Horse trailer renovating: inside The Sparrow

Now that we brought Sparrow home, it was time to get to know her.

I was hoping for a rain, and got it. This showed me any leakage.

The next day I paid a visit to a few hardware stores.  I bought a clear water sealant spray, peel and stick rubber striping for car windows, expanding foam sealant, clay sealing putty and caulking. Boy, I was like a kid in a candy store!

I climbed a ladder to spray sealant on the roof seams and added clay putty to exposed seams behind the exterior chrome trim.

It was a tough job. The heat index was 106 and my clay putty was getting sticky and unmanageable. I could only smooth it in crevices with wet fingertips. But if my 70 year old dad can lay brick for his landscaping, I was determined to do this. I would not recommend it. I nearly lost my voice and needed to rehydrate as I waited for the heartbeat in my head to calm down. I was able to finish before more rains came.

I had a hunch that more work needed to be done. It got cooler when evening came and Hubby hooked me up with some lighting. I could then work in the cooler evenings.

The time had come for the start of some elbow grease. Removal of old interior caulk.

Once the old caulking was removed, I used a steel brush and wiped away the residue before applying new caulk.

When the next rain came we were water tight. Except for a sliding side window. It wouldn't lock shut.  since we had plenty of other means to ventilate, I sealed it shut with expanding foam sealant. Ugly, but it worked.

Next job? Paint.

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Meet The Sparrow

One late Sunday night, I was once again drawn to the internet. Hubby and I had ended our weekend visiting what we thought might be our "brick and mortar" storefront property. But we quickly learned that a slum lord's patchwork job was all that we could fit into a "wise" budget. That night, I was still searching for options.

I ventured over to our local Craigslist page and there she was. "Travel trailer $1700", and she was within a half hours drive from home. Boy, did that get the gears in my thinking cap going!

She was a horse trailer that was converted to toy trailer for hauling a pair of motorcycles. To Sturgis. Funny. You would think if you had a motorcycle and went to Sturgis, you'd ride. Not roll the bikes in a trailer, sucking down gallons of gas hauling a few hundred miles, just to park nearby....and ride in. La-ame. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Well the owner would only budge $50 plus the removal of the bike racks.

I was totally depending upon Hubby to initiate any backing out on this purchase. I was starting to get cold feet over the caulking and rust. But the floor and trailer frame was good.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and Hubby trusted my lead on this dream. (Better than our brick-and-mortar pipedream). Besides. The owner swore she only leaked from the rear windows. Not thinking to run a hose over her, we hauled her home. (In a borrowed truck). Yup, we literally got the cart before the horse... sorta. And you guessed it. Two days later, rain.

But she was love at first sight.

I told myself that I only had three chances to find and seal up any leaks.

I was both excited and afraid. Pinterest  YouTube and Google became very quick education.