Still Plugging Along

It has been a long while since our last post, but our work has continued on the Lil Loafer each week and we have made some great progress over the last month.
 
We have purchased the timber for the new interior walls, and it's exciting to think that we will soon have the interior put together. Jim has already installed all the wires and cables inside the trailer.  

I have been helping out by cutting the insulation pieces for the new walls.  I still have many more pieces to cut out.  It was just too hot outside for me to complete my little job on the weekend, but I do look forward to getting back to it.  I like the fact that I can contribute in some way to the project!
   
Jim has reattached and has been sanding back the skins. We discovered that the stripes on the trailer were originally a dark red colour. It will be nice to get some fresh paint on the exterior.


Most recently Jim has been concentrating on the roof.  He has scraped off the old tar, and is preparing to re-coat the roof.
 
Here are some pics we have taken over the past month:

When we first brought the Lil Loafer home I had no idea it would one day look like this!

You can see the wiring and cabling has been run through the trailer

 

The skin getting reattached. Some scraping of the old paint has been done.

It's looking like a trailer again!

Jim working on the roof, in the blazing hot sun!

Surfaces are getting cleaner and cleaner!

Is this a Yard Sale?

We are working on the Lil Loafer out the front of the house, and as we have pieces of the Lil Loafer strewn across the front lawn (only during the hours that the Loafer is being worked on that is), countless people have slowed down whilst driving by to enquire as to whether or not we are having a yard sale.  I find this quite amusing.

Of course there are others who simply pull over to ask us about the project, or to tell us about their own trailers.  People sure are friendly in these parts!

Here is a picture of some of the contents of the Lil Loafer strewn across the lawn.  I guess I can see why, from a distance, people might think that we are having a sale...

Our Lil Loafer is coming along nicely. Jim worked on the roof yesterday, and also on treating the new (untreated) timber. Post treatment, the timber has taken on a green hue and it smells like chemicals. Don't you just love how technical my descriptions are?  

Jim says that we are very close to being able to put this trailer back together.  Well it sure couldn't get much more pulled apart than it already is!!

Here are a couple of pics of Jim working on the roof.

As you can see, some of the insulation is now fitted in the ceiling.

Timber has been treated, and now it is green.

Weekday Progress (Yay for Daylight Saving Time!)

This week, we have been working on the trailer in the evenings, in the hours between dinner and bedtime.  I have always loved Daylight Saving Time.

I have even been able to assist on a couple of non-toxic tasks!  I helped measure and mark out the cutting lines for the roof struts (I think they're called struts!!).  This was a risky move on Jim's part as I have a terrible track record in measuring accurately.  I was determined to not let the team down.  I checked my measurements several times, but still asserted a disclaimer on the potential inaccuracy of those measurements as I handed the eight pieces of timber back to Jim for cutting.  He said I did fine. Phew.

I also helped to unscrew the frame that was holding the back window in place.  This was actually a difficult job because of the many layers of paint that were covering each screw.  Jim ended up painting the screws with paint stripper, at which point I decided to stop helping on that job (VOC's).  The screws were a lot easier to remove though, after the paint stripper application. 

The Lil Loafer is looking better every day, on the inside at least!  We will get to the task of beautifying the outside soon enough. 

Here are some new pics:

 New timber roof struts that I helped measure!

Unscrewing the little window by the door.

 Painting on the paint stripper to help loosen the screws.

Screws removed, window now ready to be removed.

Back panel now free. Jim had to remove a lot of staples and screws this week!

 The current state of the back of the Lil Loafer.

Hooray for a Sunny Weekend!

Last weekend was terribly rainy! Not at all the kind of weather we had hoped for. Consequently, no work was done on the Lil Loafer last weekend.

It was a different story this weekend with loads of sunshine, so in between attendance at various social gatherings, Jim was able to make further progress on the Lil Loafer's transformation. He worked on the other wall frame, and also replaced a section of the floor that was rotten.

I haven't contributed much in the way of skilled labor to the project thus far. Hopefully I will be able to do more in the future! I spent an hour or so on paint stripping this weekend, but was bothered by the knowledge that I was exposing myself to VOC's (volatile organic compounds). Maybe I should find a respirator/filtration mask....

Here are a few new pics. One day I'll have to get Jim to write the photo descriptions....mine are very basic and won't give you any technical information unless that information has been fed to me immediately prior to posting! Maybe he can even write the entire next post :) It might be a little more interesting for those of you who are restoring trailers of your own and want more of the 'how-to' details.

