The 1962 ex-Royal Marines trailer was very tatty looking and I felt very embarrassed using it or leaving it outdoors, feeling the neighbours were probably unhappy about it too but just too polite to complain. It spends almost all of its time hidden in the garage, filled with all sorts of spares but not available for its purpose.
Always a bottom of the to-do list job, its smarten up has been bumped up because I need the garage space to modify the Defender/Discovery axles, so it needs to sit outside for a while, and because it’s a cheap job I could do before Christmas.
It’s not a complete refurb – the brakes are good, so I’m not planning to do anything on them, and the electrics all work perfectly. The tub won’t be taken from the chassis, either. It’s just a matter of sanding the outside smooth to get rid of all the flakes, brush strokes and dirt, repainting the exterior in satin black NATO paint, painting the chassis and wheel arches with undershield or Schutz and sorting out the cover (small patches to the few minor cuts and tears, then painting it with the same black to mask all the stains and fading). The wheels will get attention from the grinder with wire brush disc before brush painting black.
So far, it has had its first coat on the A-frame, tub, legs and rear cross member using a brush and a small foam roller. Once all the painting is complete, the lights, new reflectors and black reflective tape will go on and it can then spend winter outdoors.
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