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Horse Trailer Renovation

  • 09-04-2012 10:12pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭


    Hello Everyone,

    well I bought a Rice Europa for 560 euros. Yes it was rotten, well the floor was. When I looked at it I was most interested in the frame, was it rusted through or solid. Well the frame was all solid so I bought it and towed it home. Then the work began. A search of the internet showed there was a complete lack of info (unlike stripping down and rebuilding a Jeep CJ7 that I'd previously done) and most importantly images! So If anyone is interested I'm going to post a few images and the like in the hope it'll help someone else!:)


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,114 ✭✭✭doctor evil


    Love to hear updates!

    horse and hound online may be good for stories on restoring.


  • Registered Users Posts: 408 ✭✭eorna


    Hi, we did the same last year and put in a new floor, but as yet haven't found the rubber matting for the front ramp. Would like to hear how you get on and if know where to get it. :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 498 ✭✭FueledByAisling


    recommend going on horse&hound like another user mentioned. People are always renovating on that forum!


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Well, the trailer's bought, and is back home. The frame is completely rot free, unlike the floor, the sides of which were similar in strength to paper mache, talk about rot! Thankfully this box hadn't been used for at least a year so no passengers were put at risk! Anyway, I ripped out the floor which was made up of two layers of wood, but there was nothing that was worth salvaging. Now to taking things apart...Enter the axle grinder....:D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,299 ✭✭✭✭later12


    I renovated a Rice box about ten years back! Great fun, lots of late nights, lots of mistakes, but it looked great in the end and I had a brilliant time doing it. It was also hugely satisfying to stand back and look at the finished product, or to take to an event knowing it was all your own work.

    I presume it is a double box, what are you going to do about a partition?

    When I took out the floor of mine, I just abandoned the idea of putting in a new partition. So the box was essentially only used as a single, or as a mare & foal box.

    It's mostly used as a feed store these days:pac:


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  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    The partition was missing, so I started searching the internet to give me ideas as to what the missing parts looked like. I was going to get a local fabricator to make one from plans I would draw up, but then a casual look at donedeal turned up an Ifor Williams partition, the kind with the single pole and movable ends along with the four breaching bars. The center padding was fine with the odd rip, but thats' all been taken to bits and will be recovered with automotive grade leatherette (in black to match the boxes final colour). In the meanwhile, it's back to grinding away the surface rust, priming and painting with several coats of hammerite:rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    So, lots of parts have been ground off, I don't think a single bolt would have come off with out the aid of the grinder! Floor gone, side buffers out (the plastic had cracked and they were beyond repair), and the glavanized steel sheet sides that covered the bottom two feet of the inside walls, these infact were a great advert for always giving a quick hose out of your box after use, as the wee had rotted straight through the floor side edge. So with a garage floor full of rusted parts and frames the great 'de-rust and paint' begins:rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,299 ✭✭✭✭later12


    If you can post some photos they would be great to see.

    I remember my biggest regret when I did mine was that I didn't have any before & after pics.

    Well done on going to those lengths on the partition. As I said, I just ignored the partition in mine, as it was only for my own use and i would only be ever carrying one horse at a time out hunting.

    Any idea of what this is going to cost you?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 444 ✭✭Minister


    My 15 year old boys have bought an old Rice Double box as a 'project'

    They hope to make money from it.

    Maybe the OP might allow me to post and compare notes as the box projects progress. If not I will move quietly - promise!


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,187 Mod ✭✭✭✭charlieIRL


    I'm nearly finished restoring my mare and foal box at the moment, have all the outside done since Saturday gone. Just to paint the inside and put lights back on.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    anyone who's doing a refurb could post here, that way we'll learn from each others mistakes! As for the cost, I'm actually keeping a note of all the parts and materials I'm buying, but I'll post up the costs at the end. I'll try to work out how to post pictures soon! Meanwhile the underframe has been de-rusted and a lovely green coat (well three coats) of hamerite applied. I've also removed the wheels and hubs to inspect the breaks. Oddly the left rear break housing was rusted to beyond salvation, so a new one's going to be put on, just have to learn how to weld! It was really nice to rivet the little plates back onto the axels after prising them off and getting to the thick rust that was behind them. :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Ah, worked out how to post images, so this is the box, minus it's wheels and well quite alot else!

    DSCF0142.jpg
    maybe I should make the images smaller, somehow!


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    It's a good job that all the 'parts' are now on the garage, what's with the weather!!! Still, bought the timber for the floor, good 1 inch thick plank, which is now respendent in a coat of dark brown timber preserver (from B & Q, the enviromental friendly stuff which is very low in volitiles etc). When I took the interior side panels off I found addtional timber placed in the corrigations of the sides of the box. All this timber was completely sodden. I night next to the boiler dried them out and they have been varnished to prevent moisture getting into them again. Talking of moisture, I've had the chance to watch the water pour through the gaps in the roof, these have now been sealed and the box is water tight again. In the corner of the garage is a small pile of re-conditioned parts that have been de-rusted (with wire brushes and a chemical dip), and then resprayed. Ah such fun to be had!!:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Well I think I've passed the tipping point! Everything that can be taken off has been. Rust removed, repainted and put in the 'done' corner of the garage. A coat of grey primer now sits on the body of the box and the new break cables (from Marineline near Wexford). The black paint has also been bought, Black Tractor paint, which means it can be dilluted using thinners. I thought about more modern 2-pack paint, but for the DIY paint job there are some really nasty chemicals given off which need proper respirators and the like! So the wait for a run of sunny days is all that I need to do the spraying, so it maybe some time before I post images of a shiny horse box :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 444 ✭✭Minister


