I Have a Camper!

Well as luck would have it, I now have a camper!  Completely gave up on the Forester ever being renovated as hubby hasn't done anything to it (well I take that back, he did a couple of little things but nothing major) and so decided to try to sell it.  I had just listed it on eBay when he decided he might want a second chance so asked me to cancel the auction.  Well since I had just listed it, I couldn't do that for 24 hours so stuck a reserve on it.  Nearly 4,000 views and 67 watchers, we got nothing.

So we took it to Sioux Falls, SD to a camper place to get an estimate on renovating it.  Also contacted a guy in Lincoln.  Both came in at roughly $6500.  Not worth it to me because I had bad karma with this thing anyway.

So we went to look at an Apache pop up a few weeks ago and it was super huge so passed.  Plus I honestly don't think I could manage the setup and take down every time I wanted to go out so nah.  Stopped by an RV place on the way home and looked at a 2010 Sportsman's Classic.  Very cute, very basic, no amenities, pretty much bare bones (no propane, no stove, no bathroom) for nearly $8000.  Thanks but no thanks.

As a last ditch, I decided to put an ad on craigslist looking for a late model camper 14' or less.  As luck would have it, within 24 hours I had a reply from a nice lady in Iowa who had a Casita.  I had to ask her what a Casita is because it wasn't anything I had heard of.  She sent pictures, we talked over the phone, we emailed and I'm proud to say I'm now the owner of a 2002 Casita Patriot Deluxe (the one with the bathroom/shower).  This is fully self contained, runs on propane, electric and 12V and is teeny tiny but adorable!

Now if it would just warm up so I can get to decorating ... hurry spring!


PS:  To further make my day better, we sold the Forester to a person in Sioux Falls saving us a trip back up there to get it.  Yay!

Pictures of the Gutted Forester

Here's what we're looking at as far as a blank canvas.  Not quite sure what we're going to do with the floor heater.  First off, we've disconnected the propane and I'm not overly comfortable using gas inside a small space anyway.  The floor is original tile but in the front, it's pretty cracked so we'll probably replace that with laminate or maybe vinyl, just not sticky back tile .. I hate that stuff.  As far as the rest, who knows.  First step will be replacing the rotted framing wood, checking for leaks and then using rigid insulation to insulate.  After that, the sky's the limit!  Now if only it would stop raining!

Gutting the Forester

Well the lil Forester canned ham is gutted ... we had a break in the weather today so decided to do some work and completely cleaned her out.  All the paneling is removed, all the "innards" are removed and I removed all the fiberglass insulation before quitting for the day.  She's down to windows, floor, framing studs and skin.  It's odd how roomy she looks without all the stuff inside. 

We did find some rotted framework which will have to be replaced but for the most part, the wood is intact.  There are some random nail/screw holes that will be sealed and unfortunately there are some places where we can see daylight on the edges through the floor.  Hubby says he has a plan to fix that so I'll just have to leave that up to him.

When I ripped out the insulation, 90% of it was dry and clean so that was a good sign, a lot less water rot than I was dreading.  I just can't wait to get the rotted wood cleaned out and replaced so we can start designing the interior and get on with the fun stuff.  Can you tell I'm impatient?

Word to the wise though ... if you're not patient, capable or interested in fixing, save your $$ to find a pristine already restored camper.  Some days I wish I had adhered to that advice myself!  It would have caused a lot less stress.  But this is fun, right?

Wasps Nests, Wood Rot and Leaks, Oh My!

Boy hubby sure wanted something to keep him awake yesterday (it was prom Saturday night and he worked post-prom until 5:00 a.m. and then slept till 10).  He kicked butt on the Forester and pretty much completely gutted her.  Lots of clean up which I'll probably attempt to do later today but most of the inside is ripped out.

All in all it was in pretty good (dry) shape except for the kitchenette area.  Once the stove was out we found what we were hoping not to find and that was wet, rotted wood!  :(  The whole area below the front window will need to be re-framed but we first need to find the source of the leak and patch it.  I don't see anything right off the bat except maybe it came in from the 2 vents ... heck I don't know. 

