I'm back. And so is my trailer. Now it's time for a restoration.

[JLeonard]

Hate the reason your renovating the trailer, but love the trailer. Keep us updated.

Jim

 

[jcam222]

Awesome rig!! Always wanted something like it

 

[Brokenhandle]

Hate to hear about your friend but the rig is coming along nicely! It'll make some good memories.

Ryan

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

The Take-offs are free, some had more thread than the tires on my truck. LOL!!!

We'll definitely bee looking for 'cheap or free' on the tires. This thing won't see many miles behind a truck anymore. I'll probably take the tires right off it once it's set in place. With the on-board jacks, it's not like putting them back on is very difficult...

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Hate to hear about your friend but the rig is coming along nicely! It'll make some good memories.

Ryan

It's actually my father in law that's sick. We went from 'everything's fine', to 'Let's all learn about stage four liver and lung cancer' in a matter of a week's time.

Anyway, thank you. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees the spot he dug out for us finally done. He took out around four feet of lumps, bumps, sticks and stumps out, and made the corner wooded part of our front yard into lawn. I've got a few loads of stone dust coming later in the week to set up a nice little 'concrete' pad.

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Awesome rig!! Always wanted something like it

Thanks. This exact trailer is still pictured on the Cookers and Grills website. Under 'commercial cookers', or something like that. I'd cringe to hear what they'd charge for this thing today though...

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Hate the reason your renovating the trailer, but love the trailer. Keep us updated.

Jim

Thanks. And will do. I have some "I've been Smurfed" pics coming now. What a mess of blue dust.

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

More updates: So, the lower half of the trailer that's 'visible' has been 'scuffed'.. I've still got to climb under this thing and really go to town, but there might not be time to do that, and I want the outside looking as good as possible for this little shebang. In case anyone's wondering, that 20V drill with the Scotch-Brite wheel DEVOURS paint... I've got a vacuum-shroudable Rolok fitting on there, the wheels spin on and off in a snap. I've got a setup to use the same type of wheel on a 7" grinder too, but it's an animal when it bites in. Better for out in the open. This hasn't gone bad so far, I have maybe 5 hours tops in paint scuffing/ removal. Next up is a wipedown with thinner, then I'll get a nice even base coat of Rustoleum satin black on everything, and let it dry. I have a bit more paintwork to scuff up first though.

And, pics:

 

[Winterrider]

Very sorry to hear about your Father In Law
You'll do him proud when he sees the work you have done.

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Very sorry to hear about your Father In Law
You'll do him proud when he sees the work you have done.

Thank you. I think he's going to have a good day, it sounds like there's a crowd coming. Again with the bittersweetness, I really can't wait to cook for a crowd this big, but I really, REALLY wish it was for a different reason. If all goes well though, this thing may become 'what I do'. We'll see. I think he'd be quite OK with his daughter and I running a successful food trailer. He owns an excavation business, so he 'gets it'... All we can do is wait and see what happens

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Well, I ran out of light last night. Made some headway though. I feel like the all-black shrinks the trailer a LOT. Pics are worth more than words:

And I just had to add a shameless plug for the little Club Car DS I built. Long travel suspension for the win. haha. I've got a Club Car Carryall (basically the same cart but with a dump body for smoker wood) that I'm about to start building as soon as this trailer's good to go. That one gets the 'full' SmeltShackBBQ customization.

 

[JLeonard]

Man that is looking good!

Jim

 

[Buckeyedude]

Very cool setup and nice work on it!

 

[DRKsmoking]

Coming along great.

Going to be a good day .

David

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Man that is looking good!

Jim

Thanks. I'm taking any rust right down to bare steel, so hopefully it doesn't need this treatment ever again. The plan is to not ever let it sit out back for eight years unattended again.

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Very cool setup and nice work on it!

Thanks. I figure 'if I'm up in here doing this, I may as well do it right...'.

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Coming along great.

Going to be a good day .

David

Thanks David. I really hope he has a day to beat them all.

It's looking like I have a full three weeks <plus> three days before we can all get together, so there's more time for adding 'my' details on the trailer. The more I get into the project, the more the real world melts away into the background... I do a little metal sculpting as a hobby, I might put it to use here.

 

[irvin78787884]

Sorry to hear why you’re doing it but also it is awesome of you for doing what u are. Sweet setup and it’s coming along great.

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Sorry to hear why you’re doing it but also it is awesome of you for doing what u are. Sweet setup and it’s coming along great.

Thank you! I'm sort of hitting the 'stall' here in the restoration. I may switch gears and start painting the kitchen's siding, so I can see some progress today. I need a little boost here. haha..

 

[SmeltshackBBQ]

Well, another update. Visible progress has slowed to a crawl... I spent the day yesterday laying on my back under the trailer. Made it all the way up to the rear axle from the back of the trailer. But, I managed to scrub the dirt and then the rust off every square inch of the undercarriage, and have that section ready for paint. Today is probably going to be the 'worst' part of this entire job. Under the kitchen and up to the tongue of the trailer. I may take a couple hours and roll a coat of paint onto the kitchen's siding, just to see some major differences. I think I've decided to move forward with the kitchen being black. I mixed up a thin batch of paint and did a test spot, and I liked it.. If I have any roller heads here, I'll do it. If not, I won't. lol.

The next issue is the windows. They're vinyl, and white. Everything else on the trailer will be some form of black or else polished stainless/ aluminum... I may look into some sort of coating that will adhere to the vinyl, but I'm guessing there still isn't much out there that will work good enough to be worth doing. This may be a case of plasti-dip to the rescue for the short-term.

I also drew my 'smelts' for the smoker, to replace the pigs. The plan is to carve them out of 6061 aluminum. There's a long story there about a nickname that began when I was about 20 years old...

Less words, more pictures: