I got the trailer water system wrapped up this morning, and wouldn’t you know…it is just in time for an updated forecast of some high wind, possible ice & a dusting of snow. Oh come on! FFS!

As I was finishing up flushing the system I was a little concerned about the timing after seeing the forecast. My trailer has an outdoor shower (which will be awesome) and while flushing it out it made me realize that it is covered by a plastic hatch that is not insulated. Poop.

It was too late to go back now so I completed everything and went inside the trailer. I opened up a drawer inside that is near where the outdoor shower is located. I have the tank heat on and the furnace will blow warm air into the bowels of the trailer where the plumbing runs. That should keep everything thawed from the inside out.

I feel confident it will keep everything heated up fine. I did stick a little piece of non-fiberglass insulation in the hatch to help keep the shower parts warm. I will probably cut a piece of styrofoam scrap I have to fit snugly inside around the faucet and shower head. It’s a tight fit so I’m not even sure if that will work.

Sometimes you just have to be creative. I learned that with the Scotty trailer. After the tire blowout in BF, Utah that mangled the inner fender I had to do something to cover the damage since it was not repairable. I stopped and got some aluminum/butyl rubber-backed tape and a can of Flex Seal.

I taped it up inside & out and sprayed it best I could. It worked pretty good but I could not get some of the recessed damage covered so I couldn’t get it sealed completely. Towing it on a dirt forest road was just not good – everything inside ended up dirty but it kept out most of it and any rain. That Flex Seal is some good stuff.

That was the same trip in 2016 when I pulled over in a Wally World parking lot to sleep and the roof was leaking like a waterfall on the table. It was a torrential West Coast rain. It was also nighttime so my options to attempt a fix were slim.

I ended up finding a big garbage bag that I split open and it barely covered the problem. All I had handy were a few canned goods to hold it in place. I had to do this in the downpour so I was soaked pretty quickly.

The next morning I discovered that the wind had blown my “patch” partway off…and some of my canned goods had rolled down a few spaces in the parking lot. Luckily, it was not raining and I was only an hour from home.nI ran over, grabbed Chef Boy-ar-dee and we left.

It’s just one of those circumstances where it sure isn’t going to fix itself; you gotta do something – anything – as best as you can. Then you sit back, admire your handiwork as you dry off, and then have a good laugh. Yeah, it was frustrating, but getting pissed wasn’t gonna fix it. Put that energy into resolving the problem and move on. We learned that long ago off-roading in Colorado.

We would run into any number of issues on our adventures. This one particular time, Meghan and I went out ‘wheeling with a friend one time after a little snow had fallen. We got back into the forest several miles and the road had a long, slow downhill that was snowy. The sun was out so it was pretty soft but it was no problem. We went on our way and explored.

Come time to scoot out of the forest we got back to that particular area. We thought we would be okay but it was now an uphill with a glazing of ice thanks to that warming sun. The temperatures continued to fall as we winched out of there for about three hours – 50 feet at a time – strapping to trees. There were some spots the trees were too far apart so we would use the winch on one Jeep to tie off on a tree while the other Jeep hooked the winch to the back tow hooks of the uphill one.

Our Jeeps were built for this stuff; the other Jeep had a Hemi in it, 37” tires, front & rear lockers, swaybar disconnect, Atlas twin-stick T-case, winch. Mine had 35” tires, rear locker, factory 6-cylinder, 4” lift, swaybar disconnect, winch.

Built Jeeps or not, it was horrible but we made it out – tired, cold, wet and dirty. We had to be resourceful so we focused on that instead of being mad. It doesn’t matter what it is in life. You need a solution? You find a solution. It can always be worse…but don’t let it.

But, the trailer is now ready to go.

So am I.

—————

See you next time…

Shawn