and the back doors to finish off slightly but then it will be covered over and tucked in for the winter. 







So far i'm very happy with how it's turned out and can't wait to tackle the roof in the spring. I think before it's all tucked up my dads going to help me pull the wood from inside that needs to come out so it won't rust the metal where the rot is touching it.


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

It looks great! You've done a really good job. I think I might just give mine a nice little paint job. White or gray is much more my style than pink. Are you doing the inside too?


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

jenkat86 said:


> It looks great! You've done a really good job. I think I might just give mine a nice little paint job. White or gray is much more my style than pink. Are you doing the inside too?


Thanks! Yes, you should, it's a fun project to do.

I have some repair work to do inside before i consider whether i'll paint it or not, floor needs to be pulled up and some boards replaced; also there are holes at the front that need some welding work before they get much worse. The side wooden panels also need to be replaced as they are rotting at the bottom. I might paint it after the boards/floor have been pulled so i don't have to tape off so much. I power washed it so it already looks 10x better than when i bought it.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

What a great job!

Love the white.... it looks very nice.

I just bought a trailer that I am planning on sandblasting ( dont want to sand by hand LOL) and repaining. Think I too will go with white.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

ChitChatChet said:


> What a great job!
> 
> Love the white.... it looks very nice.
> 
> I just bought a trailer that I am planning on sandblasting ( dont want to sand by hand LOL) and repaining. Think I too will go with white.


Thanks! I know white is a boring colour and everyone has a white trailer, but it's clean so that's all that matters.

I wish i'd had tools to help with the sanding, it was hard work.


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## Mingiz (Jan 29, 2009)

Looks great so far. Great job!!


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

phoenix said:


> Thanks! I know white is a boring colour and everyone has a white trailer, but it's clean so that's all that matters.
> 
> I wish i'd had tools to help with the sanding, it was hard work.


With so many decals available now you could make it as fancy as you want but nothing boring about a clean white trailer. Nice job!


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Good work, Phoenix. I am somewhat envious of folks who have a natural ability for tucking into big projects like that (obviously, I don't). Think what you could do if you increased your tool inventory -- you could start a side line business buying old trailers, rehabbing them and then reselling (of course, I have know idea what the profit margin is like for that type of effort).


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

Mingiz said:


> Looks great so far. Great job!!


Thanks! I can't wait for the spring so it's all finished and i can use it.



natisha said:


> With so many decals available now you could make it as fancy as you want but nothing boring about a clean white trailer. Nice job!


Definitely. I plan on doing reflective strips down the back and getting a nice big decal for the middle of the front, maybe a bucking horse as i think that best represents my Phoenix 



Chevaux said:


> Good work, Phoenix. I am somewhat envious of folks who have a natural ability for tucking into big projects like that (obviously, I don't). Think what you could do if you increased your tool inventory -- you could start a side line business buying old trailers, rehabbing them and then reselling (of course, I have know idea what the profit margin is like for that type of effort).


Thank you! I tend to be great at starting projects and getting most of the way done, then i fall off a bit at the end and the minor end details sometimes get missed. Not this time! I work in manufacturing so our tool inventory is pretty extensive, i think we have a paint sprayer somewhere but i just couldn't be bothered to dig it out. I have a feeling that if i could buy trailers for what i paid for this one, fix them up and sell them on the profit margins could be pretty good. It would be good for a side business at least.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

I forgot to put up a photo of the back doors, they look so much better now!


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## Mingiz (Jan 29, 2009)

Looks great!! You did a good job!! I would also put some reflective tape down the sides of it. Maybe on the sides of the hitch area and the step in front of the wheel wells. Best to be seen!!


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

Mingiz said:


> Looks great!! You did a good job!! I would also put some reflective tape down the sides of it. Maybe on the sides of the hitch area and the step in front of the wheel wells. Best to be seen!!


Thanks. Yes that's a good idea. I'll be adding all the reflective tape at the end of the project and will just buy a roll of it and cut strips off to add to the trailer. Definitely best to be seen. I want one of those reflective 'caution horses' signs for the back too, just in case anyone's not totally clear that there are live animals in the trailer.


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## Werecat (Aug 23, 2015)

It looks very fresh! I commend your bravery for sanding that thing. I've got a '68 Firebird I've been restoring for the past 6 years but after a while I was like... "yep... let the pros have at it." and outsourced all the body and paint work haha.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

Werecat said:


> It looks very fresh! I commend your bravery for sanding that thing. I've got a '68 Firebird I've been restoring for the past 6 years but after a while I was like... "yep... let the pros have at it." and outsourced all the body and paint work haha.


Thanks. I like my money in my pocket not someone else's and that is a great motivator to get the work done. There's still a tonne to do inside with some rotted boards but I don't envision that being a huge job, I'll be letting the pros do the welding since I don't have the equipment. 

I'd love to try a car restoration someday just for the fun of it. Shame I don't know nearly enough about mechanics.


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