Rehabbing an old trailer

Hey all, jut wanted to share my newest project! This is an older (2000 I think) valley two horse, bumper pull trailer that we are redoing. I don't really know that much (okay, nothing) about this kinda stuff, so we are having someone do everything for us. When we bought it in September, we took it to a car place where they went over it with a fine toothed comb, redid the wiring and made it completely structurally sound. But now we have enough money to make it pretty! :)







So, paint colors: I was initially thinking light gray/silver with a navy or hunter pin stripe. However, the person painting it said that it will probably be less expensive to do it in a dark color like navy because they would be able to spot sand it and paint over everything else. Something about how if you sand the whole thing you have to be careful about screws and fittings and such? Make sense? Would painting it a dark color make it too hot in the summer?

The other thing, it is a warmblood size, which means its taller and wider and longer than other standard sizes (right?). So, it has quite a wide front walkway in front of where the horses go (where their heads are) so we were thinking: would it be possible/safe to have a drop down saddle rack welded into the front?
So this,

Here, under the window


Also, is there anything else I should consider while we redo it? As I said before, we had them go over it and look at floor, tires, wiring etc.

P.s be nice! these are all potential ideas that's all, and as I said I don't know diddly squat about this kinda stuff!

I would get a second opinion on those floors, and make sure they check the wood from underneath. Also get new rubber mats that cover every inch of the floor; no less than 3/4 in, but 1 inch would be ideal.

Also is there currently mounting hardware for feed mangers? You cannot start planning tack areas until you know how much room you'll have to work with around the mangers.

I wouldn't weld saddle racks to the wall. The skin isn't designed to support that kind of weight. You would have to first weld supporting braces to the frame and the mount the racks to the the supports. You would be better off installing a front kick wall along the chest plate. And then getting a saddle rack/water tank like this:

http://img.ridingwarehouse.com/water...=HCPSRWC-1.jpg

The new wall would keep the saddles from sliding in to your horses knees, and you can use your current rubber mats to line both sides if the new wall.
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I think it looks good as is. IF it were me I'd spend my $$ on a good new floor and not worry about painting and fixing up an older trailer. It looks FINE like it is :)
And your horse doesn't care LOL
But then again I"m the queen of the junky (but safe and functional) horse trailers :)

Looks like a Shoop trailer. I had one very similar, but older. Solid trailers.

That floor wood looks good from here. They are commonly made of oak, so if they aren't split or rotten, they're fine. Take an ice pick, or an awl, or even a small phillips screwdriver and poke around in the corners and where the wood meets metal. If you can't stick it into the wood easily and don't see anything obviously rotten, it's sound. Don't replace it. Replacing the floor wood is a major project and 2" oak is not cheap. For sure, don't replace it with treated lumber. Treated lumber is made from a variety of pine or fir, and it isn't nearly as strong as oak. Not only that, but the chemical it is treated with reacts with metal and speeds up the rust process where ever it touches metal.

Those floor mats you have look good to me as well. I wouldn't buy new ones. Floor mats are amazingly expensive for a piece of rubber.

Dark color on the sides won't increase heat too much, but have them paint the roof white if you can. That will make as much as 20 degrees difference inside in the summer. Horses inside a dark trailer in the summer, even with windows fully open, can overheat very quickly, even if you just get into slow traffic on the highway. Overheating a horse is serious business and can be fatal.

Install two good vents in the roof.

For saddle racks, you'll need to have some cross braces welded to the upright braces in the front of the trailer to attach the foldable racks to. The metal skin simply won't hold it. Or you can lay a piece of 1/2 or 3/4" plywood on the floor, screw it solidly to the floor boards, bolt a metal upright to the floor and mount your saddle stands to it. You may have to make a place on the tongue for your spare tire, since I believe Shoop trailers normally mounted their spare inside. You might also consider looking online for a tack box or water tank with built-in saddle racks on top. I've seen those and one would work very well in your trailer without modifications.

Rather than worry about welding in a feed shelf, which will cause you problems with the doors, you might consider buying hay bags. That's what I use. Just stuff them with hay and hang them from an eyelet in an upper corner.

When restoring and remodeling an old trailer, keep your costs in mind, because you won't get it back, no matter how good it looks, and you will quickly find you have spent more than you would have, had you bought the trailer you wanted in the first place.

First and foremost, get someone to re-pack, or at least check, all the wheel bearings and brakes. Don't take the dealer's word for it, unless you saw them do it or specifically paid them to do it. It doesn't take long and you will have the peace of KNOWING the last time it was done. Trailer bearings and brakes very seldom get checked until they go bad. Getting caught out on the road late on a Saturday evening with a burned bearing is a real bummer.

Good luck!