Progress, slow but steady....

[ScouterMom]

Spent my 'day off' - Wednesday, working on the camper, as usual.  made quite a bit of progress, and we can actually see the light at the end of a L-o-o-n-g tunnel!

Wed AM, Paul and I took off the top's corners, so we could  bend out the aluminum some, & get that rotted board out.  they used staples that were probably 1 1/2 " long!   we cut the new piece of plywood, and installed it with a 1" X 2" support  (slightly bowed up) for the roof frame board we left in place.   (There's talk of taking the entire roof off at a later time and re-doing the whole thing - but for now, we just want to get it useable.) Paul had to leave for work at noon, so after that, I was on my own.

the passenger side (door side) back corner is really bad - but only the last 4" or so, so I bolstered that (for now) with an extra block of wood 'gorrilla glued' on it for support.  the driver's side back corner is discolored, but really in pretty good shape, so I closed the trim corners back up after installing the new wood, and new caulking.

I took down the rest of the canvas, and took it out to be soaked & scrubbed in the sunshine.  Scrubbed them all and hung up to dry - they'll be ready to re-install and waterproof this weekend.

I also took out the awning and looked it over.  It looks to be hardly used - and in terrific condition.  I didn't think it needed scrubbing, like the rest - but I hung it out on the line to freshen and air.  it's big - probably 10' by 10' and edged with heavy zippers AND velcro - which tells me it had a screen at one time (now long gone). However, I have an old, cheap k-mart screen tent that the poles have been shot on for years - but the SCREEN is still in great shape.  Eventually, I plan to remove the screen from it's plastic roof, sew some velcro on it, and then I'll have a great screen room for the canvas camper awning!

I had a really tough time getting the trim channel back on, the seams matched up, and getting the aluminum to stay in it's channel - it kept wanting to 'bow' outward.  I finally figured out a clamping system with bar and 'C' clamps to hold everything while I got a few screws in place at time. By this time,my son Jon was home from school - and his extra pair of hands helped ALOT at this point. Then putting the bulb weatherstripping back on wasn't easy - between it being stiff and old, and having been squished for years - I finally got it in, but it was short a few inches.  Maybe I was supposed to stretch it more while putting it in? Anyway, I'm not taking it out now! I'll find something else to fill in the gap. It was too hard to get in place as it was.  

We had some errands to run , but got back at it when we came home around 8 pm. While I scraped carpet tape off the floor,  and turned canvas to dry more, (this thing is taking ALOT of cleaning!) Jon cut the replacement foam insulation for the roof, and we glued it in place. it wanted to sag a bit where we 'crowned' the roof board - but we propped it up until the glue dried.

I worked for another hour, tidying up, and removing light covers - so i could get replacement bulbs at work today.  the light connections are filthy and bad - most of the screws have nothing behind them to hold - but i found the right bulbs and parts at my store today - so we'll be ready to get the lights working soon.

I have to work this weekend - but Paul plans on being around and working on the lights and greasing the ball bearings.  I also have an appt to take my van in for some work this weekend, and my mechanic is going to take off the old hitch for me so we can install the new one.  should be in any day now.

the canvas is all dry tonite (we had a sunny, windy day today, too!) and smells fresh and clean, though there are a few stains left.  I need to get the camper itself out in the drive to wash down the dust and mildew on the aluminum before we put the canvas back on and do some re-caulking.

the goal now is to get everything back together (as much as possible) this weekend, move it outside onto the driveway and waterproof it.  It's supposed to rain sun or mon night, so that should give it two day's of dry time before it gets wet again.  I'd like to be able to take it down to the gas place and have them check out the tanks before we go  on  the 11th - but If I don't, then we just won't use the gas appliances.  I have a separate tank for the Mr. Buddy heater, and small propane camping stoves we can use. (the site we have reserved this time doesn't have electric and water, anyway)  

so it's getting close!

laura

[Newbeme]

Sounds like our past few days. We bought an '89 Jayco 1006 from a friend and found out that it was a bit rough. We never really opened it before purchase since it was winter and it was being purchased from a friend. He told us it needed to be cleaned up a little, but failed to mention much else. I opened this past Saturday and it was bad enough to make me say to the wife that we now had a trailer to haul junk to the landfill with. After being bummed out for a couple hours and emptying out my buddy's stuff from it I decided to try to clean it up and repair it, rather than write it off as a lesson learned. About 25 hours worth of labor it is starting to look like a camper again. We had mold, wood rot, stains, standing water, failed caulking, and just about anything else that could be thought of. The only thing we didn't have was rodent damage. After all the work I think we like it even more. We still have  some more work to do, but it at least usable the way it is now. Looking back on it, I'd do it all over again. Besides we still have less than $500.00 into it at this point so I guess I can't complain too much.

I like the video of your camper. I wish we had taken more pics.

[munchkin]

Glad To Hear That You're Coming Right Along. Must Say You Scared The Poop Out Of Me With The Roof Pics. We Had Just Bought A Vintage Viking And Smelled Mildew. After Seeing Your Pics, We Followed The Smell To The Interior Roof. Took The Plywood Down And Found Rotten Wood All Along The Sides. So We Stripped The Roof, Cleaned The Roof--even Mildewed Outside--then Used Epoxy On The Holes. Then A Feiend Told Us About Duct Contact--sort Of A Shingle Material On A Roll--that We Put Inside The Roof, Cut All New Bracing And Waterproofed Them, Then We're Using Waterproofed Beadboard For The Ceiling We'll See. Lastly, We Found Mobile Home Roof Paint On Clearance At Wal-mart That We'll Use To Coat The Roof With 2 Layers--says It Helps To Make It Weather Resistant And Moisture Proof. We'll See.

[munchkin]

As For The Inside, Bleach Is My Friend. Bleached All I Could--waterproofed What We Chose Not To Paint. Kilz And 2 Coats Of Latex Exterior On The Rest. Jerked A Strange Make-shift Table Out. Used Bleach To Clean Plumbing Lines--then Rinsed Throughly. Then We Bought Tile Squares At Dollar Tree And Replaced All The Floor That Wasn't Inside A Cabinet. Took A Box And A Half--$18. (by The Way, The Roof Paint Was Only $2)

[munchkin]

Almost Done--someone Had Made Ugly Curtains With Pieces Of Upholstery Fabric On The Top, So We Took Them Apart And Were Able To Use A Little To Patch The 2 Cushion Covers Perfectly. Stean Cleaned Them With Sanitizer 2 Times, Then Let The Sun Work Its Magic On Them . Still Have To Scotchgard Them, Then We're Done. As For New Curtains, Thinking About Just Using Velcro For The New Ones. Adding An Extension To The Long Storage Cabinet At Night For An Extra Bed And Are Almost Finished Making Those Covers. Need To Order A Table Leg And Move The Rails To The Side The Table's Actually On Now. Someone Moved The Dinette Set, But Not The Rails. Found A Small Microwave Cart That We Can Lie Down While Pop-up Is Down And Set Up In The Now Gone Strange Table Spot For Extra Storage. Cleaned The Canvas With A Bleach Mixture And Used Iron On Patches For Most Of The Tears. Sewed Canvas Patches Into A Couple And Sewed The Zipper Back On.

What A Job! Fixer-upper Is An Understatement Here Too. Thanks For All Your Help/advice.