My ground up rebuild on my 1975 Ventura

[TacomaJax]

So this past year got a steal of a deal on my trailer but it did need a lot of work. I like fixing old things so why not tackle a 2 year project.

The frame was broken and kind of repaired at one time, but it need a better repair. Some of the fiberglass was rotted away at the door but not to bad I thought. Inside had some water damage from the window leaks, so out came the whole interior and split the trailer from the frame.

Bought a welder and started the repair on the frame. Filled all the holes with weld, Replaced the whole front section and put a new hitch on. Installed new mounts for the body so I don't have to drill the frame. Added some new supports and ran out of time with weather. Ill add some pics of the progress.

[TacomaJax]

Just some more pictures of the progress.

[murffie]

Admiring your reinforcement of the door! I attempted to smooth ours out with fibre bondo but it still cracked.. so once it warms up I'll be glassing around the door too.

Looks good!

[TacomaJax]

Originally Posted by murffie

Admiring your reinforcement of the door! I attempted to smooth ours out with fibre bondo but it still cracked.. so once it warms up I'll be glassing around the door too.

Looks good!

yah the door repair has been the biggest and most time invested so far. I am using all top quality stuff from my boating store in town so it is expensive but I am deep into it so why not. Using epoxy with glass beads mixed in for filler as that is what they suggested at the boat shop

Almost warm enough to start again.

[TacomaJax]

quick little update. Got the frame totally done and under the body. Used Interlux paint for the bottom and whole thing when ready. Had to remove and weld in new mounts for the axle and move it forward a bit. Upgraded axle to a trailing wheel. Slow and steady wins right. Just working on glassing the inside of the body now where it had broken through, and will add more glass where I plan to use the newly welded on bracket for mounting.

And I put some one sided sticky foam that is used for truck canopies on the frame to sit in between the frame and the body.

[TacomaJax]

Just a update on the trailer. Got it into another garage for the winter and finally got some work done on it. Mounted it back on the trailer and added about 10 new tie down points on the frame for the mounting. I am doing a belly band delete so pictures of that will come. I split the body to redo the roof and cleaned off all the gelcoat or what ever it was the used at factory and put 2 new layers of glass and epoxy resin. Will try to post pictures of that too. While apart I replaced all the wood in the middle of the body as the old stuff was kind of rotten.

Got the door about 90% done. Had to build whole new door from scratch and decided to add a window in the door and new modern latch. Decided against putting the old furnace back in and will go with a diesel heater. Going to be closing all the holes for the fridge and furnace this summer and going with a 12 volt fridge inside and probably solar system eventually. So here are some pictures of the work I have done.

[TacomaJax]

Don't know why the pictures always turn when I upload but if someone can let me know I can fix it later.

Oh yah, so I built an exact frame for the door so I could build the door to fix exactly. Was a huge benefit but did take a long time. The door build as of now is like 20 hours. The one picture of the window screw is from after I got it out. I used a die grinder with a cut wheel and cut the screw down and than just punched it out. Worked great as I broke a lot of the screws.

Just a quick google and found out how to fix the pictures.

[murffie]

Looking good! Ours is under a tarp currently.
I'm jealous of your roof work. Our previous owner glassed 2x6 (cut to the curve of the roof) to the ceiling. I couldn't bring myself to pry them off without damaging the roof.

We ended up buying a custom door which is yet to go on. As soon as snow melts!

[TacomaJax]

A little update so far this summer. With life happening this trailer gets as much time as I can but it has been a long process. As I have been going, I decided to redo all the wood on the inside so that's been a lot of work. I have replaced all the window frames on the inside and started to tie in all the new framing. Building the truss's 1 at a time now and have a few left to do. Have the new window protector for the front window done and getting paint now.

Have 3 coats of paint on the whole trailer and will be doing the last coat this week. Will be going with a 12 volt fridge/freezer and a diesel heater for the trailer so I decided to plug up the big holes from the fridge and furnace. Won't be done this year but will be sealed for outside storage.

Also did the belly band delete. Wanted the trailer sealed as possible. Oh and also on every window, the door frame and vent frame applied new fiberglass strips 2 inched wide to strengthen the openings.