So I drew up plans for a house-shaped trailer. I originally was going ot make it 6 feet tall so I could stand in it, but once I looked it at realistically, I decided on 4 feet tall with a 1 foot peak. My best friend worked at a lumberyard, so he got me a deal on all the wood. I started by building a frame of 2x2s into the rack pockets in the frame. Then I added the plywood walls and roof, and made a frame for a removable back door. I used rolled roofing and dripedge on the roof, and firring strips for the trim. I painted the wood with Kilz sealer, then white house paint. Then I painted the trim and the trailer frame with black house paint.
I recessed the side lights into the trim, and made a rear enclosure for the lights and license bezel with backup lights. To use the backup lights, I wired the trailer with a 7-wire RV plug. A new coupler was in order too, since the old one wasnt too trusty. Real chains were in order too. 6000# chain held by Grade 8 bolts was sure to stand up to anything. These went on to become my specialty chains, which I used on two other trailers since then.
The tires and wheels the next thing in order. The trailer axle was from a 1960s Ford product. The wheels were ugly steel 13", with bald tires. I wanted some stylish wheels, so I took a trip to the junkyard. It was surprisingly hard to find a vehicle with a 4-bolt, 4 1/2" bolt circle. But after a few hours I found just the vehicke. An early 80s Toyota Celica, with only 3 nice aluminum wheels existing. Got them for $10 a piece, and would even have a matching spare! Once I got home I tried on the wheels, and the center bore was too small, but only by 1/16". So the machinist at work bored them out and countersunk the lug holes for me, and I poked $20 in his pocket. I painted them with white appliance enamel, and had 14" Carlisle trailer tires mounted to them. The difference in wheel offset put them pretty close to the frame, but not too close..yet.
Got it weighed (900#) and licensed, and I was ready to go. One thing I did a little later on was totally insulated it and added inside walls, since I ended up not moving but playing music in the area instead. I also added weathertight rear locks (got tired of having to carry around a torch to thaw them every time), some extra bracing for the rear enclosure, and some slimine strip lights for the front and rear gables.
I loved my trailer. The weight of the trailer kept the leaf springs mostly compressed all the time, so it sailed down the road smooth as can be. The tongue ended up weighing 25#, which could have not been better. Kept it in place, was easy to lift around, and didnt weigh down the rear of the car (and take traction from the front drive wheels). I got comments wherever I went about it being a doghouse, fish shanty, a real house, a hunting blind, etc. For some reason the Doghouse stuck.
But all this changed on my birthday in 2000, which was the last time I would see my Doghouse. I lent to a coworker and long time friend of the family to take his son to a music tournament in Missouri. One of the nicest guys in the world. On the way back (someone else was driving and he was sleeping) they were stopped at a construction zone, and a gas tanker big rig with a driver half asleep slammed into the back of them. The trailer pretty much buckled and exploded. The Class III Reese hitch was bent into a "Z". The back of the van caved in slightly, and the van got pushed into the Camaro in front, causing major damage to both vehicles. They figured the Doghouse saved their lives, since it absorbed the impact. If the tanker wouldve hit the back of the van directly, people wouldve likely been dead. I was devastated for days after hearing about it. But at least the Doghouse died while it protected some of the better people in the world.
Ron (my coworkers name) worked with the insurance companies for 3 months, and got them to pay for everything. I got a settlement of almost $2400 after figuring thats what it would take to have the Doghouse built again the same way it was. But times had changed, and I had a family and house of my own and no real good means doing it again. Also, I had been using it to take the trash to my mom's restaurant dumpster, and a lot of it had been piling up. So I found a place where I could get a comparable trailer for much less, that I could still customize the way I wanted, and thats when the Caboose was born.
Click the links below for photos and descriptions
Views and descriptions - Page 1
Views and descriptions - Page 2
Views and descriptions - Page 3
Back to main page
