Successful Maiden Voyage!!

Ziggy made her maiden voyage to our family reunion over the weekend. She towed like a dream. I was super proud as we pulled through a small town and were followed by a police car and didn't get pulled over. I figured that was the ultimate approval and meant that my tail lights were still working and hadn't wiggle loose in the 100 miles we'd driven! When we got to the campground I was quickly reminded why I had wanted a small trailer, she responds so well! She was super easy to swing right in exactly where I wanted her! My Dad greeted us with a trailer warming gift, a new outdoor rug. I'm glad we had chosen this weekend for our first trip out, having a lot of family around proved a smart choice as we did need a little assistance as we were setting up. First thing was that my extension cord didn't have the correct end so I borrowed an adapter and extension cord from my brother-in-law. Then when I hooked up my hose and turned on the campsite faucet, water sprayed everywhere. We unhooked and remembered that I had intended to replace the gasket that was crumbling. Since I had 2 fresh water hoses with us hubby took the gasket from one and put it in the trailers connection and voila, water worked perfect.

SHE'S READY!!

Last night we attached the window rock guard and put in the cushions. She is ready for the family reunion!! So much more than I could have ever imagined her.  I love how all of my ideas and visions came together for a super cute functional trailer. Yes, I have a couple more things to do to make her complete but she is functional and will head out on her maiden voyage this afternoon.

Deadline for road-readiness is tomorrow...

With the road-ready deadline being tomorrow I am proud to say that we ARE READY!!! We've made the deadline. We leave for the family reunion tomorrow afternoon. The only thing we'll be working on this evening is reattaching the rock/sun guard on the front window and putting in the cushions. Last night before I got home from work Chris and littlest took Ziggy for a quick test drive out to the highway and back to the house checking on the new tires, hubs, and exterior lights. Success!! When I got home littlest and I got the rest of the J-rail attached. This morning before work I pulled the making tape and plastic, installed interior light fixtures, and hung curtains (I had installed the rod brackets a couple days ago). We've been working so late into the evenings in 90+ heat I haven't been very good about taking pictures. Hubby took this one this morning.

 

Closing in on completion!

I am SOOOO excited!! This coming weekend is our family reunion and Ziggy will be ready. So many times I've said, "I hope to have Ziggy done for__________". Then watched as that date came and went and still she wasn't done. Pretty exciting to have her maiden voyage be to see people who have provided so much support and encouragement for this project. At this point we have only a short punch list.

 Before this weekend:

• Stove back splash
• Diamond Plate rock guard
• J- rail
• Door knob
• Curtains
• Touch-up paint
• Buff front

For final completion:

• Window rock guard
• Tape and paint inside of door

This past week has been a flurry of accomplishments. I put the hubs, with the new bearings and seals, back on. Littlest and hubby put on the new tires, Littlest installed knobs and hinges, Hubby and I installed all of the windows and the cargo door. Hubby helped me install all of the cupboard doors. I put the back bunk back in, We dry fit the diamond plate rock guard so it is ready for installation tonight.

Bearings

We chose to totally replace the bearings, races and seals. So I learned how to remove the old ones, seat the races and pack the bearings. That's a LOT of grease.

Progress, progress and more progress!!

Ziggy is finally painted inside! It was super hot over the weekend so painting her interior was grueling but it looks AMAZING! Thanks to hubby for his help and encouragement when I was in tears because I was having issues with the spray gun, it wasn't spraying right and was leaving huge runs everywhere. I thought I was going to have to go back and sand them down and start over. We finally decided to just roll it. That decision was made none too soon as we were able to roll out all of the runs and clean them up. I spent Sunday doing all of the corners and trim with a tiny roller and brush. It looks so crisp and clean!

Chris' accomplishment list might be a little longer than mine. Besides spending Saturday helping me paint the interior, on Sunday he used the grinder and cleaned up the back bumper then painted it, removed the wheels, pulled the bearings, masked the exterior furnace vent, and started wire brushing the under side for rust reformer. All while I worked on painting the interior, when I was done painting I worked some on the underside as well. I DO NOT like doing that, in fact it is probably my least favorite part of this restoration.

 

 

 

 

Today I will get the new bearings and spend the evening painting doors and drawers.

Doors and Drawers

Got a good layer of KILLZ on the doors and drawers!! 

This stuff is awesome, the entire trailer had an "old" smell to it when I first got it and the smell lingered even after I demoed and rebuilt much of the inside. I can say that having the windows out and coating the entire interior of the trailer with Killz has completely eliminated any old smells. Ziggy will have a "new trailer smell" when she's complete which makes me very happy!

Upholstery lady (Amie) came out and got the cushions over the weekend to get started on the covers for them!! I am super excited to see how they turn out!

