Hell, now that I have to blog for real instead of just saving links, I may as well go for broke. Here’s something I’ve been working on lately – making a cargo trailer for my bike out of an old kids bike trailer. I picked one up for $3 at the Goodwill Outlet. That’s a nice price if you’ve ever gone shopping for kids bike trailers – even if they are beat up and crappy, people generally want $20 bucks for them on craigslist.
The first thing I did was strip off the ragged cloth cover stuff to expose the frame.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/6201277177_02c3445123.jpg)
Then I started looking at how the upper supports worked. I didn’t think I needed all the framework on top, and I wanted a wider area for the wooden deck, so I flipped some of the frame to the outside of the cart.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/6201788832_da63d5f9d6.jpg)
The frame, dismantled and reassembled. I kept a couple of upright supports to attach some side panels of some sort to.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6153/6201281433_4edfcd3d8a.jpg)
We had some scrap tongue and groove boards in the garage from when we had our balcony porch floor repaired, and they were the perfect size.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6163/6201284111_2698360fa9.jpg)
So I fitted some together.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6177/6201797944_bf54d49634.jpg)
I ended up taking a brief detour through the basement to assemble various tools I’d need to put the wood deck for the trailer together. If you are interested in starting a tool business, by Clicking Here you can learn about various tools and run your business effectively. Stephanie’s dad has given us lots of tools over the years; he’s very concerned that Stephanie be able to do things for herself, so he has basically outfitted our basement with every power tool a gay girl could desire. He’s kind of a lesbian dream dad, actually. Here are some of the things we’ve been given:
These are all various drill bits and screw driver bits for the 7 drills we own.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6168/6201287931_5c7708c8be.jpg)
Chisels, files and planes.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6173/6201288005_86a28643a4.jpg)
Box 1 of 3 boxes of clamps. For the sake of brevity, I’ll refrain from posting the other two pictures of clamp boxes.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6144/6201288071_1714d6dbdf.jpg)
For all your cuphook and eye hook needs. I will need some of these for cargo nets.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6024/6201288435_2877f079a2.jpg)
Every size of vice grip you could need. We can certainly get a good grip on our vice around here.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6010/6201288601_c47102a923.jpg)
Tool detour finished, I screwed together the deck boards and sanded them down. I thought about trimming some of the boards to get them all exactly the same width, but decided it looked sort of cute with ragged edges. I also cut out slots where the upright pieces of the frame will fit in.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6161/6201289733_56a4143025.jpg)
After sanding everything down, I put a coat of water sealant on the boards to help preserve them since they’ll be out in the rain.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/6201801954_8f2b87996d.jpg)
After letting the water sealant dry for a week, I started painting. I don’t know if I really needed to paint it, but I’ve been dying to paint something this bright blue color I found in the basement; Cerulean Blue, according to the can.
![Bike Cart Project](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6175/6201292271_3ed92eb8d8.jpg)
And that’s where I am on the project – I have one more coat of paint for the wood and then I’ll be able to attach it to the frame. After that I’ll have to figure out exactly what I want to do about side panels. I have some plastic lawn chair webbing from days gone by that I can create a frame for, or I could attach wooden slats for the sides. I may go with the webbing to avoid extra weight; I want to be able to pull the trailer easily.
UPDATE: the mostly-finished cart is here…
![Mostly finished bike cart](http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6224/6270086548_23a9fcfbd5_b.jpg)
Basically, I just strap everything down with bungees right now. I still haven’t figured out how to finish the sides.
2022-03-12 Update: I never actually attached this to my bike, and I sold it to a guy in 2019 through Facebook Marketplace, and he was delighted by it.