Mobile Scout Update: Lights, Ceilings, Curtains and More!

Haven't posted for a couple of weeks but, never fear, we've been making progress on the 1961Mobile Scout rebuild. First of all, the Hubs has replaced the old shoreline connection so that, when we finally get to go camping, we can plug into the campsite power. That also means that we have lights in the camper. Woot woot!

First Curtain in the 1961 Mobile Scout

We've also hung our first curtain, sewn by our awesome daughter, Jessi, to test their length on our windows. What do you think? I think I can't wait to see all ten cheerful window dressings installed!

J-Rail Resealed and Reinstalled

The next big step forward is that my clever husband has figured out how to remove, reseal and replace the J-rails that run around the edges of the camper. Same thing with the window frames. He's also replacing, one at a time, every single rusty, old screw from the aluminum rails, windows and siding with cadmium plated RV hardware.

And all that sealing and strengthening means no more leaking (fingers crossed), which means we get to install the ceiling. Here are the first pieces of unshellacked birch. Can't wait for the interior to be completely reinstalled. You know why...amber shellac!

Beautiful birch interior

I'm thinking things will start moving along quickly now - once we've shellacked the interior, the doors and drawers go back in, the pantry/fridge closet gets reassembled and the appliances get refurbished and installed. Then on to rebuilding the dinette, covering the counter and dinette top with new formica and finishing the dinette cushions. We're also installing a 12v system so that we'll have lights and nice things like phone chargers when we're off the grid. Oh, yeah, and we need to paint the exterior. But every day it's getting closer to first launch!

The Hubs making the 1961 Mobile Scout watertight

Electrical Adventures and Shiny Stuff

AFTER-Shininess!

Today's rebuild adventures are two-fold: the Hubs made great strides updating Sweet Melissa's electrical system and I made shininess appear on her outer skin.

BEFORE-Oxidized Aluminum

You'll remember we managed earlier to remove the 54-year-old paint and expose the aluminum skin. Today's task was to remove the dark patches of oxidation, in preparation for polishing part of the aluminum and priming the rest.

In manual labor terms, that equates to hours (and hours) of polishing the skin with steel wool and denatured alcohol. Although mighty labor intensive, this turned out to be an effective strategy!

While I was scrubbing away with steel wool, the Hubs was inside our '61 Mobile Scout, testing the existing wiring. Good news! The wiring to both the 12-volt lights and the 110-volt outlets is in good shape, BUT there is the small problem of no breaker box, fuse box or outside connection for a shore line.

Not to worry--the Hubs has it under control. He's already managed to install the breaker box, decide where to locate the 12-volt deep cycle battery and basically figured out what Sweet Melissa needs to have a complete electrical system. Yay!

One more piece of awesomeness--we've started installing insulation in preparation for putting back the birch ceilings and walls. And you know what happens after that--amber shellac mania! Stay tuned.

Amber Shellac and Other Delights

I have a confession to make...I've developed a passion for Amber Shellac. That is to say, I am crazy about the liquid gold that's transforming the interior of our '61 Mobile Scout, Sweet Melissa. Spent the evening taking the doors off throughout the camper and removing their hardware, then giving them a light sand and a coat of Zinsser Bullseye Amber Shellac.

Camper redo purists would probably have stripped the old shellac and started over, but I'm fond of the vintage vibe of simply adding a shiny, gold coating to all the wood surfaces. I'll let you decide, here's photo evidence of the evening's activities:

 

 And to prove just how much I love Amber Shellac, I felt compelled to finish the header above the dinette, 'just to see what it would look like'. And then I painted the front of the kitchen cabinet frame. And then I did a test strip on the ceiling. Seriously, this stuff is addictive. I'm even thinking about shellacking my living room floor!

 

Update on the Hubs

Lest you think my hubby was sitting on the patio, smoking a cigar and watching me work, I've also included him in tonight's photo essay. He's been busy at work fabricating and installing new frame pieces. Always amazed to see what he's able to do! 

What's next? Looks like I'll be spending the weekend (except for the big 6-0 birthday party!) cleaning 50 years of gunk off of vintage coppertone hinges and travel-proof latches. Can't reinstall the doors and drawers yet, but I can, at least, have them hardwared to the hilt in preparation.

The best part? As soon as I get the hubs gone somewhere, I'll be going crazy with the Amber Shellac on the rest of the camper's wood surfaces! Can't wait.

First Vintage Camper Related Travel!

