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!