We also found a ton of wasps nests behind the paneling in the walls ... how could someone camp with all that buzzing?  These were old and dead by the time we got to them but there were mud wasp nests and paper wasp nests ... yikes!  Ignorance was probably bliss at one time! 

Once we get this all cleaned out, then we're going to try to figure out a game plan for the restoration.  I'm debating whether or not to put a little dinette in the front instead of the kitchenette area.  Where the 2 closets were along the street side wall, that might end up being the kitchenette section since I don't really need a clothes closet and a port-a-potty closet and would much rather trade that room for a small one-seat on each side dinette.  We'll see.  We're definitely going to put a twin bed along the back wall horizontally for more room. 

This is the fun part ... trying to figure all this out.  I can't wait!

Discoveries inside "The Burrow"

After consulting the wonderful folks at the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum (http://vintageshasta.proboards.com/), we've decided to attempt a skin-on restoration of the Forester rather than taking the skin off as we initially thought we'd have to.  I'm happy because I honestly didn't want to try taking the skin off this thing if we didn't have to and to find out it's doable is fantastic.  We worked all day yesterday trying to get the camper into the garage and there's no way it's gonna fit so a skin-off restoration would be a disaster here in Nebraska with the crazy wind and weather fluctuations.

Today hubby found a multi-tool thing at Menard's (miniature electric saw with other accessories) and went to work cutting the paneling so it can be removed.  He took off part of the ceiling in the vent area and the curbside wall and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the wood supports/studs weren't rotted.  Also the fiberglass insulation, while the backing had stains, was intact and dry.  I was afraid we'd find wet, blackened, moldy insulation so finding nice clean yellow insulation behind the paper backing was a plus.  We're going to remove that and replace it with the rigid insulation anyway but in my opinion, any sign that points to NO water rotting is a good sign.  I'm most worried about the porta-potty closet wall (street side) and I'm sure in there we're going to find all kinds of disgusting things but if 90% of this thing is intact, I'll be a happy camper.

Also, we pulled up the disgusting carpet and found tile!  This was kind of exciting to me because I remember my parents house having that same basic tile (not sure what it's called) and my sister and I spraying it with silicon spray and "ice skating" in our socks all around the house.  Yes, I know that's crazy and we're lucky to not have broken bones but it was kind of a fun find for me.  The stuff toward the back of the camper is slippery and looks to be in excellent condition.  The stuff toward the front near the door and in front of the kitchenette has some crazing/surface cracks but I won't be able to tell how bad it is until I remove all the disintegrated carpet backing that has left a nice yellow dust all over the floor.  Ideally, if it's in decent enough shape, I plan to leave the floor tile but if not, I guess I'll stick some kind of laminate flooring over it.  We'll see.

It's supposed to snow (AGAIN) tomorrow and the temperature dropped drastically while we were out there this evening so that kind of stinks.  Now that we've made some progress, I'm anxious for warm weather and a less hectic schedule so we can get this thing in motion! 

Oh, one of the things we found yesterday was a gray water tank mounted under the camper.  I didn't know it even had that.  My Shasta just has an opening where you hook up a hose and drain it into a plastic tub so this was another one of those "cool finds" in my camper world anyway.

Now if only I could find a US equivalent of a baby Belling cooker http://www.belling.co.uk/baby-belling I'd be even happier! 

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!!

How NOT to Buy a Camper!

Even though I have a perfectly good Shasta LoFlyte (decorated even), I've always been in love with the little canned ham shaped campers from the 50s.  I've drooled over pictures and have broken the 10th commandment multiple times but they're just so darn cute, I can't help myself.