We aren't yet ready to head down the road in our 1961 Mobile Scout, but that didn't stop us from heading out in search of inspiration. Today's journey took us to the very southeast corner of Kansas and the town of Galena.

US400 Foggy Sunrise

After a harrowing journey through dense fog in the Flint Hills, we arrived in that charming burg.

Right on Historic Route 66, Galena hosted a Vintage Camper Show as part of their celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Mother Road. Eight exceptional camping trailers pulled in to be oohed and ahhed over (and judged for trophies!)

We met plenty of kind and helpful folks who love to share the stories of their vintage camper rebuilds, and we also took lots of pics of important things like trailer hitches, equalizers and paint jobs.

Lucky for you, faithful readers, we also took lots of photos of lovely vintage campers. We were especially thrilled to meet a few of the many "Sisters on the Fly", a group for women only who meets all over the US to camp, fish, relax and maybe even get in some shopping at nearby towns.

Oh, and as you're drooling over these vintage 'canned hams', I'll share a few more tidbits about Galena. Did you know that this little hamlet was the very first mining town in Southeast Kansas? 

 

It's also home to one of the coolest ice cream parlors I've visited thus far.  Eye Scream Labs is a hoot! These folks serve up their amazingly flavored ice cream that's flash frozen with liquid nitrogen (seriously, look at this picture) while wearing white lab coats. There's also a gallery of blackboards with colorful 'scientific messages' about the menu, and they do demos complete with samples. 

One more spot that charmed us in Galena was Cars on the Route, where the inspiration for Tow Mator in the Pixar movie Cars resides. Definitely stop to hear fast-talking Melba tell the story!

All in all, a delightful day in Galena. Strolling up and down Route 66, talking to vintage camper

owners and falling in love with their antique trailers, was just what we needed to keep us going through our own rebuild. Can't wait to meet them again at a campground!

Because you've so patiently waded through this post, as a bonus I'll throw in a photo of my favorite Southeast Kansas attraction. After all, what's a trip past West Mineral, Kansas without a stop at BIG BRUTUS? 

And just in case you're wondering where to get a good steak after you've made the trip to Galena, I'll end with a quick plug for a Fredonia, Kansas treasure. The Stockyards Restaurant, on the grounds of the Fredonia Livestock Auction, serves up scrumptious steaks, hamburgers and other cafe favorites with a smile.

Thanks for reading about our travels...we'll post more on Sweet Melissa's makeover this week!

Big Progress!

Even though there's much to do on our vintage camper's structure, I'm already taking advantage of family sewing skills to get the curtains and throw pillows made. Thanks to my daughter and granddaughter, we will soon have custom aqua and pink curtains for every window, lined with white broadcloth to resist sun fading.

Mad Curtain Making Skills!

When I say I have NO sewing skills, I'm not exaggerating. I think I've even sewn through my fingernail before. But I'm not afraid to ask for help!

Here's a view of the layout and cutting phase (nothing to sneeze at when you're making ten pairs of curtains!) Thank God for Hancock Fabrics and their sales is all I'm saying.

Due to mechanical problems, we didn't make much progress sewing this weekend, but everything's cut out, pinned and ready to sew as soon as the machine is back from the shop. So grateful for talented family members!

We've also come to love Harbor Freight, purveyor off all things trailer-related. Got a great deal on a trailer dolly (to position the camper in the campsite), found an oscillating multipurpose tool to cut through the birch sheeting without damaging the underlying frame, and looked at deep cycle batteries and solar recharge systems.

Side 2 Halfway There

Side 2 Down to the Metal

Even more progress made today as ninety percent of the paint has been removed from the aluminum skin and we'll soon be priming for a new paint job. Here are before and after photos.

Hubs Tearing Out Hair 

Last thing to report for this weekend--the hubs has finished pulling out all the water damaged birch sheeting and a couple framing boards that concerned him. Required removing the closet above the propane Dometic fridge, but he managed that with his usual skill. He did, however, request that I post a pic of him tearing out his hair mid-project!


All in all a good weekend's work. Looking forward to even more progress in the next couple of weeks.

Off With the Old...

Here's the thing about any type of rehab--you have to get rid of the bad stuff before you get to enjoy the good stuff. So we're in the 'cleanse' phase of our camper redo. Lots of hours spent brushing paint remover on 50+ year old paint and primer and then scrape, scrape, scrape through the layers until you reach shiny aluminum. First side done! What do you think?
 
The hubs is working inside, cutting out the water damaged sections of birch sheeting and prepping for insulation and replacement birch. Thanks once again to our comrades in vintage trailer restorations, Tin Can Tourists, we've found Reflectix insulation from Lowe's works well.

