Snow Snow Go Away!

Sheesh, hasn't the snow heard it's supposed to stop toward the end of March?  I'm dying to start on the Forester but with this snow, it's just not going to happen.  Maybe this weekend!

Meanwhile I'm working frantically on catching up the "Senior Year" scrapbook in time for graduation.  Hard to believe it's only 1-1/2 months away!  Where has the time gone?  I'm ready to get this thing done so I can cull through my scrapbook hoard and get rid of stuff that I'll never use again!  I plan on donating it to the school for use in speech visual aids, etc. 

In fact, with the snow and cold weather, I probably should clean out my craft closet ... hmmm ... sounds like a plan!  Hurry spring!

1961 Forester Ideas and Photos

Finally got around to taking multiple pictures of my new project ... a 1961 Forester camper called "The Burrow."  We've decided to completely redo the interior since there's evidence of some neglect for lack of a more appropriate term.  The seller wasn't 100% truthful but when you fall in love, you tend to overlook the flaws for the beauty you see inside which is what happened here.  In all honesty, we probably should have walked away from this little gal and I think we knew that when we inspected her but being that we know how hard it is to find a little compact canned ham around here and the fact that the aluminum skin seems solid from all our poking and prodding we decided to take on the challenge of an internal restoration.

We learned from our mistakes with the 1968 Shasta Compact last year and knew to look for evidence of skin damage, collapsing walls, etc. and we didn't find that.  She towed home just fine and so that's a good sign.

Our plans are to reconfigure the inside by making a twin-size bed against the back wall.  The camper itself inside is 75 inches across so we can fit a mattress on the bed with no problem.  We'll extend out 40 inches for the actual bed section and then butted up against that on both sides will be two 18" x 18" benches.  Seeing as how the measurement from the back of the camper to the wardrobe closet (street side) is 58 inches, we're doing good with that plan.  On the curb side directly across from the wardrobe there used to be a waist high cabinet that was removed for some reason so we will replace that as well.

The porta-potty closet will likely remain the same size but I might use part of it for storage with shelves in the back.  The kitchen area cabinets will be redone and along the back and side walls, I plan on putting shelves with a decorative lip to keep stuff from sliding off when she's parked.

The outside will get a good polishing with Mother's Mag Polish and she will be shiny and bright when I get through with her.

The current flooring is unknown underneath some ratty carpet but I'm thinking of laminate flooring unless I decide to go with a vinyl.  Whatever I use will have to be somewhat heat resistant since there is a floor heater built into the actual floor of the camper.  I'm not sure why the decided to do that, it seems to me that inadvertently stepping on a hot grate at night would cause massive screaming and jumping around but I can't find any information on this old camper which leads me to believe either it's a rare jewel or the idea just didn't take off for Forest City Ind. Inc. of Forest City, Iowa.  If anyone has any information, I'd love to hear about it!

The Burrow

I've really been wanting a small compact-size canned ham camper and finally found one!  I picked this one up today ... she's gonna need some work inside and out (lots of polishing, major cleaning and some wood working) but in the end I think she's gonna be worth it.

Of course, I have to name my camper, being a proper Sister on the Fly, so decided to name her "The Burrow."  For those of you who aren't aware, The Burrow is the Weasley's house in the Harry Potter series.  I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and the name just seemed to fit. 

I plan on doing her up in an English country cottage theme and can't wait to get started.  Hurry up spring!!