I said the flooring was the next step. Well, yes and no. I wanted to get the underside of the trailer bed insulated and finished off before I was unable to turn the frame over again. I unbolted the axle from the frame and rigged it up for turning, again. Once the frame was upside-down, I fitted styrofoam insulation in place in the sleeping area of the trailer. There was a chance that I might be using this trailer in chilly climates, and so thought the insulation would be useful. I used a japanese saw for cutting the foam board. The teeth are razor sharp, cut on the pull stroke and the blade is so thin it only has one side. My knives are extremely sharp, too, but the saw is still quicker and less work. When the insulation was all in place, I felt it was important to protect the insulation from sand and gravel that would get thrown up from the road. I found some white, pebble-grained plastic about 3/32" thick at Home Depot that I thought would work fine. I could easily cut it to fit, it was durable, the price was very reasonable and the size of the piece was adequate for my needs. It might have been some bathroom wall material. I don't care. I used some nails with the big plastic washer under the head, to secure the sheathing and the insulation in place. A 1/16" hole drilled through the plastic simplified the nailing. I also ran a stout bead of caulk around each piece of this sheathing, hoping to keep moisture out of this insulated space. I also caulked any place I could think of, between the trailer bed and the steel framework to keep out moisture. A final touch was to thoroughly spray the whole underside with an undercoating material from the local auto parts store. I used two cans. Satisfied that the frame and bed were done as well as I could do them, I turned the whole works right side up and reattached the axle again.

I cut my Marmoleum flooring to the size I wanted, and plotted the location of the trap door. I cut out the trap door opening, saved the cut out piece, and then test-fit the flooring to make sure it was ready for the adhesive. After making one last check for any obvious stupid mistakes of mine, I was ready. I troweled on the flooring adhesive, per the instructions on the can, and then laid out the flooring, smoothing it into place. I had lots of lumber and assorted heavy things laying around to hold the flooring flat and even until the adhesive did its work.

The flooring goes to the outside edges of the floor, and from the front edge of the floor to a point towards the rear that will be under the back wall of the cabin. This way, the flooring will be a perfect fit with no layout project except for the trap door hatch. No wrestling a roll of flooring into a snug cabin, and no problems with adhesive fumes or gluing myself into a corner.

The next stage will be putting up the shell and fastening it to the floor.

first page the frame the floor the sides the roof the flooring the shell wiring and insulation sheet metal molding the hatch lid doors fenders light fixtures cabin cabinets solar panel tanks other stuff

If a link is "404" I probably have not written that material yet. Please bear with me.