Chapter 18: Hot Lead

Steel is easy to construct things with, once you learn some basic skills. It’s also easy to repair, and a good thing too, as eventually repairs are necessary. Dents and rust are inevitable and my old horse trailer was heavily afflicted with both. Finally completed entirely leading the sleeping quarters interior and exterior surfaces. Rust should never again be a problem in this area. Completely tinned with lead, there is no exposed steel left to rust. A difficult labor intensive renovation, I’m relieved it’s over. What did I do exactly?

Thoroughly cleaned and stripped of all the paint inside and out. Wasted and damaged areas were cut out and replaced with welded inserts of new steel and ground smooth. Then the hard part. An area of steel about the size of my head, was heated to six hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit, using a fan flame headed torch. Temperature confirmed by remote reading infrared thermometer pistol. A handy sized gloved fist held lead bar was smeared on the smoking hot surface, similar to a kid coloring with a fat log of a crayon. Promptly the molten lead was smeared out, burnished off, and smoothed with fine steel wool. Pitted areas were tinned two or three times until completely filled in and slickly finished. The most difficult and dangerous area to work in, was the confined space above the goose-neck, that nose nook Gail calls grandma’s attic. After all was coated with lead, a final quick flame wash eliminates any steel wool fine scratches. Two coats of high quality marine enamel applied using a roll and tip technique achieved a high gloss mirror finish.

It was a lot cheaper, more satisfying, and a finer degree of finish than cladding with stainless steel. A word of caution to anyone wishing to try this, definitely use an external supplied fresh air aspirator and full face mask. Lead is toxic, especially lead fumes. Wear full body welding leathers and a leather welding hood. Burns are a real serious hazard. Molten lead is hot stuff. Be sure, be safe.

I didn’t bother with insulation. During hot months, a large nylon fly erected over and above the horse trailer will shade it from the sun. Being constructed of thin metal, any heat picked up during the day, will quickly radiate away in the relative cool of evening. Tactics for coping when it’s really, really hot? A clustered bunch of electric fans and/or a desperate plunge in the river makes the heat less stressful. Besides, there is always the iced tea option!

In the colder months, blankets can provide the only insulation needed to keep in body heat and provide a snug warm intimacy for me and my two ladies. Down comforters can be added as top bed covers in the severest cold. Cuddling in bed the entire frigid day is a viable cold weather tactic. If it gets really, REALLY cold, we’ll invite the dogs to join with us under the covers. They’re willing. Life is always about making the wisest compromises. Fleas or freeze?

One of the features all three of us admire is the half dome half barrel vault ceiling over the bed created by the round nose front on the trailer. To expand the visual space and for enlarged function, in the rear of the sleeping quarters I replaced the wall, constructing a semi-circular alcove and built-in desk. Equipped it with a swiveling pedestal mount recliner captain’s chair, for taking a nap. There is a bar fridge under the outer corner of the desk crescent, and a hot and cold bottled water dispenser above it. All the comforts of home.

Almost all the comforts. Cooking will be done outside and include a picnic table. The toilets and shower are or will soon be, inside the communal bath house Dallas is constructing near his blocked up houseboat. I am parking my horse trailer just barely on my own property, on the line, and in close proximity to the bath house.

Less than half the old horse trailer has been fitted out with living quarters. Not yet decided what to use the remaining space for, except temporarily for storing my tools and torch gas bottle.

We haven’t purchased a mattress for grandma’s attic yet. It will need to be custom made and I’ve priced it at twenty five hundred dollars for an innerspring. Solid foam can be had for a few hundred, and we may opt for that cheaper version. Practical considerations postpone any mattress purchase. Dallas promptly pitched all the stinky old mattresses and cushions on the house boat and I’m grateful. In two words I can explain why I’m grateful there’s no mattress on the houseboat and why I’m reluctant to invest in a mattress yet.