1973 Shasta 1400 - Done

[Bob]

Getting the outside water-tight, so that I can re-do the inside

Edit... due to the recent "upgrade" that lost a lot of our pictures, here's a link to the set of photos on Flickr:

www.flickr.com/photos/64880715@N02/sets/72157627210687124/

This is probably better anyway. I've deleted the individual posts that had a single photo attached, they're all in the Flickr set.

[Bob]

But progress has been made. Electrical and plumbing (what little there is) is complete, and it's a lot nicer working in an air conditioned trailer now that it's 95 degrees.

Before:

During:

After:

[Bob]

The curtain fabric is on order and we'll be hunting seat cushion material this weekend. I still need to re-surface the table with the same formica (aqua boomerang) as the kitchen countertop and fridge face.

Before:

During:

After:

[Bob]

We left the closet paneling original so that we'd always have a "before and after" look with us. I removed the enclosure for the drawers and cabinet and this gave us more room to put a porta potty in. We shouldn't need that extra little bit of storage anyway. The drawer faces are secured to the wall... they look like drawers, they just don't open. Yo could kick the lower cabinet door open if you needed extra ventilation though!

[jessie]

Wow!! Great progress!!

[mary1960]

I swear there's nothing better than painted paneling! So fresh and clean!! If it's not birch, I'm all for painting the heck out of it! Nice job!

[dartostunic]

hey thanks for doing the posts on your refurb, i am doing the same with same model presenty. do you have any plans to put in a flush toilet or shower?? if you do can you tell me your plans.

thanks

[Bob]

We're going to use the campground facilities mostly, so no shower or flusher in this one. I don't think that there would be enough clearance for a holding tank underneath it anyway. I did find some metal countertop trim at an old lumber store near my Dad's house and was able to finish the dinette table finally. Turns out the trim (Loxcreen) is made in West Columbia, SC... about ten miles from the house!

[paulem55]

Hi,

I'm thinking about purchasing 73 Shasta 1400. At least that is the year the owner says it is.
Does yours have a bathroom?
This one does.
Do you have any more pictures of the outside (front and back)?
Thanks,
Paul

[Bob]

Well, I took about a month off from working on the Shasta because I got a really sweet deal on a 1977 Airstream Argosy; all it needed was new carpet and new tires and a campin' we did go.

[Bob]

Well, stick a fork in me and call me DONE! It’s all painted up and ready for the road. We have (3) new tires, sway bar, drop hitch and brake controller; we have all new running lights, new putty tape, FlexPro caulking, 500 stainless steel screws, upgraded electrical and a new AC hangin’ out the back.
We had a friend of ours come over and spray the exterior. He wasn’t very excited about spraying off the shelf Rustoleum, but with a little thinner and some enamel hardener, it turned out great.
We were lucky enough to find a camper that was original with all the doors, windows and appliances intact and a solid floor. It was really ugly on the outside and had rot on the inside, so a lot of framing had to be replaced and a lot of paint had to be scraped.

Here’s a general breakdown on the Shasta:

375 trailer, title & tag
275 electrical and AC
590 interior
510 exterior – lights, vent, caulk, etc. (not paint)
270 exterior paint, stripper, etc
480 tires, sway bar, brake controller, hitch
0 addition labor charges
2500 Total

[Bob]

Shasta's been 1500 miles on three camp-outs and everything is still intact. I had to replace the water inlet after the first trip because the hose connector piece snapped off. On the second trip, I bottomed out onto the tongue jack coming out of a parking lot. I cut 2" off the tube, sanded it and painted it and now the jack works better than before. Third trip, no problems. Next trip in two weeks... McKinney, GA.

[cjloftus]

Can't wait to meet you and see the Shasta again. So fun checking it out at The Longest Yard Sale with my "sister"... your wonderful wife!

[Bob]

We're looking forward to meeting everybody down in Georgia. Your sister pulled the Shasta up to Floyd County, VA this past weekend and had a great time with about 50 of her other sisters. See you at McKinney, we'll be there Thursday.

[kpaints]

Just a beautiful job! Well worth your effort...glad to see you are enjoying it. I have a 69..1400. First summer and it was a blast...SOTF too!

[boandsusan]

Jul 20, 2011 13:56:56 GMT -5 Bob said:

Well, stick a fork in me and call me DONE! It’s all painted up and ready for the road. We have (3) new tires, sway bar, drop hitch and brake controller; we have all new running lights, new putty tape, FlexPro caulking, 500 stainless steel screws, upgraded electrical and a new AC hangin’ out the back.
We had a friend of ours come over and spray the exterior. He wasn’t very excited about spraying off the shelf Rustoleum, but with a little thinner and some enamel hardener, it turned out great.
We were lucky enough to find a camper that was original with all the doors, windows and appliances intact and a solid floor. It was really ugly on the outside and had rot on the inside, so a lot of framing had to be replaced and a lot of paint had to be scraped.

