Happy New Year!

 I figured I needed a rest and a break from the everyday in front of my computer work so I decided to take  a little road trip to see the Spartan. The weather forecast said this would be the warmest day we would see in a long time. Here in Chicago the snow has melted and the high temp was in the 40's. Up by the Spartan it reached the high 30's. When I arrived there was a foot or so of snow blocking the driveway from the snow plows that come by to plow the road. I parked by the road with the hazards on and walked into the land looking to see if there were any signs of life around the Spartan. With the exception of a few deer tracks all was quiet at the acres. The spartan sat there with about 6 inches of snow on the roof and not a bit of snow under her. I pulled off the pad lock, since there are no keys, they were lost long ago I would imagine. I banged on the door to wake or rattle any raccoons or squirrels out of there in hopes of not being attacked, like you would see in some Chevy Chase movie. All appeared well in the Spartan, still smells a little, but no signs of mice in any glue traps or any signs of animals getting inside at all.

 I decided to make the trip worthwhile so I took the front door handle off the door. It removed easily and it is a Bargman L-66 lock. I took it home to clean it up and to find a new lock. I ordered a new lock and key from Vintagetrailersupply.com. The page says it's for a L-77 but someone in the comments said it will fit the L-66. Cross my fingers! I only bought one lock and key for the front door since the back door is not really used to access the Spartan. If I knew for sure the locks were keyed alike I would purchase two.

 After looking at the floor in the Spartan I think it will be worth the time to remove most of the living room floor. I patched the spots that are soft, but I have no way of removing the old stuck on carpet pad and I'm afraid this will cause my tile job to be uneven. I think I will remove strips of the old floor up to the kitchen and replace it up to that point.

 I hope to have a cargo container in spring so I can securely store my tools and other items inside instead of in the Spartan. All the junk in the Spartan really hampers my restoration!! Plus, if I have storage at the acres I can take the truck only a couple more times with supplies like the new birch paneling and the new sub-flooring that will go under the tile. The gas I will save will definitely be worth it!

 I bought aluminum jacks to level the Spartan out, and forgot to leave them up there. Doh!

 Split rims, with original tires?

The dent I pushed out seems to be weathering well! You can hardly see it.

Once a month doesn't cut it!

Now that the hot summer days are winding down I need to get going with my restoration of the Spartan. The good news is it did not smell as bad today as the last time I was there.

I really needed to get the floor sealed up to keep out the local small animal population. I guess removing the rotted floor pieces removed most of the smell along with it. Today I started replacing the plywood with new 3/4 inch plywood which will act as the base for the luann that will cover the entire floor and should act as a smooth base for my tile.

I am using R13 insulation under the floor and in the ceiling. Hopefully this will keep things nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Forgot to cut the hole for the floor duct! D'oh!

It looks like I will need to cut out more of the floor and replace it because of the wood bracing under it is rotted. I can't wait until the entire floor is solid and tiled!

I am not a big fan of the laminate in the kitchen it's worn and mainly white. I thought this was from the 50's?? White?? Come on! I have a sample of boomerang laminate from Menards in a blue color that would be cool. They quoted me $72.00 for a 4x8 sheet...Can this be right? Anyway, the piece behind the stove seemed loose so I unscrewed the screws and it came right off. Amazing no liquid nail stuff under it! I'm adding a few new outside shots I took today, boy the grass is growing!

She needs to be leveled!

Starting on the floor repair

So I finally got up to the trailer last weekend and brought along a truck load of crap. I was only able to bring some of my insulation I purchased last week since I loaded the truck with other stuff including my new bathroom sink and a sheet of 3/4 plywood.

I was really excited about the sink since the size was sorta odd. I dragged the sink out of my truck and plopped it into the hole in the vanity. PERFECT fit!!! Once I put a chrome faucet on it and clean the rest of the bath it should look great. The green color of the sink should match the pink and black of the rest of the bath.

I had to cut out a bit more of the floor and clean up the cuts I made previously. Most of the old screws were rusted to the steel frame or rusted to a point. I pounded them down which released them then simply pulled them out.

 The 3/4" floor is sitting on steel frame rails that have 3/4" x 4" nailing rails on top of the steel. I cut new rails and glued them down with liquid nail sub floor adhesive. I will reinforce them the next time I'm there. I can tell I will need at least another 4x8 piece of plywood to fill the holes in the living room. All of this will then be covered with a thin sub floor so I can tile it.

I decided to remove the bathroom toilet since I discovered it was cracked across the bowl. The bolts were so rusted I had to break the tank with a hammer to get it out of the bathroom. The entire floor of the bath will need to be replaced since it is as bad as the parts of the floor I removed in the living area.

I decided to also take down the cabinet in the kitchen so I could attempt to take it home. I got it down but no such luck taking it home. Now I will be able to clean the cabinet really good along with the wall behind the cabinet.

I removed the panel below the non opening window next to the door and it looks like there is a ground wire that runs through the wiring. This should make the replacement of the outlets from 2 prong to 3 prong safe and easy.

