Cob Jockey

Confession time: I may take excellent care of the outside of my horse trailer, but I don't always do the inside.

Six months worth of bug splatters, blegh

But I took the week off work last week, and the weather was gorgeous, and for the first time in months I have at least a 3 week break before I'm hauling anywhere again, and I just said you know what, it's time for a deep clean.

I firmly believe that if I take care of it, it'll take care of me and Connor.

Step 1 was pulling my mats. Another confession: I don't pull my mats that often. It's a pain in the butt, this trailer is only four years old, and I do visual inspections from below. The floors are still in good condition:

There's just some discoloration under his pee spot:

And at the combination poop spot/place where the design of my trailer allows water inside. I've talked to my trailer wizard and there's nothing I can do about it, so I just keep an eye on the floor underneath, which is pretty easy since it's at the end.

Step 2 was carefully pressure washing the inside and outside. I don't really like to pressure wash my trailer because of the risk of damaging the gel coat on the fiberglass roof especially, or ripping caulk away, but it definitely was necessary this time.

That's all I had time for on Day 1, and it took me maybe an hour and a half. The next day, I came back out and did Wash Wax All on the entire interior, or Wash All followed by Wash Wax All where the stains were really bad.

After on the left, before (well, after pressure washing) on the right

And I followed that up with Meguiar's Natural Shine Protectant on all of the non-floor black parts. Not only does it make them shiny and protect against UV damage, but it also contains Scotchgard and SHOULD make it easier to clean poop off in the future. We'll see, I haven't used it in the trailer before.

No filter, all shine.

Once the inside was done, I started the outside. Just the standard Wash Wax All on the sides and roof, which weren't too bad. Then I also did a different kind of UV rubber protectant on the rubber gaskets around the windows and doors, and the tires.

I can hardly believe it, but these tires are due for replacement before next year's show season. Trailer tires must be replaced every 5 years on the dot, even if the tread depth is fine, because rubber gets stiffer and starts to crack over time, which increases your risk of a blowout significantly at 5+ years.

The nose, though, will have to wait on my next AeroCosmetics order. I'm fresh out of Scrubbers, and I didn't realize how much easier they make getting bugs off the nose! 

I've actually started keeping track of the miles I've put on this trailer since my last service in April, because I know I'm going to creep up on my service intervals faster than usual with all the towing I've done this year. Believe it or not, since April 1 of this year I've put over 4,500 miles on it! We're already halfway to my next bearing repack in five months, lol. Not that I'm going to continue this torrid pace of towing since show season is over, but it goes to show you the miles creep up quickly. All the more reason to take good care of it!

You could consider this revisiting a past product review today, since I washed and waxed my horse trailer last weekend with Aero Cosmetics again. Reminder and perhaps also a guilt trip, you're supposed to wax your horse trailer 1-2x a year, especially if any part of your trailer is fiberglass (many roofs and some trailer skins are). You do not want that stuff to oxidize and turn chalky!

As a reminder, Wash Wax All is a waterless spray all-in-one wash and wax product originally developed for the airline industry since, you know, sending a plane through a car wash is logistically challenging. It's safe for all surfaces you'd encounter in the average plane/vehicle/trailer and biodegradable.

I let my Shadow go a little longer between washes than I like to this time, so I had some legit black streaks, which Aero Cosmetics will tell you isn't something Wash Wax All will be able to remove alone. Wash Wax All is more of a light duty surface cleaner and UV protectant than a stain remover.

Before on the right, after on the left. I have to move my mom's donkey from Illinois to Tennessee later this week and I decided I couldn't stand looking at this bug spattered nose for 12 hours.

So this year, I also tried Wash All Degreaser, which is their recommended product for black streaks, and I also used the Aero Scrubber more broadly on the entire trailer (rather than just on the ghosted trailer decals I originally bought it for).

Shown: Aero Scrubber (it comes with a handle but I prefer to use it as a sponge) and Wash All Degreaser. The Aero Scrubber is like a very gentle Brillo pad. Tough enough to take bugs off of your paint but it doesn't leave scratches or swirl marks.

Working in sections, I would first spray Wash All Degreaser, then use the lightly damp Aero Scrubber to agitate it. This removed all the grit and bugs from the paint.