Here’s a general breakdown on the Shasta:

375 trailer, title & tag
275 electrical and AC
590 interior
510 exterior – lights, vent, caulk, etc. (not paint)
270 exterior paint, stripper, etc
480 tires, sway bar, brake controller, hitch
0 addition labor charges
2500 Total



P7200202 by Potomac30, on Flickr

Click on P7200202 above to see the other photos.

What color red and white did you use please. I like the fact that its not stark white or bright red. Very Very nice job.

[Bob]

Off the shelf Rustoleum with some thinner and enamel hardener... sprayed on. It took 2 quarts of Almond for the top, 2 quarts of Royal Blue for the bottom and the stripe is a home mix of Regal Red with some Royal Blue to make Garnet - for the South Carolina Gamecocks, of coarse. I still have enough paint left over for touch-ups if needed.

Before:

After:

[boandsusan]

Thank you! That`s funny, as we had already chosen Rustoleum almond and royal red. Then I saw your color scheme and much prefered your red, it reminds me of a Victorian red, which rustoleum doesn`t offer. Awesome job on the mix. You should be proud of the complete restore, it all looks great. I`m doing some minor finishing jobs on the Airstream this week while my hubby is at work, but as soon as we get back from our trip (10th thru 13th), we`ll start tearing down the Shasta. Thanks again.

[Bob]

I finally finished (99%) rebuilding my Nomad camper. Since it’s not a Shasta (but it is a Shasta Owner’s Restoration) I put it in the SOB section… here’s the link:

vintageshasta.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sob&action=display&thread=4637

[Nana B]

you r a brave soul. You gotta love what you do. It certainly is a beautiful paint job. Happy Camping.

[Deleted]

Nice Job! That's a good looking camper.

[Bob]

Thanks again... I haven't had to do anything to the Shasta, but last month I decided to pull the axle, clean, paint and rebuild the suspension and put everything back together with the original rims, new tires and baby moons. It looks better now than it did with the generic white spoked rims.

Here's the link to the details of the suspension rehab:
vintageshasta.proboards.com/thread/9334/1973-model-1400-suspension-details

[Harriet 1400]

Hi Bob! Your 1400 looks great; you must be so gratified to have started with what you did and made it into something so lovely!

I've asked this of quite a few 1400 owners on this board, but I don't seem to be able to get a response; I'm hoping you'll take pity and help me out. Can you tell me what the measurements are for the sofa cushions? Our 1400 didn't come with the sofa cushions or the pull out top, and I'd love to be able to have the right measurements for those.

My guess, based on the dimensions of the sofa frame, is that the seat had a 74 x 21 x 3 inch cushion, and that the back would then be 74 x (some height?) by 3. Again, the pull out part of the frame is missing, so I'm not sure how tall the back needs to be, but I'm guessing 24. That said, when I look at the old flyer for the 1400, it looks as if the back is shorter than that, but doubled/folded over. Can you confirm measurements, pretty please?

[Bob]

We tossed the old cushions and made our own using two 3’ x 6’ blocks of foam and ¼” plywood backer board that we stapled the fabric to… no sewing involved. The measurements may not be the same as the originals, but they fit the purpose and minimized wasted material.
We cut one block into 4 pieces for the dinette: 2 pieces for the seat measuring 3’ wide by 22” deep and 2 pieces for the back rest measuring 3’ wide by 14” tall. When the table is dropped for the bed, the pieces lay out into the full 6’ length and 3’ wide.
We cut 1 foot off the width of the other piece of foam and made the bench seat 2’ by 6’ and used the cut piece to make the backrest. The backrest looks a little short, but it lays out for a comfortable bed. When the bench gets pulled out into a bed, it’s 6’ x 3’ and we still have a little aisle to get in and out. The pull-out part is 21" by 72", so the maximum width that you could get out of the bench would be about 42". That would give you 18" tall backrest max. We made the backrests shorter so that we didn't have to buy another block of foam.
Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck with your restoration.

[Harriet 1400]

Thanks so much, Bob, that helps a lot... especially to know how far the sofa should pull out. Luckily we have the dinette cushions; just the sofa stuff was missing. Thanks again for sharing that info--hopefully Harriet will eventually be in the same lovely shape your 1400 is in.