“Tongue Deck” for Wood Blocks and Other Cargo

The good news is that our new trailer has lots of ground clearance. The bad news is that I need a lot of wood blocks to support the stabilizer jacks -- without blocks, the jack pads barely reach the ground when fully extended! But where to carry all of those blocks? We used to carry some blocks in heavy-duty plastic baskets that went inside the trailer when we traveled -- but it was a hassle to put the baskets into the trailer and then take them out again, every time we stopped. Plus, the blocks can be wet or dirty, depending on conditions at the campsite.

So my older son came up with a clever idea -- he noticed that I had some sheets of heavy wire deck in my garage. He cut them to fit the underside of the tongue of the trailer and then anchored them into the underside of the trailer, using self-tapping sheet metal screws and some pipe strap.

Here is the underside of the deck -- you can click on the picture to enlarge it, and click back to get back:



And here is a view from the top -- my propane tanks are at the bottom of this picture, my battery boxes are on the sides, and the front wall of the trailer is at the top of the shot:



Better yet, in addition to my wood blocks, the deck can also store rolled-up tarps, collapsible camp chairs, or whatever, all well-secured with several trusty bungee cords.

"Armored" Wheel Well

Long ago, we had a blowout -- the flapping steel belts tore out the trailer’s thin sheet metal wheel well. (I rebuilt it eventually, but the trailer was pretty well-ventilated until then.) My new trailer came equipped with thin plastic wheel wells, which looked similarly vulnerable. I understand that the trailer was designed to be lightweight, but I wanted more protection from blowouts and road debris.

So I went to a nearby truck stop and bought a big sheet of mud flap material, very thick and heavy. It was less than $4 for a 36 x 30 inch sheet! Using tin snips, I cut it to fit the top arch of my wheel. I then cut a semicircle to fit the vertical inside wall of the wheel well. I used Gorilla glue to fasten the “armor” to the plastic surfaces. Since Gorilla glue has to be clamped, I used spreader clamps to push up on the “armor,” using the tire itself as the base for the clamps.

Here are two shots of the armored wheel wells -- you can click on the picture to enlarge it, and click back to get back:





I was not sure if the glue would hold, but so far, so good -- we took a trip of almost 800 miles to Yosemite and back, through some snow and slush, with no problems.