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Post by harrison429 on Sept 13, 2011 4:42:53 GMT -5
Got the front skin on yesterday so all that's left is the rear skin...we waited to do that last because of 'fit' issues.
Anyway, I started taping off the z-stripe so I could strip the paint and even started stripping the paint. I'm using Citri-strip (I've used it before; it works well even on vertical surfaces)
Sadly, we have 2 damaged skin areas in the z-stripe, argh! I'm hoping to be able to blend in a painted section, over the damage, with the raw aluminum. I'll let you know if it works.
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 13, 2011 4:43:29 GMT -5
The most damaged spot
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 13, 2011 4:46:10 GMT -5
Citri-strip doing its thing thanks offspringin...we never expected this to be taking so long and now we know that we'll only get it sealed up by the time our camp out comes along but we don't expect the interior to be finished before then. image deleted
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 18, 2011 16:10:40 GMT -5
Another step down and closer to paint! The stripe came out awesome except that there was a big hole and dent in the stripe area which we didn't realize as we patched it expecting to sand and then paint over it later. So now we have a messy looking patch because we can't sand it any smoother. I'll hand paint the patched area to try to disguise it as best I can. I used trempro to caulk the roof pitsburgh seams because it appeared as if there were sags which could have the water running the wrong way or pooling. Next is a good cleaning and then paint, yippee! One problem with painting this week is it doesn't look as if the weather is going to cooperate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I won't have to wait too long though. image deleted
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 25, 2011 17:20:04 GMT -5
I was surprised to learn that each layer of paint will require upwards of 8 hours before next coat which basically means the top and afterwards the bottom to painting the whole trailer at once each time I was to paint. Even thought I'm rolling the paint we knew with all the wind our carport gets and the chance of high humidity with the rain possibilities, Bill came up with the idea to turn the carport into a 'paint booth' which turned out to be an excellent idea. Yesterday I rolled on the primer, with no wind worries, and have to say I was disappointed that it still looked battleship gray (due to the lighting). Today I rolled out the first layer of paint, top and bottom. Because I'm in an enclosed space I can't take a good pic of the miraculous change! However, I'm so in awe of the vibe of the trailer compared to the ugly gray it was. I still have many more coats of white to paint but may only need one more pink so the painting will continue this week and I'm hoping that all the parts will be re-installed before 2 weeks are through. Btw, I'm freaking exhausted, up and down the ladder, stand and squat, all on concrete...I'm just about too old for this! Thank goodness for hot tubs and tequilla. (It's taking about 4 hours to paint all the trailer and all the parts that are off...rails, doors etc) image deleted
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 25, 2011 17:21:43 GMT -5
I'm very pleased with the salmon pink ;D I think it totally fits the era.
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 27, 2011 7:18:04 GMT -5
dang i'm sick of learning resto lessons, sigh...i totally messed up my paint job by painting when it was too hot. i wouldn't have thought i could have been so dense because i've painted a lot but always indoors and with latex. so feeling out of my element i was unaware that the difference in the painting was due to the heat rather than the paint being different. the result is my pink is very textured. the white is as smooth as can be but by the time i got to the pink it had gotten too hot in our booth. i've sanded the pink and i'm hoping for the best on the next coat which apparently won't be today in 99% humidity.
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vikx
3K Post Member
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Post by vikx on Sept 28, 2011 1:08:04 GMT -5
It looks great Harrison! I like pink...
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Post by harrison429 on Sept 28, 2011 6:40:53 GMT -5
Thanks vikx...I'm tickled pink!
Painting the rails has been a challenge (aka pita!) but my husband came up with a great idea to help me paint them...he screwed them to a board! They've kept still, they've been out of the way in the small space and I've been able to paint under the screw head so they'll be 100% complete when the trailer is done. I'm looking forward to seeing my shiny screw heads pop off the pretty paint job on the rails.
Okay, the update on the messed up paint job is that I sanded the pink paint and yesterday put a second coat over the whole trailer. Even last night I could see that the 2nd coat smoothed out the texture tremendously, whew! While there is still texture, which I don't think you can avoid when you roll, its minimal and like what I expected. Today I'll do an allover wet-sand to prepare for my 3rd and final coat tomorrow. The final tally will be one coat of primer plus 3 coats of paint. The pink would have been fine with 2 coats except after sanding I decided to do a 3 after all and I don't think the white will need another coat, the 2nd one did wonders for coverage.
Oh, btw, the white is rustoleum and the primer & pink are industrial oil based paints from Porter paint.
Hoping to get everything re-installed this weekend but we have a family b-day so I'm not sure if it will pan out.
