Well I'm happy to anounce that all that hard work has paid off. We got the camper together enough to actually take it camping, TWICE. Back in May I updated this blog stating that we had plans to get it rolling and campable for Laconia Bike week in New Hampshire. That was the week of June 15th. We made this deadline.
Here's the stuff we did to get it campable for that trip:
First thing first, I scrubbed the mildew and dirt off of the camper. The stuff I used to make it an effortless scrub was good ole Scrubbing Bubbles. Spray on, let sit and hit it with a scrub brush lightly. Then just hit it with a strong stream from the hose and all the stuck on stuff just comes right off.
All Clean. But you'll notice no door. We rebuilt the door from scratch. Built a new frame, used fiberglass bathroom panels, then added the old glass and frame, and a new door latch and lock. We also used the old styrofoam from the old door.
Finished Door
A week before this we put in new hatches and sealed the roof.
New hatches are in. Roof - Before
Roof Sealed. Looks good, but we think it still needs a few coats. We've since got caught in a few rain storms and there's a leak up there somewhere that is trailing down to the windows.
Above are the new wall panels cut and painted, ready to go in.
Just a peak at the new wall panels in place.
Inside the cabinets Before. Love that wall paper. I only managed on getting one coat of paint in side the cabinets, but it'll do for now. At least it looks clean and bright inside.
I started painting the galley area.
Here are the new drawer fronts. Pine treated with Danish oil.
In place. I am still working on the cabinet doors.
So I was down to a day left before we leave, and a bed needed to be built so we'd have a bed for our trip. It ended up being a bit high, in that we needed to buy a step stool to get into bed.
The design of the bed was to be able to include the drawers below, and a headboard under the window. BUT yep it was completely too high.
First trial run since bringing it home in 2013. In order to handle the weight of both the camper and bike in the 1500 we added airbags to the truck. It rides perfectly with just the minimum air needed to be in the airbags at 10lbs.
And here we are pulling into Crawford Notch Campground in the White Mountains of NH. I love how strait it all rides. We had a great time up there, but it rained most of the week. This showed us that the camper still leaks. So now we're hunting those leaks, but being a 1980, I'm sure we'll never find them all.
As soon as we got home I booked another campground for the Fourth of July. So I got started building the bed more properly.
Here is the start of the storage headboard.
Headboard, and bed platform completed. I still need to make the hinged door on the headboard.
Bed with the mattress. I still need to put the trim on the front, a shelf under the front window, and to trim out the drawers, but it's as low as it can go.
Here's an outdoor mat I sewed up from 4 $3.00 beach mats from the Five Below store. It worked out great at the campsite and kept the sand out of the camper.
Well here it is at the new (to Us) Campground in Glen New Hampshire, right next to Storyland. But the cool thing about this is that I trailered the camper up to New Hampshire all by myself. Alex had to work a full day thursday, so I went up early. I have never towed anything before let alone a four hour ride north into the mountains. Boy was that fun, but I have decided we definitely need sway bars.
OH and there't the mat I mentioned above.
We made it home late Sunday after getting stuck in some traffic. Unfortuanately taking the ramp off to the highway to my house there's some clanking coming from the right side. Took the wheel off today, and so far we can't find what the clanking came from. It definitely sounds like something broken from our lovely Massachusetts roadways.
How you loved this extensive update. Don't worry, there's more to come. We still have the whole back and wall by the door to replace the rotten studs in. We will be completely remodeling the bathroom, moving the vanity over to where the tub was to make more room for the toilet and more storage. So stay tuned!
