Odds and Ends

I have been playing catch up on a lot of little things. I bought a new propane lamp globe from Vintage Trailer Supply for about $12.

The old one had several cracks in it, and I was afraid it would break going down the highway. The old globe is wrapped up and in the box of old parts. I also installed a carbon monoxide/smoke detector (from Walmart for about $8) in the small space over the door.

It is tucked away nicely, but still in a central location.

After hitting my head on the seriously sharp edges of the windows about 100 times I devised this protection plan since telling myself not to do it again just wasn't working.

I made small slits in old tennis balls like you would to put on a fence post or trailer ball. Works great and my poor bald head thanks me for no longer adding to the collection of scars

I also replaced the old crusty rusty door catch.

I got a new model from the local rv center for $6. Originally I was going to drill out the rivots and just use the latch which is identical to the old rusted one, but I decided to leave it intact as it keeps the door from hitting the paint a little better.

While we are on the subject of rust, I kept a jar as a memento, of all 900+ rusty screws.

I got the old Shasta nameplate shined up and reattached as well. See? Shiny... (I can hear you saying oooooh, from here)

Also, although I have mentioned it before, I will show it again. This little microwave fits perfectly in the wardrobe above the fridge. It was free off the curb last spring when some college kids moved out. You wouldn't believe the stuff they throw out, it could be a blog all in itself.

I finally finished the 12-volt system using the alarm system power supply.

I ran wiring off the main Fan-Tastic fan wiring to power under-cabinet lighting, fans to draw air across the coils for the propane fridge and a small exhaust fan for the stove. I used LED light strips from http://www.superbrightleds.com/ . The strips were $6.99 each. They draw almost no power, making them perfect for boondocking on battery power and are warm white, giving them a similar glow to incandescent bulbs. I placed LED light strips under the kitchen cabinets and front cabinets.

I used an old 80 mm fan from a previous computer build for an exhaust fan; it covered the hole perfectly.

I used two 120mm fans from the same old computer to pull air across the coils.

These fans don’t move much air, but they increase air flow which should help the fridge work more efficiently. I bought small toggle switches that you can see to the right of the lights in the pictures, from Radio Shack for all lights and fans for about $10. I mounted these under and in cabinets to keep them out of sight.

The lighting looks great and goes nicely with the propane lamp. All of these lights and fans, including the Fan-Tastic fan on the roof, still draw less than 4 amps which means when boondocking, I could go three days running everything before running out of battery. Translation, my battery will last longer with normal light and fan use than my family will last camping. Right now, I have not connected a battery to the system. I will use the power supply until we are ready to go off the grid and then purchase a battery when necessary. I figure no use paying for a battery to slowly wear out over the next three years if I don’t need it.

Moving on, I pulled the wheels, hubcaps, door handles, license plate holder, and propane tank rack off and took them to the local sandblaster, Sisk Sandblasting. They did a great job. The handles were badly pitted and everything else was rusted pretty badly. From previous experience this is the only way to go. Wire brushing just doesn’t get all the rust and it comes back quickly, ruining hard work. For $100 I removed all rust and had a great texture for painting. I used gloss white Rustoleum for $5, for the wheels and tank rack, and a stainless steel Rustoleum, that I had on the shelf in the garage, for the door handles, hubcaps and plate holder. Here is a pic of my painting area, under a tarp, in the rain the day before leaving for the rally.

Someday I may get the door handles re-chromed, but for now they are painted and protected. Everything looks great and it gives a finished look to the trailer.

I already had a propane tank with a new valve from an old grill of mine, then I picked up a second full of fuel for $12 on Craigslist. I bought two new lines with the easy connect fittings from our local RV center for $10 each. I lightly sanded each and rolled on two coats of paint left over from the camper.

I got them mounted on the front and it really makes it look nice with paint matched tanks.

Now if I could only get the dang wings finished…

So, if you are following along, so far we have:

Trailer $900

Bearing Repack $100

Steel $10

Sealant $10

Fan-Tastic Fan $140

Three Sheets 1/8 Birch $50

3M Polish $18

Buffer Pad $12

Mothers Aluminum Polish $8

TSP Cleaner/Paint Prep $8

Rollers, brushes and trays $30

Frog Tape $10

Etching Primer $5

Goo Gone $3

Paint 3 Gallons $98

Foam $250

Upholstery Fabric $510

Curtain & Pillow Fabric $80

Glass $50

Glass Seal $72

Backframe Gasket $80

Pile Weatherstrip $6

Vinyl Weatherstrip $5

Silicone Discs $5

Butyl Tape $15

Screws $70

Chains $10

Harness $6

Teardrop Lights $20

Sway Bar $45

Metal Plates $2

Wire and Outlets $54

Power Supply $20

Water Fill Lid SOLD -$20

Watco Stain $20

Bullseye Shellac $8

Howard’s Wax $10

Trim $18

Upholstery Labor $460

Curtain Hardware $40

Globe $12

CO Detector $8

LED Strips $28

Switches $10

Sandblasting $100

Paint $5

Propane Tank $12

Fittings $20

Door Catch $6

Bringing our tally to: $3,439

So, we are now officially hemorrhaging money, but I have a tourniquet on my wallet and I think it is slowing…

Until next time dear readers, shasta la vista...

