The Traveling Workshop!

We’re making headway on the portable workshop! I figured since we’re stalled out on the barn until the engineer can get to it, I had better make myself useful. To be honest, I have been going crazy with worry wondering if we’ll be able to get the barn up before winter, this is basically my therapy. (The good news, we heard back from the engineer just today and he’s on track to wrap up our building this weekend!)

The portable workshop

This is a project we started about a year ago. Before we found our property. One of the things we knew, no matter where we found land, was that we were going to be building off the beaten path. Also, with limited storage we needed a safe and convenient place to keep our tools. I came up with designing a portable workshop. I found this awesome and unique trailer on Craigslist. It’s ‘odd’ so hard to sell. Also keen for a good deal. Other trailers in this size range sell for $5-6,000. I found this one for $3,000. I wasn’t able to barter it down lower as the man selling had already lowered it so much. That didn’t stop me from trying though!

Additionally, this is made of steel instead of thin fiberglass panels. Previously this was used by the local fire department to show off various fire suppression systems. The large windows on the side were for viewing and they would literally light a fire in the middle and then put it out. This unique purpose gives the trailer a unique layout. Basically there were three sections. A medium one up front, large one in the middle viewing area, and a small one in back.

The medium one will become a more ‘domestic’ workshop. It will house my sewing machine, paints, etc. There will also be a cozy chair and work table. The large and small sections have been combined to make one large area. I added the floor because there was a tripping hazard on the floor that is structural. I don’t want anyone getting hurt while working with power tools!

Fear is just another problem we will figure out

There is one big reason I haven’t touched this in a year. Basically, I have never painted anything like this so I was scared. (Oh, and I had to paint it, Red is basically my least favorite color!) I couldn’t really do any other parts until it was painted though. When you’ve never done something it can be very frightening to try! What is a quick project really can feel HUGE in your head. Like I feel like I’d have to clear a week of my schedule just to paint it. Because clearly I am going to mess it up at least once and have to figure out how to fix it… So really, I needed this waiting period on the big barn to happen so that I could just get through my fear on this one.

I found an affordable ($50) paint sprayer with good reviews. Then, I used oil based Kills brand primer, two coats. It did need to be thinned down to spray easily which was a trick to get used to. After that I used tractor paint. I figured it would be durable! There is a little bit of a texture to it. I either needed to thin it down more or use a better sprayer. It really doesn’t bother me on a utility trailer but I would probably used a different combo if I was painting a car or something.

Picture progress