Camper Renovation - It's Like Magic

So here's the thing: B's a lucky guy. He gets to run away with the spoon while we slave away in Camperrrr Land. Okay so maybe he's just at work. Or writing term papers. My dad likes to say, "he's no fool!" The running joke is according to B, this camper re-build just magically happens. Each week he comes bopping along and sticks his head in and stuff is different. Then he grins and laughs that laugh. Sure, he'd love to help but the boy isn't crying buckets about it. Hey, he's no fool... that's for sure!

And I just so happened to be taking pics when he stuck his head in.  This guy cracks. me. up.

Yes, we have paneling. Yay!

New framing in the front section. 

So there was this hole in the skin that was from the old water pump and someone covered it up with a vent. We decided to move the circuit breaker to the rear of the camper and turned that hole into a new place for our electric cord. Even better, we added an exterior plug for lights and such.

New 50 amp circuit breaker. It's located in the back of the camper under the seating (there will be a hatch to get to it.)

Hey look at that, an original piece of paneling.

Stay tuned for another update!

Camper Renovation - Oh You Know, The Usual

Guess what? It's Christmas-time around here. More or less anyway. My mom's decorated her house all ho-ho-ho... we have a string of white lights in our room. I've been cutting out snowflakes galore (right now I'm just hoarding them in a box.) Today seems like a good day to put up our vintage tree.  And it looks like my Christmas present may be getting to start painting and decorating Camperrrr. Not quite, but maybe.

So before I go all holidays up in here we need to get this camper show on the road...

Just messin' with the outer skin. You know, the usual.

Yep.  Totally camper ready.

Put up paneling, take down paneling.  It happens.

More fun cleaning up old silicone. Yayyyyy.

More camper renovation posts to come!

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.