1955 Overlander #O7051

[wasagachris]

Today I spent another 6 hrs with the Dewalt attached to me and this is what I ended up with:
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The door in a door is cool but it just means more polishing.
I should be able to get a few more hours in tomorrow. Stay tuned. the shine continues.

[wasagachris]

30 hrs into the polish and I'm almost all the way around doing what I can reach from the ground. One exception is the front end cap, I did use the ladder to get all the way up to the roof line. I'm guessing 2 hrs will get me to the back end cap and 5 hrs on it will finish the lower pass. Probably 6 hrs each side on the ladder to get it done up to the roof section. So about 50 hrs for the first pass. I'm not doing the roof sections as I would need to rent scaffolding and lay on top of my homemade walkways that I used on my Excella. Nobody sees the roof anyway.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

I hate to break it to ya, but everyone sees the roof. I have, and have had friends say the same thing, but when the roof does not get polished, it shows up like a neon sign.

[wasagachris]

Frank I'm talking about the flat section of the roof that I can't reach from a ladder. The upper curved sections that yoy can see not polished now will be done.
Polishing update: 3hrs on Thursday got me to the end cap roadside and 5 hrs on Friday got most of the end cap done. I need to spend at least 3 to 4 hrs more to finish the upper sections of the rear end cap and then move on to a ladder to do the upper sections along the sides.

[wasagachris]

The shiney hiney:


I will be rained out today and tomorrow and will resume on Monday. With any luck one side will be done on Mon and one side done on Tues. I am showing the trailer to a man who wants to use it for outdoor seating for his cafe/ bakery. Currently he has no inclement weather seating outdoors.

[wasagachris]

Today was not as productive as I would have liked it to be. I had business to attend to this morning and then Mother Nature wasn't finished with the rain. It was just a few hours of intermittent drizzle so not to bad. it was a little windy so the trailer dried up quickly. I did manage to get in 4 hrs of polishing. I finished the upper sections of the rear end cap and then started on the curbside.
Message to Frank: I did all of the roof as I could reach halfway from either side on the ladder.


Tomorrow should be a good day weather wise and no business to deal with and I hope to finish at least the curbside.
I also have a showing to a fellow who owns 2 A/S now and lives quite local. Maybe I won't own this trailer tomorrow evening.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Chris, I had to comment… I hear it said all the time that there is no need to polish the roof but when people do not, it sticks out like a sore thumb. My own trailer was just repolished and I told my guy to not bother doing the roof. The next day I told him to do the roof too.

[wasagachris]

No worries Frank. It's not a perfect polish just the first pass. It is a little unnerving doing the center of the roof leaning in on a ladder. When the pad hits unpolished aluminium for the first time it tends to pull the polisher forward and is hard to control while leaning into the trailer. You also have to work backwards doing the center section first and then move back down to the upper curved section above the windows. If you do the upper curved section first you risk scratching or at least marring it while leaning in to do the center roof section. Control of the power cord is also important. It is wrapped around my shoulders to keep it away from the sides of the trailer and while doing the roof it is wrapped around my arm to keep it from contacting the roof and dragging across the newly polished skin.

[streamslave]

Is this still for sale?

[wasagachris]

Originally Posted by streamslave

Is this still for sale?

PM sent.

[Cochese]

What method of polishing did you use? On my previous A/S & current, I use wool pads& Nuvite, but the more I see, I'm thinking about a Jetsco type system , using bars& the wheel pad. My trailer is polished now, but will repolish in spring. I have a variable speed polisher& a Cyclo, how many pads will I need to polish? I have to wash the wool pads( about 7 of them) during the process now! Thanks, Brian


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[wasagachris]

Originally Posted by Cochese

What method of polishing did you use? On my previous A/S & current, I use wool pads& Nuvite, but the more I see, I'm thinking about a Jetsco type system , using bars& the wheel pad. My trailer is polished now, but will repolish in spring. I have a variable speed polisher& a Cyclo, how many pads will I need to polish? I have to wash the wool pads( about 7 of them) during the process now! Thanks, Brian


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I've been using the bar & wheel pad method. The pads wear down during use from the rake used to clean the pad. Eventually they shrink down to an unusable size. when they are still about 3" in diameter I use them to get into close quarters like around window and door edges. They are about 12" in diameter at the start. I use three different pads and three different bars moving from very aggressive polishing to progressively lighter polishing. If I were to completely finish the polish I would then move to the cyclo with microfiber pads and nuvite.

[Cochese]

Thanks for the info, I'm wandering roughly how many pads to start out with, because if I have to order them I don't want to have to wait for more! Btw, my trailer is a 26' overlander .


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[wasagachris]

Today I sold the 55 to a great guy who lives only one hour away from me. I am glad it is going to someone who is going to restore it and be able to use the trailer for what is was intended.
I hope he will be joining the forums and continue the saga of this trailer here.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

yeah.... Congrats Chris.

[wasagachris]

Well it was with bitter sweet emotion that I watched this lady leave me for good today. I almost shed a tear as I watched her shint rear end go down the road. The deal I made with the buyer was to finish the polishing. I got most of it done and he was satisfied with the results so he picked her up today.
I felt very fortunate to be her caretaker for this few past years and I know I left her in better shape than when I got her. She has a new owner now and hopefully we will be able to see the progress of her restoration on these forums.
Good Luck Geordie and I hope you enjoy her as much as I did.