Wednesday Progress / Forecast

It continues to be cold here, so I've mostly been working inside. I've cut the sides of the wheel wells to match the shape of the outer skins of the trailer. Below is a photo of what one looked like on Sunday, illustrating why the cutting was required. I'll likely dry fit them again tomorrow to make sure I didn't under-trim.

Before trimming

The current forecast calls for it to warm up again to temperatures I need starting Sunday. I need three warmish days, the last also dry, in order to get the wheel wells in and the plywood floor over them. Why? Because I need to prime and paint the steel the wheel wells and plywood floor rest atop, and that requires a minimum temperature of 50° F. Also because the wheel wells need to be riveted in place from the outside, which for a watertight seal requires a sealant, and that sealant has a 40° F minimum temperature.

Before that, over the weekend, I might get the "holes" at rear resolved over the weekend, if all works out OK. Once that's dealt with and the new plywood floor above the wheel wells is installed, the rest of the old floor is coming out. That also involves removing a number of large, rusty nuts and bolts, which complicates things. I'm sure I can remove the old plywood floor without too much difficulty, but the nuts and bolts need to be out of way before new plywood floor can be slid into position.

We'll see how it all goes soon enough. I'm impatient to be making progress but the bright side to the next few lukewarm days is that it should give me time to double check everything, dry fit all the components, and generally make sure that once the weather cooperates, things will go as smoothly as possible.