NEW TRAILER!!!!

 When I bought the racecar back in late 2019, we discovered that due to clearance issues, the trailer we had been using for HPDE events would no longer suffice.  In early 2020 we bought a hand me down, homemade open deck race trailer with a tire rack, winch and tool box.  It wasn't much to look at, but it worked great as a "starter" trailer. As we became more serious about this whole racing thing, it became clear that the most efficient way to go was to have an enclosed trailer that could double as a camper at the track.  The truck we had at the time, while sufficient for pulling the small open trailer would have struggled with an enclosed trailer the size that we would have needed, so we would need to upgrade our tow vehicle BEFORE upgrading the trailer. Since we were able to score a great deal on an upgraded truck last summer, that meant this year it was time to look at getting the racecar better digs to and from the track.  Luckily the area where we live is very close to a hotspot of trailer manufacturing, so it was quite easy to find good deals on brand new enclosed trailers.  We ended up purchasing ours from Weaver's Trailer Sales in Middlebury, IN, a town about 30 minutes from our house.  

Here's the vitals for our new home at the track:  Manufacturer: United Trailers, Color: Battleship Grey, Length: 27 foot "V" nose, Capacity: 10,000lbs. The drive home with an empty trailer and 20mph crosswinds was enough to convince me that a weight distributing hitch with sway control was going to be a necessity going forward.  Here's a few pics from when we got it home:

After the hitch arrived, I loaded the car into the trailer for the first time and took it on a 100 mile round trip on different roads just to make sure that I had set the hitch correctly for my usual load. Man, what a difference that hitch made in ride quality and stability.  

FITS LIKE A GLOVE!!!

We decided to have the factory install the cabinets we wanted along with the 12,000lb winch we already had from when we were looking at modifying a different trailer.  Yes, I could have done both, but we really wanted the cabinets to look good, and I don't really have that ability in my skill set.  After about a week, we were able to pick the trailer up once again, with a quick detour on the way home to grab supplies for the floor covering we planned to install.  It took 4-5 days working about 4 hours a day to get the flooring laid out, cut and then glued down. After that it took about 4 hours of work to screw down the flooring around the edges, then install all the trim pieces to complete the job. 

Interior before installing cabinets and flooring

After cabinets and flooring was laid out, not cut to fit yet.... Who is that goofball???

Flooring after being cut to fit, next step gluing it down.

Good times!

After putting the adhesive on, directions called for using a hand roller to help smooth the flooring and push out any air bubbles.  I decided to improvise, the 295 width tires off the 2010 Camaro worked great!

I used a flat, flexible vinyl trim for "outside" corners (top pic), and flexible rubber quarter round for the "inside" corners(bottom pic).  Melanie found both these products on Amazon fairly cheaply.   Once that was finished, I let the trailer sit in the shop completely opened up for 2 days so all the fumes from the glue, rubber and vinyl could dissipate. Then it was time to roll it outside to test out the "living quarters" capabilities, and test out our new air mattress.  Turns out, it makes a fairly nice camper, as long as you don't mind there being no windows!  

COZY!

After it passed another test with flying colors, it was time to put the finishing touches on the trailer before loading up for it's first race weekend.  I needed to find, then cut out where the D-rings were supposed to go, then get them reinstalled.  Thanks to Melanie thinking ahead, we had marked where the cutouts were on the floor with masking tape. It only took around an hour and I had them back in just like new.  The next thing on my list that I wasn't going to the track without was a fire extinguisher.  I installed a 5lb ABC extinguisher just inside the walkthrough door, right next to the light switch, so it should be easy to find.  I plan on adding a second one on the opposite rear corner in the not too distant future, but one will be enough for now.  

Found the first D-ring cut out!

ALL DONE!!!  for now, anyway, 

I view a race trailer as an evolving entity, meaning it's not ever really finished until you decide to sell it.  We have a backup camera that will be installed before the first trip, as well as LED lights to be added under the upper cabinets so I have plenty of light to work on things on the counter top.  We also need to find a suitable fan to keep things cool and decide on a generator to keep everything running.  In the future, I will install tire racks, a white board, and more e-trac to secure tools to the walls during transport.  I'm sure there will be posts about most of those installation "adventures".