By Patty Wilber
My friend Peter and I went up north last week and we drove my truck and trailer through a creek. It was pretty cool, so on the way back, we stopped to take a picture. This turned out to be a mistake because the water was deep enough that it flooded the tack room!
We drove through on the way there, without stopping, and the tack room held up fine. Stopping was the killer.
I didn’t realize that had happened because I didn’t open the tack room that night when I got home. But Jim used the trailer the next day and everything on the carpeted floor was soaked!
This was the third trailer I’ve flooded!
The first two, in my defense, were water tank malfunctions.
I bought a water tank for my old brown trailer and the shop installed it with a nylon strap, which seemed fine. Except we do a fair number of trips on rough back country roads, and on the way to Cruces Basin, all that vibration wore through the straps. The water tank fell over. All the water spilled out.
That trailer had a basic slat floor, so the tack room didn’t fill up with water, but it got pretty wet in there and all our water was lost… This was on the same road where, on a different trip, the door on our truck bed camper popped open, a bunch of our stuff jettisoned and was lost forever. That road has caused doors to fall off, and axles too, just saying.
We fixed that water tank by having our friend Richard design a metal brace that was bolted in. We fixed that camper door by bunging it shut after that.
Later, we bought a new Trails West trailer with a nice sleeping area and side tack. There was a 40-gallon water tank, securely installed in the tack room of the new trailer.
A secure metal shelf with a lip where the water tank sits.
Bolted in, metal brackets, securing the tank.
Unfortunately, it had a plastic spigot. And, the tack room and sleeping area were more insulated and less leaky than the brown stock trailer… We went on the same notorious road into Cruces Basin. Some stuff rattled around, hit, and BROKE! the plastic spigot. Forty gallons of water poured into the tack room, which leaked into the sleeping area, but didn’t leak out all that much. It was a flooded mess, and of course, we lost all our water, again.
Our (brilliant, again) friend Richard was on this trip with us, with his work truck, which just happened to have a nice metal spigot, which he installed. We have had no problems since.
The trailer I just flooded by stopping in the creek (which, coincidentally was not on the road to Cruces Basin, but in the same general area….) has a nice, securely installed 30-gallon tank. It also has a plastic spigot. I probably should put a metal one on there!
A few fun shots from the trip.
Optical illusion shadow of my head and LT’s crazy mane. My new spike do?
Birds had a lot of fun fighting with their reflections in my side mirrors and pooping on the truck. I saw them doing it as we rode in, but I didn’t see what species and they flew off as we approached.
A bear was messing with the NRCS Snotel station (San Antonio Sink) and left pawprints on it. They are hard to make out.
Snotel data from the website linked above
Off to the Pecos Wilderness this weekend with Back Country Horseman!