Cutting Out the Bad Stuff

Probably unrealistic to hope for cooler weather in mid-July, but I'm praying for it anyway! Did I mention it's hovering around 100 degrees during the afternoons??  Makes for interesting work days, for sure.

Flamingo Pink Faux Leather!

For a little spot of glam, thought I'd share the fabric we picked up for a song to cover the dinette bench cushions.


Stay tuned. Sweet Melissa is taking shape, one hard-won inch at a time.

We Have the Paint!

Found exciting stuff in unexpected places today. On a trip to our neighborhood Sutherlands Lumber, we stumbled across the elusive oil based enamel tint base that can be mixed to match our perfect hue. Thanks to Sutherland's Golden Glow Gloss Enamel, we now have exactly the color we hoped for: Alexandra Valley #7511.

May seem like a minor thing, but tracking down a mixable enamel base wasn't nearly as simple as we'd assumed it would be. So we had a little happy dance session in the paint aisle, asked the helpful paint expert to mix a gallon of 7511 and grabbed a gallon of gloss white for the top half of the camper. Whew, one more bit of anxiety laid to rest!

A fun tidbit: we've also settled on flamingo pink as the accent color, for the stripe between the colors on the outside and to spice up the inside. Can't wait!

Wall Doctor

Inspector Daisy

What else have we marked off the Trailer To-Do List in the past 24? Something huge--we pulled off the water damaged birch beneath the front windows and around the roof vent and found that only one supporting 2x4 would need to be replaced. Another sigh of relief...we'd seen folks remove the skin and basically rebuild the framework of the camper from the decking up. Much better outcome, ready to get started sealing J-Rails on the outside so we can replace the water damaged birch on the inside. Woot woot!

In Search of the Perfect Hue...

Today's challenge is finding the perfect paint color, in a paint meant for farm implements, so that when we've gone to the trouble of sanding, scraping, priming and painting, the result will be awesomely attractive through many, many camping trips.

That's not quite as easy as we first thought. Thanks to a wonderfully helpful website--Good Stuff--and his post on painting travel trailers inexpensively, we have lots of ideas about how to paint our Mobile Scout ourselves. Right now, hubby Mark is spending his day off looking at paint colors at Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware, etc. because, no matter how great your computer's graphics, you can't really pick the perfect color from a screen. We're leaning toward either white over teal with black accents or silver over teal with white accents. More later...

And while hubby's at it, he's also in search of new trailer tires. The current Diamondback 195/65R15 tires are in fair shape, but he'd like a taller profile. I'll leave that decision to him, what I know about tires fills a shot glass.

Here's today's photo share...our nine year old Ratty, Happy, learning the scents of Sweet Melissa.

Bringing Home Baby--07/05/15

 
Maybe it's the whole 'turning sixty this summer' thing, or maybe it's just because my hubby and I love a good project, but whatever the reason, we've done it! We purchased a 'canned ham', 1961 Mobile Scout 15' travel trailer from a lovely couple in Hutchinson, KS and now we're knee deep in a restoration.

You can see by this pic just how lonely our baby has been--she's been sitting all alone, waiting for us to come help her.

So, we pulled the weeds out of her vents, aired up her long-flat tires and towed her home to our backyard, weaving and wobbling a bit along the way.  

Here are a few pics of her neglected insides. She (her name is Sweet Melissa, by the way, after my favorite Allman Bros song) has great bones, as they say, but has suffered some leakage. As all good vintage campers do, she's sheathed on her ceilings and walls with 1/8" birch, giving her a homey, happy interior glow. The downside is that we'll be pulling and replacing quite a bit of that due to water damage.

Why, you may be asking, would folks our age dive into such an extensive rebuild? Because there's something magical about stepping up from the wooded campsite into your own softly lit travel trailer, complete with copper-tone oven and fridge, a comfy bed under the curve of the roof and a sweet dinette just waiting to be transformed into a guest bed. Simply looking out our patio door at Sweet Melissa, aglow in our driveway from a trouble light, got me fired up to be out on the road in search of campsites.

And so, we're doing it. We've scrubbed away the first layer of moss and mud, hauled away her trash and spent a whole lot of elbow grease uncovering her grimy Formica. What's next? We're researching paint techniques, where to buy the best 1/8" birch paneling and how to finish the partial rewire she needs to be whole.

Bringing home our new baby was the first step of a new season of life. Wonder where she'll be leading us?

Follow the rebuild process on Pinterest!