Next, I would take a dry-ish microfiber rag and wipe that section down to remove the debris the Aero Scrubber lifted. When Wash All Degreaser is used by itself, the rag is supposed to be totally dry and you're supposed to wipe the Wash All off before it dries, but because I was following it up with Wash Wax All, I found it didn't really matter if the rag got progressively a little less dry. I did switch it out fairly often though.

Next I would spray that same section down with the Wash Wax All from my original post, and finally I would take an actually dry rag and vigorously rub that section in circles until it was dry.

Like any wax product, vigorous rubbing helps it bind to the vehicle and gives you that smooth, touchable, glossy look. And boy was it glossy and touchable. I couldn't stop rubbing my hands over the finished sections, which were straight-from-the-factory smooth.

Before/in progress

After

The combination of the Aero Scrubber really getting the road grit off of the paint and the Wash Wax All left the trailer surface feeling like I'd taken a clay bar to it (which is a time consuming process in which auto detailers use a firm piece of clay to lift grit and other surface contaminants that don't come off with normal vehicle washing).

This was about the level of black streaks all over the trailer before I started. Not horrible, but not something that would come off with a light wash.

 

Every last black streak is gone, and it looks new despite being four years old.

This process doesn't take less time than washing alone, but it takes WAY less time than washing and waxing does. It took me 3 hours start to finish, and that was taking my time and obsessing over it. Doing a coat of paste wax would take longer than that by itself! 

There are some cases where you will need a proper coat of paste wax, but if you keep up with it, something like Wash Wax All is all you should need.

My audience was bored

 

I've talked in the past about how much being organized at shows matters to me - it's the difference between out of control nerves and tiny butterflies for me.  This past weekend was my first two day show since I got the new trailer in 2017, and I'm noticing some things that I want to tweak.

Working: The Gearmax Equestrian Backpack
Ahhhh, the backpack.  I've had this since 2012 and it's still the best, I wouldn't dream of going back to a tack trunk.  Sadly no one seems to sell them anymore.


Working: That Collapsible Rack/Basket Combo
Having hooks AND a basket on the front of my stall where I could throw smaller things was an amazing upgrade over my old hooks.



Working: Foldable Muck Cart
It's annoying to dump, but it's worth it to have a manure cart that has wheels and folds flat for storage (I bungee it to the gridwall in my trailer, on top of my spare tire).  I do wish it locked open for dumping though.


Working: IKEA Bags
IKEA bags and the barn, name a more dynamic duo.  Mine go with me to the barn almost every day to carry things back and forth from my house, and are possibly even more useful at shows.

Not Working: Putting Too Much in the Backpack
When I pack the backpack, I put my entire heavy grooming case into the bottom of it - and then only ever use four items out of it.  Why am I schlepping things I'll never use to the show?

Not Working: Not Putting Enough in the Backpack
The way I have my stuff organized in my trailer right now would be perfect if I was showing off my trailer, but showing off your trailer just does not happen in our area.  I need to store things I only use at shows in the backpack so I'm not making so many trips back to the trailer.


Not Working: My New Collapsible Saddle Rack
I LOVE this saddle rack, but the stall walls everywhere I show are tall and I'm struggling to lift my saddle on and off of it. #shortpeopleproblems

Not Working: The Saddle Rack in My Trailer
My trailer came with the saddle rack mounted several inches above my head, which is great because it gives me a lot of usable space in my tack room, but makes it nearly impossible to get my saddle up there - which is leading to some near-misses where I almost damaged my saddle.  Not worth it.

From the day I brought it home, boot for scale

Not Working: My 1980's Garment Bag I Got Off eBay
It's big, awkward and actively wrinkles my clothes, so it's time for it to go.

Not Working: My Tiny Stepstool
Time to admit that buying a taller stool is going to be cheaper than the ER bill I get after the leaning tower of stuff I stack to reach the outlets to plug in my fan falls while I'm standing on it!

In a future post I'll share the shopping I did to fix these problems (yay, shopping!)

Next up on my spring trailer maintenance list was to polish the fenders and install the fender trim.  I don't think it mattered, but I wanted to install the fender trim over clean and polished fenders rather than dirty fenders.

Spoiler alert: turned out awesome

My weapon of choice:

If you have a scratched stainless steel sink, you can use this there too.

I also used a giant foam ball on a drill bit for the polishing:






I applied the mag polish using a microfiber cloth, and then depending on how close I was to the trailer wall, I either continued to polish using the cloth (turning it to new sections as the section I was using got black) or used the PowerBall to buff it.  I was honestly happier with the cloth results than the PowerBall personally.

