A month away...

From the trailer that is~

March was somewhat tough and I really didn't get anything done on the trailer at all.
I did manage to purchase some insulation, but nothing has actually progressed in the trailer since the last update on Feb 25th.

At the end of February my work announced layoffs coming for 60 of the 358 people in my group.
We would find out the third week of March who was getting the cut.. It was not to be based on seniority (I have 12+ years in) but rather "the best fit for the group going forward".

I was hesitant to spend any money on the camper with that uncertainty hanging over our heads. Well in the end God was gracious and I was not one of the people that were cut. So that burden was lifted but the last 2 weeks have been spent with sick kids and sick selves.. We made it all winter without major illness but the last couple weeks have been fevers, sore throats, stuffy heads etc.

Yesterday we did take trip up to Chichester NH to see a cheap camper for sale..
Listed and registered as a '68 Scotty', what we found was a 66/67 Shasta 1500 that still had the wings on. For $200 how could we not bring it home? :)

We have no intention of fixing this one.. I'm taking the wings, the drip rails above the windows, emblems, lights, and rock guard. Maybe a couple other things.. My goal is to get the stuff I want off Monday and have it resold by Saturday.

Here it is :

Yes, thats snow on the ground.. April Fools Day storm left 6 inches of heavy wet slush/snow on us. It melted down to what you see above in less than 48 hours.. and today it gone completely~ Goodbye Winter~!

Hope to get back to the Airflyte this week now that I know I'm still employed..
LOTS to do if we are actually going to camp this year :)

Subfloor is nailed down..

Only had 1 afternoon to spend on the camper this week.

All I managed to get done in the last 7 days was to get the subfloor in place and nailed down.
Thankfully I have an air nailer so the whole process took only 30 minutes.
I think I used about 800 nails.. should be enough :)

Got a lot done this week..

I was able to spend some time on the camper this week and just about finished up the framework that needed attention. I replaced the rotted wood and sured up the other areas that needed it. It almost doesn't seem possible but I used 300 of the Kreg screws so far. There is a huge difference in how stiff the frame is now.

I had 2 areas that were a little weak I couldn't get to from inside the trailer. Under the door and just in front of the port side wheel well. Both of those spots had pulled out away from the frame a little bit and the trim that caps the aluminium skin down low had pulled out of the wood. I replaced some wood there, removed all the old nasty screws and replaced them with new ones and was able to get both sides solidly attached again.

On the inside I had an idea about how to clean up the leftover paneling that was stuck between the top frame rail and the aluminum trim channels. I had removed most of the old wood by using a utility knife but I wanted to be able to slide the birch up in behind that trim so it really needed to be cleaned out better. My grinder has a 1/4" thick wheel on it and by running it up behind the trim and slowly working my way around the camper I was able to completely remove all the leftover wood. The new stuff will slide right up in there without issue now so thats good.

At this point I'm ready to put the subfloor down. I already placed in the front piece to see how it looks and fits..no problems there. I took the little circular plate and gromet out of the floor that the wiring harness goes through so I can reuse them once the new floor is down. I should have the subfloor done in the next day or two.

Here's a few more pictures of the gutted interior with 99% of the reframing completed. I added a couple more crossmembers to the front wall and added a few 'gusset' type pieces to areas that were not rebuilt but needed a little more strength.

So now I am left with a clean slate to start rebuilding from.. Took a few weeks longer than I would have liked to get to this point, but I'm glad the demo and wood repairs are done.

The next step for me is to finalize the floorplan and figure out where I'm going to run wiring for 110 and 12 volts. I need to run those things prior to putting in the new insulation.. Still so much to do~

Construction..as opposed to destruction..

I finally feel like I'm doing something constructive on the camper. After a month and a half of taking things apart, I'm actually building / improving something.

We are still dealing with cold snowy weather here in NH so I've continued to clean up the windows and some aluminium trim I moved to the basement, but over the last couple nights I've been able to work on rebuilding the rotted sections of framing in the front half of the camper.

