Camper Renovation - A Little Bit of This and That

As promised here's another Camperrrr update! Now if I had a dollar for every time my dad has said "if this would fit in the shop, I'd just have stripped it down to the frame and rebuilt it from the ground up" or his favorite answer... "do you have a box of matches?" then I'd have... wait, scratch that. I suck at math. Oh, you get the idea.

Since tearing the whole thing apart at once wasn't an option (and I surely would go coo-coo for cocoa puffs) we had to work in sections. So it started with the back of the camper, and progressed to the front. Otherwise if we started taking apart framework in the back, some in the side, some in the front... well ya'know. Humpty Dumpty had a big fall and all that jazz.

Just more rotten wood waiting to be replaced...

OMG! Cleaning off old caulk and sealer is the BEST!  Said no one, ever.

New caulk.  Still a work in progress...

New framework for the door and ceiling. Just fyi, we've replaced every single piece of wood framing.  Except for maybe two or three small pieces? Yeah.

The next challenge... starting the framework in the front (aka the curve.) Yayyyyyy.

Since vintage campers like ours weren't designed for rooftop air conditioning, my dad decided to weld a small frame that would support the unit instead of what little wood framework someone else had put in. 

Stay tuned for more photos.  Have a great weekend... guess what I'll be doing?

Camper Renovation - Plywood and Nail Guns

So um, it's almost December. D E C E M B E R. How the heck did this happen?! Sure, I had turkey and pie. I should have expected this. But it sorta kinda snuck up on me. I mean hello, my cat still smells like a skunk. Apparently there are Halloween lights hanging up behind my bookcase. Kinda forgot about those. Oh, and I've hoarded more Camperrrr pics than I thought. Did I mention my cat got sprayed by a skunk? Oh YES. It was skunk-tastic.

Basically crazy busy = no time to blog. So yeah, it's almost December. But guess what? My hair doesn't smell like skunk anymore. Camperrrr is lookin' good. B's first semester back at college is almost done. Can't. wait. to see my husband more. So excited for some time to relax, bake cookies, blog a little... you know, the usual.  

After we tore out the front of camper and the old sub-floor, it was time to build a new floor.

Btw, that second photo is totally staged. My mom had about two seconds to take the pic before dad got all the.nail.gun.is.not.a.toy.stop.taking.pictures.already. Ha. Love my dad.

Oh, wait.  This is where he's totally saying stop.taking.pictures.already. 

See that little silver x-bracing?  Oh it's just holding the camper together.  No biggie.

So I finally had a chance to sort through TONS of camper photos. Check back soon for more updates.

Tyler State Park Fall Camping Trip - Part 2

More photos from our little fall camping trip! Depending on how much light there is (like a tent vs a camper with blinds) I usually wake up early when camping. Currently due to B's evening work schedule I'm a night owl. So on this trip I woke up around 8 am with B still snoozing under the electric blanket.

Early morning light is such great light for pictures so I bundled up and hit the trail with my camera. I thought I'd be gone for about 15 minutes, but it ended up being over an hour and B was still asleep when I got back. My favorite part was how incredibly blue the lake was. So much so that I could have stayed there shooting even longer. Trust me, I have a ton of blue water shots.

Tyler State Park Fall Camping Trip - Part 1

In October we packed up and headed to Tyler State Park in East Texas for a one night fall camping trip. If only we could have stayed longer! We really wanted to take our camper but ya'know, she didn't have wheels and stuff. I didn't feel like tenting so we rented one of the screened shelters. They're pretty basic with electricity and water but it was fun. I did take some plastic drop cloths to tape over the screen windows and a little electric heater because it got cold. I'll admit I took my electric blanket too. Hey I'm a southern girl and I'm a cold weather wimp.

B's family lives nearby so they came and spent the afternoon with us.  We carved pumpkins, roasted hot dogs, and made s'mores. We had the best time.

Camper Renovation - Lucky Charms and Steel

Remember when we first started this project? Oh you know, we had to pull back some outer skin to rip out the rear framing and I was getting a little freaked out. Well that was nothing. Anyway, thanks to Callie cat missing and a gung-ho attitude we gutted the front of the camper. And since the subfloor was really rotten in certain areas, well guess what... we decided to just replace the whole floor. Of course.

Before we oh/so/carefully pulled out the vintage oven and sink... the guys kept putting tools on top of that stuff. So my dad told me to get some cardboard and cover it up. Hence the Lucky Charm boxes. Yes, I like Lucky Charms. Oh and then we took the wheels off.  !!!!!!

Um, yeah.  This was probably a freak out moment.  I can't really remember now which means either a) I totally trusted the force or b) it was so traumatic I'm blocking it.

Let's see, the places I've starred... were places where it was wood (or in the case of the middle beams, non-existent.)  Basically my dad is Superman and welded new steel framing to the existing structure. It rocks having a dad who can weld. Now this floor is solid. 

Well kids, you've got a lot of catching up to do with Camperrrr! We're already at the point where I need to make decisions on lights, hardware and what to do for the countertop (among other things.) The original countertop was too rotten underneath to keep. That is a sad, sad thing. Anyway, it's looking good so I'll be posting a lot more pretty quick!

Camper Renovation - Sledgehammers and Starburst

I sorta kinda had this idea to rip out the closets and make more room in the front of Camperrrr. Bigger fridge, yeah? Of course that would be a stupid amount of work and I wasn't about to push my luck. Then my cat went missing. And the first day I was this pathetic, bawling mess. And my dad felt sorry for me. Or something.

So at some point I mentioned what I really wanted to do and dad gets all happy camper on me and says, "LET'S DO IT!" with this gung-ho/get the sledgehammer/cheer up attitude. So we spent the rest of the day tearing out the front of the camper. And we found more starburst and rotten wood. Crazy hua?

Oh that's just my dad. Standing on the ground. In the camper. 

So the interior of the potty closet had this ugly 80's paneling and as it turns out someone had covered up original starburst paneling with it! It's too bad they used glue all over... it was totally ruined. At least we saved the bit of starburst that was above the sink and stove. And check out that rotten paneling. It was not fun taking out the original built in closets - there were only a gazillion nails/staples holding the structures in.

Yay for starburst! Btw, there was a giant pile of fire ants under the paneling just under the starburst - thank goodness the starburst was ok. So this is when the renovation gets crazy and it's just the tip of the iceberg.