The Story of "The BOX"
by Sarah Riviere
Continued
Sarah and Stephanie working on plywood bottom.
Then came the fiberglass stage. This posed a problem in keeping the secret from Dad, because of the distinctive smell. We would come home every afternoon after fiberglassing and take a shower and hide or wash our clothes before Dad got home from work! Fiberglassing was rather challenging because when Mom taught us how to do it, we were expected to cut it and do all the work… but we were afraid to touch it!! We learned how to mix and put on the resin. After the fiberglass was on, we started what would take the majority of the next 2 years… SANDING!!! We sanded and sanded and put on more resin and sanded some more. All to try and make it look smooth and nice to paint. Then Grandpa taught us how to put on Bondo so we could fill the problem places. We learned how to put it on fast but what we didn't understand was how much to take off! We would put it on and sand every last bit right off again. For weeks we put it on and sanded it off! Finally we were given the OK to stop sanding and start building the trailer so that we could turn it over and start on the top! After the trailer arrived we opened all the boxes and started to lay out the big metal pieces. Using the plans, wrenches, screwdrivers, and air-powered wrenches a red trailer slowly took shape. We tightened all the nuts and bolts and then turned "The Box" over for the first time. What a great day that was!! We got to see how it would really look in the real world and actually get into it for the first time!
Sarah on "fiberglassed" Box.
Sarah sanding Bondo.
and sanding...
The play didn't last long though, before we knew it we were bending more wood for the deck and screwing all over again. We then varnished the inside so that the water that was getting in when it rained would not hurt it. We learned a lot about the way water works that monsoon… we filled that thing up like a bathtub many times. Around this time, our youngest sister, Tiffany, whose main job up to now was keeping the shop clean, had turned 7 years old and Grandpa said she was old enough to help. We continued to sand and Bondo until the day finally came that Grandpa said we could turn it back over to primer the bottom and get ready for nice white paint. The next time we came over we sanded it and started to fill the little pinholes. Between raindrops we did a final sanding. At this time we knew it would be done soon and started to come over 3 times a week. After postponing the painting because of rainy weather for weeks, we started to get discouraged because our goal was Dad's Birthday on September 13th. One day we went over to a great surprise. Grandpa had painted the bottom white for us! We turned it back over and put it on the trailer once again and started to prepare the deck for paint. After it was painted white, we started installing the flooring, which we had made the winter before. We cut, screwed and drilled for the next week.
The day the girls saw it painted white.
Girls thanking Grandpa for painting.
Getting ready to paint the deck.