ladywendolyn
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Post by ladywendolyn on Mar 11, 2014 18:59:24 GMT -8
I'm curious about why people are restoring their campers? Are most people here doing it as a hobby ( like no matter how long it takes that's fine as long as it's perfect ) or is it your main camper and you can't wait to finish so you can go for the weekend? I am thinking there may be a few pros on here too?
My camper is a hobby. My parents built a beautiful custom RV out of a school bus in the 1960's, followed by restoring a 1940's 50 ft boat, that is beautiful teak inside. I helped with those projects and then restored a 100 year old house on my own. Pretty much the same issues with rotting wood, lots of patching and lots of searching for parts..lol. I have a large new 28 ft trailer, which I decorated in vintage style but I have been wanting to restore a canned ham for years. I am in for the long haul, proper restoration from the frame up... I am counting on a couple of years for the project.
Please share your story's as well...
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yas
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'63 Shasta Airflyte
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Post by yas on Mar 11, 2014 19:49:07 GMT -8
Our camper is a hobby. Working on it is as much fun as anything, and we like the satisfaction of figuring out a problem and then fixing it - The trailer seems to supply problems on a regular basis. When it's ready, we'll take it camping, to a rally maybe, but we've already got #2 in the wings so we have something to work on!
We also travel/camp in a '95 VW Eurovan Camper. It's less of a project, but requires plenty of maintenance. For example, it's time to change the timing belt/water pump. We rebuilt the AC last summer.
When we want to do serious camping, it's packs on our backs and into the mountains!
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SusieQ
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Post by SusieQ on Mar 11, 2014 20:09:40 GMT -8
I feel like my Shasta is my full time job and even more so after the first really nice weather day, but the idea was something a little larger to camp in. Working on windows now. I'll get back to you with my story later.
Great thread, btw.
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ladywendolyn
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Post by ladywendolyn on Mar 12, 2014 12:08:19 GMT -8
Happy Birthday Susie... Doing what you love on your special day I hope
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lovnvintage
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Post by lovnvintage on Mar 12, 2014 12:44:21 GMT -8
Well my Shasta is my camping camper, my fan is guest quarters and the Lakewood is a project to keep my dad busy. The 1960 Travel Queen cabover that I picked up, that is almost as long as my Shasta, is still to be determined. I originally bought it for parts but having a hard time parting it and scrapping as it had the nice wood interior and just is so different. I have pulled the turquoise appliances though to use in my fan camper. So it might turn into a hobby.
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Mar 12, 2014 15:51:21 GMT -8
I just keep figuring out ways to drag the projects on and thus I lose money on them, so It must be a hobby for me because no one in their right mind would do this for the kind of money I make on them. or don't make LOL.
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pirateslife
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1969 Shasta Compact
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Post by pirateslife on Mar 12, 2014 15:51:50 GMT -8
Well, mine stared out as a I don't know what I'll do with it to get it out of a friends yard. I thought about a quick repair, to make it campable, which my wife says is not a word. After some internet searching and finding this and the old site, I decided to go a little deeper. I now have all the rot out, skin back on and started spray painting. This may turn into a hobby after this ones done
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slider
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Post by slider on Mar 12, 2014 16:22:08 GMT -8
Hobby, will use as a camper for me and my son on a few excursions per year but our main family camper is a 2010 TT. That being said, I still can't wait to get it done and take it camping but thankful I am not depending on it soon to go camping because it will definitely take some time.
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txoil
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1960 Shasta Deluxe 19
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Post by txoil on Mar 12, 2014 17:13:37 GMT -8
Our 19 foot obsession is the end result of a sleeping bag. Seriously. I have been a camping fan my whole life, as a kid we pulled a StarCraft popup back and forth across country, and as an adult I have accumulated quite a bit of camp gear. Swamp Witch had never been camping, so about 6 years ago I bought a Coleman double sleeping bag to entice her to try tent camping, which she loved. However, she also insisted on having a full suite of cooking, tent furniture and other accessories. We bought a crew cab truck to carry all our gear and soon we were packing a huge loadout of camp gear, all of which took about 3 hours to set up and then 3 hours to take down. I got very tired of packing and unpacking, so I suggested we buy a popup camper. Well, she began looking at campers on Pintrest, and the vintage canned hams caught her eye. I have a background of restoring cars, gas pumps, soda machines and we both love mid century styling, so we spent about a year looking for one of our own. After a couple of near-misses we found ours --a 1960 Deluxe 19-- in St Paul Minnesota. It was in truly great condition and the seller had already pulled the skins and replaced rotten framing and skirt boards and had added a new fridge and new roof. So, last April we made a 2600 mile round trip from Louisiana to Minnesota and brought home our new project. I work 14/14 offshore so I have two weeks at a time at home, so I jumped right into the restoration process in mid May, and the project was basically done by October, so we took Tallulah Belle camping for the first time. If we had the storage space for more campers, I think we would make this into a hobby, but for us it is a more of a continuing interest rather than an active hobby. We really look forward to meeting fellow VTT members at the rallies!
