cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Aug 9, 2013 13:15:40 GMT -8
Yeah, I thought I had a much smaller project on my hands, too. I bought it on the premise that there wasn't much rot to deal with, just a small patch in the hall (so naive), from the PO knocking a stink vent cap off while brushing snow off the roof, and not noticing it all winter.
The water ran down the stink vent pipe, under the bathroom floor, and down the hall into the bedroom. It's got a metal belly, so a lot of the water stayed in the floor. I ended up replacing the entire floor and subfloor, since the only parts that were any good were under the front dinette. Replaced both rear corner frames halfway up, and about half of the roof edge frames, two rafters, the frame around the front roof vent, the frame around the fridge roof vent, and all the stud bottoms and wall bottoms, and all without taking the skins off. Ended up completely gutting the inside when I hadn't planned to, because I had to take the interior apart to do the floor and all the stud bottoms anyway, and it was all cheesy 70s paneling and beaverboard cabinets, so I figured why not insulate it more than any Shasta ever built, and make it all nice wood too? Three years on and it's still not done, though...
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keri
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Post by keri on Aug 9, 2013 14:06:03 GMT -8
I hear ya about the money too. I didn't realize how much things like gaskets, putty, gimp, more gaskets, light kit rebuilds, fans, new plumbing fixtures, gaskets....etc. would cost. It's like $100 in wood and $5000 in little rubber pieces. Lol.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Aug 9, 2013 14:11:36 GMT -8
"It's like $100 in wood and $5000 in little rubber pieces."
LOL. My wood's been quite a bit more than $100, though. $25 or so a sheet for 1/4" birch, and for every one of those there's at least one $30 sheet of insulation behind it.
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keri
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Post by keri on Aug 9, 2013 14:28:16 GMT -8
I was never planning on going for a full restore, and am planning on painting the interior. Saves a LOT of money on wood that way. And I know some would consider that sacrilege, but to put it back the way it was in 1957 would require every single piece of wood in it to be replaced, and I don't have that kind of time or money. I want to USE this thing at some point!!
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Post by bigbill on Aug 9, 2013 14:28:17 GMT -8
You can just add fixing trailers to your life resume of things you can do that " woman can't do". All my life I have heard people say what women can't do and I have found that women if they desire can do anything (almost and I don't wish to go there) that they desire and many times will do it better because they don't allow their ego to get in the way. My wife in her premedicare years could and did do and knew more than most men (of course not more than me ).
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Aug 9, 2013 15:04:15 GMT -8
What he said. ^ I love strong women. My mother sneaked into a morgue to see a drowned guy when she was 12. She was an Army nurse in WW2, on Tinian helping to set up the new hospital, while waiting for the invasion of Japan (expecting a million casualties), when they dropped the bomb, while my Dad flew Hellcats three miles away on Saipan. She had nine kids, and still took in foster babies, and ran her own AKC Collie kennel, and worked as a nurse. She took up dressage in her 70s, and used to drive her pickup and horse trailer all over New England alone, packing a .44 Bulldog in her fanny pack. My four sisters are no slouches, either. One's a surgical tech, one's a chemical engineer/artist, one made a bundle doing her own stock trading and retired at 51, and one's lived in Italy for the last 40 years, traveling all over the world. Just let someone tell one of them they can't do something. I'll just hide behind this tree here while you do it. This camper stuff is a piece of cake!
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Post by vikx on Aug 9, 2013 22:04:45 GMT -8
If you enjoy your projects, you will improve. Gender doesn't matter. I like strong men AND women! Funny thing-we thought the PO of Sundance (57 Shasta 1500) was a man. The trailer really is special and has always had excellent care. We found a pair of boots in the cargo compartment-so cool: They are size 7D. A woman or a man??
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Aug 10, 2013 20:36:09 GMT -8
I think you posted that pic when you first brought Sundance home. At least you mentioned the boots. So 7D? Man or woman? Yup. And the buckles are great.
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Post by vikx on Aug 10, 2013 21:09:47 GMT -8
I'm still tickled over these boots. Just too cool they are with Sundance.
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gonekayaking
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enjoying using my camper and not working on it anymore!
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1956 Shasta 1500
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Post by gonekayaking on Aug 12, 2013 17:17:06 GMT -8
Keri....I was also a new bie pretty much in this realm. I had tiled some floors and built a few things so knew my way around most of the tools, but taking on something like this was a whol new level. It does feel great when you get out the other end.
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mobiltec
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1954 Jewel In Progress...
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Post by mobiltec on Aug 16, 2013 20:04:54 GMT -8
I also have to say that if I hadn't completely underestimated what it takes to fix one of these I would never have tried. And I'm so glad I did!! Not only will I have a fantastic trailer when I'm finished but I'll also have accomplished something that makes me feel pretty amazing. And there in lies the whole point of the project in the first place. And there are tricks you can use to keep from feeling overwhelmed again. I don['t look at any trailer as one big giant project. I look at it as a collection of smaller projects. I attack one thing at a time and move on. I make little goals that I want to complete each time I walk up to a trailer and I'm very happy if I can come close to completing them by the end of the day. Next day I set new goals. Before you know it, you are camping in your baby and there is no way to tear the smile off your face. Even ripping the top off is a small list of daily goals. Get the J Rail off.... That's all you need to think about for a while. Then move on to those fun little nails. ect, ect. Even then there will be those days. You might even throw a tool across the street. Try not to do that because it's costly and dangerous to other people... LOL. Ask me how I know that.
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Aug 16, 2013 20:48:43 GMT -8
Even then there will be those days. You might even throw a tool across the street. Try not to do that because it's costly and dangerous to other people... LOL. Ask me how I know that. Mobiltec - Nah, we think we can probably guess. Not that we would know why, although it may be the same reason it's not necessarily a good idea to save time by removing those carriage bolts with a Sawz-All.
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Aug 16, 2013 20:52:39 GMT -8
Oh geesh you had to bring that up didn't you Hamlet... LOL...
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keri
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Post by keri on Aug 17, 2013 0:15:08 GMT -8
Haha---well the reason I had to go but a new drill may or may not be because I threw one across the yard.......but hey, I like the new one much better anyway!
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Swamp Witch
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1960 Nomad Deluxe named Talullah
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Post by Swamp Witch on Aug 26, 2013 14:50:11 GMT -8
All I can say is thank God for my TxOil. When I came home from work to see the back end of my Talullah blown out, I got weak and was set for a full on panic attack. Then I remembered he's been restoring and building things since he was old enough to swing a hammer or turn a screwdriver. In the end, he's been amazing putting her back together. I'll get him to post the picture of her back end totally exposed and how she looks with the pink puffy stuff. (how's that for a teaser?)
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