Casket table trailer is in full swing!

[creepypt]

(None of the pics are over 600 pixels wide, but it may be a slow load for anyone using one of those connections that uses those phone things that are wired into wall of the house and squeal a lot.)
The first week of December I got my hitch and wiring in the mail. That week I installed the hitch, and the following week I got the wiring done!


Here's the hitch:


The following day, I bought my trailer, a Carry On 4x7 folding trailer. Didn't care about the folding, but I liked the size, and no side railings!

A week later, I went up, and bought my shiney black casket!


And now, for the past few days, I've been getting the casket table for the trailer worked up. It's two coats primer, two coats of paint in, and still wet, but I was dying to share my progress! Only two more coats left, and one week to cure! (please, on behalf of my woman, ignore the mess in the basement, it's the only warm dry work space I have atm.


Can't wait till it's all done and I can start dragging it around to the cruise nights!

[Creepy Cruiser]

Nice.

[creepypt]

Okay, I'm going to fish for some ideas. I have a few of my own, but I know there are some other do it yourselfers out there.
My trailer inside is just over four feet wide, and 84 inches long. There are some metal parts just inside the rails that are part of the folding feature, so it's barely 48 inches for the trailer. The angle iron is two inches high. The table I made is exactly four feet by 84 inches, about half an inch thick, and has two coats primer, four coats black enamel paint. My casket is 30.5 inches wide, and 81.5 inches long. It's 18 gauge steel, not heavy, but with some large washers, plenty strong enough to bolt down. I vaguely wish I had gone ahead and gotten the eight foot trailer, but I did save about 75 pounds on my towing capacity.
So far I plan to have a rubber pad on the front edge of the inside of the trailer, in place of one bier pin. I don't know yet, but I don't think I'll have room at the rear of the trailer for an adjusting bier pin, unless I lengthen the table a bit. I am considering padded angled brackets on the sides and rear to hold the casket in, but I'll have to make a trip to my folks place to make them.
The trailer is doing double duty, as an accessory to my "mini" hearse, and as a means to carry luggage and supplies to sci-fi, anime, and steampunk conventions, or just vacations. I think if I semi-permanently mount the casket to the trailer, it will go with us on vacations. If not, I need a means of fastening it, along with tie down straps, or not, so that on trips to shows or cruises it won't pop off on the way.
I'm leaning towards a permanent mounting, as I go to more cruise nights than vacations, and have no issue putting my luggage in the casket. But in that case, the casket would have to be mounted.

I was hoping to get some bier pins, rollers, and sliders, or possibly manufacture some. The trailer will be exposed occasionally to weather, hopefully not often. So anything I put on it will have to tolerate that. So I'm considering not using those items, since I don't know how well metal and rubber table parts will hold up outside.

So there is my rambling. Suggestions or ideas are appreciated, since at this time, just bolting the casket down is my best idea to solve my issues. '

And just as a side note, I plan to use the space at the sides of the casket for a couple "accessories". I'm thinking of getting a nice pickaxe and a spade shovel, polishing the metal up, and painting the handles gloss black, to mount on the trailer on the sides. For cruises, my mother the auction/thriftstore guru, found me some fantastic brass funeral home candelabras I can park on the ground next to the trailer.

[creepypt]

trailer02.jpg

[60Crown]

Given all the details provided, my 1st area of concern is deck construction. Will it be stored outdoors? 1/2" is not much. My experience taught that even treated 2x10 decking lasts 4-5 years tops due to not only usage but warping brought on by seasonal changes.

[creepypt]

The trailer will be outdoors, and tarped, or in an unconditioned garage. The table is actually siding, over painted on both sides, just in case. So long as it doesn't get soaked and left wet, I'm good with it. In the future, I may put a ply top with some sort of laminate over it on, split for the folding feature. Then I can garage it all the time when not in use. The paint dryed and cured fully in the basement, and when the weather warms up, I don't see any reason I can't clean and wax it just like the car. If all else fails, I can pull the table off and leave it in the garage.

[Riff Raff]

I would suggest getting some conduit clamps, the U shaped ones that have a bolt hole on both sides. Mount 4 or more of them to the underside of the casket if it is recessed underneath. Then you can use muffler clamp U bolts threaded through the conduit clamps and bolt the muffler clamps to the tralier with some big washers. Or find some J bolts and use them. Then they will be out of sight to give the trailer a smooth look.

[creepypt]

I think I followed that. It would be like two half chain links holding the casket down. I like the J bolt idea, fewer holes to drill.

[Riff Raff]

Yup, you got the idea.

[creepypt]

Not sure how I am going to do this except to probably just bolt it directly down from inside. As you can see, there isn't enough of a recess for the u bolts. It's only about a half an inch.

I've been trying to figure out how to bracket it down, but I can't find brackets heavy enough, in the shape I want to do it that way, like this:

[creepypt]

I now have my casket set up to bolt down to the pretty top I made. I'll be putting some heavy rubber washers on the bolts between the casket, and the casket table on the trailer to eliminate any possible vibrations I might get from the 18 gauge steel the box is made of. But, I currently have a sheet of regular plywood bolted to the trailer, since I may be traveling this weekend to pick up some large woodworking machines from my folks.

This evening, with the fantastic weather, I couldn't resist anymore. I put the table on top of the plywood, got the casket on top, and had my sweety help me strap down the casket along the bottom edges. There, it will hold the casket in, and down, but leaves the top areas clear for viewing. And so, I just got back from my casket's maiden, and SECOND maiden voyage! I spent about two hours just tooling around town with my coach and casket, and it was fantastic. Some really cute gal on the back of a crotch rocket was recording my car with her IPhone down Noland road, one of the oldest "Cruising" stretches of road in Independence. Cops and bikers were giving me thumbs up, and old ladies were taking their heart pills!