Some recommendations if you do this:

- Have a HUGE stack of microfiber towels with you.  You'll thank me.
- If you use the PowerBall, turn the speed on the drill way up. 
- Wear old clothes.  It did come out of my nice winter coat but I was sweating bullets, this stuff gets everywhere and turns everything it touches a nice silver or black.

 After it was good and shiny, I installed the new rubber fender trim:

Basically a mirror!

I measured my fenders and ordered this rubber trim from the Horse Trailer Accessory Store (non-affiliate link).  It's sold in quantities of one foot and it took 20 feet to do my two fenders.

(Side note: This is the second time I've ordered from the Horse Trailer Accessory Store, and they've been amazing both times.  Fast shipping, and they've take a lot of time to answer questions for me both over the phone and email.)

Installation was easy: line up the trim with the edge of the fender, push/pull up until you hear a click, then give it a few whacks with a rubber mallet to really set it.  

Did I need to do this?  No.  Is it a good idea?  Yes.  Stuff happens with horses, and $35 for fender trim is cheaper than a vet bill for a sliced leg.

And now the fenders are done!  Still to come on the trailer maintenance list: cleaning the inside walls, cleaning the non-floor rubber surfaces,  UV protectants and waxing the exterior.

You may remember that my trailer began life as The Raffle Trailer:


I can't fault them for trying to get free advertising, but I would have taken those red letters off myself if the raffle winner hadn't done it before she even listed the trailer.






But when you remove vinyl decals like that, you're often left with "ghost letters":




If you google "How to remove ghost letters from trailer" you'll get a lot of responses, from using a heat gun (risky) to a razor blade (also risky) to Goo Gone (will take your paint off), to using a rubber wheel attachment on a drill (works but takes finesse).

When I stumbled upon Aero Cosmetics Wash Wax All, I noticed they had a product called "SafeSolv" which was listed as an "All Purpose Citrus Solvent.  Removes tar, oil, hydraulic fluid, adhesives and gum"


At $11.95, I figured it was worth a shot.  I threw one in my cart along with the recommended-but-not-necessary Aero Cosmetics bug scrubber, a paint-safe non-abrasive reusable scrubber designed to remove bug guts from the front end of an airplane.


I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but with almost no effort whatsoever, the SafeSolv just melted off the ghost letters:

I'M MELLLLTINGGG! - the ghost letters, probably

I sprayed it on and impatiently started scrubbing immediately, and the letters just melted off effortlessly.  If it felt like the scrubbing required elbow grease to remove the letters, I hadn't used enough SpraySolv.  Another spritz took them right off.  Like Wash Wax All, you then take a dry rag and wipe the surface down until it's dry to finish.

The ghost letters are gone!

It didn't say I had to do this, but I followed it up with Wash Wax All, just to get all the acidic citrus compounds off my paint.

The big gotcha with this stuff is that it WILL take your standard vinyl decals off too, because it's designed to dissolve adhesives on contact.  If you want to keep your vinyl decals, don't get SafeSolv on them.  I got a tiny bit on the tail end of the wispy decals in the photo above and it immediately started peeling back.  Good to know for when these poorly applied decals eventually fail and I have to remove them all (thanks, Shadow)


I'm keeping it in the house because it's also supposed to remove: "Chewing Gum, Grease, Stickers, Labels, Tape Residue, Oil, Blood, Lipstick, Mascara, Shoe polish, Crayon" so yeah, I think I'll put the rest of the bottle to good use!



What: Aero Cosmetics SafeSolv and Scrubber Pad
Quantity/Price: Various quantities available for both.  I paid $11.95 for 8oz of SafeSolv and $9.95 for one Scrubber and handle
Where to buy: Amazon or the Aero Cosmetics website

Since I've now gone way out of my way to make this trailer exactly what I want it to be, it's time I started taking care of it.  You really should wash your trailer regularly and wax it twice a year.  I...have not done that.  In fact, I haven't washed or waxed it once yet...bad.  Traditional waxing, washing and clay barring is just a lot of freaking work, and that's time I don't have, so I've slacked.

But then I stumbled upon this:


It's a waterless wash/wax originally intended for airplanes (which are made of painted aluminum just like my horse trailer), and from what I can tell by the reviews (five stars after 2,000 reviews on Amazon!), it has a niche cult following.  It's made to Boeing and Airbus specifications for aircraft safety, and is biodegradable.

