A new trailer in my future

[ARUP]

Italian engine... WOW! That is a nice truck! The Italians sure make jewels for engines. I still love the 'et-ceterini' cars... you know... OSCAs, Morettis, Siatas, Bandini, Nardi, Taraschi, etc. Their sheet metal is usually lacking, though. lol FWIW- almost all of my racing bicycles are and were Italian with Italian gruppos (components- mostly Campagnolo but some Gipiemme and Modolo). I had some really pretty ones: Zullo, Rossini, Masi, Colnago, Torelli, Gios, Olmo, Tomassini and a few others I can't remember. I still think these Italian bicycles were some of the best racing machines ever made! Now it's all carbon fiber blandness.

[Tom]

One more thing: engine noise. In my former life as an automotive powertrain engineer, I have driven many, many miles with diesel engines under the hood. Ford, GM, Dodge - I’ve logged more hours than one can imagine driving these big 3/4 ton and one ton trucks. The one common denominator: all of them growled, and one became quite used to the sound.😃

Huh......I have a 2011 F-250 with the 6.7 L Diesel engine and it is so quite you have to look at the gauges at times to see if it’s running.....even under hard acceleration it is super quite......quieter then the F-150 5.4 L Gasser I had previously.

[Al_M]

After an unusually long winter, I am finally able to start work on the trailer. Today I primed the floor with Zinsser BullsEye2 Primer and sealer, 2 coats. The directions on the can say that full cure takes 7 days. Oh well, I have several things to do on the new truck: install the step rails and the tonneau cover. So that will keep me busy for a day or two. I also need to build fuselage cradles for the Minimoa, Kranich and Salto. And there are covering repairs left to do on the Minimoa and Kranich. So things will remain busy while the primer cures. Then we’ll install the carpet tiles. Below are the “before” and “after” photos of the trailer floor and a photo of the materials I used. The fold-down ramp will be coated with left over Herculiner that I have leftover from applying bedliner to the entire interior of my Jeep Wrangler. It has ground-up rubber granules in it, providing a safe, non-skid surface on the fold-down ramp.

[Al_M]

Well, after a major health setback at home that has fortunately turned out well, I finally am able to get back to what must be the slowest trailer build on record. Today I managed to install the peel and stick carpet tiles on the floor. I chose carpet tiles instead of Swiss Tracks because I plan to use the trailer for camping in while at events, and I think the carpet tiles will be kinder on my bare feet.

I plan to make fuselage cradles with velcro strips permanently attached on the bottom, thus precluding the necessity for any mechanical holddown fastenings. Wings in bags will be hung up near the ceiling from transverse rods going from wall to wall, thereby leaving the interior nearly empty when all my planes are assembled at an event. This will leave me plenty of space for a twin bed size air matress for sleeping.

[Al_M]

Rolled the Herculiner bed liner material onto the trailer’s rear ramp today. It will provide a durable, non-slip surface that will probably outlast the trailer!

[Al_M]

Started insulating the trailer’s ceiling today with the help of my grandson, Brady. I originally purchased a roll of Reflectix material, the same stuff many people use for wing bags. JimD used Reflectix in the ceiling of his trailer build, and I thought I’d do the same. But since purchasing a roll of Reflectix at Lowes for something a bit north of $135 with tax, I decided to save the material for wing bags, because I have a bunch of wings that remain bagless.

So I picked up three 4’ x 8’ sheets of 1-1/2” thick foil-backed polystyrene foam insulation boards at $13.98 each. The material is called DuroSpan and has a 5.6 R value, which is adequate for this application. Recently, during a heat wave on a day when the temperature climbed to 94 degrees, I measured the inside of the roof surface of the trailer with an infrared thermometer. The reading was 107 degrees, 13 degrees higher than the ambient, so this insulation should function just fine.

Brady and I managed to get all but the triangular nose section in the ceiling done today. Next, we will start covering the insulation with the 5mm RevolutionPly material I purchased recently.

More to follow in a couple of weeks, because tomorrow night I’m leaving for the SledWorks event in Minnesota, followed immediately by the Summer Cumberland extravaganza.

[Swiss1]

Just to clarify Al, does that Reflectix have a white side and a silver side? If it's not white Mylar on one side like the Double Bubble I use then do not use it for wing bags, as the silver will rub of on all your surfaces and it's very hard to near impossible to remove!

[BryanB]

Looking good AL! I just put similar (3/4") insulation in the ceiling in my trailer. Being down south I opened my trailer the other day and it was 109F in there and it only gets a half day of sun. The hottest half anyway, Haven't put the ceiling material on yet but just the insulation dropped the inside temps by 10degrees. Hopefully after the ceiling material that will help a bit more. I'm going with Armorseal on the floor like what Jim did with his but a slightly lighter color of gray.

[Al_M]

I dunno, Jeremy. It’s still in the box. I’ll check it out. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Al_M]

Got the RevolutionPly ceiling completed today, except for the triangular section over the V-nose. It may look easy to do, but my grandson and I worked our butts off getting this much done. My hats off to JimD and Len. Their workmanship is flawless. Mine...not quite, but hey, it’s a trailers! Mine doubles as sleeping quarters, so aircraft and living space must share the available volume inside. Here’s a shot of the nearly-completed ceiling

[Al_M]

I drove to the Sled Works event and kept track of fuel mileage over the entire 1500 mile round trip. Overall average was 19.3 mpg. However, on the way out to Minnesota I was eager to get there and pushed it between 70 and 75 mph. The mileage dropped to 15.6 mpg. On the way home I deliberately stayed between 60 and 65 mph and the mileage improved almost 4 mpg. Moral of the story: stay in the right lane, set the cruise control between 60 and 65 and watch the reat of the world go by....😃