New Shasta Forum!

I blatantly stole this information from the 1964 Shasta Louis blog @ http://1964shastalouise.blogspot.com/ He has worked hard to create a user friendly forum where we can better archive information and data. The membership is growing fast. Plus he has a couple of great blogs. Here is what he has to say:

Join The Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum!!!

When we bought Louise I really started looking all over the internet for information about vintage Shastas. I really was disappointed with what is out there. I was really looking something that would answer all of my questions in a neat, organized, and easy to use manner.

All I found were the two Yahoo Groups on Shasta. I am REALLY not a fan of the Yahoo Groups format. That is nothing against the creators of the Shasta Groups. It is really a knock on Yahoo Groups itself. I find the format outdated and hard to use.

The Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum is very easy to use and find information.

I have run a few forums myself in the past and having seen how successful they can be. I think the need is out there. The Airstream Forum is huge and I hope at some point the VSTF can have that much success if even on a smaller level.

I think it will be a place where owners can come share, learn and enjoy themselves. I really hope that Shasta owners come and join the forum.

Join the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum!

Finishing the Interior

Well, I have been busy. I finished staining, shellacking, sanding and waxing the birch. A bit of this will be a rehash as I covered it some earlier. I had an area around the roof vent that wasn’t bad but was sagging, so I reinforced the studs and replaced that birch panel. I had a more serious issue under the front side windows, and these I just cut out and replaced as well.

I was trying to match up from scratch. I tracked down Watco stain in cherry and golden oak at an old hardware store for about $10 a pint.

These I mixed in a ratio of 10 to 1 oak to cherry as recommended on the groups and a couple other blogs. I hand rubbed the stain in according to the directions, wiping off the excess after about 30 minutes.

After the third coat, it wasn't close to blending.

After my fifth coat, it still wasn’t matching up. I think this was due to the original birch being more heartwood than mine and 50 years of darkening shellac.

So then I went back to Lowe’s looking for a way to speed this up before I pulled my hair out. (Oops, too late) I picked up a quart of Bulls Eye Amber Shellac for about $8 and tried it. Bingo, instant match.

Well, actually it was a little darker from my previous attempts at staining, but I just gave it a light sanding and then waxed it with Howard Feed-N-Wax for about $10 from the hardware store and it blended in great.

All of the birch had crackling shellac, so I sanded it down with some 320 grit sandpaper and then followed that with Howard Feed-N-Wax.

It turned out beautifully, bringing the grain back out, giving it a soft sheen and making it smell like Orange Oil and Burt’s Bees.

For trimming out the joints rather than cut strips of plywood, I used pine screen door trim for $12 for four eight-foot pieces. The shellac made it a nice amber match and the edges were cleaner than the originals.

Since I removed all the strips in the front, matching trim wasn’t an issue. I also used two sticks of ½” quarter round for $6 along the ceiling/wall seam on both sides.

I chose this so I could hide my 12-volt wiring, running from the kitchen cabinets to the front cabinet over the dinette.

Now about shellac, the stuff dries fast. I’m not talking about over night here; I mean it dries in minutes. You have to move fast. If I had it to do over, I would look into thinning it and would apply the shellac before installing panels. I suggest disposable brushes, having everything ready to do at once, and plan on two coats with sanding in between.

I got the interior done just in time to pick up my finished upholstery or so I thought. Turns out it wasn’t finished. We finally picked it up a few days later. We had a little trouble haggling on how much was owed, the original quoted price or the “oh, here is your bill with an inflated price,” price. Let’s just say I would have been more willing to pay more if I had any indication that the price would be higher than the quote. Unfortunately, this occurred at pick-up. The upholstery is beautiful. It ties in to the outside paint colors, the Formica, and the swooshes in the original tile. We ended up paying $460 for the labor on the upholstery, which I know those of you who have priced it will think is a steal, but it was the agreed upon price. It is the principle of the thing, you know? Anyway, we are very happy with the way it looks. My mother-in-law finished up all 11 curtains for us complete with the blackout liner to keep our new seats from fading, and they really finish the deal.

