Motorcycle Cargo Trailer Project Final Part 9

In this final part of the motorcycle cargo trailer project I will cover the painting of the trailer and final photos of what it looked like once it was completed. So once again let's get started.  

Here is the trailer finally seeing the light of day on it's wheels and getting ready to be hauled to the paint shop.  The blueish white kind of looks like camoflaage at this point but it will soon be sanded and primed for new paint.  I was very pleased to see it take shape with all that had been completed over the eight months that it took to get this far.  Total hours at this point of work came up to 425 total.  This did not include the hundreds of hours it took just to design the trailer. 

The trailer is on the trailer!  My cargo trailer looks small compared to what it being hauled on when these photos were taken.  But in reality the trailer was quite large and could haul a sizable load.

My brother who has been doing body work on cars for years was my paint man and so it was a no brainer to turn this portion of the trailer project over to him.  During the winter months he worked on prepping the trailer for paint and brought the body up to perfection with this knowledge and skill of auto body work.  

These two photos show the start of setting up the paint scheme that I had decided on for the trailer.  This alone was a long process as the trailer like any other vehicle can be painted a million different ways and colors.  So I was more than happy to have someone that I trusted to help me get this part of the project done right.

Here are some good views of the trailer body all smoothed out ready for paint.  I also was very happy on how it all looked with the little details  such as the tail light assembly, fenders, and latch mounts that I had been working on looking so nice even before painting had begun.

 Here the final layout for the paint is being laid down on the body of the trailer.  An interesting process to see first had.  My brother Carl is an expert when it comes to this part of the project so I became a spectator at this point as was very confident that he would do a much better job that I ever could.  I am an expert in a couple of different fields but body work and painting is not one of them.  You simply cannot be an expert in every field of interest.  I would have to have a couple more lifetimes to accomplish that feat.

The first of many coats of white paint are being applied to the primed body.  The blue tape that had already been laid down on the body was already covering the maroon stripes that Carl had already completed before hand.

It was strange for me to see the body in color now after all of the months of working on it and only seeing the blue styrofoam and fiber glass.  Looks good at this point already.

The blue tape is removed to reveal the maroon stripes for the first time!  An exciting thing to see after all the work that had been put into this project.  The body was painted with several white base coats and then several more coats of pearliscent white.  The stripes look black in these photos but are actually are maroon to match my motorcycle. 

Once the pearl paint and the stripes had cured enough four or five coats of clear were sprayed on to top to give everything a nice shine worthy of the project.

 This is what it is all about.  The planning, designing, blood, sweat, and tears to finally call this project done.

A good shot of the rear of the trailer with the newly chromed bumper and LED tail lights mounted.  Notice the chrome locks on the lid of the trailer.  

Even with the lid of the trailer open the rig looks great.  The prop rod to hold up the lid was from a 65' Mustang.  It was the prefect size and shape for the project. 

One last thing was needed to put the cherry on top of the project.  Custom coolers!

A good friend of mine had followed along with me on this project from beginning to end as I was building it and asked me if the coolers had the sun and moon on them for hot and cold drinks.  I cracked up and said of course what better reason to make custom coolers for this beautiful trailer.  Through it all I learned a lot about working with fiber glass and composite construction in general.  It led the way to other projects like the fifteen foot three section kayak that I have posted on this site.  

  I hope you have learned something new as well with all of the postings about my trailer project and have come away with the knowledge that it does not take a rocket scientist to create something like this.  Just a lot of patience and the willingness to put the effort into it to see it to completion.  Enjoy and keep tinkering!