We’ve come a long way baby…
It has been a few months since my last posts. Living the crazy, wonderful life! We only work on “Peaches” on Fridays and we have only missed a few. We are making great progress!
I took photos of the back wiring and framing so that we know where things go when we put it back together. I cannot stress enough how important it is to take photos! Because you think you will remember how it goes back together, but you won’t 🙂
You Can see how the roof sags in this next photo, we will reinforce it when we get to the roof.
Now here is where it gets interesting…. We took all the trouble to save the old birch interior to use as a pattern for the new birch then Frank had a grand idea… Slip the whole sheet of birch in, clamp it and cut it with a jigsaw! Before we started, we had to decide if we wanted to use the 4 foot sheets as they came or cut them down to 3 feet like the original. We went with the 4 foot pieces because there would be less seams. The next thing we did was to add 1×2’s to the framework because now the seams didn’t line up with where the framing was. It was an easy fix and makes the whole camper much stronger!
Sam started on the Insulation as soon as the walls went up 🙂 For now we are using a spray adhesive to attach it, but i am worried about it slipping down into the walls over time. Before we close her up i hope we solve that possible problem.
Sam and I had a great time using the Palm Nailer to attach the birch to the frame with the nail screws. It can be tricky, but once you get the hang of it you will love it.
Joe is always ready to lend a helping hand.
Frank using the Radial Saw to cut more birch
He taught me how to use it too! It is loud, and scary in that you could cut your fingers off. Besides that, making sure you are putting the wood thru from the right side seems to be one of the most important things i learned. I just hope i get to use it enough so that i can remember it :).
After we put in the birch panels, it was time to put on the curbing. We measured and cut and realized we would have to compensate for the curve and the three layers of plywood. As you can see each layer was shorter than the next.
There is a steel bar like this in the front of the camper and in the back. It adds strength to hold the table inside.
Look how nice the front looks now! On to the back…
I took photos and measurements of all the shelving, brackets for anything that was there and made a drawing so that i could put it all back in the right places.
EWWWW, i was so glad when we took this panel out.
Notice the trees are still green in the background, not for long 🙁
We finally got that big cabinet out and the spider was gone… ewwww, i wonder where he is….
We were so excited to put the cabinet welting on. We stapled it down at just the right spot, can’t be too much hanging over, you just want to see the rolled edge.
In this photo below you can see the welting goes all around the curve and around the door frame.
Frank, always measuring…. measure twice…. cut once 🙂
Imagine how exciting it was for us to put the first ceiling pieces in…. then double it !
Frank made a piece of wood to brace the ceiling so our arms didn’t get so tired 🙂
In the meantime while we were working in August. My sister was buying me a birthday present… The best present a sister can give… She gave me WINGS!!!!
In September i went over to Kings Mill in Wasco , Illinois dragging my old nasty camper seats with me
I came back one day to see how it was going to look. I brought a pattern i made for the Chevron design. I loved talking to these guys about the reconstruction of my dinette seats.
They held it up so i could get an idea of how they were going to look.
They retied the springs, fixed the frame and put new stuffing inside.
I left feeling very happy about the great work they were doing!
We continued working and putting in the wall panels in back.
Wow, next is the new floor.
The day came when i picked up the seats…. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Maestro of Kings Mill
I love Minivan’s …. Say what you want , but nothing is as versatile!!!
We put in 3/4 inch plywood flooring in. We cut it, glued the old floor and then screwed the new one over it. Look how nice this is… No more old musty smell!
So as you can see we have come a long way baby…
The leaves have turned into beautiful colors of fall. We need to get ready to move Peaches for the winter so we can park our cars in the garage. Luckily we have a warehouse to move her to so we can work all winter in a warm place.