I've also removed every bit of j rail and the awning rail to clean and straighten. I was going to leave the back-top and the awning rail but while I was buffing I realized that the old putty tape was getting pretty dry and chunks were missing. I now have a few more piece to take care of  but I'd rather remove, clean, straighten and replace with new putty tape and add a couple days work to the trailer than have a leak in old trim and have it ruin all my work on the inside. How depressing would that be?

I'll be working the next couple days on those extra couple pieces of trim and any other little things I can do in the evenings after work. Littlest has a basketball tournament over the weekend so I won't have time for working on the trailer. Hopefully I can have things buttoned up so I can pull Ziggy out of the garage and paint the interior next week.

July 2017

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We certainly did! been pretty busy getting things done on Ziggy too! In the last couple weeks I've

• Finished up all of the trim/ moulding and caulked all of the seams.
• Dry fit the windows and trimmed the openings accordingly. 
• Cleaned all of the aluminum window trim. I hadn't realized how dirty it had gotten of the past few years sitting around in the garage waiting to be reinstalled. They are now ready to be installed once I get the interior painted.
• Cleaned and buffed most of the back of the trailer
• Started work on cleaning the j-rail. I had to clean off all of the old putty tape and remove all of the old nasty aluminum sealer that was slopped all over it. The only thing I've found to remove that crap is brake cleaner. Unfortunately that stuff is hard on the hands. I know this from when I cleaned all of the windows. I use brake cleaner to get off the old sealer then mag cleaner (also hard on the hands) for a nice shine. They are turning out pretty good for the shape they were in. I have most of them clean but it's been too hot lately to do too much in the garage so last night I set to straightening the cleaned pieces of j rail with vice grip clamps. They are really looking good now!

Waiting for the upholstery lady to have time to come out take measurements for the cushion covers before I paint. I don't want her to have to work around wet paint. Once she's comes out I'll get the interior painted and start getting things put back together. My to do list is dwindling!

Finish cleaning and straightening j-rail
Finish buffing exterior of trailer
Install J-rail
Clean and install cargo door
Clean and install lower rock guard
Paint interior
Install interior hardware
Install window trim
Install windows
Clean and install window rock guard
Install curtains
Pack bearings
New tires

Still June!

I finished installing the moulding/trim last night!! That feels great! Looks like I have another date with Alex to finish what I've installed since our last evening together.



Alex!! My hot date!!

Then I can move on to the next step which will be fitting windows so I know if any window openings need trimmed so I can get that done and I'll be ready for interior paint. I'll be pulling Ziggy out of the garage to do the painting in hopes to increase my ventilation AND decrease dry time. I'll start with spraying my cupboard doors and drawers to get the hang of my sprayer before I do the inside of the trailer.

June 2017

Been working whenever I can. I have almost all of the trim/ molding installed. I even caulked what is installed and it is looking awesome! I'll be picking up a couple more sticks of 1/4 round for the floor to wall transitions today and will be able to finish that very soon. Trying to keep a steady pace on progress, in hopes of being able to have Ziggy out on her maiden voyage for the family reunion the first weekend in August.

 

May 2017

The cushions are cut and a second layer of Kilz is on the walls and in the cupboards. I was originally going to go with a light tan on the walls to hide dirt but I really like the look of the white walls with the Kilz primer on them so I'm going to switch directions and go with a nice kitchen and bathroom paint to stand up to camping. Sticking with a plain white will also make maintenance work down the road easier if I need to buy a pint or so for touch ups.

Next few items on the to do list are

• covers for the cushions
• primering and installing trim
• trimming the window openings
• interior paint
• installing window trim
• buffing the exterior
• installing windows

April 2017

Finished up the curtains!! Absolutely loving them. They are perfect!! I really like how the dark blue across the top turned out.

In the house to show the full curtain on the rod

In the trailer to show color match in kitchenette

I've also been working on getting all of my knobs, hinges and corresponding screws painted silver. They look really good! I'm excited it is finally starting to warm up so I can spend time working in the garage.
 

Screws inserted partially into foamboard

gold knobs before paint

March 2017

Why is it that winters get away from me every year? I guess the "winter dull drums" aren't as dull as I think, especially having a daughter who loves basketball. Oh well, time spend with my hubby and little is never wasted time!

This has been a super long cold
winter including the new 6 inches that fell a week ago. We still have several feet on the ground making it difficult to work in the garage without my fingers going numb. I had fully intended to have Ziggy ready for camping Memorial day but it's not looking to promising...

While I had intended to have them done by now, I have at least made some decent progress on the curtains. I have 2 sets done! They are turning out perfectly what I imagined, I am very happy with my fabric choices! I spent a great deal of time designing them and creating a pattern to follow, which has been amazingly helpful.