Pictures as of September 15, 2012

Just some catch up pictures..

Framing in the rear, and progress over the last 2 weeks..

Getting there!

Rear framing

Rear bed with bunk up

Rear beds with bunk down

Rear bed area with lights on

Little cubby with LED nightlight..still need to trim it

Used birch plywood for door under fridge

Working on the kitchen cabinet now

Suddenly, a year went by~

I didn't mean to drop from updating this camper blog.. It just sorta happened.

Here's a quick catch up on the last year and then tomorrow I'll post an update with pictures on the camper as it is today..

Lets see, the first trip last September was a blast. My brother and I had a great time at the vintage races at LRP in Connecticut. Several people stopped to check out the Shasta with memories of having something similar when they were kids. We had no issues at all with the camper..

When I got home I parked it for the winter.. I ended up tarping it as I wanted to keep the garage free for other projects. For the most part it did fine..
It did take a good limb hit in one of the 3 storms we got all year.. (One in October, 2 in March) Who would have thought that in New Hampshire we would have NO SNOW at all in Nov, Dec, Jan or Feb??? It's just unheard of.
Damage was minimal but its got a bigger dent than it had before..the limb hit the exact spot it had been hit previously.

Over the winter and through the spring I concentrated on making some extra income by fixing up some cars and reselling them. Worked out great as I did well on all of them.. a Camaro, a Crown Vic, and several Mustangs.. The Mustangs do really well..easy to buy cheap when they have a problem, yet the sell great when they are fixed up and nice. I did all GT Convertibles and have another one in the garage right now waiting for an engine swap.

Summer was slow due to a broken leg.. femur even. You know, the strongest bone in your body? Yeah, I broke mine running on the treadmill. (the belt stopped short while I was running) So much for trying to get healthier.. I should have stayed with my sedentary lifestyle  :)

Leg is 95% healed up now and I've been back at the camper for a couple weeks now trying to get it ready for its first 'family' camping trip. We are taking it to Maine to camp along the Saco River the week of the Fryeburg Fair. My wife had a couple requirements like electricity for hairdryer and coffee maker, lights in the potty room and a mirror. I've been able to get that done and more.. Camper won't be 100% done come October first but it should be plenty comfy for our first trip together in the camper.. in any camper.

Here's a list of what I've done recently:

-built basic kitchen counter structure (new laminate not going to be done, using an old 1400 table as a top now)
-built large storage above the dinette (no doors yet)
-built in the fridge and made storage above and below
-ran electricity and got lights working
-installed a door on the potty room instead of the curtain
-trimmed the windows inside
-started building the cabinet above the sink area and got the cooktop hood installed
-built a permanent bed in the rear with hinged storage underneath (separate from the 'trunk' space)

I guess thats about it..  More with pictures coming~

Tomorrow is the maiden voyage (even though its not done yet)

I came to terms quite a while ago that the camper was not going to be completed enough to take the family camping this year. Like most projects, they require more time and money than you think they will. Other things come up, illness happens, weather happens etc.

That said, I had made plans with my brother months ago to go to the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival in Connecticut over Labor Day weekend. LRP is a famous road racing course set in the hills of western CT. It has 40 reserved spots for campers right up against the track, each spot 20 x 60 but there are no hookups. Its a great track in a great setting, not a NASCAR Type place at all. No grandstands, you watch from the hillsides along the track. We are really looking forward to going.. Over 320 vintage race cars from the 1920s through the 1980s are registered for the event.

So once the Corvette project was completed I got busy on the camper to make sure we would have at least a weather tight room to sleep in. I made some good progress and although the camper isn't nearly done, it will be more comfortable than I was thinking it would be.

Since the last camper update on August 3rd I did the following:

-Installed the black and white tiled floor
-Installed all the interior walls
-Pulled the J channel off and replaced the butyl
-Resealed the back window after discovering it had a small leak
-Installed the trim rings and moon hubcaps
-Built the dinette area and mounted the table
-Built the potty closet and low tech potty
-Installed the rear bunk
-Finished the wiring harness for running lights, turn signals and stop lights
-Reinstalled the propane tanks
-Reinstalled the rock guard
-Installed the new magazine rack

I ran out of time to frame the couch/bed area in the rear but we are bringing self inflating air mattresses so we'll be fine with one on the floor back there.

