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Sometimes it takes half a six-pack, sometimes it doesn’t.
That’s been my motto while transforming the beater car-hauler trailer into the “foundation” for our portable backcountry skiing hut similar to the tiny houses being built all over the world these days. Operating a cutting torch in the hot sun, then crawling around on the ground with my welder? Those activities chew through the sixers like that torch punches mild steel. Strapping on the tool belt and cutting up nice fresh 2x4s? That’s when I’m a friend of Bill. Check out the first stage of the project. Lucky for my liver, the steel phase is over with.
The double axle car-hauler before hacking on it.
We cut and otherwise removed nearly everything from the trailer, leaving the bare frame. I then boxed the L-metal frame with the L-metal from the upper rail. I've worn out three sawzalls in my life, this is the fourth, a monster Bosch that's pretty dang impressive.
Hot knifing began with removing steel that held down the existing deck. With Scott operating the sawzall and me on the torch, we got the demolition done fairly quickly.
Rail and deck removed. Trailer is down to bare bones.
I had to do some welding on a damaged cross member. After we installed the wood platform, I welded another metal band around the outside parimeter, which was tied into the main frame with metal bracing. I'm figuring for a 150psf snow load, so since the perimeter of the platform will overhang on the sides where the roof bearing walls are, reinforcement was necessary.
Should I admit I'm enjoying being a carpenter again, even if it does mean running in and out of the blog office, answering email with my toolbelt still on?
We began the decking process with a layer of hardware cloth as rodent proofing, 2x4 sleepers are spacers to raise floor superstructure to level of side rails, so it can hang over the sides and produce our 9 foot 6 inch wide platform.
Floor framing nearly complete.
While we'll be skipping wall insulation and interior paneling for now, I figured we should insulate the floor since it'll be difficult to access later.
The platform foundation completed. It's 16 feet long and about 9 foot 6 inches wide. We'll need a wide load permit for highway moves, but the extra width gets the interior feeling away from the 'travel trailer' ambiance. We're not planning on moving this very frequently, so needing a permit shouldn't be a big deal.
Next, we’ll get some walls up!
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
