Heh.

No -- this little trailer has been a great pleasure to me.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.

On 06/18/2014 09:56 PM, Jeff Palmer wrote:
> Sounds like you're getting ready to sell the trailer??
>
> Jeff
>
>> Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 20:58:38 -0700
>> From: camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM
>> Subject: Westrailia update
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>
>> My little camping trailer, a repainted model consisting of a fiberglass
>> body atop a steel frame model which was made in 1972 by the Ladybug
>> Trailer Co. in San Juan Capistrano (and about which I can find nothing
>> other than a few corporate filings on the California Secretary of
>> State's website), this little trailer suffered a fairly major breakdown
>> on my last camping trip. Busted the tongue right off the frame.
>>
>> My occasional blog mentions the breakdown:
>>
>> <http://thatjacksblog.blogspot.com/>
>>
>> My son kindly drove his 4WD Jeep up to the site to help paste the
>> trailer back together so I could tow it back home when I left. He took
>> most everything I didn't need back with him so I could and drive back
>> with an empty trailer.
>>
>> The splint he & I applied to the busted tongue worked, the trailer made
>> its way back home, and he made me an offer: for his 26th birthday, I buy
>> him a $100 Harbor Freight wire welder, and he'd put the trailer's frame
>> back together.
>>
>> Deal.
>>
>> Bought him the welder and some steel bits from Bend Steel Co.; he
>> provided the welding mask and better-quality wire (the stuff that ships
>> with the welder is rubbish); and he used the trailer frame to learn how
>> to use the welder.
>>
>> He modified the frame to make it miles stronger than it was (once the
>> body was off the flimsiness of the original frame was evident). Adding a
>> 2'' x 3'' steel 11-gauge box channel spine from the hitch to the rear
>> crossmember strengthens a frame remarkably. Several other bonds were
>> broken, he strenthened them with 11 gauge bar stock. Had fun. The thing
>> will outlast me.
>>
>> I brought it back home last night, and today I put on a new wiring
>> harness for the lights: I replaced the crappy Harbor Freight stud-mount
>> lights fitted with incandescent bulbs in amazingly crappy sockets that I
>> got ten years ago with far better Harbor Freight stud-mount lights with
>> LED lamps that should last far longer.
>>
>> This evening, he and I set the body atop the rebuilt frame, drilled new
>> mounting holes, bolted the body down, and Hey Presto! the Westrailia is
>> ready to rock.
>>
>> Nice to have son who is handy, and will help the old man. A confluence
>> of his birthday and Fathers Day.
>>
>> So, Cosette, the cat, and I are going camping starting Friday and won't
>> be back until Thursday. It's special spot I know at the base of Pine
>> Mountain, Deschutes County, Oregon, with nary a soul within miles. No
>> water, no accomodations. But beauty, quiet, and long, long days.
>>
>> --
>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
>> Bend, Ore.
>
>