Merry Christmas

This year we decided to run away from home. We had a wonderful time. Met another couple from Plymouth at Mauthe lake that decided to do the same thing. It snowed a little on Christmas Eve, and we decided to light up the campsite so santa could find us. "Rob" Zollinger thought it was kinda tacky, but then again he is just happy to go camping.

Noticed last monday when we scoped out the campground that nothing was lit up. Found out from the other crazy campers that WE Energies had been out on Thursday night fixing the electric service. Problem is that they only plowed back to the electric panel and no further.  All weekend people kept driving back and getting stuck while turning around. Scott was getting sick of going back with the Jeep and pulling them out. He decided to put up a sign to warn them. It didn't work they just ignored the sign, and would get stuck.

Camping with the Felbob's

Just got back from four days of camping with the Felbobs at Mauthe Lake. Snowed on Wed. & Thurs. during the day. We all spent a lot of time huddled around the 'ole campfire. The Zollinger is so well insulated that the heater barely ran at night. Scott and I talked about how nice it's going to be camping in "Leeola"  when she is done.

I didn't bring along a lot of fancy camping gear this trip. Brought the "Turd" and the Fadder Bob Lantern along with the Stove and my new stove stand that Ed gave me for my birthday. We probably really didn't need to buy any ice this trip because we brought most of it home still frozen solid in the bags. Gotta love the old Coleman stuff, stands the test of time!

What a rainy crappy day.

Most of the morning it was pouring rain. The front window plastic was leaking so we decided to tarp the roof. In the spring we will re-do the top two seams, and figure out how to make the new window frames. Worked on getting in the picture window today.

 I spent the better part of this afternoon wiring up the outside light to the inside light switch. I actually spent more time arguing with Kurt on how it gets wired. We pulled out my basic wiring book and followed the wiring diagram. The best .25¢ I ever spent on a book!

Things Are Looking Up

Today's goal was to install the front bulkhead cabinet. Started by installing the frame on the bottom and sliding it into place. Next we slid the front frame and trim piece in place and did a bit of trimming to make it fit. Slide in the front and held every thing in place to make sure that everything fit. Had to tweak a few things, but it fits like a glove now. Kurt brought his air nailer today. Man that works really slick! Took less than 10 minutes to nail everything in place.

I could not wait. I had go upstairs and get the finished doors and install them. We are SO GLAD that the front bulkhead is now done! Sure looks good. While I fired up the grill and started supper, the boys cut out the first piece of Birch and trimmed it to fit. Cut the holes for the electrical plug and hole for lamp wires. Whew it sure has been a long day.

Stitching Her Up

Patched up the screw holes from an old roof that at one time was attatched to the trailer. JB Welded a patch on and held it in place.

Scott spent most of the day resting the bad ankle. While sitting he used the Roto Zip and cut out the front bulkhead cabinet decorative stars. He did a fantastic job! The game plan for the day was to get the front bulkhead cabinet built and in place. Instead we spent the day replacing the curbside inside header and easing the upper skin back into place. The curbside wall is now rock solid.

I am hoping that during the week I will get a chance to finish up the 120 volt wiring and also finish the insulation. I really can't wait to see the Birch going up on the walls and ceiling.

Man Down!

It started out as a rainy crappy day. Scott and I decided to move the workshop to carport. We just wanted to keep going on the roof spars and get the roof sealed up before winter. During the week Scott built the two end pieces and finished the center piece Saturday morning.

Scott was on the roof and I centered the the first piece and he started to screw it in. Everthing went well on the first piece until Scott went to get off the ladder. The rungs were wet from the rain and down he came crashing to the ground from a few feet up. Twisted his ankle pretty good. Thank god that Kurt was there and helped finish up.

Two Steps Foward...

Seven Steps Backwords

Ava & Zoe the "Baby Friends" as their father calls them. They are the reason that we are rebuilding the Vagabond.

