Today - Structure repair at the left, rear gash, the "tractor bucket episode", and siding holes near the taillights.
I guess I didn't take a picture, but I cut a 1x8 to 1.5' long and got it up in place behind the gash, long enough to go past it a ways. Stuck its end on the inner side of the trimmed fiberglass batting, like the rest of the trailer is - that is to say the framing is wrapped in the batting, not pieces cut to fit framing void sizes.
Holding it in place I marked the slanted edge at the rear for the angle cut, then cut the lap joint to fit the corner framing.
Here it is in place.
You can see the torn out and missing piece of siding. I wonder if a tractor bucket tore out the missing piece, or if the "tear-out" was part of the previous fix. At any rate, I have it in the shop for later attachment.
Stepping back I figured, no time like the present to patch these other two damage spots on the back wall; there by the left taillight...
And over here at the right rear above the taillight.
But we'll get to those after zipping up the siding. And first I need to examine. The one on the left could use some backing.
With the repair board just set in position, I went inside to see what needed doing in there.
There's the crack in the paneling, with 1x8 now behind it. At the far left is a spare finished board from Lil' Queeny's extra parts. It will be cut to fill the missing and rotted out, damaged slice of paneling in the corner. So part of this was cut out.
The repair piece sized, cut and placed for fit.
I cut it short to keep the original part at the very bottom, as it still seemed to have some substance to it there, was still fastened pretty tight, and I was just going to hold that all together with final finishing (thick poly).
As it turned out, that piece got pulled too, and another little new sliver put in its place.
With the repair pieces built and sized, it was time to fasten. Back outside now. There's probably many types of materials to use, but I try to use what's on my shelf, because if I have to go in to town it's mostly a wasted day, from the perspective of getting stuff done. And I often don't know what I need until I need it.
But I like basic wood glue whenever I try to press two bare wood boards together. The wood fibers bond real well together as long as you get good press. But on the corner, I wanted a structural bonding, not necessarily a wood fiber welding. So I went with Gorilla Glue on the corner, and wood glue on the big surfaces.
Note the small wood block at the corner. It's a piece of original framing that kind of fell out of the back wall when I pulled one nail. I glued and stapled it to the main board before re-insertion.
I used that sponge in the previous pic to smear glue on the inner side of the paneling too.
Inside, I had previously prepped a wax paper to prevent seeping glue from sticking to my homemade press - which consists of first a flat board, then a prop between this side and the other, and another flat board on the far wall. And some shims for tightening adjustments.
Once in place, the glued corner joint was set and stapled.
The insulation gently pulled back into place around the repair.
And I did my best to re-position and fluff the upper insulation which had been pushed back and pressed in weird with the previous license plate repair.
And set the lower insulation.
Then I braced the outside (repair board).
And set up the press on the inside (cracked paneling).
Now we'll leave that alone to dry overnight.
