Sweet Pea (In the beginning)

Gary has worked so hard to restore our little Shasta travel trailer. We named her "Sweet Pea" so I thought it would be good to remember where we started because this process has taken a year at this point.

Back to the inside to put in insulation and start replacing veneer,and new wiring

Augustl 1, 2010
I reworked wiring and added some extra circuits in the trailer,so we would have the outlets we needed and also be able to handle the amps. we would need. You can also see that the wooden studs in the walls and over head wood is only 1by2 inch pine. The ceiling was sagging down some, so I bought some 3/4 inch aluminum angle and screwed them in on each side. That would help a lot when I went back with the new Birch veneer.
 

The insulating of the  trailer went pretty fast, I bought 4 by 8 foot sheets of insulation and cut it to fit. The insulation was 3/4 inch same thickness as the pine wood. I would mark the width I needed with A black pen then cut it with a razor blade knife , I also had a Roto-Zip tool that came in handy.

You can see the copper tubing and wire in the side of the wall. That is when I got my note book back out and made a drawing of every stud and brace in each side,top, back, and front of trailer. When you begin to put veneer back in you have to know where those wires are so you want run a nail or screw in them.

I've been working hard replacing the insulation and veneer. The blue masking tape is marking studs where wires are going though the wall. Buying prefinished veneer saved me a lot of time and work. If you use prefinished veneer do not leave the tape on any longer then necessary.

It's beginning to take shape again and look like a trailer on the inside although still along ways to go. You are looking at the overhead cabinets in the front of the trailer.




The shelf in the bottom picture will go in the back of the trailer. I had to remake it with new veneer. I used the old shelf as a pattern and also reworked front shelf. Getting the veneer back in the trailer really stiffened the trailer back up.

Painting is Completed!! WooHoo!

July 8,  2010
 Finally the painting was completed and this is the finished product after all the tape and paper has been removed. I painted the trailer hitch and bumper white to match the trailer.

When you are preparing your trailer for painting take your time when removing dings and dents in the siding. I thought I had done a pretty good job, but when I begin to spray that finish coat on I didn't have any problem seeing the area's that I should have given a little more tender loving care. I am still pleased with how it turned out. This one and one more will be two for me! HA HA

I had already rebuilt  the door frame and prepared it for painting. So I just had to make sure I matched up the stripe on the door with the one on the trailer.









This has been a long process, sanding, priming and removing dents and dings. It is very important to
wear a good respirator during this process for your protection.
After having painted the trailer I removed the wheels and had them
powder coated to match the red stripe. I will next order baby moon hubcaps.

Paint Booth, Priming and Taping

June 3, 2010

This was our make shift paint booth. We hung plastic from the rafters to the floor on three sides of the trailer. We wanted to keep as much dust as possible out of the painting area. I also did not want to get paint on  everything else in the shop. We also put an exhaust fan in the front door to help pull the paint fumes out.

I put 2 inch masking tape around the trailer where the stripe was located. I then sprayed etching primer on all the bare metal, so that when I came back and primed the entire trailer it would all bond to the aluminum siding.

The top half has been primed and painted white then covered with paper again so the bottom of the trailer can be painted it's finish color of blue-green.

The trailer has been covered with paper and the stripe has been masked off so that the red stripe can be painted down the side of the trailer.  This was quite a learning process.
 

Getting trailer ready for new paint job. sanding, dent removal,

May 17, 2010
Once I had the trailer back on the floor with the frame and new wood under it, I decided to move to the outside of the trailer and begin preparing it for new paint job .  All of the windows had already been removed . They would later be polished, repaired if need be then reinstalled with stainless steel screws.

   

 This part of the project was really going to be a learning experience for me. I have done a lot of wood finishing projects and could use a spray gun, but had never worked much with metal or sprayed painted anything this large.

There were lots of dings that this little lady had to show for almost 50 years of being around. They had to be sanded and filled and then sanded again. I knew that time spent in preparing the skin of the trailer for painting would be well worth the effort. So I took my time and tried to patiently work my way around the trailer several times making sure that no part of the trailer was left untouched.

I do know why the colors on the trailer look so different in the photos. The original color was blue and white. The door was removed and all the windows and openings covered with plastic sheeting. A lot of the sanding I did with a Pam sander but used a lot of single sheets also. Some places on the trailer was down to bare medal where it wasn't I wanted to feather the edges so they were smooth, so when I painted the trailer it would look and feel like new.

Putting the floor under the trailer

April 4, 2010

I purchased new 3/4 inch plywood and new black fiber board to go under the plywood. I used carriage bolts to pull it all down. I pulled the bolts down far enough that the flooring could be puttied over and then smoothed. This was in preperation  for the Armstrong vinyl checkerboard flooring that would be glued down.

You can see that all the 2X4's were replaced, that was under the floor also.









Next I took the framing down that had supported the trailer while the floor and frame was being worked on. I was happy to see that go, I can't tell you how many times I would raise up and hit my head on it. Ha Ha  That was the frame of many names!

The the floor has now been put back in place and the trailer lowered to the floor and reattached. . Next,  I am going to move to the outside of the trailer and prepare it for painting while the weather is warm.

Removing frame from under trailer, and replacing bad wood

January 11, 2010

We built a frame to hold the trailer up so the trailer metal frame bed could be detached and lowered and pulled from under the trailer top. Once that was completed, I begin to replace damaged studs and wood around bottom of trailer. When frame  was sandblasted and painted a new floor was put down.  I wanted good treated wood for it to fasten into.

 Due to a snowfall and the shop not being heated except for space hearters, work on the Shasta stopped until spring, when I was able to get back into the shop and work again on replacing the bad wood.

This wood was replaced at the rear of the trailer surrounding the compartment door and, reworked both sides.

  This is in the front of the trailer.  You can see I replaced the vertical stud, also wood along bottom side with treated pine, and replaced wood along front of the trailer. The vertical stud was fastened and held in place with a 90 degree angle with screws.

Off Comes the Veneer!!

October 29,  2009

I found the fastest and easiest way to remove the veneer was to grind the heads off the nails with a disk grinder, pull veneer off the walls and then to pull the nails out of the studs.

After all the veneer was removed, I took all the insulation out to reveal the wiring  and plumbing. When I reached the point of replacing the insulation I would use 3/4 " Styrofoam insulation.

As you can see from the photo below the framing and studs below the windows had a lot of water damage. As a result of the damage from leaking around the windows, which is common on these Shastas, I will need to replace any damaged wood. The vertical studs were replaced with pine and the wood framing that the studs were attached to were replaced with treated pine. 

BEFORE

My son, Darin, who is a metal fabricator made
short work of providing me with new fenders for
the tire wells.  Thank Goodness for sons with skills!

READY TO ASSEMBLE

AFTER

Beginning the work on Sweetpea

Compose

 We backed the trailer into the shop and began to get excited about beginning the work to restore our little Sweet Pea on October 19th 2009.

 I decided to do an off frame restoration, due to rust on the frame and bumper. This way I could sandblast frame, prime, and paint. I will go back under trailer with a new floor.

 Fender wells were very badly rusted through. Fortunately, my son is a sheet metal worker and quickly made new fender wells for me.









I began to remove  everything from inside of trailer. I stored the cabinets so that I would have pattern when I began to rebuild. Water had damaged the veneer on the walls, cabinets, and built-ins.

While taking everything out of trailer, I took a lot of pictures and notes, knowing that I would need this information when I began to put things back. I could have saved some of the veneer, but decided to replace all the veneer with 1/4 inch pre-finished Birch veneer. The original veneer was 1/8 inch. I also would rebuild all cabinet frames out of solid hard birch.

Finding Sweet Pea

Found: A Sweet Pea! October 8, 2009

October 8, 2009
We have owned several travel trailers and always loved camping with family. The atmosphere of campgrounds was one which our family enjoyed. We are now retired and hoping to do more camping. We had a 2001 R.V. we had sold on ebay, we just didn't like the floor plan. My wife spends a lot of time on the internet, and she began to read about vintage trailers people have purchased, and restored. She  read about vintage trailer clubs they had joined to travel with and meet new friends.  I have always enjoyed working with my hands and trying new things. Our dream begin with restoring Sweet Pea.

 We searched high and low for a vintage trailer, and finally found one in the R.V. Trader. We found a 1962 Shasta in Chicago owned by Robert, it looked to be exactly what we were searching for and at the right price, $400.00.  We had some very close friends that lived within about 30 miles of Robert and spent several days with them before starting home. This was in October 2009 and the weather was rainy, and chilly but the leaves were beautiful. After a scary drive through Chicago without tail lights we found Mike's house and  I got to spend part of that time in that weather working on trailer lights.

 We arrived safe and sound at home and began to have a closer look at our little Shasta. I have a1965 GMC V6 truck that my dad bought new in 1965 that I am in the process of restoring. Sweet Pea will be painted to match the truck. We are excited about the prospect of going "on the road" with the GMC Truck and Sweet Pea.