New member-Need help identifying camper model

[bicklebok]

here's a pic where I have been cleaning around some of the holes in the roof so the eternabond will stick next time.

[bicklebok]

My new friends! Acetone and a wire brush! Im starting to see some nice shiny bare aluminum now. Feeling good about eternabond sealing it this go round.

[bicklebok]

This weekend I plan on sealing everything back up and cross my fingers! The wire brush and acetone works really well getting down to the bare aluminum. I see no reason why the eternabond wont work once it gets a good clean bare surface to adhere to. But, we shall see!

[bicklebok]

Ok, it's not pretty, but it doesnt leak!! I finally sealed all the holes and mounted the roof vent back in. I am not finished with the roof though. I plan on extending the eternabond all the way out to the edge of the roof(back side of photo). I am also going to add more roof braces to remove a couple of sag spots that are still in the roof.

As SeniorChief and some others told me, make sure to clean the surface good before applying eternabond. In my case, this was about 40 hours of scraping and prepping. It was very tedious work but worth it. Every afternoon I spent a little time working on it until I was finally satisfied I had cleaned enough old roof patch off and had a good clean surface for the eternabond to stick to. Then I blew it with an air nozzle to remove dust, and applied acetone just before the eternabond.

When eternabond bonds to a surface, its amazing how strong it is.

[Senior Chief]

: thumb:

[bicklebok]

I added these panel boards last night at the base of the couch/bed.. It's not much work for the afternoon, but I try to do a little each day. SHould have painted them first but thats how I seem to do things-backwards! Plus, we havent decided on a color yet.

It rained last night and quite a bit today. It's a nice feeling knowing the interior is dry!

[Senior Chief]

Plus, we haven't decided on a color yet.

That's okay, the wife will let you know soon enough what color the both of you wantLOL

[bicklebok]

Chief,
We had a lot of rain yesterday, When I got home from work yesterday I opened the door of the camper just to admire the dry floor! That camper hasnt seen a dry floor in years!!
This afternoon I'm going to start pulling out 2 floor mounted bed frames so I can get to all the rotten wood on the walls at the back of the camper. Will take some pics.
My carpentry skills are horrible from lack of experience, but I tell myself at least it will look better than it did! Thank you for all your support and advice!

[bicklebok]

Ok, here's the latest from yesterday. At the back of the camper is the "master bedroom" that had 2 couches(photo only shows 1 since I forgot to take a pic before I started and had already ripped 1 out) and table that folded into a bed. Keep in mind this camper is only 12' long. My plans were to gently, I repeat gently, remove the 2 couch frames that fold to a bed so I can replace the rotten wood on the walls.

Well, gently didnt go so well. All the screws were rusted and stripped when I tried to put the screw gun to them. So, I ended up snatching them out in pieces. Thats ok though, cause the wife and I have agreed we will make that area into a full time bed anyway. I will just build a bed frame on the back wall and make compartments for storage under it as I have seen others do. I will be running into the same dilema I see others have had in that the maximum width I will be able to get out of the bed area is 48". The closet on one wall, and the sink on the other wall prevent me from going more than 48". Anyway, gotta make it work somehow.

Hopefully this weekend I can rip out all the rotten wood on the walls.

[Senior Chief]

Anybody can do good carpentry IF you...

Measure TWICE

Cut once. Seriously. Go slowly and double check. Don't be ashamed to make templates out of newspapers for the odd shapes you'll be installing. NOTHING is going to be straight or square. Don't hurry 'cuz you want to get done before suppertime or the game on TV or the wife is pushing a little- that's when you make mistakes.

It will look a thousand times better when you're done, even if you make a little bobble here and there.

[bicklebok]

I was able to work on the camper only a little over the weekend. I am making my self back away some because it has consumed me and I have neglected many other duties around the house and activities our family is involved with. So that means I may not be posting much for a while.

I did install a new exterior door latch that I bought off ebay. And I finished taking out the couch frames and overhead cabinet so I can get to all the rotten wood. This section is some of the worse parts of the camper and it's going to take me a while to get it repaired. I will have to replace a lot of the wall and roof supports before I can put the wall paneling in. Im amazed this camper didnt fall like a house of cards! LOL It has so much rotten wood thats critical to the overall structure.

[Francesca]

Hi!

I've been following your project with interest, since I have an old Shasta "someday project".
Lots of good information on the roof repair- Thanks for the detailed discussion!

Now that you're focused on the inside, can I ask about the condition of the floor?
If it's water-rotted too, I'd sure appreciate reading about your "plan of attack"...

Thanks again

Francesca

[bicklebok]

First of all, thanks for following! For some reason, the floor of my camper is still in good condition. That's surprising, considering the floor has been getting soaked for years. I think it has some kind of coating on it that has protected it. Someday soon I will be taking a closer look at what's on the floor since I will be putting in hardwood laminate or something like that

I dont think replacing rotten wood on the floor is that difficult at all. If it were just a section/corner of limited damage, I would cut out what was rotten and replace it. Of course you are hearing this from a person that has hardly ever worked with wood until recently! Others can give you some good advice probably better than I. But regardless, I dont think it's difficult at all.

I will say this, if you still have a leak in your roof that's causing the floor to be damaged, take the time now to stop the leaks now to prevent more damage. That's one thing I wish I would have done years ago. Preserve what you have to work with! Then it wont really matter when you get around to restoring it. If there's water damage you CAN see, there's lots more that you CANT see until you start working on it. I learned that first hand on my camper.

Another thing: Because I have never worked with wood, I had very little wood working tools. So I started thinking of the tools I would need, and what I didnt have I started buying as I could afford it. I'm pretty decent mechanically working on cars so I have learned over the years, you have to have the right tools for the job. Same applies to wood working. As of now, I have a pretty decent collection of tools vital to working on my camper. And there a few tools I just borrowed to save on spending.

You may want to go to youtube and do a search for "vintage camper remodel" and similar search words like that. There are lots of videos on there that show people restoring campers before and after. When I feel like my camper is hopeless and I get discouraged, I watch one of those videos and realize nothing is impossible restoring an old camper. Very inspiring and gives me good ideas on what I should do.

Have you posted pics of your camper? We would love to see them!

[bicklebok]

And I just found this on facebook. Seems very appropriate!!