Bulletin board near sink and shower curtain track

Catching up on my blog since it is 47 degrees F outside with probable snow overnight.  Spring weather is so unpredictable. You are taking a big risk around here if you camp before Memorial day with no heat in the camper. Whenever we could, we reused the original wood in the trailer but the area next to the kitchen sink was particularly ugly after what we peeled off what appeared to be very old contact paper.   We decided to get a magnetic poster board to not only cover the area, but also store are spices for easy access.  Both were purchased from The Container Store.

This is the before photo...the same day we brought the trailer home.  The previous owner had actually stained around the contact paper, removing it left an area that we could not match up the old stained finish.

Here is the area in question!  Notice we polished the previously painted cabinet above the sink.  At least you can see if something is caught in your teeth while you are washing dishes!

This the after photo...we are in the process of polishing the aluminum edging to put back and then the kitchen will be finally done!

The next area we tackled was the shower track. The previous owner had a tension bar shower curtain which was not original to the trailer. We replaced it with a curtain track that we bought from Vintage Trailer Supply. The track bent easily and we drilled and clecoed it into place. Hey, if my best twin sister in the whole world is reading this, we would love you to make us a shower curtain!!

We bought the accessories to fit into the track and they slid in with no problem

The new refrigerator goes in!

We decided not to use the old electric Frigidaire refrigerator that came with our trailer.  Electric only refrigerators make no sense when the majority of the time we will be camping without hookups.  Here are the photos below that show the installation.  We were unable to reuse the old formica counter top since it was too small so we elected to place a butcher block surface on it.  That way we have useful counter space as well.

Because we do not have the roof vent since our original refrigerator was electric, we decided to place a dometic specific fan befind the refrigerator for venting.  Air will be pulled from the floor vent and lower vent and then blown out through the upper vent.  

The finished product!   The butcher block was treated with Boos block board cream which is a mixure of food grade mineral oil and beeswax.  It smelled wonderful going on and it made my hands soft all day!  We made our own insert for the front of the dometic since we wanted to match the wood as close as possible to the rest of the trailer

Resurrecting the Princess Stove!

Pleaded with a master RV tech to help us rework our original Princess stove to make it safe and functional for our trailer.  Luckily for us, it was mid January and we caught him at a slow time of the year.   Turns out he likes tinkering with old things!  The bad news is that the old thermostat was toast and after numerous phone calls with the Robertshaw company, got a replacement to the tune of $249!  Now the stove looks as worn and tired as ever, but with new propane lines and thermostat etc, she is as safe as any new stove and has a heck of a lot more charm to her!

Thermostat is the central oven knob

Refrigerator Access Panel

For some strange reason,  our trailer did not have a lower refrigerator access panel to access the back of the refrigerator.   Since we have decided not to place a roof vent but instead use the existing upper vent for the refrigerator, we wanted a similar looking vent but had great difficulty locating one.  We ordered numerous ones, only to send them back since we did not like the look of them, and eventually settled on the stainless steel version on Airstream.com for a whopping $139!  We are hoping it will at least not be glaringly obvious on our trailer.  Photos are below.

Hole cut in trailer!

Aluminum channels were place to support inner and outer skins.  Channels were bought from
Metals Depot 1.5 inches  X 1 inch X 1/8 inch.  Note the generous use of Vulkem

Channels were pop riveted in place on the interior. 

Access panel was clecoed into place, again with a boat load of vulkem!

We couldn't decide between screws or pop rivets, but since the upper vent was pop riveted we elected to also rivet this one for continuity

Access panel in place.  We have decided not to continue to polish the upper vent so it will begin to match the lower panel!  Lizzie and Stella our two dogs had to be in the photo!

Rebuilding the gaucho couch

My sister, otherwise known as Reinergirl on the airforums, has graciously donated her old gaucho couch from her 1963 Overlander.  We had initially decided on a dinette, but in using the old one that came with the trailer, we hated the cramped feeling inside.   Here are the photos of the dinette in the process of stripping down the many layers.  Too many staples to count...

We undid the Walter Wabash sliders and removed 8 inches of the rectangular dowel of wood to extend the length.

Notice how the rectangular peg of wood is much shorter!  We repleced the sliders and put back the metal peg holding them together.







MORE PHOTOS TO FOLLOW AS WE COMPLETE THE PROJECT!!!!

New Life to an Old Headboard

We had the original headboard in our trailer with what we assumed was the original fabric as well.  The pattern was uninspiring and it exuded a slight musty odor.  Since this was directly next to our heads it was time to switch it out!

The dust that came out of it when we removed the fabric was disgusting

The back of it showed that Bud was here!  Our serial number was also written on the back.  Thank you Bud!

The fabric and batting was simply stapled in place.

We replaced the batting and covered the headboard using the same staple technique.  This is my kind of sewing!

Placing it in the trailer was easy.  However, as you can see in the photo, the headboard is mostly covered up by the mattress.   Mattresses must have been much thinner in 1960 but we would rather have a comfortable mattress and a smaller headboard than vice versa! We purchased our custom cut mattress from foambymail.com and we are very happy with it!

Finished product!

Bathtub trim installed!

Adding butyl tape to the back side of the polished shower trim

We clecoed the trim in place to make sure it fit well.  Note the trim is original to the trailer

The shower faucet was beyond repair...this was a replacement from Vintage Trailer Supply

The finished tub!   We still have to remove the excess butyl tape that oozed out when we screwed the molding in place.
We have orange plastic razor blades that do a great job (see on corner of bathroom vanity). We threw a rug in the tub while we were working on it to protect the bottom.  There are some rug fragments we need to wipe out!