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Mar 12, 2014 17:29:00 GMT -8
That's a great story txoil. And a fairly common one at that. Living off grid is the whole idea most of the time and it seems the older we get the more luxuries we want to take with us so the camper trailer makes perfect sense to most of us. I'm guilty of using that as one of my reasons. But why is it that we need a different trailer for every occasion? That may be as you say, an obsession LOL...
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John Palmer
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Hi, From a vintage trailer guy located in Santa Ana, CA. It's good to see lots of activity here.
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Post by John Palmer on Mar 12, 2014 20:29:29 GMT -8
It started off for me about eight years ago, with a small trailer my son purchased for his family, a 4' by 8' Mac-Bilt Tear Drop. We were selling some extra car parts in the swap meet area at the Los Angeles Roadster Club Show at Pomona, CA. This "old guy" (LOL, old is a relative term, as he was about my age) came up, and said "Where did you get THAT"? I told him we had the trailer for a few years and had made many changes to the frame and electrical. He returned, I know exactly what you did to it, because I BUILT THAT TRAILER, my name is Peter McIntire! He went on to say he built about 4000 tear drop trailers before he was put out of business by the Mack Truck company for trade name infringement. He said it was cheaper to close his doors and retire, than to fight a large company owned by Renault. He was surprised to see one of his products towed behind a hot rod in California, when he built them across the country in Pennsylvania!
Then it was on to a few "high end" tear drops built from the ground up before I settled on the canned hams. I do everything from designing and welding the frames, to wiring, and all aspects of metal skin work and restoration. I sublet the paint work, and powder coating out. I like to start with a donor trailer for the title, windows, screen door hinge, hardware, and appliances. The rest is built as necessary. It takes me 500 to 600 hours, usually over four to six months to build a trailer with a high amount of detail. As a retired guy, it's what keeps me going from sunrise to sun set. I would not call it a job, because I like the challenge. When completed I use it for a while, then flip it and start the process again.
I would agree with Mobiletech, There's not much profit in it, if you want to make more than 50 cents an hour, LOL. I can easily spend $10K to $13K "just in parts" building a vintage trailer with some nice amenities. I have to laugh when I see the word RESTORED used to describe a $3K trailer in a Craig's List ad.
Trailer's on my "waiting list" to do include, "two" De Ville's, 1953 Streamliner, 1957 Corvette, 1967 Boles Aero, and a mid 1950 "something" Scotsman.
I have no trailer's for sale at this time, as I need to do some camping this year.
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dawn
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Post by dawn on Mar 12, 2014 20:48:14 GMT -8
Well, the trailer is our camper, travel is our hobby, and our job is historic renovation. Besides working on historic houses and structures for clients, we are restoring our own 7000 sq ft 1880 Queen Anne. a 14 year project nearing completion but still not quite done. The house restoration is historically accurate, furnished with period antiques, including dishes. So at this point in our lives, though we love our work, recreation and hobbies don't mirror it else it would just still be work.
We do love old things, and bought our little trailer because we thought it was utterly charming and would be the perfect way to enjoy the long road trips and camping adventures we crave as respite from work. We are enjoying putting it back together, and are doing it right but it is not a true restoration and will not have a lot of vintage frou frou accessories. Not that we don't like that stuff, we live with that stuff daily and just prefer to travel light and simple. In fact I noticed our vintage penguin ice bucket in one of the camper reveals on the Flipping RV's show! But ours will stay in the house.
I grew up in rural Ohio, riding horses and doing outdoorsy things but didn't really camp that much other than trail rides. But when we were newly married, poor, with a couple little kids, we borrowed a pop-up and took a little vacation, all that we could afford. And that was the beginning of our love affair of cruising down the road with a snug camper behind. I'm expecting to put a lot of miles on old RolyPoly in the next few years.
And it will not surprise me if in a year or so as we wrap up the house project if we don't get another trailer project and restore it to its original glory. We are already on the hunt, inspired by the amazing work I see here and the incredible variety of trailers and people involved in this hobby, obsession, addiction!
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Post by vikx on Mar 12, 2014 21:51:54 GMT -8
Which one? Camper, I mean.
I guess it's a hobby for me too. I don't camp, ever. I stay home and fix them. It's the love of my life. ER, addiction of.
Lately, I accidentally mentioned my 54 Bellwood might be for sale. I'm praying the lady forgets about me/it. Want to keep them ALL!
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mattyshorts
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Post by mattyshorts on Mar 13, 2014 10:40:21 GMT -8
To answer your question....yes. It feels like all three options, just not at the same time.
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Post by bigbill on Mar 13, 2014 11:28:31 GMT -8
I think I will call it my job then I can take the money I spend on it off my income taxes as a business loss. You think the IRS would buy that.
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