Maintenance & Restoration

bastiaad · 03-06-2011, 06:32 PM

After months and months of lurking on this board (as well as stalking craigslist and kijiji all over North America) we finally found a Trillium 1300 just 6 blocks away. It is a 1974 1300 and is in rough shape. It seems to be just the trailer we were after (extrensive renos planned). It was parked at the back of a compound in an old industrial area and Jen needed to use her women's intuition to lead us there. Then she was too scared to knock on the door and left me (Dan) to do the wheeling and dealing. This all happened yesterday. Today (out of pure excitement) we went back to get it out of there. After a few hours work, we got two points unfrozen (the hitch and driver's side wheel) but the passenger's side is still stuck in place (sunk down to the rim and frozen). Instead of destroying the frame trying to get it out we have decided to wait until it warms up a bit (-20C today). I had a very difficult time in admitting defeat.

For now the plan is to give it a good scrubbing and once over. We plan to replace the tires, repack the bearings, straighten up the door and get the lights operational right away. After that we hope to use it a bit to get a better idea of our plans. Next winter will be the busy time for renovations...

Here is a picture of how we found it.

Greg H · 03-06-2011, 06:45 PM

Good job, and only 6 blocks away, that's just crazy!

Donna D. · 03-06-2011, 06:52 PM

Poor baby was just sitting there waiting for YOU! Great find, it will bring you miles of memories

Matt in SV · 03-06-2011, 11:07 PM

Did it come with the sign?

Congratulations!

Roland H · 03-07-2011, 12:50 AM

Great find and enjoy the forum, Im sure you will find a ton of useful information here!

Lizbeth · 03-07-2011, 11:25 AM

Good find! Congratulations!

Roger C H · 03-07-2011, 09:08 PM

WOW! Reminds me of the story, "Acres of Diamonds" where a guy sat on the stone wall outside his house dreaming of finding his fortune. He traveled the world without luck. Upon returning home, he now had the experience to recognize that the stones in his stone wall were rough diamonds!

Good Luck. It is always nice to see a veteran Trill get a new lease on life.

Borden · 03-08-2011, 08:37 AM

We are lucky to find our Supper Ultra Light rolling cottages; great find and welcome.

Robin G · 03-08-2011, 07:12 PM

Congrats! Enjoy.....................

Carol H · 03-08-2011, 10:32 PM

Congrats - you will have to come and join us down on the coast for a couple of camp outs.
One is on July 7-10 at the Sons of Norway in Mission and the other is being held May 13-15 at Fort Langley.

Glass Eggs Nor-West
https://sites.google.com/site/bcglasseggs/

bastiaad · 03-11-2011, 01:03 PM

The trailer still has not made it home yet (still frozen at the passenger side wheel). I may make another attempt this weekend. In the meantime I thought I would post some interior photos. The poor little trailer is absolutely loaded full of "stuff". I think there are more dollars in fishing rods in the trailer than we paid for the whole thing... and why would anyone need 5 cases of salsa?

Carol- we have our eye on that meet. Mission is actually my hometown. We will have to see what the schedule comes out like in July. I don't know if we will have the trailer ready for May.

Cheers,
Dan

Greg H · 03-11-2011, 01:37 PM

You may not have it done by May but you will have it usable by May. I spent two nights in my '72 on the way home with it.

jen b · 03-11-2011, 02:01 PM

So are you now the proud owner of a lot of fishing rods and salsa, too?

Greg H · 03-11-2011, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jen b

So are you now the proud owner of a lot of fishing rods and salsa, too?

No, I didn't get any gifts with mine.

bastiaad · 03-11-2011, 02:53 PM

At the rate I am going it won't be unthawed before May. The other issue is the glacial rate at which The Insurance Company of British Columbia moves. Tracking the registration is becoming a bit of a process...

Lizbeth · 03-11-2011, 03:18 PM

Skis and sleeping bags OH MY!
What no chips?

Good luck in getting her unstuck. Don't you folks up in Frozenville have portable heaters and tools to unstick things?

Roland H · 03-13-2011, 05:46 PM

Remember Dan, you can never have too many fishing rods!

Not sure about all the salsa though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bastiaad

The trailer still has not made it home yet (still frozen at the passenger side wheel). I may make another attempt this weekend. In the meantime I thought I would post some interior photos. The poor little trailer is absolutely loaded full of "stuff". I think there are more dollars in fishing rods in the trailer than we paid for the whole thing... and why would anyone need 5 cases of salsa?

Carol- we have our eye on that meet. Mission is actually my hometown. We will have to see what the schedule comes out like in July. I don't know if we will have the trailer ready for May.

Cheers,
Dan

melissab · 03-14-2011, 10:38 AM

Wow! She looks to be in pretty solid shape and complete too. Gee, can you bring a portable campstove and boil pots of water to pour over the frozen spots? What about salt? How did your wife spot it waaaaaaaaaaay back there??

bastiaad · 03-15-2011, 11:23 AM

Jen the Egg-hunter:
My wife has been well trained at spotting FG trailers after months and months of searching. She spotted the roof top from 250 yards, but that is jumping ahead a bit... We were out driving and running some errands when she had a 'feeling' about a trailer. I thought that was a good sign and drove straight to where we had found a Monarch Ventura, knocked on the door and was disappointed to find no-one home. I got back in the vehicle and her 'feeling' was still there. "Drive to the other side of town," she said. Off we went and she lead us pretty much straight to the Trillium. A knock at the shop door and we met Ed who said the trailer was in rough shape and probably not what anyone would want (boy was he wrong). We went and had a look, decided it was perfect and then nervously went back to find out how much Ed needed for us to get it out of his yard. His price made the decision very easy and the deal was done. My wife can have this kind of voodoo magic at times and it is moments like these that I am glad she is on my side

As far as defrosting goes:
Heaters and the like won't have much effect on frozen ground with the temperatures we have had. The frost is very deep into the ground at this time of year. The big challenge with the side that is still stuck is that the rim is frozen in place. Once the rim is free it should be a little easier like the other side was... just deflate and reinflate the tire and it pops free. For the tongue jack I used a torch to free it (and about 15 mins burn time). We decided it would not be a good idea to use the torch on or near the tire

Warmer temperatures are here this week (even getting above freezing!!). At this point I have plans to chop the rim free and move the trailer this weekend. Wish us luck!