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 16, 2011 17:30:21 GMT -5
She's Done!! Well, almost but the stuff that still needs to be done wouldn't show in the pic anyway so I can pretend she's done. Since I applied all the rails, doors etc after painting the body of the trailer I have to figure out when I'm going to paint all the butyl since it didn't get painted initially. It was something I hadn't thought of. However, I do love the look of all the shiny screw heads so I'm only sad because it just means more work. We still have to install the lexan in the back window, trim some putty and attach the rear skin. Next I'll tackle the interior only to the extent that is absolutely necessary. When we camp, in about 3 weeks, it will be on a bed that's rigged, with no interior trim, countertop, table or sink. I'm just relieved we'll actually be watertight by the deadline, whew! image deleted
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 16, 2011 17:32:46 GMT -5
That rear plexi is from the po, too small and tinted so we'll replace with clear next weekend.
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Gone Kayaking
1K Post Member
long live the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum....we're gone but you are not forgotten!
Posts: 1,600
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Post by Gone Kayaking on Oct 16, 2011 20:50:18 GMT -5
Looks great Lynn! As you know we went on our whole big road trip with a rigged bed, incomplete interior wood work. You've done a great job. I did have an idea about your strip area dent as I was reading though. I know some folks have used aluminum tape for the stripe....maybe that would work?
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 19, 2011 8:40:38 GMT -5
Thanks! I suspect there are a lot of first outings that are incomplete and we all know we can have fun just like they are. I'm not concerned with the interior not being done. I definitely want to enjoy working on the interior but right now I'm just anxious to go camping. And thanks for the idea about the stripe but if we don't just leave her battlescar 'as is' I'll just add a little silver paint to lessen the color difference between the welding material and the raw aluminum stripe. She's not perfect and never will be so it's a good thing that wasn't what I was after!
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Post by '59PinkDeluxe on Oct 19, 2011 10:12:44 GMT -5
harrison... your pics are worth a million words! Thanks so much for posting those. I wish I had a garage to work on mine . Was wondering if you had your wheel wells rebuilt or you just covered with the rubber stuff? Thx.
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 24, 2011 7:48:50 GMT -5
I'd like to think I'm helping someone else out there learn from my mistakes! As for the wheel wells, my husband lined them with aluminum. The main body of the wheel wells weren't too bad but the edges that went under the floor and under the trailers bottom rails were pretty rusted. I rustoleum'd the whole wheel well (inside and out) before he lined them. It worked well except that the extra width of the aluminum added to the original steel meant that we had to make some adjustments.
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 24, 2011 8:01:32 GMT -5
This pic is the result of our latest need to 'jerry-rig'. ;D
Our rear window had been replaced with plexi that was overdone with caulk and tinted so I didn't want to use it. It no longer had the original snap-in glazing and I couldn't find any anywhere to fit the channel of the window frame. Left with no other choice than to caulk in a new piece of plexi we where then faced with the challenge of how to install it. The frame flexes somewhat so I didn't want to caulk the plexi in place outside of the trailer in case the frame flexed as we installed the frame and broke the seal of the caulk. So, we installed the frame and then had to figure out how to keep pressure on the plexi while the caulk set. I knew we needed to keep pressure along the whole exterior of the plexi where it met the frame behind it and my husband came up with this.
We set the plexi yesterday and expect to remove the rigging this evening.
(We used 1/4" Lexan and trempro caulk)
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offspringin
1K Post Member
Never question the engineer's judgement!
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Post by offspringin on Oct 24, 2011 12:44:47 GMT -5
Yours is looking so good, love to see the rig work too as for the camping incomplete we went this past weekend on our maiden voyage (about 40 min away) to Stone Mountain. The camper is maybe 80-90% done will only more interior paneling to finish. It camped great, we slept great, warm and cozy. So sad to pack it all up and go back to the real world. As we learned camping this weekend its not whats on the inside that matters we had tons of people stop and talk to us, people driving by would brake and stare, even people driving down the road would point and their heads would follow. Its an odd experience to have something others find facinating. It forces you to be social i guess. If not though the camper, then through our pups. Anyway, yours looks really amazing, i would say that most the imperfections that you notice will not be noticed by others. I know so many things that didnt come out like i wanted but nobody seems to notice. I think they know its 40-50-60 years old and dont expect showroom anyway (though thats how us owners want them to be) Keep up your great progress, well see you guys in a few short weeks.
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Post by cjloftus on Oct 25, 2011 10:21:00 GMT -5
offspringin: Was that you on the lake? Loved the two doggies... should have chatted you up (loved your great Shasta). I should have known it would be a small world - Shasta-wise. I find most folks who love their campers are on fun forums.
I was with a few of my Sisters On the Fly group. We had two trailers at the Country Living Festival - one a Shasta Compact painted like a Fishing Cottage. Hope you got to see that one.
