2nd Annual Ride the Wild Surf Rally

We took our trailer to the Newport Dunes RV Park for the 2nd annual Ride the Wild Surf Rally from October 5 - 7, 2012. There were about 60 other vintage trailers there of all different types and surprisingly there were two other Westerner trailers too. We had a best costume contest and best decorated trailer contest. Lots of fun and great weather.

Mini Rally - More Pics

Here are a few more pics of the rally we had at Prado Dam over Father's Day Weekend 2012.

Mini rally at Prado

Had 11 vintage trailers show up on Fathers Day weekend this year. We hosted the rally this time around. Will post more pics later.

Stripping the paint

Went out at 6:00 a.m. to apply paint stripper and peel off all of the old paint using plastic scrapers. It works really well. We finished it up with wet Scotch pads to get the remaining bits of paint. After this we'll use an etching primer, repair minor dents and then paint her.

Finishing the front panel

Chris Burkhardt a.k.a., The Canned Ham Man in Riverside, CA sold us the aluminum panel for the front of the trailer. He measured and crimped to match what we had including the sides. It went on easier than I thought it would. We added wood strips to the front of the trailer to add some stability as there wasn't much in the front then we put in some insulation and covered it with plastic to protect against water.
We had some bad wood on the sides so we used fiberglass resin to build up what was missing, strengthen what was already there and give us something to attach the panel to. It works great and protects the wood from future water damage.We could have removed the bad wood altogether and replaced it but using the fiberglass was less invasive and easier to do. 

Applying the fiberglass resin. 

Re-installing the front window. 

Bad wood on the sides, literally falling apart after we took the original panel off. 

Applying fiberglass cloth to strengthen the sides. 

Added more wood to reinforce the framing and added insulation. 

Finished installing the panel and applying butyl tape around the window casing. 

Happily applying spray adhesive for the insulation. Maybe sniffed too much of the fumes? 

Replacing front panel

We purchased a new aluminum panel for the front of the trailer and this is the removal of the old panel.

Vintage Advertisements for The Westerner

Here are some advertisements we found on the Internet for our trailer.

We think our trailer is the Pony Express model. 

Howard Irwin was the founder of The Westerner.

Trail Along to Pismo Rally

We took Daisy to the 2011 rally at Pismo Beach. There were about 250 vintage trailers of all different makes, models and years at this rally. We also took our 100 year old small pot bellied stove with us. This is how we decorated the trailer for the rally.

Air conditioner and wood repair

Installed a small air conditioner under the bed while we were working on the bad wood.  

 Replaced all the bad wood in the back with new paneling, reinforced the frame and installed the air conditioner. 

End of a long but very productive day working on the trailer. Also put in the new mattress we purchased on-line. 

 Varnished the wood with several coats of amber shellac to seal and protect the wood. Installed rope lights to add light to the dark bed area. 

Sure looks pretty at night. Very cozy. 

In the midst of it all. 

Uh oh! Power tools!

Not afraid of a little hard work.