I was lucky to get some time away from work yesterday. We were closed on Monday, and that usually means that our next day that we are open is a zoo. I went in to work, hung our for a while, and once I saw that everything was under control I headed over to my storage building to get out my vanity and bed frames. I was driving my old Land Rover, and I wish I had taken pictures of it all loaded up with Airstream furniture. The vanity fit in the back as though it had been designed to fit. The bed frames went on the roof rack and I lashed them down. It was nasty getting them up there. If you go back in this blog you will see that the curb side bed had the mother of all mouse nests between the sleeping platform and the top of the drawers. I cleaned it out before I took everything apart, but never really cleaned it good. Well, in order to get the beds on the roof rack, I had to turn them upside down and hold them up over my head. This, of course, made every loose bit of mouse nest and mouse turd that was left over cascade down upon me. It was really nasty, let me tell you. Anyway, I got the bed frames in the garage, waiting for me to look them over and decide if I'm going to tackle rebuilding them, or if I'll do the easy (smart) thing and send them down to Frank in Baltimore. Take a look at what all of his work looks like dry fitted and I think you'll understand why I'd like to have more of this quality work done for my trailer.

I was asked to take a better picture of what my cork floor looks like. It is strips of cork running lenthwise in the trailer. It was a very nice texture; not too rough, but with lots of grain that you can feel underneath your feet. It is finished to give it a nice matte finish, and should hide dirt very well and be easy to clean.

Progress.

Updates have been few and far between lately on this blog, and if you have been waiting to see what's new with my trailer, I apologise. Work has been progressing, however. Most of it has been done without me personally touching a tool, though. Last update I showed my new paint job done by Don Stanton, and Frank Yensen of Frank's Trailer Works has been doing some amazing woodworking for me. Let me take a minute to talk about Frank's Trailer Works. Frank Yensen holds a Master Degree in Fine Arts, and is a true old world craftsman in absolutely everything he does. I met Frank through our mutual friend Rob Baker, and my life has been blessed because of it. Frank is one of the most genuine people you could ever hope to meet. If you ask him a question, he will give you his opinion and will not care if it is not what you want to hear. This is something I appreciate immensly, especially when it comes to doing business with someone. There were times in the planning of my cabinets and flooring when I had made up my mind about what species of wood I wanted, or the shade of paint I wanted to use on the walls. For the most part, frank thought my ideas were good ones, but on a few occasions he let me know that my choices just would not work. He was gentlmanly about it, and did not make me feel like an idiot about it, but he was certain to make sure I knew his opinion of my choices. Being that I am a pharmacist, not an artist, I always deferred to his opinion. Without exception I am glad I followed his advise. It is a wonderful feeling to work with someone as technically capable at the physical aspects of building, and all the more when that person has an eye for beauty and asthetics. I am very happy to have Frank's Trailer Works working with me on the rebuild of my Airstream, and the pictures speak for themselves.

After getting the floor prepped, I started placed the tub and black tank and then started clicking the flooring together.

Then I tried to get the wardrobes through the bulkhead in the galley. No go. These trailers were built from the back forward, and when I took the old wardrobes out they were in pieces. Out came the screwdrivers and off came the wall next to the sink. Looks nice and roomy.

Wardrobes placed where they will sit. I will have flooring underneath the entire wardrobe. When Frank built these, he asked me the the thickness of the flooring planks I would be using, and then he shortened them by that amount. 11mm in this case. They fit perfectly.

Below shows the beautiful wood we used, and the contrast between the cherry wood and cork floor. I absolutely love it!