Ice Storm Saturday

What do you get when you cross an ice storm outside, a garage with a propane heater and box full of trailer parts? You get 4 hours of fun. That's what.

I've done a lot of home improvement projects over the past 7 years, and in those 7 years, I've always driven a Ford Explorer. Great for bringing home things such as toilets and barstools. Bad for bringing home drywall, plywood, and 2X4's longer then 10 feet long.

It's also bad for my two trusty friends Kris and Chad(pickup owners). I've relied on them a LOT over the past few years to help me out with hauling things here and there, and I finally found a way to relieve them of their pickup related duties.

I bought a nifty little 4' X 8' trailer that's capable of hauling 1500 lbs. The great people of Harbor Freight provide a very good trailer at a very good price ($275 with shipping). Only problem is, it comes looking like this:



But, if you add in a new socket/wrench set that was purchased with gift cards that I received at Christmas time from my family:

4 hours, one smashed thumb, 2 cuts, and a goose egg on the forehead later, this will somehow appear out of that pile of parts:

I still have to get it licensed and put in some floor boards to give it a nice base, but other then that, it's officially ready for action. The really good thing about this trailer, is that it doesn't sit there like that and take up an entire stall in my garage by itself. Let's face it, nobody want to waste garage space on something that you use 10 - 20 times a year.

That's where this feature really comes in handy:

It takes up 19 inches X 4 ft of floor space when folded up and placed against the wall. Not even 8 square feet is being wasted. Garage Men of the world unite and high five while we drink beer and talk about guns and motorcycles.

I know what you're thinking. I won't be able to run boards the full 8' length of the trailer because it had to fold up. So, I'll have to cut the 8 foot boards in half where it needs to folds. Big deal. It's well worth it to have the folding feature.

Honestly, did any of you think about that?

That's what I thought.

Do you feel Manly?

My man's room is done. Finally.
I've had many requests to post this project, and I'm finally gonna follow through, just minutes after I finished getting it organized and cleaned up.

Here's the outside of the door. Notice the security punch code? That's the only way in. No way you're gonna get through that 2 inch steel door, or the plate steel that I'm gonna cover the outside walls in. But, if you wanna give it a try, I have a clip full of 14 hollow points waiting for you. ;-)





This is what it looks like when you step into the room. It's 6 feet wide and 22 feet long. Perfect size and space for a Gun Room. In my personal opinion. I textured the walls and put in knotty pine panelling on the ceiling and two end walls.






Here's a closeup of the texture. It's called slashcut, and the paint is no other then "Gun Metal Grey".



This is the first bench you come across when you enter the room. It's 6 feet wide and covered with a granite-look-alike laminate countertop. The bench is used for cleaning as well as displaying a few of my prized possessions.





The second bench is identical to the first, but this bench is used for reloading my shells. I inherited Dad's reloading equipment so I could keep ammo costs down for my Smith and Wesson Revolver. Each bullet costs $2.50 from the store, but when I reload, that costs goes down to $0.80 per shell. That also, automatically puts me at the mercy of dad anytime he wants some bullets made. I'm just a phone call away, and I'm sure he planned it that way.





This is the view from inside that I like. The door is perfectly trimmed in knotty pine and the color is a clost match to the walls. On the right hanging on the wall is my trusty Winchester semi-auto shotgun that I've had since I was 16. Hanging below that is Grandpa Eddie's double barrell shotgun that he gave to me Thanksgiving 2006. Notice there's one slot left on the rack? That will be filled this summer with my new goose gun. On the left wall there's a couple hunting pictures hanging up. A picture from the trip that I blogged about in my last posting, and another one when Dad, Tyler, Rambo, Zella and I had a good day of hunting.



"But, Rich... where's all the bullets you've been making in this shiney new room?"
Well, I've made 20 so far, and that's just because that's all the tips that Sportsman's Warehouse had in stock for my gun. No fear, there's more on the way via the internet. The bullet on the left is a factory 325 grain Hornady round, and the bullet on the right is one that I made. Mine is 275 grains and has a much deeper hollow point, which will do more damage on impact then the factory round.