I'll cut to the chase: I was freaking blown away by this stuff.  Both how easy and fast it was to apply, and how amazing the results were.  My trailer looked like I spent hours washing, clay barring and waxing it.  If you live in a drought/water restricted area or if you just don't have a ton of time to spend on trailer maintenance like me, this stuff is the holy grail.

Before:



After:


How do you use it?

Step 1: Spray on small area of trailer

Step 2: Wipe off.

That's it! And the trailer looks and feels like it just came out of the show room with that new trailer gleam.

Reflecting the indoor and the 3h slant next to it like a mirror!

It took me an hour and a half to do the outside of my trailer by hand.  I would spray it on, use a rag more or less soaked in it to agitate the dirt and black streaks, and then dry it completely with a dry rag.  As the dry rag got soaked, I demoted it to damp rag duty.  The damp rag was kind of unnecessary, but it worked for me.

Left side before, right side after (look at the caulk!)

Several things to note if you try this:- You have to dry it with a towel before it air dries or else it will leave a cloudy film (which you fix by re-wetting it with Wash Wax All and re-drying).

- It's safe to use every time you wash your trailer (the wax won't build up).

- If you submit a question about this via Amazon or the company's website, the owner will reply to you.  He's very passionate about his products and making sure people have a good experience with them.

- If your trailer has a lot of grit on the surface, it's a good idea to rinse it first so that you don't drag particles across it and scratch the paint.  I did not do this.

- A 16oz bottle ($9.95) did my 7'6 tall x 12'10 long x 6'4 wide trailer with very little left over

- I did it by hand with towels, but they do make poles and scrubbers to make it go quicker for large vehicles.  I recommend doing your trailer by hand at least the first time though - inspecting it that closely, I discovered some minor maintenance issues I'd have missed if I used a pole, such as failing caulk and nose paint chipped by rocks.

Working my way around the nose

- It's safe to use on "any surface that can get wet" but do a patch test first!

- It's probably not going to work well on a trailer with a busted clear coat or oxidized/chalky fiberglass.

- For tougher dirt, the instructions say to wipe with a damp (water) rag before drying, but I didn't have to do that.

- My black streaks were fairly new so it almost completely took them all off.  If your black streaks have become black stains, they recommend using "Polish All" to take them off.

- You could use this stuff to do like, one section per day if you only had 10 minutes after your ride to do it and couldn't dedicate a couple of hours to doing it all at once. 


This isn't an ad and they're not compensating me for this, this is just a freaking awesome and relatively cheap product that I wanted to share with everyone.  I've got a couple of other of their products I'll be reviewing too, but this is the main one.


Bottom Line: This is a game changer for trailer maintenance for me.  If you don't have time to devote to trailer cleaning, or if you live in a drought-prone area, this is a must have!

What: AeroCosmetics Wash Wax All
Quantity/price: Various, from 4oz for $4.95 to 5 gallons for $139.95.  16oz did my 1H slant once.
Where to buy: Amazon or direct from the manufacturer

A few days ago, I was chatting with a few bloggers when someone asked what the best way to store saddle pads is.  Now, I love organization:

Old pic, but it's all I got.  This has...evolved...since this photo was taken haha

But I don't really have a good answer for saddle pads at the barn, and twice recently I've gone out to ride and realized all my pads were at home.

At home I keep them in the laundry room/former kitchen in this weirdly extended set of cabinets, which is the perfect size for saddle pads.

Our barn doesn't have a ton of storage, so I keep overflow tack in my trailer, meaning anything other than the saddle pad I'm currently using needs to go in there.  My trailer tack room is very small, so if they're going in there, they need to hang on the wall. So I thought, why not try a skirt hanger?

$3.88 at Walmart

It worked great!  It has six positions but this cheap Walmart version isn't really designed for the weight of a saddle pad, so I started with three:

Putting that new tie ring to work!

When I went to hang it, I just folded the top three positions and the hanger back and hung it by some gridwall hooks:






The hooks are stronger than the hanger, and they're deeper, so it has a better shot at staying on the gridwall and not bouncing off the wall when I hit a pothole.

We'll see how it works as I do my first hauls this year.  Anyone else have any good saddle pad storage ideas?