mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 22, 2013 11:35:15 GMT -5
www.cannedhamtrailers.comMy website primarily deals with how-to videos posted on You Tube. There are also lots of photos and links to help make your project a better experience. I do not claim to be a professional at this and admit that I am still learning. Each new trailer is a whole new learning experience. At this point I am restoring a 1957 Shasta. This trailer has been my toughest challenge as I have determined that it was not built properly at the factory to begin with. Follow along as I muddle through the restoral process. Feel free to ask questions. I will do my best to answer them.
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Post by LittleVintageTrailer on Jan 22, 2013 13:39:04 GMT -5
I love your video's! I've watched almost all of them (:
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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 Jan 22, 2013 16:04:20 GMT -5
Just added a link to your channel to my blog Larry.
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 24, 2013 18:42:43 GMT -5
I love your video's! I've watched almost all of them (: Great website LVT...
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vikx
3K Post Member
Posts: 3,556
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Post by vikx on Jan 25, 2013 0:10:40 GMT -5
I agree, your videos are great. So helpful to so many.
I"m curious about your 57 Shasta. What part(s) do you consider to be "not built right"? I have two here, maybe should be eyeing them a little more closely...
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Post by MapleRiverShasta on Jan 25, 2013 8:43:28 GMT -5
Thank you for the URL Mobiltec! I am watching the restoring Hehr windows videos right now. Very helpful ;D
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 25, 2013 13:12:11 GMT -5
I agree, your videos are great. So helpful to so many. I"m curious about your 57 Shasta. What part(s) do you consider to be "not built right"? I have two here, maybe should be eyeing them a little more closely... I'll start with the worst thing I found so far. This one I never expected in my wildest dreams. I usually don't take up the thresh hold until I am ready to paint the floor unless I am replacing the floor in that area. This is so I dont tear up the metal going in and out. So I never caught this until it was too late. This had to happen at the factory. When I took up the thresh hold I found that the main floor to ceiling cabinet had been placed 3/4 of an inch outside of the trailer and fastened there. Then the guys who put up the curb side wall just put it up right over the mistake. I guess the guys puting on the skin noticed the mistake and instead of stopping production for a bit and moving the cabinet, they just put a 20 inch wedge in the bottom so that the skin would lay flat against the otherwise empty space. It is for this reason that I wish I would have done a complete off frame rebuild on this trailer but that's not the only thing I found. Here are photos showing this problem... In the last photo you can see why I didn't notice it. I did a complete rebuild on the door and am just now getting ready to hang it. I hope this does not give me new headaches but I can't see how the door is going to close properly and I don't know how they made the old door close flush. Besides the normal screw ups like the solid dinette windows that are next to impossible to seal, and the cellotex underlayment that squishes in no time and makes the trailer float up and down on the frame, there are the wheels that I can't get off without deflating and squishing the tires. But there's more..... You can see in my videos that when I lifted the marmoleum from the bed area, they used a ton of small pieces of plywood for the floor and ten thousand nails. They must have been short of plywood at the time because no piece back there was larger than 2 feet. Then there are the rough openings for the windows... It's nice to have maybe an eighth to a quarter inch slop to make the windows go in with ease, but these rough openings were so big that there was barely any wood to screw to because the openings were WAY TOO BIG... To top it all off, I didn't find this on this Shasta but on the last Shasta that I worked on with Bob Ross, (I put the floor in that one and that was in my videos also) the curb side wall was 1 & 1/2 inches shorter than the street side. We figure they mounted the street side too high or the curb side to low or a combination of the two. Another thing I found and this is in the videos also is that the frame had been bent before the floor was installed at the factory. They just installed the floor without straigtening out the frame first. Geeeesh... I just don't see any quality control ever having been done on these trailers. They seemed to have banged them out as fast as they could with no regard to quality. As long as it rolled down the street without falling apart it was good. If I ever do another Shasta it will be a complete off frame rebuild. The only thing that will remain original in the trailer will be the appliances and cabinets. Except for the frame it sits on, everythnig else will be new.
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Post by kto17 on Jan 25, 2013 13:33:40 GMT -5
I agree about lack of quality control. They screwed screws for the cabinets to roof framing in too far on our Deluxe and they went through the roof. It had really old roof sealer on the roof and they left the screws sticking thru!!! I see a new single piece roof in my future.
As I have mentioned before, live the videos! Keep up the good work! It's refreshing to see someone really try hard to do it right!
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 25, 2013 14:45:49 GMT -5
I agree about lack of quality control. They screwed screws for the cabinets to roof framing in too far on our Deluxe and they went through the roof. It had really old roof sealer on the roof and they left the screws sticking thru!!! I see a new single piece roof in my future. As I have mentioned before, live the videos! Keep up the good work! It's refreshing to see someone really try hard to do it right! I try. But as I said, each new trailer is a learning experience. I too found screws that went through the roof skin. Forgot about that one. Geeesh. Now I just look at as "Re-Inventing The Shasta"...
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 25, 2013 15:45:57 GMT -5
Here's how it looks now.