We wonder how something that rotten took so long to get out? Then we spent awhile working on getting the front end cap off, so we could seal it up. Was not that bad getting the front end cap off.

Not so easy getting the front end cap back on and lined up right. Scott and I were getting kinda worried that we could not get it back on. Had to use a strap to pull the pieces back together.

One Step Closer

Came home from work on Monday and Scott had started to frame in the wall for the picture window. Meanwhile I started the wood sealer on the ceiling and then started on the insulation in the ceiling.

Next on the list was to ran the 12 volt wires for a Fantastic Fan that we plan to put sometime in the future. Hey, might as well run the wires while the framing is exposed. Won't be long before we will be starting to put the Birch in! Can't wait.

Living Room Floor Done!

Spent the day on my hands and knees. Taking advantage of Indian Summer this weekend. Got up early Sunday and threw a coat of primer on the floor. After the primer dried, I started to lay the floor tiles. The hard part was deciding where to start.

Had a pleasant surprise when I came home from work on Wed. Scott replaced the front vent! One less leak to worry about. I have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather, every night I have been stripping the woodwork for the cabinets.

Saturday we finally got the upper floor installed and screwed down! Even found time to bondo the screw holes and cracks. Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow so I can sand, prime and hopefully start the floor tile install.

Another day of working on the floor.

Started the day laying the last of the lower floor and bolting in the outer sill. Started to rain outside so we moved the sawhorses and saws inside. Didn't take long to install the inner braces. The insulation was cut to size and press fit into place. By the time I was done cutting the foam I looked like I got stuck in a snowstorm. Little pebbles of foam stuck to my clothes. Once again we hoped to get the upper floor installed, but by the time the insulation was in my back and knees were about done for the day. Hopefully we will have a little nicer weather next weekend, so we can finally finish the floor.

Floor it man!

   We planned on getting the 1st floor in today. Once again "Leeola " threw a wrench in our plans. Had to take the front piece off to get to the front set of mounting holes for the floor. Then we concentrated on getting the rotton nails out of the lower aluminum sill plate. We were glad that we salvaged the front part of the upper floor to use as a template for cutting out the front lower plywood and the lower sill plate. Once that was done we made a huge mistake of jacking the front end up so we could drill the holes for the lower floor and sill plate. Bolted the floor and sill down, and let the body back down. Hummm something must have went wrong because the body did not meet up with the floor. Took a few frantic moments trying to figure out how to fix it, but we did. Had to loosen the floor bolts and gently work the outer skin out. Tighten the bolts again and pull down on the body. Put a couple of nails it to hold it in place. Whew!

 The sun was going down so we cut and sealed the bottom of the 2nd piece and put it in place for next time. Didn't get as much done as we wanted, but still anyday that something starts going back together is a good day! Next week we are going camping with the Felbobs, Harrisons and Kurt. Should be a fun time, it's been a few years since we got such a big crew camping together.

We were framed!

   I got up early today and ran to Fleas 'n Flies. O.k. most people call it Fleet Farm. Picked up a couple of wire brushes and paint for the frame. Kurt came and helped today and started on the frame. Took a couple of hours to clean and almost an hour with three of us painting the frame. The truss fame has lots of nooks and crannys, but it sure looks fantastic.

Next weekend we plan on kicking butt and hopefully will get the bottom floor, lower sill, insulation, upper floor and bolts in. Wish us luck! The following week we have a big camp out planned.

Floor? What Floor.

   We were not sure what to do about the floor. Knew that it was a double floor and that the edges were rotten. After much discussion Scott decided to make a exploratory cut to see what we up against. Crap. The lower floor is worse than we thought. Guess that is going to have to be taken out also. This led to much more discussion about how we were going to do this.

  
   The decision was made that we would take out the middle section of the top floor and see how the floors were attatched. Found lots of treasures that the carpenter ants and mice left behind. There were lots of acorn shells, and shredded insulation in addition to things that we can only imagine what it was at one time. Sure glad that we bought dust masks for this project.

