You'd better sit down...

Sitting? Good. I didn't want to alarm anyone with this shocking news...
I actually did some work on the camper this week  :)

Between the never ending illness that wiped out our family a few weeks ago, and the need for spring cleanup around the yard, the camper took a back seat to all else for the better part of a month and a half.

Since the last update on April 3rd, a few things have happened that relate to the camper.
First, I sold the little Shasta 1400 I picked up. I kept the wings and a couple vent covers I needed and sold a few of the interior light fixtures. After selling that one for $160 dollars I broke even in the end but have the wings now for ours and technically didn't have to pay for them.

Lets see..  I also swapped baggage doors between the 71 and the 68 as the one that was on the 71 was just a wreck. (The door from the 68 isn't a whole lot better but at least it closes tight and the handle isn't about to fall off).

I also converted all the running lights over to LED. I removed the wiring and metal bits from each housing and drilled a 3/8 hole to mount the "pre-wired for 12 volts" 4 chip super bright LEDs in there. Everything came out good, can't wait to see how they look lit up on the trailer.

I use this site for my LED needs, they ship fast and have great customer service..
http://www.oznium.com/

Here's a picture of the LED mounting~

I had ordered 5 new amber lenses back in December as the ones on the camper where sun baked to clear. They are a perfect match to the original ones and will look right at home once I get them in place.

Here's a shot of the wings.. no longer 'Earnhardt black', they now sport a nice bright aluminum finish. Also in this picture is the Shasta magazine rack I got from a Shastaforum member.. I couldn't resist  :)

And finally, today I actually painted a little bit of the rear end. I used a high tech paint booth (large sheets of cardboard leaning up against the workbench to protect from overspray) and just did a small section to see how it would come out. I was talking to my wife on the phone while she was at work this afternoon and I mentioned I had painted a little bit of the camper... She paused and said "With what?" I answered "With spray paint". Her response was something like "Isn't that a little bit ghetto"? I assured her it looked fine.. When faced with the decision to have a body shop paint the trailer for $1000 dollars, or spray it yourself for $50 dollars, the latter wins every time with me :)  She thought maybe rolling it on would be better but I'm happy with the way the spraying is coming out.

I used Rustoleum Gloss White and it's covering nicely with no runs. Won't look 'professionally done' but it will certainly look WAY better than not painting at all~

Here's what I did~

The hardest part was removing the sticky black goop that someone used to reseal the baggage door area.. Good grief, what a pain in the neck that was. Mineral spirits did a good job of removing what I couldn't with a variety of scrapers.

Well thats it for this update.. We've made a few changes to the color schemes and next update should include some news on that~

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: