Wayne and I have decided our old Teardrop Trailer is no longer the right fit for us, and so have bought a 1972 Serro Scotty camping trailer to re-do. When we looked at it in the field, we thought we had gotten a bargain! Then we opened the door, held our noses at the smell, let out an entire army of mice, got rid of the ants' nest, and got real. We may have paid too much, even at $250.
We hauled our"find" to the shop, and started the bigger- than- we- knew chore of dismantling the Scotty. The walls were rotted, the ceiling had to be replaced, and most of the floor. I had hoped that it wouldn't be a whole trailer deal, but no way was that going to happen. Wayne, of course, had a more realistic view of things. He had spent a lot of time on the net looking at stories of other folks re-dos, and knew this was not only necessary, but in the long run, practical. And a whole lot less smelly! We have now spent two or three weeks taking the tralier down to the floor, piece by piece. I am amazed at how thin the walls are, and at how many staples one company can put in a trailer! All had to be cut or pulled, and there are hundreds. We finally got to the floor, all the cabinets out, the walls and ceiling down and the outside metal saved. The ceiling is so thin, it can be rolled up. Wayne used the old walls as a pattern, and cut the walls out of 1/2" birch plywoodnot an easy task with crumbling wood. Then while he built a new cabinet, I sanded and shellaced the wall panels, and finished them with a layer of floor wax. ( and I thought I'd never use a product like that, not at my house!) Finally yesterday we layed the linoleum, a beautiful silver/brown dot pattern, and after using a wonderful tool called a biscuit cutter, joined the panels and put up one wall. It looks beautiful! By using amber tinted shellac, we were able to have the walls look like vintage and aged paneling, instead of stark new wood. We're on the way up, with another wall to go tomorrow, and on to the ceiling. The inside ceiling is 1/8" thick door skins, very bendable. We'll use the same finish on that as the walls, so my work is cut out for me, so to speak! As always, we enjoy working together, and end our day all sweaty and dirty and pleased,mostly, with our progress. Onward and Upward!