   One of the selling features of the Vagabonds was the double floor and that the heat from the furnace was fed into the floor to heat the trailer. On day two of demo we found the front vent. Today we found the heat exchanger that is in the floor. It is a unique system that the hot air is channeled in between the channels in the floor. Kinda makes you think if it really worked to keep the trailer warm? Anyways we removed it and I would like to make some kind of artsy fartsy thing out of it.

   Who is that masked man? And what did he do to my trailer floor? Fear "Frontierman" and "Frontierbar" demo-ers of rotten wood!

   At what point do you decide if this trailer is worth it? At what point do we stop? One good thing came out of the day was we found that the truss frame is in really good shape. To be continued....

  

Chasing the rot. Day #2

  Started the day by going to get a load of wood, and the new breaker box so I can start the new wiring. After we got home we had to finish what we started last week. Turns out that we are once again chasing the rot. Where will it end? Just about all the sills in the front are rotten, and the plywood has pulled away from the frame. Scott and Ed found that most of the bolts that hold the floor down to the frame are gone. Found a few surprises, like she has a double floor, and we also discovered that someone at one time covered up the vent system in the floor. Next week we are going to have to buy a few sheet of 3/4" plywood to replace the floor in the living room.

 Found this written on the back of a wall that we removed. We thought that was pretty cool. Scott, Ed and I plan to also sign the walls and leave a message as we put her back together.

The first day of demo

   The first day of demo always is nerve racking wondering what we are going to find. In Leeola's case we knew that it was NOT going to be pretty behind the bench seats someone put in her. Boy were we right. Nothing like the smell of wet rotten wood in the morning. Turns out that was just the beginning of the day. We also discovered that 100's of carpenter ants had taken up residence in the insulation behind this wall. At the end of day she did smell a lot better than then we started.

   We knew that front living room vent was leaking, and that it would need replacing. Someone had tried to stop the leak in the front vent at one time. Apparently they used about 4 or 5 tubes of silicone to permantly seal up the vent and stop the leak. It didn't work. All three of the vents are sealed that way and are pretty much junk at this point. It's a good thing that "Vintage Trailer Supply " has them in stock. I would love to put in a fantastic fan in her, but that is just not in the budget right now. I am going to run 12volt wire so if we decide in the future to put one in the wires will be there.

Leeola Coming Home

   It took a chainsaw, hand saw, a couple of friends and a few hours to free her from all the trees and grapevines that held her in place. We are sure glad that we took the time to free her from the weeds. While we were exploring the back cargo hold Scott discovered the original Vagabond metal tag hung up on a nail in the back. Score! The game plan was to get rid of the trees and pull her out into the open. After kicking the tires and finding that they still had air in them, we were good to go. Pete lifted her hitch up and pulled her foward and then set her back down on cribbing.

   A quick walk home to get the truck and the jack. Forgot to mention the Leeola has been parked behind where we live next to the recycling center for about 5 years. Yes folks Scott has been keeping an eye on her for a few years, and checking her out at least once a year. We were pleasantly surprised that the outside body was in pretty good shape for being 60 years old. The hitch and jack has not faired so well though.  Both are going to have to be replaced. Even though it's a very short drive home we were still nervous about getting her home.

  Oh happy, happy day! The 'ole girl is on the way to her new home. It's a good thing no cops are around when we got to the road. It took less that 5 minutes to get her home after hitching her up. Scott seems to be enjoying himself. I can't believe that we traded a 1960's Pathfinder for her.

Whew! Made it home and around the tree and backed into her new home for the time being. It's going to take years and thousands of dollars to get her back into shape. We love the 'ole girl already even though her windows are rotting out of her, the roof vents leak, and the curb side wall in the front in held on by gravity. Sleep well tonight Leeola. Tomorrow we start ripping into you!