There are more than a few hoops to jump through to get a “homemade” trailer titled and honestly, I wasn’t sure how this thing was going to go down.
First stop: DMV to get a temp plate.
Next stop: Certified inspection with the police. Sure enough, when he was checking the brake lights one didn’t work. A couple jiggles later, I got it to work. It took about a half hour for the cop to type up the inspection. He even took my I.D back to his office. I got the impression that he didn’t want to sign off on this one but, as I have a squeaky clean record, he gave me a pass. Unfortunately, he did make me have the trailer weighed.
Next Stop: Landscape supply weigh station: I guessed that weight at 1641 lbs. It officially came in at 1680 lbs. Pretty good guess! Anything above 2000 lbs. and there is a bunch more paper work including posting a bond for double the value.
Half way to the next stop, the trailer popped off the ball hitch and skidded behind me until I came to stop. Seems the tongue weight is slightly toward the back which is exactly what I planned for. Once the Tiny Casita is finished the tongue weight should be more toward the front. I messed around for a few minutes and got the trailer re-attached and on my way, now driving much slower that I was before. Annoyingly slow.
Next stop: Car dealership to get an appraisal. The sales guy low balled the estimate which is great for sales tax.
Next Stop: Back to the DMV: where they checked my paperwork, printed me a new title, gave me a metal VIN number to attached and my new plates.
Overall great news!!!! This weekend a few buddies are coming over and we’ll start the exterior assembly. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, the Tiny house will really be taking shape. I’m sure then, the neighbors will be really annoyed!