Anyway, I digress.  We decided yesterday to go prom dress shopping which naturally meant a trip to the "Big City."  Since the main highway was closed due to water over the road, we had to take a meandering secondary path to get there.  Now honestly, usually I'm bored to tears and have my eyes closed because there really isn't anything to see around here especially in the winter.  All of a sudden, my husband said "did you see that little camper back there?"  I quickly sat up in my seat, turned my head to see it and missed it.  So we decided to go back for a drive by.  There is was ... THE camper!  The only one I've ever seen around here ... the one I want ... the "cheese to my macaroni" as my daughter would say, sitting there in an overgrown yard filled with abandoned cars, other trailers and assorted junk and a boarded up house.

So we stopped at the neighbor's house to ask about it.  She said the house wasn't inhabited and the guy just left all his junk there.  She also gave us his son's name because she said no one was ever around and that would be our best bet.  We thanked her and I decided it wouldn't hurt to go take a peek at this little darling just to make sure she wasn't destroyed before we bothered some strange guy on a weekend.  After traipsing through mud (and almost falling on my butt a few times) we found a rutted path near a cornfield and walked down it to take a quick look at the camper.  It was adorable ... 50's birch interior, 99.9% intact windows, some water damage but looked like it had potential.  The "I wants" quickly multiplied in my head and so we decided to go back to the car and call the guy when we could find a phone book for the area.

In order to avoid the mud, we decided to walk along the highway.  Meanwhile, some guy is trailing us which kind of creeped me out but figured we were close to the car so could easily make a run for it if he was up to no good.  Well he stopped and yelled at my husband to "get the f**k out."  My husband calmly went over to talk to him and explain that we were just interested in looking at the little camper and had gotten the information from the neighbor about who to call.  Turns out, it was the long-lost owner of the property (cue Deliverance music here) who just happened to be driving by and was itching for a fight.  He cussed, he yelled, and bottom line told my husband "if the *$%&$ camper was for sale, it would be out front with a for sign on it."

Now maybe, just maybe, we were wrong to wander onto some obviously abandoned property to take a quick look at an abandoned camper ... but honestly, people do this all the time.  I just was interested but the guy obviously would rather see this little darling sit and rot rather than making some money and seeing her restored to her full potential.

I'm still looking ... anyone know of an inexpensive canned ham camper for sale?  Cheap?

I've Been Working on The Curtains ...

... all the weekend long.  I've got 4 more panels to go and I only have enough fabric for 1 so had to order some more from fabric.com.  Glad I have gift certificates that I got in a trade for yarn that I wasn't going to use.  I love Ravelry.com. (The knitting/crocheting site I hang out at.)

I picked up the little rowboat shelf at Goodwill for $4 which I thought was an excellent deal.  It's also got a paddle and a fishing rod (wood) but haven't decided what I'm going to do with those.  It holds the old Girl Scout manuals and some other books perfectly.  The Cadette cap is on a hat stand my father-in-law made me and I think it works perfectly.

We need to work on getting the plumbing fixed up in the kitchen ... we need to hook up the water lines to the tank and to the outside water faucet and put the faucets back in place.  The only things left to do after the plumbing is taken care of are all cosmetic, some little decorating touches, cleaning windows and windowsills as well as getting the outside painted. 

I'm really glad my husband was able to fit the camper in the garage.  It makes it so much easier to hang curtains, etc. when all I have to do is step inside the garage.  I'm still amazed that he was able to get it inside the garage horizontally along the back wall and still leave us enough room for our 2 vehicles.  Shasta sure did something right when they built the LoFlyte models. 

Fun Vintage Finds!

I saw one of these plaid Skotch Koolers in Salvation Army a few months ago but it was $10 so I passed.  Then I found out when I went on my sisters on the fly outing that $10 was a fairly decent price so I was kicking myself because it would look really cute displayed in my camper.  Well, there are several on ebay but I didn't want one bad enough to pay the price + $12+ for shipping so I kind of blew it off.

Today I went to an auction ... it was cold, it started raining BUT I got a Skotch Kooler and this cute BBQ tray for $1!!! 

I think the tray is just adorable and I love the cooler, rust and all.  It will look cute displayed with my vintage Girl Scout and camping stuff, don't you think?  Sometimes waiting is all it takes!

Hey that's my fabric!

Looking through these calendars while decoupaging the traincase I found "my" curtain fabric in September 1962.  How funny!  Of course, mine's a reproduction but still it's kind of fun!

Let the decorating begin!

FINALLY!  Hubby got the LoFlyte painted inside and I'm itching to decorate!  Hung my first official decoration up and now I'm ready to go.  I went thrifting for camper stuff and found some tin stars at Salvation Army for cheap.  I repainted them with Army Green Rustoleum spray paint (I have a fascination with spray paint, always have ... hubby used to say "if it sits still for a minute, you'll probably paint it") and I think they look pretty cute. 

I also snagged some cute Lincoln Beautyware canisters at the same thrift.  Figured I could spray paint them green and use them to store non-food items.  Well first thing was to get them clean so I stuck them in the dishwasher.  Yikes!  Apparently someone before me had the brilliant idea to spray paint them and the paint melted into clumps all over the originally harvest gold canisters.  So I'm now scraping paint down to the aluminum in order to spray paint them.  Worth the work?  Probably not but they're cute and I'm persistent!

I also bought a stack of old Girl Scout calendars off eBay and plan to use them to decoupage the round train case I purchased for more storage. 

Lastly, while still on a spray paint kick, I purchased some Rustoleum vinyl and upholstery paint (did you know they made that?  I didn't!) and sprayed the 2 bench seats next to the bed and the bed guard for the bunk bed that we're going to use as a shelf.  The vinyl was pretty faded and dingy and I went with the sand color (basic beige) which has really freshened them up.  I love spray paint!

Let the light shine in ...

Well the inside is about 1/2 painted ... using Valspar Barcelona White which is quite a bit more yellow than white ... maybe it's "cream" as hubby calls it.  Anyway, it looks so fresh and clean inside.  We're using a semi-gloss so that should help brighten it up even more.  One thing I have to give Shasta credit for is the amount of light inside their old campers.  The LoFlyte has panoramic windows in the dining area (meaning a huge set of windows across the front and one behind each seat) and a total of 7 window sections in a 12-foot living space.  Front and back windows go nearly the width of the camper.  There is a big section of windows in the kitchen area (this section goes from in front of the sink to behind the dinette seat on the street side of the camper).  There are windows on each side of the front dinette (behind the seats) and windows on each side of the couch/bed area plus a tiny little window on top.  With the front door open and the screen door allowing more light inside, it's open and airy and completely non-cavelike.

While I absolutely adore the cute little canned hams, I've been inside a couple and they seem dark and dreary.  I'm falling more in love with this LoFlyte by the day.  So anyway, with the paint on the walls, I decided to put up one of the sets of curtains I've made (still working on the rest).  It's a perfect match ... I had a choice of going with ivory or beige and decided to listen to my daughter and go with beige.  I'm so glad I did.  I think they look great. 

Now I just have to get the rest of the interior painted, the cabinet hardware put back, the bench seats and bed screwed back into place and the shelf section across the back re-trimmed and I'll be ready to start decorating.  I can't wait!

Camping and the Cutest Darn Curtains Ever!

Well, I went on my first Sisters on the Fly camp out last weekend .. what a blast!  They really do have more fun than anyone else!  Other than a minor mishap where I jackknifed the trailer into the SUV and put a big old dent in it (the SUV, not the trailer), it was a wonderful weekend ... neat people, great junk (went to the Nebraska Junk Jaunt) and gorgeous weather.  Couldn't have asked for more.

While I was there, I got to reminiscing about how much fun I had at Girl Scout camp as a child and decided THAT was the theme for my trailer!  For those of you unfamiliar with Sisters on the Fly, most of the trailers/campers are themed.  Most are cowgirl-related but there are some done up in ladybugs, ants, etc.  One of the ladies there had a red/white Shasta and everything she had inside was pretty much red and white ... it was beautiful.  On the fold down bed, she had a gorgeous white crocheted throw with red crocheted flowers, cute little red and white curtains, red and white accessories, etc.  You get the picture.