Jim, sitting on the floor, replacing a section of rotten wood.

Jim prying off a piece of wood that needed to be replaced.

Jim, attaching new piece of wood above the wheel.

We noticed an old sign on the back of the Lil Loafer, covered by paint. It says "You're following an ARISTOCRAT" I thought that was kind of fun!

One Wall Frame Done!

I laugh as I look back over our first blog post.

Back in May when we first purchased the Lil Loafer, we thought we would simply 'refresh' the interior, or 'spruce it up'. We were thinking in terms of fresh paint, new curtains, new cushions and covers, and maybe a new toilet and new fridge. Ha! Little did we realize how much refreshing and sprucing would actually be required!

After discovering water damage in the walls, Jim decided to replace the walls and floor. We pulled everything out of that trailer. In order to install a new frame for the walls, we had to remove the skin. I have posted some pics of that process, of removing screws to lift panels of the exterior skin. The second-last photo shows the brand new, completed wall frame.

As previously mentioned, Jim found spiders in the trailer - hundreds of tiny spiders! We thought we had eradicated them, until we found hundreds more of them on the outside of the panel we were attempting to remove. Hopefully we have now seen the last of those creepy crawlies.

All in all, it was a productive weekend, with lovely weather that was perfectly conducive to spending many hours outside. We also scored a 'new' fridge for our trailer on the weekend! A local lady with a 1962 trailer had decided to gut it and was giving away the contents for free. She is turning her trailer into a commercial food cart. We had been looking for a fridge that would run on propane as well as electricity, as the fridge that came with the Lil Loafer only runs on electricity. We're pretty sure we'll be taking our trailer to some unpowered camping sites in the future, so we don't want to be limited to 'electric-only' appliances. We're thankful for our freebie fridge, and are hoping it actually works!!

New Frame Construction..

Last weekend we finished taking everything out of the trailer. This weekend, we are working on the new frame. Jim spent a few hours at Lowes and Home Depot this morning, picking up timber, insulation and other bits and pieces. Right now, he is outside with the saw....cutting out pieces for the frame.

Here are some new pics:

A dusty scene...Jim taking out the lino. It came out quite easily.

The last piece of lino to come out.

Sweeping the floor after removing the lino.

Cutting out pieces for the new frame.

Everything Comes Out!

So.....we decided to replace the walls...all of them! We're now in the process of pulling everything out of the trailer, even the kitchen. I'm excited that we will end up with a completely fresh, clean interior.

In other exciting Lil Loafer News, Jim found a little spider infestation inside the trailer yesterday. Eeeww!!!

Here are some new pics:

Back of the trailer

Where the potty closet used to be

Definitely a work-in-progress

The old porta-potty

The insides - now on the outside!

The To-Do List

The 'to-do' list for sprucing up our Lil Loafer is long, but thankfully the trailer is small. In theory, (and hopefully also reality) we'll be able to whip through that to-do list with relative ease.

Here are just some of the tasks from our list:

• replace linoleum on floor
• fix back wall
• paint
  
• make new cushions
• replace table and seat boxes
• move microwave to sit above stove
• make new curtains
• re-work the cabinets
  

For inspiration, here are some of the textiles we have chosen for the new look:

We'll use the green fabric to cover our new foam cushions.

We'll use this cute leaf pattern fabric to make new curtains.

We think the Lil Loafer is going to look lovely and fresh by the time we're done.

Our first trailer...

My husband and I (ok, mostly my husband) had been looking for a trailer for many many months, and had not come across anything that we would seriously consider purchasing...until 2 weeks ago, that is, when we came across a Craigslist ad for the Lil Loafer. I had never even heard of a Lil Loafer, and was completely unaware of the world of vintage trailers. Yet I could not help but love the Lil Loafer when we went out to visit her. We immediately felt she was the right one for us and our future camping adventures. Since bringing her home on the weekend, I have not been able to stop thinking about ways to spruce up her appearance.

Yes, she looks a 'lil' tired both inside and out. We didn't actually realize the extent of her unattractiveness until we had paid for her and taken her home. Maybe we should have spent a 'lil' extra time looking at her before we decided to buy her. Never mind, Jim and I love a good project, and it is so much fun to dream together and work together in restoration work (as well as in life in general!!).

Jim ended up ripping much of the interior out because it was such a hodge-podge of different materials and timbers, plus the interior skin had previous water damage which had caused rot and de-lamination.

I'm sorry I didn't take any photos before we started pulling it apart!!

Here are some pics of our Lil Loafer. As you'll see we have lots of work to do: