Monday, July 29, 2013

Making Some Progress!

Woot Woot, making some progress!

I went to the trailer yesterday.  Making progress and moving along:  The rotted and damaged flooring in the rear replaced, the rotted wood frames and panel was replaced with new frames and reinforced including new insulation, and a shiny new piece of interior birch paneling installed!  Can't wait to get in there to start sanding and shellac-ing.  (...I say that now, but I'm sure after hours of sanding and shellac-ing I will be a whining wuss about it).  





 Skin is put back on the right side


Now, Dave is starting to work on the Left side.

I started practicing my shellac-ing skills, or lack thereof.  The left piece is a scrap of the new birch and right is an old scrap piece from the trailer.  It has a lot more grain than the new stuff.  Plus, it has like a light white wash to it, even when sanded it is still visible.  Not sure how I'm going to be able to match up the look to it.  Ugh.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I'm So Board

As most of us are, I am a visual person.  Sometimes I have to just group things together so I can "get the vision".  So I made this Idea Board to see if a potential fabric I found for awning would work.  Right now the outdoor fabric is 50% at JoAnn's so I don't know how long the sale will be since it is seasonal, and need to figure it out soon.



  • Exterior paint...that will probably change 32 times before I make a final decision.  I like the idea of having it Antique White so it is neutral then I can change the decor or theme to whatever my flight of fancy is at the time (can't help it, I'm a Gemini).
  • Same goes for the flooring, would like to keep it neutral as well.  Don't get me wrong, I love all those cool retro colors they have out now but sometimes it just seems like 'too much' when I look at them on Pinterest.
  • Found the Coleman cooler at a thrift store for $5bucks *happy clap* and it is the standard dark green *yawn* so I will be painting it in an enamel but haven't gotten the spray paint yet.
  • I made the pillow covers and door mat.  Gotta love Photoshop.
  • Found the set of suitcases at an awesome thrift store while visiting my folks in Oregon.
  • Got the enamel canisters from eBay.  I love the retro ones and were looking at a bunch, but these just made me smile and I like how I can change the content labels.
  • And the Therm-A-Jug was from eBay as well, just haven't found any that were in good shape around here and our thrift stores here in OC just don't seem to carry vintage-y items.
  • I'm still not sure about the faucet, but I like the low arc to this one since there is not much clearance from the sink to the above cupboard.
And of course, there will be other Disneyland items since I am such a Disnerd!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Little Bit O' History

Been trying to do a little bit of research on the Shasta and found just a couple of interesting tidbits:

Shasta Airflyte Trailer Specifications
Weight
Length
Height
Width
Hitch Weight
Sleeps
Heater
Fridge
1800 lbs. (1840 in '62 & '63)
15'10" (including hitch)
8'4"
7'
200 lbs.
6
???? BTU
100 lb. ice box
Water Tank
Lighting
Toilet
Shower
Axle
Electric Brakes
Tire Size
Gas Tanks
16 Gal.
110V, 12V, Gas
No
No
Single
Standard
6.70x15
1
Spec Credit: OldTrailer.com

A couple of online sources about Shasta trailers states:

The Shasta Airflyte

"The Airflyte was released to the public in 1958. It was 16 feet long and purported to have 50 improvements to Shasta’s previous number series, such as the 1400, 1500 and 1600, which were considered precursors to the Airflyte. The Airflyte had more windows, a sleeker design, and “wings”–small wing-like ornaments on the top rear portion of the trailer, which gave the Airflyte a signature look."

and...

"In the 1950s and 60s, the toaster-on-wheels look of the original Shasta trailer was the most recognizable shape on the road. There were other RV brands, but only Shasta was distinguished by those wings that signified flight and freedom. In 1958 the Airflyte was released. The 16' "Airflyte" was considered a big deal at the time.  Over 50 improvements, more windows and sleeker design. These models came with "wings", made from wood and aluminum. Wooden screen doors are a good clue you have a model prior to 1960.  Also, pay close attention to window detail... this can also help in identification."
Credit: Classic Shasta Resources

So that kind of answers why the 1958 is one of the coveted years with Shasta aficionados! I was wondering why.

The previous owner gave me a couple of photos of her that I scanned:

(This is in the PO's backyard.)

Aww, you can see where her wings used to be!

There were two owners.  The original couple - The Muller's lived in Orange, Calif. and took their family camping with it.  Years later their neighbor Mike down the street purchased it from them but never took it out of his backyard, and his grandkids just played inside of it.  This is whom we purchased the trailer from.

You can see that at one time the entire trailer had been painted white.  But because it has been just sitting out in the back yard for decades, it has faded and the original paint has come through.

The decision for the exterior paint is still down the road a bit, but I can't decide if we should get her back to a shade of blue or just do whatever color we fancy?  The top portion looks like it was polished aluminum but because of the PO using Bondo on some areas we won't be able to buff that out and will have to paint the top portion as well.  I was thinking an Ecru, a silver "Z" stripe and then blue on the lower portion.

What would you do?



Sunday, July 14, 2013

Update Since Finding & Buying Our Shasta

Basically, just a couple of days after we pulled the trailer from the sellers' back yard, I/we left for Oregon to visit my folks for three weeks so didn't have much time to update this blog.  All the photos are in my Photobucket album.

The day we went to pick her up, I had to coordinate having Dave (who is doing the restoration labor) tow it straight over to AAA so they could do a VIN verification on the tongue of the hitch.  Since there was no license plate (it was 'stolen') and the title was not in the DMV system because it had been so many years not registered, it had fallen out of the system.  I had gotten all the forms ahead of time, printed out a bill of sale for the seller and I to complete, and purchased a one-time trip pass - you can see I taped it in the rear window.
Dave pulling her out of the seller's back yard.
He had to get her over the dirt pile and around the corner of the house.


This is the first time I got to see her unobstructed.  She's got a nice rear end!

Dave got it out of the backyard no problem and I followed him to the nearest AAA office.  I tellya, that membership is worth it just for the ability to not have to deal with a DMV office.  Of course I got the most uptight AAA clerk there was, she was a real peach.  When she came out to look at the VIN, you could tell she didn't really know what she was doing because I had to point it out to her.  When she saw that the number was only five characters long she then asked How OLD is this trailer?  Uh, I already told you it was a 1958 trailer.  For a moment she acted almost like it wasn't a legitimate VIN number and that I was wanking her chain.  So finally, after a bunch of forms that she filled out we were done.  Phew.

Then I left for Oregon a couple days after that.  But before I left, I needed to make a copy of the only door and baggage storage key that we had.  Ah, but Lowes nor Ace Hardware could make a copy because they are not standard.  So I searched online and purchased some blanks.  Hubster had to take them to a real locksmith dude and have them made.  They were so small the locksmith dude didn't even charge him.  Yay.

I have a button maker and can make key chains.
Perfect use for the trailer keys!

During my absence, Dave and I would correspond over the phone but where my folks live there is really bad cell coverage so I would literally have to stand out in the middle of the field to talk to him.  And he would forward photos of the de-construction of the trailer to keep me updated.  For the first phase, he said after removing the skin on the rear and the kitchen side it revealed wood damage (wow, what a shocker) on the lower half portions.




As soon as I got back to OC, we met at Ganahl Lumber to pick out the birch plywood.  He wanted me to be there to help choose which panels I wanted for the grain and color.  At first I was like, Oh I trust you to pick them out (because I had vacation road trip hangover and didn't want to drive up to Anaheim).  But he insisted.  I'm glad I did because there was obvious variables in each panel and in color, and being a perfectionist with color some of them had a buff tone and some had a yellowish tone.  We found seven nice panels with pretty grain flow.

We looked at several panels before selecting seven of them.

Those small pieces on top are scraps from the trailer.

Dave cuts these down for the framing.


So now I am ordering window sealsbackframe gasket seals, and a new Fan-Tastic Fan vent from Vintage Trailer Supply. We will also be replacing the front side windows since they are not tempered.  It's not exactly something I want to spend MORE money on since the existing and original glass is in great condition....but for my kids' safety sake and ours, it is worth the insurance.

While I was up in Oregon, I procured some great thrift store finds that I will show in another post.

Well, this is the nut shell version.  There has been a lot more details and headache that I have not included only because I didn't want to bore my only two followers....