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 26, 2011 6:12:29 GMT -5
I'm happy to say the window is a success! Visually anway. We haven't water tested it yet and won't until we come back from camping when I wash the trailer and its new paint job for the first time. I really feared the way it was going to look without the glazing covering up goopy caulk but I managed to get the caulk it pretty dang clean and it does look well sealed so I'm calling it a success. ;D This last week before camping is going to be for final 2' of puttying (ugh, in our excitement we put up the wings before I finished puttying) and rigging the interior for sleeping. I can't wait to finally get to take her out! The interior will wait for another round of energy, like next year! haha See y'all Georgians+ soon image deleted
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Post by tomamara on Oct 26, 2011 22:35:00 GMT -5
Lookin Good!
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offspringin
1K Post Member
Never question the engineer's judgement!
Posts: 1,424
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Post by offspringin on Oct 26, 2011 23:30:41 GMT -5
offspringin: Was that you on the lake? Loved the two doggies... should have chatted you up (loved your great Shasta). I should have known it would be a small world - Shasta-wise. I find most folks who love their campers are on fun forums. I was with a few of my Sisters On the Fly group. We had two trailers at the Country Living Festival - one a Shasta Compact painted like a Fishing Cottage. Hope you got to see that one. YUP that was me! It was our maiden voyage. Were you staying in the campground too? Which camper was yours we drove around looking at all the other vintage ones, musta been 8-10 at least? Only saw 2 other Shastas in the campground, a tan/yellow 50/60 model and a green/white compact like ours. We enjoyed our trip and the festival too, took the pups on sunday having seen so many there on saturday. you mean this trailer? -v-v-v-v-v-v Attachments:
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Post by harrison429 on Oct 29, 2011 19:26:48 GMT -5
We took out trailer out of the carport and down the road today for the first time since we started our renovations. I'm happy to say all went well (whew!) and I'm finally getting excited about being able to go camping instead of feeling frustrated with renovations! Woo-hoo, 5 days and counting.
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Post by harrison429 on Dec 16, 2011 13:18:58 GMT -5
I've had a nice break from trailer resto overload. I've been painting the putty which is coming out awesome, eliminating the brown line between the body and rails of the trailer. I thought I had before and after pix but apparently I deleted them already. I also just started working on my cushions. I've never sewn any kind of cushion before and I've never installed a zipper either. I'm happy to say I'm pleased with my results even if it's only because I'm saving $250 from what they wanted to charge me just to sew the cushion covers! I used this link for a good 'how to' sewmamasew.com/blog2/2008/07/summer-sewing-perfectly-portable-making minors changes for what I was doing. I did add handles to the back of the cushion so we could hang them in front of the windows when were in bed. The idea came when we went camping and the trailer was very cold by the windows. The next night we put the (uncovered) foam in front of the windows which worked out perfectly. Now we have no drafts and a place to store the cushions at night! image deleted
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Post by harrison429 on Dec 16, 2011 13:20:53 GMT -5
The cushion is currently just rigged with shoe strings. I'm thinking that a roll up curtain tie would be 2x handy...we'll see.
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Post by 65callie on Dec 16, 2011 14:02:06 GMT -5
What a beautiful job! And you even did piping!! Wow, now you can come do mine
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Post by harrison429 on Dec 17, 2011 16:54:53 GMT -5
Thanks callie65. I haven't done my second one yet and am hoping the things I learned help the 2nd one turn out even better. I have decided I need to wrap the cushion as it's too square/hard looking without it. While I might be willing to help I'm pretty sure you couldn't afford what I'd want to charge for the work...I'd charge even more than the professionals as it takes me twice as long! haha
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Dec 17, 2011 21:24:45 GMT -5
Wrapping the cushions in the upholstery poly batting also helps the foam hold up better. I wound up making a plain muslin cover for the cushions that I sewed closed, then put them in the covers. It was a pain, but when I have to take the covers off to wash, I won't have to have to fuss with the wrapping again. Just another 6 hour of work! (I can laugh NOW)
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Dec 17, 2011 21:25:36 GMT -5
I forgot to tell you how fantastic it looks. Congrats on the beautiful work!
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Post by harrison429 on Dec 18, 2011 7:38:12 GMT -5
Thanks Hamlet and that's a great idea to make the muslin cover...I'll have to do that. I really don't have trouble inserting the cushion because the zipper I sewed goes a few inches around the corner of the cover but I'm sure that would change with the batting around the foam.
Oh, Callie65, I forgot to say I've never done piping either. It was another part of this project (along with the zipper) that I feared but I was amazed at how easy that was and of course what a difference it makes to the finished look! I did the piping on both sides so I can flip the cushions.
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Post by 65callie on Dec 18, 2011 11:58:07 GMT -5
Don't worry Harrison429 I won't make you help me! But only because I'm just going to keep using the covers I rigged up from the quilts. But I do have a roll of poly batting you can have. If you want it let me know and I will check to make sure there is enough to cover your (2?) cushions. Also, instead of muslin you can use a sheet. A flat sheet at Walmart is cheaper than buying muslin.
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