A Few Ideas For An Ugly Trailer Door

Behold, the inside of an old trailer's door--not the prettiest thing you've ever seen, for sure. And just think--you'll be looking at it when you're inside the trailer, and everyone else will be looking at it when you're camping and have the main door open with the screen door closed.

Some facelift ideas to consider:

* Spray paint it, and call it good.
* Spray the background, then paint a design over the background if you're so inclined.
* Paint the background, then get the ModPodge out and affix prints or pictures that express your theme.
* Spray with chalkboard paint, so you can write and draw on it. Instant blackboard!
* "Wallpaper" it with fabric, affixed with (what else?) good old ModPodge, then sealed.

Got another idea you'd be willing to share?


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Things To With Your Trailer When You're Not Camping

Much as we might like to, not many of us get to go overnight camping all the time.

But this doesn't mean your cute trailer just has to sit parked for 50 weekends out of the year. With a bit of thought, you can come up with fun ways to enjoy it for day trips, too. And be a big hit while you're at it!

You could:

* Pick a park or fishing hole, then invite a local friend to join you on a picnic or to go fishing, with your trailer as lounge and kitchen.

* Take Hubby or Boyfriend on a date to do something similar. (What you do together behind the closed door is up to you.)

* Go do some small-town garage-saleing, with your trailer along.

* Use it as a private crash pad at an outdoor concert.

* Visit a winery or a truck farm.

* Take your niece, nephew, or grandchild to a neighborhood park, where the trailer can serve as playhouse.

* Set it up as a refreshments lounge at a footfall game.

Girl Camping Girl has been known to take her trailer with her to the supermarket, just because! If you've got that great gal toy, ladies, get on out and play with it!

Safe Towing: Cautionary Tale

We all love our camping hobby for the fun, the freedom, the friendships made, and the frivolity of decorating up a storm. But let's take a break from that for a moment to talk about towing safely. It doesn't necessarily come as second nature, as this cautionary tale will attest.

The link takes you to photos of a flipped trailer and a hitch that broke in half after the driver swerved to avoid a skunk in the road and then hit the brakes in the  attempt to control her swaying trailer. The trailer was totaled and the two people in the tow rig are lucky to be alive.

Lindsey, the driver, has it right when she says she made an instinctual move to avoid the skunk and save her rig from the sway episode it caused, and that "sometimes your instincts are wrong."

Let's all learn something from this, OK?

* Never swerve hard to avoid hitting an animal in the road. Of course we all hate to kill something, but it basically comes down to the animal or you. You and your rig can survive running over something, but a dramatic swerve action will cause your trailer to make a dramatic swerve, too, and put you into a potentially lethal sway. What has to be in your mind is this: STAY STRAIGHT, STAY STRAIGHT, STAY STRAIGHT. Once you introduce a swerve, you can't take it back, and that instinctive turn of the steering wheel can kill you. (Imagine getting pulled off the road by an uncontrollable trailer while traveling between rock wall faces and this river.)

* If you do get into a sway, getting control is completely counter-intuitive. Instinct tells us to brake hard, but braking your tow rig alone, without first applying separate brakes to slow the trailer's axles, will intensify the sway, not stop it.  (Read here for a good explanation of trailer sway and what causes it). The only reliable way to get control is to have and apply your trailer brakes right away, the moment a sway begins. If you don't have them, then you are in trouble, and will be driving for your life.

* In any situation when towing your trailer at speed, DO NOT HIT YOUR BRAKES. By braking the tow rig, you'll slow it down but not the trailer. Then the trailer will sway sideways, jackknife, and readily take over control of the forward momentum to pull your car or truck off the road. (Or, if you're luckier, detach from your tow vehicle from the centrifugal force.)

* Drive attentively, in general. Keep a frequent eye on your mirrors so you always know what's behind you and what might be attempting to pass your trailer. Look way out ahead, too, so you can anticipate moves before having to make them sudden. Stay way behind the vehicle in front of you, and always give yourself a long stopping distance so you can roll to a stop or slowdown instead of braking hard.

* Keep your speed down in the 55 mph range or lower. Vintage trailers weren't made to rocket down the road at today's freeway speeds--we didn't even have freeways when most of these trailers were made. You'll get to your destination soon enough, and the point is to get there in one piece.

Techniques for Staging Your Trailer

If you're into this sort of thing (and there are not rules that say you must be--perfectly fine to skip all the fluff and just bring your trailer, camper, or tent as is), then the idea of adding outdoor decor to your site has most likely occurred to you.

And if so, you may be wondering: How the heck--where do I even start??

Some techniques from Girl Camping Girl, whose trailer appears above:

* Take a picture of the side of your trailer, and fill the frame with the trailer from bumper to tongue. When planning the staging decor, you'll concentrate on working within this frame.

* Think in terms of making an outdoor room within the frame. Give it a ceiling (the awning, or perhaps an umbrella), a floor (the rug), and a wall (the ironing board with flowers and flag at left). Every room needs furniture and a purpose, so at least one  table and at least one chair. Two of each are better because they give you more to work with.

* Next--and this is key--use eye-pleasing objects to fill in the blank ground spaces that show beneath your trailer and at the entrance to your outdoor room. This step visually anchors your vignette and guides the viewer's eye toward the entranceway to your abode. A flowing tablecloth, a vintage cooler, a painted washbucket, a bucket of flowers, a potted plant, basket of cowboy boots, neat old luggage, a small stack of firewood--anything of this nature will work.) For best eye appeal, stick to one or two main accent colors.

* Finally, after you've created the stage, finish dressing it by laying on the little pretties that say "this is me and what I love." On their own, they might look lost, but in the setting you've created for them, they'll shine. For nighttime, include some kind of lighting, for a romantic glow.

Helpful? Hope you'll let us know!