I picked up a Keg pocket hole jig kit at Lowes and that is proving to be invaluable. It allows you to attach wood together with a very strong joint and is perfect for tightening up the existing stapled framework and building new frame sections. This will also be crucial in making the new dinette area, the kitchen and the closets / cabinets as I rebuild the interior. I really can't imagine how I'd do all that without this little tool.

Amazon, Lowes and ebay retailers all have this kit for under $40 dollars. Its called the Kreg R3.

I made a little demo video of how it works.. Very low budget.. no special effects..  Here it is :

Here's an updated picture of the interior where I'm working..

The Starboard side of the dinette area is done and the port side is almost done. 

Next I need to rebuild the entire front wall framing floor to ceiling.

Windows Before and After..

I've used fine steel wool with great success on other projects involving aluminium but apparently, its a little tougher to get great results with 40 year old window trim that hss been exposed to the elements that whole time. So while not quite as polished as I was hoping for, they certainly look better.

Keep in mind that this camper 'refurb' was never intended to be a restoration to new condition, or a show trailer..Just something in nice shape with a bit of a retro feel that my family can enjoy for a few years on vacations and long weekends.

That said, here's a shot of the 2 small windows I took off the drivers side of the camper. The one on the left was cleaned up using only fine steel wool and windex.

It took about 20 minutes in total to go from looking like the one on the right, to the nicer one on the left. I removed the screen and cleaned the glass inside and out and I also used the steel wool to 'polish' up the parts visible on the inside of the trailer once the window is reinstalled.

I have seen some other Shasta blogs where people have taken apart the window frame, removed the glass, drilled out rivits and polished all the aluminium parts to an almost mirror shine before reassembly. I think the work they have done is stunning, but in my particular case, that would be overkill and not worth the hours of time per window. Cleaning them up quickly with steel wool has made them look way better and I'm good with that.

One (small one) down, 10 more to go plus some other trim parts~

Still darn cold..

Overnight temps are still down at zero and daytime is barely hitting 20..
We got some more snow last night, only another 5 inches or so.

In order to feel like I'm accomplishing something while I'm waiting for it to warm up to at least 'freezing', I took out the windows on the drivers side so I can work on them in the basement where its a balmy 60 degrees. I'm not going to completely take them apart, just clean up the aluminium with fine steel wool and clean the glass inside and out. I tested a little spot using the steel wool and it looks 100 times better.

I also ordered the new butyl tape to seal everything back up as I reassemble the windows and vents etc..
After seeing the nightmare silicone job on our 68 trailer, I knew it had to be done the right way with butyl.
It won't harden over time and crack like silicone will and should prove to be 100% leak proof if I apply it right when I reinstall the parts that need sealing.

Its really cheap.. I got 1/4" by 3/4" by 20 foot rolls for less than $1.45 shipped each. Can't go wrong there~

Next update will be a 'before and after' on one of the windows..

Till then, here's a couple updated pictures..

Some windows out:

Windows in the basement ready for cleaning:

While the '71 is in the garage, The '68 is outside in the mounting snow:

Finally ready to dig in to wall repairs..

No pictures today but I did accomplish a couple things that I needed to do in order to start the rebuild process.

1. picked up 1x2 and 1x3 wood
2. picked up an angle grinder on sale at Lowes for $14.97 (not 'needed' but helpful)
3. picked up 500 #8 x 3/4 hex head screws (to replace the nasty ones on the exterior)
4. borrowed a large pipe wrench and wrestled the water fill cap off so I coule remove the water tank.

Now the interior is gutted and I can begin rebuilding :)

#3 might not seem important, but in order to replace the framing at the front of the camper I have to remove dozens of these hex headed screws from the outside as they grab in to the framing to hold the skin on. Right now, there are a bunch just poking through where wood used to be.. so they need to come out, wood needs to go in, and new screws need to go back in place.

It was minus 9 degrees this morning.. zero degrees at 5pm.. too cold to go out tonight and work on it.
Hopefully the temp will be back up in to the 30's in a couple days, I'm anxious to get going~