    I think that the box my lads bought is a Europa judging on the pics. What kind of parts cost are you expecting and where do you hope to get parts?
    Thanks,
    M


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    How longs a piece of string. I've tried to keep the cost down by refurbishing as much as possible. So actual 'Rice' parts have been kept to a minimum, however I have bought a new break backing plate which comes complete with break shoes etc, and two new break cables. A rubber boot for the tow arm, and a new key barrel for the locking handle. Non-Rice specific parts have included, new tyres, flooring, partition (off Done deal), padding for the sides, hundreds of rivets, new steel inner-sides, wood for the ramps, rubber for the ramps, paint and primer, wood preservative and many more parts. The total cost adds up slowly and my unique way of funding (by selling stuff on ebay) has kept the actual cost down. The actual cost is going to be itimised at the end of restoration, but to do it properly you can't scrimp on stuff! :rolleyes:

    oh, put up some images for the before and after!


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Well the weather has finally improved, albeit for a day, more importantly the galvanized steel sheets for the inside have arrived, so begins the process of riveting them in. Photos to follow:)


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Q. How many rivets does it take to put galvanized steel sheets in a horse box?
    A. Too bloody many!!!:D
    DSCF0226.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Both sides are now replete with the new steel. The front clam-shell door has gone back on (after quite a lot of struggling on my own), and the grooms door, which I'm still tempted to replace the door handle on even though it works fine, has gone back on. Oddly I've found it impossible to get a sheet of marine ply for the rear ramp that is big enough. Sheets of ply come in 4ft widths and rear ramps are wider than this, still I have a cunning plan.....:cool:


  • Registered Users Posts: 535 ✭✭✭elusiveguy


    helibelly wrote: »
    Oddly I've found it impossible to get a sheet of marine ply for the rear ramp that is big enough. Sheets of ply come in 4ft widths and rear ramps are wider than this, still I have a cunning plan.....:cool:

    Having the same issue with an Ifor atm... Did the floor in a weekend but can't get any thing but 'indoor' ply in the right size for the ramp


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  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    yes, I looked at maple ply but the cost was prohibitive. I'm just going to lash tons of preservative on the ply and expect to replace it every five years!


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Will the rain never stop? Put the front ramp and clam-shell upper door back on. The ramp weighed a bloody ton! But the garage is starting to look a little less full of horse box parts. Rear ramp frame went on and the ply cut and stuck together.:)


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Well I got fed up of waiting for the rain to stop, so today two of the wheel hubs have gone back on, resplendent in their coats of bright red (high temp) paint, must get the camera out to take some pictures!


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    shiny!:DDSCF0235.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Well with some better weather I've thrown on the grooms door and Dry fitted the front window (the original was cracked and badly yellowed) Cut from plexi I had sat in the back of the garage. I'll use black mastic on the inside of the seal to make it 100% weather tight. Who knows maybe I'll get this finished before the end of the summer?;)
    DSCF0231.jpgDSCF0236.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    more pictures, the rear ramp ply, with before (the old wood which was re-cut and used on the front ramp, note the square mark and slot, this was from the floor of an Ifor williams box previously, no doubt cut down for the ramp, great recycling!:)) The new ply, which is two sheets of half inch stuck together and the gap filled with more ply, and lashings of eco-frendly water based preservative.
    DSCF0163.jpgDSCF0233.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,281 ✭✭✭Valentina


    Fantastic work, I am loving this thread! I'm very tempted now to buy an old box and do it up myself (not that I could!!)


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    Well I'm fed up with with the weather, so as it's my day off I'm cracking on with the flooring.you can see I've not completed the floor either side, this allows me to start putting the wiring loom on without crawling around under the box. I'm getting the rubber mats for the ramps tonight so hopefully as long as it's not pouring down tomorrow they'll get done:rolleyes:
    DSCF0245.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭helibelly


    man alive, will the rain never end!! Well after a bit of messing around the first layer of the floor is down, that being the 1 inch thick planks. Wood being wood there were little gaps in between the planks, these are going to be filled with mastic (the universal cure for nearly all consruction jobs). The next layer will be a rubber/fiber glass composite designed for flat roofs. On top of that will go the rubber mats the horse will stand on. My idea is to create a 'tub' that will prevent the wee getting to the wood and rotting it. Underneath the underside will be coated in Waxoyl (think about all the road spray and the like and it's effects on the underside of your car!). In the meantime I've put in the witring loom and re-hung the breaking rods and cables.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 498 ✭✭FueledByAisling


    My god your transformation has been great so far by the looks of it! Your work is paying off :) If you don't mind me asking, how much so far have you spent buying new materials for refurbishing?


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