Initially, we thought we would be able to strip the trailer out, make some repairs to the cladding, cut hatches and fit out the interior.
Wendy's husband Vince, (a Marine Engineer more familiar with nuclear submarines than horse trailers!), set about the task with enthusiasm, enlisting the help of a 'willing volunteer' in the form of his son Edward...
Unfortunately, on removing the interior panels and floor, it became apparent that there was considerably more corrosion than we'd hoped for. This necessitated the removal of all the exterior cladding so we could get at the chassis to make repairs. We'd now got considerably less trailer than we'd started with!
Once removed, the aluminium cladding was also found to be badly corroded where it made contact with the steel frame, and we were faced with a difficult decision over carrying out extensive repairs (with concern over whether we could retain the vintage appearance of our trailer) or going the whole hog and replacing the cladding.
Rather inevitably, we concluded that new cladding was the right decision to maintain our intent of presenting a vintage, but high quality, image. Whilst the trailer frame was being repaired, with the expert help of John, aka 'The Fabricator', we set about trying to find some suitable cladding that would maintain the original Rice Trailer look.
Having investigated countless options we found nothing that gave us the same vintage appearance and decided we would need to have our own cladding made. Vince produced a set of drawings and we enlisted the services of Worcester Metal Sheeting & Fixings Ltd to produce some authentic cladding and roof panels.
While the panels were being manufactured John setting about cutting out the corroded frame sections, welding in new metal and making the necessary modifications to the top frame to convert it for its new life. The result is a totally restored chassis with decades of new life in it;
With the chassis reinstated to its former glory the top frame was then stripped back to the metal and primed, ready for its new top coat;
In the meantime, Worcester Metal Sheeting and Fixings had been busy making our new panels and we were very excited to get the call saying our panels were ready to be delivered.
The panels looked fantastic and were an accurate match for the originals, meaning that, when fitted and powder coated, our trailer is going to retain its vintage appearance, whilst again having decades of new life breathed into it. We couldn't wait to get stuck into the fitting of the new cladding.
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