Another one was done in pink and cowgirl stuff.  She had adorable curtains, boots and had even decoupaged posters on her ceiling.  Very creative.

So, after going through a few theme ideas myself, I decided that since I've collected GS stuff for quite a while, why not incorporate that as my theme.  I ordered 10 yards of reproduction vintage Girl Scout fabric and started making curtains, found some old GS and GS camp pennants and will put them on the cabinet doors along with other assorted stuff.  I also had the brilliant idea that since I'll never use the bunk bed, I'll use it as a shelf only.  I removed the back half and will remount the front half (the part with the edge) so it only goes 1/2 way across my bed.  That way I won't bump my head in the middle of the night and I can display stuff on it.  I also even have an old Cadette uniform on a dressmaker's dummy that is wearing my old badge sash which I think will be cute to display also (as long as I don't scare myself in the middle of the night when I see a "body" in my camper).

I got 1 curtain done so far and I think it's the cutest thing ever.  What do you think?

Houston We Have Air!

Well, at least a breeze. I was able to open all the windows today with my daughter's help. Seems the stuck ones were simply being turned the wrong way. One would think that all the windows would crank open in the same direction but I guess someone had a little bit of fun at the camper factory but in any case, all the windows open and all the glass is intact. Dirty but intact.

With the cushions gone, I was able to inspect the interior a bit more. We're going to need to replace the plywood bed board because the slide out board sticks and there's some warpage to the main board. It's not anything that is necessary but might as well do it while the cushions are off being remade.

I found the water tank today (under the dinette seat on the driver's side) and will fill it with water and Clorox bleach and on hubby's suggestion, tow the camper around to slosh the water around in the tank. We'll probably do that when we tow her in to get a painting estimate. I don't plan on drinking water from the tap so will bring bottled water along but it will be nice to kill any lurking germs.

There are a lot of cobwebs that need to be vacuumed up out of little corners and some rectangular things that I think might be mouse bait. When it cools down (hopefully next week) I'll get in there and give her a good cleaning. Today was just a day to get the windows open so I can air her out and to check her out inside again.

The plywood shouldn't cost all that much and if I can find some whitewashed paneling I plan on replacing the sections under the window that have warped and then dried out. If not, I'll come up with another solution since it's not the main paneling, just simply about a 6-inch wide section of a "shelf" under the window. I'm also still trying to figure out how to put an air conditioner in there but haven't hit upon the perfect solution yet.

I also joined some yahoo groups for vintage Shasta camper trailers so I plan on making good use of the resources available.

The Beginning of a Dream

Since 2002 when I saw an article in Country Living magazine, I've wanted to own a vintage trailer and join Sisters on the Fly. After passing up a trailer at Goodwill years ago and kicking myself ever since, I decided to renew the quest. I stalked them on ebay and on craiglist, I trampled through a muddy field looking at old trailers that were abandoned to the elements and came complete with built in friends in the form of wasps that had made a home in the ceiling vents. Finally, the search paid off and I became the owner of a 1967 Shasta LoFlyte camper with wings!

This little darling is in amazing shape with intact whitewashed paneling and cabinets and other than some expected dust and mild dirt, is amazingly clean. No stink of mildew and no critters roaming around. My husband and I hooked her up to the truck and towed her home coming almost full circle since her very first owner lived about an hour from here.

She has yet to be christened with a name and needs new tires but she's been bug bombed and is ready for a pine-sol bath as soon as the weather cools off a little bit.

The cushions need new covers and as luck would have it, Walmart has most of their fabric on clearance so I was able to purchase some wonderful colorful semi-retro looking fabric for the seat cushions and have already found someone to make them for me. Let the restoration journey begin!