She did a fabulous job and saved us some dough having someone else make them. She worked hard to get them done in just about a week, and we owe her big time. I installed cheap café style rods and rings for about $40 to hang the curtains. With the added bulk of the blackout along with the already heavy curtain material themselves, the rings allow the curtains to bunch nicely without covering too much window when open, especially on the front panoramic window. I think everything turned out great, still looks period, if only with a little more modern color and really brightens up the space.

So, if you are following along, so far we have:

Trailer $900

Bearing Repack $100

Steel $10

Sealant $10

Fan-Tastic Fan $140

Three Sheets 1/8 Birch $50

3M Polish $18

Buffer Pad $12

Mothers Aluminum Polish $8

TSP Cleaner/Paint Prep $8

Rollers, brushes and trays $30

Frog Tape $10

Etching Primer $5

Goo Gone $3

Paint 3 Gallons $98

Foam $250

Upholstery Fabric $510

Curtain & Pillow Fabric $80

Glass $50

Glass Seal $72

Backframe Gasket $80

Pile Weatherstrip $6

Vinyl Weatherstrip $5

Silicone Discs $5

Butyl Tape $15

Screws $70

Chains $10

Harness $6

Teardrop Lights $20

Sway Bar $45

Metal Plates $2

Wire and Outlets $54

Power Supply $20

Water Fill Lid SOLD -$20

Watco Stain $20

Bullseye Shellac $8

Howard’s Wax $10

Trim $18

Upholstery Labor $460

Curtain Hardware $40

Bringing our tally to: $3,238

So, we are now officially over my $3,000 estimate, but I think it is almost there…

Until next time dear readers, shasta la vista...

Up and Coming

On a lighter note, I have made some finishing touches to the camper and while it isn't what I would call finished, it did make it to the first annual Oklahoma Vintage Trailer Rally. I will post pics of the rally soon as well as finishing the interior birch, our new fabulous upholstery and curtains, as well as a few other little odds and ends like painting wheels in the rain and trying building the wings. So bear with me. I know you have been visiting every day and I have disappointed you, but I have more to come. I just got tunnel vision trying to finish this thing before the rally and ran out of time, And on top of that, my computer was down for a few days last week as well.

I will post several new posts over the next few days.

Jeremy

Weiss

Weiss

January 1996-September 2009

I am taking you away from the Shasta for the moment to hold a moment of silence for my camping and outdoor companion of the last thirteen and a half years. Weiss was a good dog, he was a smart dog, and he must have had 20 lives because he was a damn lucky dog. He wandered up as a puppy my second year of college. He was weak and infested with fleas and worms but a quick trip to the vet solved all his woes and we were off on adventures from that day forth. I new he was lucky when after living at my house for only about a week, he was about 3 months old at the time, he jumped up onto the counter and ate an entire chocolate cake. I called the vet asking what I should do, “If he isn’t dead already he’ll make it.” he replied.

Then along came the fencing issue. Weiss didn’t exactly adhere to boundaries. He could clear a five foot chain link fence and climb a 6 foot privacy fence. We nicknamed him the Velociraptor, because he would systematically test the electric fence looking for an escape path. He visited the pound so many times in those first few years that they knew him and me on sight. Once he even went straight to the pound after escaping, hey three squares a day and lots of other dogs to sniff and bark at right? He was a party dog; we had to make sure we picked up the half full cups at the end of the night or he would clean up for us and sleep all day the next day. He learned to hunt squirrels from our neighbor’s pet wolf-hybrid, a skill he applied as often as he could. He dug a raccoon out of its den once and fought it in the water for about 4 hours before becoming exhausted, tattered, and sinking, while I called him from the bank. I finally waded out close enough to grab him. He had tick paralysis once and spent three days in doggy ER on IVs getting every test the OSU Vet School knew to give only to come bounding out later saying “Okay, what’s next?” My old roommate taught him all kinds of party tricks; we made him lay down, sit, beg, stand up, and play dead so many times that often times he would run through the repertoire just for fun. Once, when I was living in Jenks, he escaped and found a high school party. Some drunken teenage girls called and asked if I had a dog that liked to stand on his hind legs and then play dead for hamburgers. I told them he would do anything for a treat.

He made the annual trek out to the cabin in New Mexico every winter with my friends and me. He loved every minute of it. He would bound through the snow chasing any wild life he could find. He chased a herd of Elk in a valley once until we weren’t sure he was coming back. He went left and herded them right then ran right and herded the rest left. It was like a battle scene from an old movie as a hundred elk collided. He went on camping trips with me in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

I couldn’t have asked for a smarter or tougher dog. In the end, it was the tumor that got him. Had it not been for that, the damn stubborn dog might have just kept on going. On his last day we spent the afternoon together. He had a cheeseburger as we sat in the park before his last visit to the vet. Sometimes he drove me crazy, but I will miss him dearly.