A Very Blue Trailer

When you have a farm, even a small one like ours, you need a flat bed trailer. They are handy for all sorts of things; hauling tractors, hauling hay, picking up 16' fence panels or hay rings, or even for transporting five cubic yards of mushroom compost.

I bought this trailer a few months ago. It is a well-constructed, sturdy trailer with a 7000# capacity, but it had a few problems. First, the brake lights didn't work, and second, the tires are in horrible shape.

So what started out as fixing the brake lights turned out to be a major project. I first started out to fix the taillights but once I managed to unbolt them, it became clear that they were unfixable. The body of the lights were rusted through and wire casings were cracked. I decided to scrap them and buy new ones.

Of course, if I buy new lights, I might as well re-wire the trailer while I'm at it, right? And before I bolt the new lights in place, I ought to clean and paint the tail light bracket so it doesn't rust any more. Once I painted the tail light brackets, I decided I might was well paint the rest of the trailer while I'm at it. Oh, and the wood could probably use some wood preservative since I don't have a shelter to park the trailer under; Thompson's Water Seal to the rescue!

So here it is, in all its blue glory. In retrospect, blue probably wasn't the best color for the trailer. But it does now match the tractor color, as you can see in the picture. Plus, blue is my favorite color. The paint job is what you would expect from a spray can paint job. It has its share of runs, drips and oversprays, but it still looks better than it did before. Bob the tractor will look sweet riding on this trailer!

All this and I STILL don't have the brake lights on or the tires changed! It's not safe, but it looks good and that's what's important!