Here's a bunch of pictures of this past months progress:

The Dinette area just prior to the flooring install

Flooring only took a couple hours to get done

Test fitting the first peice of Birch for the walls

Laying some birch out for 2 coats of amber shellac

More finishing work

Here's the dinette area with flooring and amber walls

You can see some of the cool grain and figuring Birch has

Dinette is framed in and the potty area is coming along

Dinette area with the lovely original 1971 cushions in place

(they will be replaced as funds allow)

Dinette area with the table down in 'bed mode'

The Shasta magazine rack

Here she is on a test drive to get the propane tanks filled

Finally, a picture of a little accessory for this weekends trip to help get around at the track..

Its a 1961 JC Higgins 3 speed bike complete with vintage Sears speedometer and a working

generator powered headlight. Very Retro~  Thank You Craigslist for this $25 purchase  :)

Well as Porky Pig often said..  Th Th Th Th Thats all foks~!

Raised a little cash

I took a little break from the camper in August to flip a car..

I found this low miles 1991 Corvette on Craigslist.
It was listed as "Doesn't run, don't know why"
I checked it over and bought the car based on the condition and the low price.
I figured even if it needed the engine replaced, I'd still be ahead.
Thankfully, it only needed a set of fuel injectors and the fuel system was
full of water so that all had to be flushed. Everything else was good to go.

(Our cat Simon immediately claimed it as his own)

I sold the car 17 days after I towed it home. After all expenses for the repairs, the trailer rental, gas etc I cleared two thousand dollars. I'd like to find a deal like this monthly!

OK, back to camper news in the next post~

Where does time go?

I can't believe another 3 weeks has passed by..

I've heard that time seems to go faster the older you get..
I'm certainly experiencing that first hand now :)

I have made more progress but the reality of the camper not being fully finished till next season is setting in.

With an unlimited supply of money, and no job to attend to, I probably could finish whats left to do in about a month. But since neither of those conditions apply to me I'll be happy if I can get it water tight and the interior walls and flooring done by September 1st when I am supposed to take the camper to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut for the vintage racing weekend.

We'll need to use air matresses or cots, and bring a table.. but it'll still be fun I'm sure.

I did get a couple things done recently..

Installed the rest of the windows
Built the framework and cut the panels for the front cabinet
Cut the birch for the rear wall to size
Picked up the flooring and adhesive from Lowes

I hope to have the door reinstalled today or tomorrow as I have another project I need to do in the garage so I'd like to pull the trailer out without worrying if its going to rain or not.

Ceiling is up..

Once all the new Birch panels were finished it was easy to pop them up in to place.

I got the new Fantastic Fan wired in and installed too.

I still need to run the strip of trim that will hide the center seam, but I'll wait till I do the front cabinet to install that.

I also finished the exterior painting this weekend. Now that the roof vent is in, and the roof is sealed I don't need to climb up there again so I figured it was safe to paint the side I hadn't painted yet.

So now the exterior is done (except for the baby moon hubcaps) and the interior is under way. I'm going to work on the front cabinet today and try to get that framed and lined with Birch.

I ordered the new black and white tiles for the floor but they won't be in for a couple weeks so I'll be working from the top down.

Here's the picture of the ceiling up in place:

Later that same day...

WooHoo~!

I got all 6 panels and the seam strip done with amber shellac..
2 coats each applied with a 4" Purdy brush and they came out great.

2 things contributed to this process going well..

First, I found my orbital sander. It has been in the bottom box of my tool chest for years, unused.
Today was its day.. That, hooked up to the shop vac made quick and easy work of getting the bare panels nice and smooth and ready for finishing.

Secondly, the Purdy brush. Normally I don't pay $15 for a paintbrush but this was worth every penny.
Very smooth and glossy finish without paintbrush streaks.

Here's a few pictures, but trust me, the pictures do no justice to how cool the birch looks now.
Lots of 'figuring' that catches the light..

Tomorrow I'll try to get a few of these panels installed :)