Thread: Customizing a Trailer For Hog Fest

The canvas will shrink too. Working with Sunbrella if you are using a old canvas to make a replacement better add 1/2 inch all the way around minimum as it shrinks over time quite a bit. People can snap their canvas, zip the canvas closed, secure the canvas properly due to shrinkage.

I figured it would stretch. Just the opposite, interesting. Thanks

Got going today with the usual morning tasks but after seeing the forecast for a rain event to move in by this afternoon I went to buy decking for the trailer. I knew what materials I wanted for decking and with my 2009 pickup full of stuff for the landfill I had to use my UTV trailer to haul the wood. Dropping the tailgate in the yard first I hooked up the trailer and went for a drive.



This trailer has a very odd width to the deck so I needed 11 2x6x12's and 2 2x8x12's to fill it out perfectly. First I put a few boards on for size.



Seeing the boards would need trimming I put the rest on to mark them all at the same time. Found out my Mercedes was ready to pick up and faced with loosing my ride to the shop till next week I dropped what I was doing to pick up my car. The shop did a full Transmission service (you must have the Mercedes STAR Software to do the service) and fixed a oil leak while under the hood.



So tomorrow will be a drilling & bolting, 78 bolts are going into these boards. That will take a while.

After taking care of some chores I got back on the Decking. I laid out where to cut the long Deck Boards first, cut them, then started cutting and fitting the Dovetail Decking.



Now this trailer came with 3 pieces of thin angle that held all the decking in. The manufacturer added a run of self-tapping screws in the middle but that really is a band-aid attachment at best. The screw heads always pull thru.



I mitered the Dovetail Decking to the Main Decking. The fit is so tight I had to use a Wonder Bar to fit the last piece in. Now they will shrink, after all its treated wood, still a bit on the wet side.



I deck'em like they should be decked, thru-bolted using galvanized Carriage Bolts in every brace, and in every board. Before bolting the Decking in you could shake the trailer and it flexed & twisted. After I was done with the 78 bolts the trailer had spine!



I still have to mount the Spreader Lites, wire them up, and lace the canvas top.

Lunch Break. Went out before light to get on wiring the trailer itself, laced it yesterday.



After running the calculation on how much lacing cord I would need I added 10 ft, measured out the length on the cutting table 110ft and cut a piece of cord. Calculating you count the number of grommets, multiply that by the circumference of the pipe, add 2 inches for each grommet, since the grommets are 3 inches apart you multiply the number of grommets times 3 and add all that together. Adding the extra 10ft keeps you from coming up short which I have done over the years.



You start in the front & center with the lacing divided exactly in half. You 1/2 hitch all the way around till you get to the back center.



After lacing all the way around you go back to the starting point and work all the slack out holding tension and working the 1/2 hitch up to the grommet. Once you get to the back you cross over one grommet into the other side before tying off. I weave all the rest of the lacing into the top.



Now you can cut all the wire ties loose that are holding the top canvas centered while lacing.

That turned out nice. Looks really good all laced up.

I will be happy to see this one go home. Hog Fest is closing in, I'm driving in to teach the crew how to cook my Tamales as they will be selling them at the Festival. The trailer is going in too to stay hopefully. Now to the lighting. I didn't pay attention to one of the rear trailer light brackets being missing till I moved the trailer away from the welding machine so I made a bolt on one to replace it.



Using a fish tape I ran the new trailer light harness thru the top tubing and out to the light fixtures making sure to secure the wire well.




Grounding the trailer lights is always a problem so I drill and thread a grounding screw for each fixture then put a locking nut on the backside of the screw after making the connection so it never loosens. Last up is wiring the Canopy Lights.

Super nice trailer setup. Love that dovetail decking, and the way you mitered the wood, most folk just woulda jut it square. And that canopy is so tight you could bounce a penny off it to the moon. Great job John.