I did not get as much accomplished as I would have liked. The grass was very long and by the time we borrowed a lawn mower and got it gassed up allot of time was gone. At least I got to go have a Swig at Nigs bar in the Dells with my son who just turned 21!

Found more stuff for the Spartan

Well needless to say I haven't been up to the Spartan in almost a month. Work that pays comes first! The good news is I will be there to try and seal up the holes in the floor this weekend.

I have been in and out of the local Goodwill store and the Restore in Elgin the past couple weeks. I found a few new things this week to go in the Spartan.

The rear bedroom of my Spartan is missing the original nightstands. They were originally in both back corners of the bedroom. Recently someone had two for sale on craigslist for $150.00 but with shipping it most likely would have been costly. I decided to set up the bedroom in the future for maximum capacity. I will set up two twin beds on either end with a night stand in between which I can move if I want to push the beds together for one large bed. I found the night stand at Goodwill this week. The nightstand is a all metal nightstand from the 1950's. The best part is I paid $6.99 for it!

My second great find was a sink that should fit in the bathroom just fine. I found it at the Restore for $25.00 It is a Kohler and brand new. I think the green color will blend well with the pink of the bathroom.

Today I decided to check the price of underlayment at Home Depot and while I was looking around I found insulation on clearance. I figured I would be stuck with R-13 insulation because of price. I found R-19 for $7.16 each bundle. I bought 6 bundles. I'm pretty sure this won't be nearly enough!

Fabrics for curtains and booth cushions

So I stopped by Joann Fabrics today and look at some of the fabrics for the future curtains and cushions for the booth. Now many great fabrics can be purchased online that may be better then the ones I picked out here.

The curtain fabric here is kinda funky with old motel signs and different cool stuff. I'm not sold on the color of the back ground. This is only $3.99 a yard on sale.

This next fabric has good colors but the theme is not as interesting as the first one but it is the same price.

This one was just added for fun. If I made the curtains from this friends would give me crap forever!

I found a couple options for the cushions on the booth. I think it looks retro. The only issue is the fabric is $34.99 a yard.

Or I can go with the usual vinyl for $12.99 a yard

Leave me a message and let me know what you think!

Front screen door restoration

So the front screen door was painted silver by a previous owner. I cannot imagine why you would paint a aluminum door silver?!? I started with the usual wood stripper which took most of the paint off and then moved onto the mixture of lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol. It all seemed to come off with a little elbow grease. I purchased new aluminum screen from Menards with new spline. The old stuff was totally trashed, it even smelled as bad as the camper!

Cutting and replacing the screen was fairly easy with just a little blood shed from the sharp ends...yes I know I should wear gloves but I'm a man and chicks dig cuts, oh wait, maybe that's scars.

I used my medium and fine sanding and stripping wheels on the door and it seemed to shine it up a little but not to my satisfaction. I will do the final polish on it when I get to the trailer polishing phase.

Starting on the floor

So it's fourth of July weekend. Not exactly a weekend I want to go up for a day because of the traffic on the tollway. After sitting home all day on the 4th watching TV I decided to go up on the 5th to do some work instead of repeating a day of TV.

I bought myself a respirator mask that filters out asbestos and furnace filter from Menards to make a air filter from my box fan. Maybe it will filter some of the stink out!

I washed out the inside of the upper kitchen cabinets with pinesol and water. I couldn't tell if this made a difference since I had the mask on the entire time I was there.

So I tested some of the floor by walking on it. It appears the floor under the side windows are the softest. Some spots are actually so soft you can put your foot right through the floor.

After cutting the 3/4 plywood from the floor with my circular saw it reveals the insulation. You can see the holes in the insulation where little critters made tunnels in the past. I will remove the insulation from these areas as well since removing all the floor and insulation is not a feasible option for me.

The belly pan is fairly complete. There is one spot toward the front that has rotted away and that section of pan is now loose and hanging a bit lower. Perfect "doggie door" for animals big and small to make a home. That needs to be repaired ASAP.

I noticed a drop of water hitting the floor and it was too far away from me to be the sweat poring off me. The light fixture in the dining area had a steady drop of water coming from it. This ceiling panel is scheduled to be removed and discarded anyway so no better time then the present to remove it. I cut the power to the light, removed the screws from the underside of the fixture and carefully took it down. The panel is also held up partially by the decorative room divider which divides the kitchen from the living area. I carefully removed the divider since I want to restore this piece of non painted wood. I removed all the screws from the panel and pulled and tugged and was pelted with mouse pellets until it was down and out the door it went.

The worst part of demolition is the removal of the old insulation. It is falling apart, full of mice droppings and sometimes wet. I am never fully prepared for the job and most of the time have on short sleeves and I am left with itchy arms for days.

Since I spend more time away from the camper then at the camper I wanted to take a few things home with me to restore. I took the room divider and the front screen door this week. I hope to get the screen door finished first so I can reinstall it to keep out the bugs.