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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 Jan 25, 2013 18:55:21 GMT -5
I had all of these issues on my job too...and in 20 20 hindsight, frame off might have been better. nails/screws in air One side out of whack to the other. decking on mine was all one piece but the celotex was in pieces--though it actually had held together fairly well. Door threshold was okay but I wish I had replaced the whole thing instead of just fixing what was there.
One of our jokes around here has been you were lucky if your shasta was built on a Monday or a Tuesday and all bets are off if they built it on a friday afternoon!
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 25, 2013 20:12:23 GMT -5
At least now I know I'm not crazy and this trailer wasn't jinxed... Looks like it was built to their normal standards LOL...
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Hamlet
2K Post Member
Posts: 2,241
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Post by Hamlet on Jan 25, 2013 21:54:18 GMT -5
The frame off thing sort of scared us at first, but when we realized that the best way to rebuild the trailer was to REBUILD the trailer, we just dove in. We don't regret a minute of it. We were fortunate to have covered space to do the work and were happy to have the chance of the frame off to dink around with the layout a little.
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 25, 2013 21:59:44 GMT -5
The frame off thing sort of scared us at first, but when we realized that the best way to rebuild the trailer was to REBUILD the trailer, we just dove in. We don't regret a minute of it. We were fortunate to have covered space to do the work and were happy to have the chance of the frame off to dink around with the layout a little. Agree 100%... The absolute trouble free way is a complete rebuild. At least for the 50s/early 60s. The later models kinda look like the quality began to improve but I have not seen the guts...
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vikx
3K Post Member
Posts: 3,556
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Post by vikx on Jan 26, 2013 0:42:59 GMT -5
Thank you Mobiltec! I'm sorry you've found so many flaws. I feel lucky in that mine seem to have been lucky Wednesday trailers... so far, anyway.
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 26, 2013 11:24:08 GMT -5
I think this trailer was last out on Christmas Eve and I think the workers were already half in the bag for the Christmas party. The problem with the cabinet sticking out of the trailer will complicate the floor tiles. Only one corner of the cabinet was sticking out so it's turned slightly and out of square with the rest of the floor. Boy that's gonna stick out like a sore thumb when the floor tiles go in...
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Post by schweetcruisers on Jan 26, 2013 11:42:21 GMT -5
On mine the metal crossbars on the frame had a 1" difference from front to back. It wouldn't be so bad if the had an even taper, but they were all the same except the one at the rear, 1" shorter.
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 26, 2013 11:53:42 GMT -5
LOL Schweet! Sorry to say it but that makes me feel so much better knowing that Im not the only one. I'm so glad I came to this forum... Thanks for making my weekend a good one.
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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 Jan 26, 2013 16:02:37 GMT -5
we are glad you are here too....and you said you weren't much of a forum guy.
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 26, 2013 23:06:01 GMT -5
Well I just have a hard time puting things into type. I can talk it out but when I type, sometimes the things I say don't come out right. I may be a little sarcastic at times and if someone misses the sarcasm they get all defensive and then the wars break out. I just hope people don't think I know it all because really, I don't. Every trailer has it's own little surprises but that's one of the things that makes this so fun. And the great people are just icing on the cake.
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vikx
3K Post Member
Posts: 3,556
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Post by vikx on Jan 26, 2013 23:47:14 GMT -5
Every trailer teaches me. Sometimes what NOT to do...
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znorm
100 Post Member
Go camping before the big one gets away!
Posts: 160
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Post by znorm on Jan 27, 2013 0:11:12 GMT -5
That is why I started over with mine. When I bought it there was water damage at the back window and the ceiling vent. There was dry rot at the floor line and some of the corners. the frame was rusty and so on. When I set the tall cabinet and the seat frames had to be scribed to the ceiling line and where the seats meet at floor line I removed almost a 1/2"on each one. The tall cabinet determines the ceiling height which is approx. 74-1/2". I have had many a beers thinking how this trailer was put together and now taking it apart. Thank goodness for templates and then improve it from here. It sure teaches patience.
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 27, 2013 0:27:47 GMT -5
I sometimes think the guys puting these things together had quite a few beers themselves... At work....
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mobiltec
1K Post Member
Restoring The 57 Shasta
Posts: 1,134
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Post by mobiltec on Jan 27, 2013 0:28:59 GMT -5
Every trailer teaches me. Sometimes what NOT to do... Boy that's a true statement. I think I have about a hundred of those already on this one Shasta.
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cowcharge
1K Post Member
I suffer from Shastasomiasis.
Posts: 1,471
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Post by cowcharge on Jan 27, 2013 12:01:18 GMT -5
Agree 100%... The absolute trouble free way is a complete rebuild. At least for the 50s/early 60s. The later models kinda look like the quality began to improve but I have not seen the guts...[/quote]
Well, by '76 they at least had the studs turned the right way. But they still used staples, attached the walls with screws so thick they split the bottoms of every stud, and squished that crappy half-inch fiberglass insulation between the skin and the frame.
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