Yellowstone | FindPenguins

Date ascending

Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 12, 2016, 7:30am
- ☀️ 0 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 1
Trailer stripped
March 12, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C
Here is the trailer stripped down in order to check its condition. Its fantastic to have a heated garage to work in.
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 12, 2016, 4:10pm
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 1
Trailer reconditioning
March 12, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Uh oh. The trailer is +20 yrs old and the frame is no longer straight. Its back end is sagging. Well, I know how it feels. To fix this I will build the wooden camper frame on the (flat and level) garage floor, then put the frame on the trailer, then shim as needed.

The white thing is a fluorescent light bulb, the kind that's 5 feet long and in your school. I thought it was clever of me to realize it was a long, straight object. I also found an inch of black soot on it from the wood stove. After I washed them the garage was a lot brighter.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 12, 2016, 6:00pm
- 🌙 13 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 1
Trailer grinding
March 12, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
Here is how one sands the rust off a small trailer. When your trailer is light enough to throw around life is much easier! The sanding made so much dust that the floor around it was fully coated. The dust mask I was wearing was dirty-mud-rust colored when I finished.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 13, 2016, 5:00pm
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 2
Trailer repair
March 13, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
This used to be a folding trailer. There is a large hand knob at the front which does two things: keeps the trailer from folding, which is nice when you're towing, and distributes some of the towing forces onto the trailer frame. I found that this knob would not tighten down far enough, which meant all towing forces were ending up on one bolt. Where is the large knob? I sheared it off trying to get it to turn. Two intelligently placed welds later and the trailer's structure is now much more rigid with little change to the trailer's engineering.

The welding cost $0. This is the third time in my life I've had someone say, "Ehhh... no charge" when what they actually meant was "I don't want anything on record that says I was responsible for this."Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 17, 2016, 2:00pm
- ⛅ 15 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 6
Camper floor
March 17, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
This will be the foundation and floor of the camper. Does it look like I know what I'm doing? Ha. I'm faking it while making it. Right, Sarah?

The black stuff is roofing tar. Interesting stuff, that. Looks like chocolate frosting, smells like gasoline, spreads like bubble gum.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 19, 2016, 2:00pm
- ☀️ 4 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 8
Go with the flo(or)
March 19, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
What I was SUPPOSED to do with the floor was glue the insulation to the plywood, then glue a thin plywood over it all, and put the tar on that. This is the less involved method: stick the insulation in the tar and leave it exposed (it is the underside of the trailer.) UNfortunately for me, I didn't install the insulation when the tar was fresh and sticky.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 19, 2016, 3:30pm
- ☀️ 5 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.946434, -71.51334442°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 8
DIY spray booth
March 19, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C
Today was too cold outside to finish spray painting the trailer so I had to make a gas chamber / redneck spray booth. By the time I finished my respirator filters were bright red and my clothes were pink. As seen in the second picture, the finished trailer is "good from afar but far from good." I painted right over some of the rust I didn't get, and it bugged me.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 19, 2016, 5:42pm
- ☀️ 4 °C
- Altitude: 282 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.946058, -71.51334342°56’46” N 71°30’48” W
Day 8
First mistake
March 19, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
Yesterday it dawned on me I had done the floor wrong. Damnit! Well, too late now - the floor is now following a different build method.

The stripped trailer weighs roughly 165 lbs and 15 is on the tongue.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 19, 2016, 5:50pm
- ☀️ 4 °C
- Altitude: 285 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.94637, -71.513242°56’47” N 71°30’48” W
Day 8
Marriage
March 19, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
The parts were married today. Much hilarity ensued. The carriage bolts weren't long enough (not anticipated) and when tightening its locknut the bolt just spun on the plywood (anticipated, but no one seems to carry torque washers.) I then tried to measure how much the frame was sagging (no good.) I went with an estimate, conveniently the thickness of a 2x4, but then found some scrap wood that was an even better fit. But in putting it to use I made quite a mess of things. Oh well.

That's why I'm taking on a project like this: the experience. I know this is my first attempt at anything like this. I didn't set a goal to make a large, beautiful, valuable item. I'm doing it for the challenge and making mistakes is no big deal.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Yellowstone
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Mar 20, 2016, 12:30pm
- ☀️ 2 °C
- Altitude: 279 ft
- United States New Hampshire Hillsborough County Bedford Bells Hill 42.946644, -71.51272642°56’48” N 71°30’46” W
Day 9
Learning the hard way
March 20, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C
I learned that some jobs simply cannot be done without special tools and experience. Well, got one less rim to worry about now.
0 likes