slow to no go on the trailer

Life has been a little nuts this summer and I have not had much time to work on the trailer. My hope of having it done by the end of the summer is out the window so to speak.

I did get the floor all off of the trailer and have started grinding the rust off. I am getter her ready for paint.

 The shop smells so much better after getting rid of all the rotten wood and all my little friends!

And to think the first guy I had working for me thought we could save the floor....."it's not that bad"
he says. Needless to say he is not working for me on this trailer!

Frame is the barn!

Excited to finally get the frame in the barn. Tooting my own horn here. I got it backed in with marks help. I only had to redirect the trailer once.
Did a lot of work on her this week. Almost have all the rotten floor up. I found this neat stamp on the under side of the wood. Hope to start sanding the frame soon.

Lift off!

late last night we finely achieved lift off! Mark and I worked until about 8:30pm getting the body off the trailer. It is now suspended from the beams in the barn. We (Mark) needs to get the body higher so we can pull the trailer out from under the shell. So close now!

have the bus moved and hope to have the trailer in the barn today!

This is a pic of what Matt with Complete RV did to seal my windows. Silicon on both sides of the glass. The line of silicon is very thin and not easy to see.

Backtracking

I have decided to coat the inside of the trailer with Rubberize it. It's a paint or spray on rubber coating.
"It is environmentally friendly, easy to use and cost effective. And with over 800% elasticity, this waterproofing coating expands when it needs to! And, it can be applied as a sealant to most surfaces – concrete, wood, even rusty old metal to name a few.

There are unlimited uses for this innovative coating technology. Use it to maintain and waterproof almost anything, from your leaky roof to ponds and fountains. Paint around skylights to secure a leak-proof seal."

The above is off there website http://www.rubberizeit.com

So I have removed all the  bubble wrap insulation I had put up to prepare for doing the Rubberized coating. It was hard to remove all that work. I have saved the pieces as the silver bubble wrap insulation to reinstall. It is quite expensive.

This is a shot of what I removed. I did not take long to remove.   :(    Lots of work but I think the rubber paint will be worth it. 

I talked to a representative of Rubberize It, and he told me I should only need two 5gal buckets to coat the ceiling and the walls.

a day of frustration, panic and plan changing.

I must say getting the body off the frame has proved to be a big challenge. It's much like trying to move a 32 foot long spaghetti noodle. I am not at all sure that I can manage to get it off. Here are the latest pic of the frame under the floor in the bedroom. The body is up high enough to complete what I need to on the frame and get a new floor back down. The inner frame rails look good and still have a lot of paint on them. The outside rails are very rusty.

My boyfriend just picked up an 1966 18ft Oasis. Cute little thing needs some work. Hopefully not as much as my Spartan does! Will do some tlc on it a little down the road. For now we will solve the leaking problems it has and take her out camping.

Got the last wrap around panel off the back of the trailer. Started jacking up the body again going from side to side and to the front and back trying to keep the trailer as level as possible while it is being lifted  I don't want to put to much stress on any one spot on the body.
I have to come up with a way to keep the body walls from spreading out as I lift the body. I discovered this to be a problem today.
I am thinking I will run rope from side to side in several spots. have to see how this will work.

more body removal

I got all the bolts bolts and took off one section (that wraps under the frame) in the front of the trailer to see what it looked like under neath.
You do need to remove the front panels that curl around and go under the trailer. I took the left side off  to check and because it needed repair any way. I was hoping that I could just pull the trailer out and not have to remove the back pieces that curl around and under the trailer. However it looks as though I will need to remove the back panels as well. I was hoping to not have to drill out any more rivets............

When jacking up the trailer the guide pins that are in the middle of the trailer are hard to work around.
We started jacking up the back-end of the trailer and seemed to be hanging up in the middle.
We then moved the jack to the center of the trailer next to the guide pins and worked the trailer off of the right side guide pin. We blocked the right side up off the pin and will do the left side tomorrow. Ran out of daylight to day. All in all a great work day on the trailer.

I have the best boyfriend in the world. Thank you Mark for helping me with yet another crazy project!

the last few bolts in the floor

WOW! the sawzall is my new favorite toy! got the last of the bolts holding the body to the frame. Only one little mishap in the front with the body. :(
Now if I can just get the screws that some idiot put in the skirting that have rusted to the frame I will have the body off in a jiffy!

removing the skirting

I got some of the skirting off today. Most of it came off easy. The pieces that are giving me the trouble, are the pieces that were put back on using the wrong screws. They have rusted to the frame. Now I get to try my had at drilling them out. This has taught me that the right screws are very important. Also the wrong ones get rusty and look bad. I think the right screws are stainless?? will look into that.

I numbered the pieces as I took them off. I hope this will make it less of a gig-saw puzzle for me when putting them back on. I am not sure how the front will come apart. It looks like I will have to remove some rivets to do it. I am not excited by this at all................

windows

not much done today! I did however get my window glazing in from DK Hardware supply. It fits perfectly. Looking forward to not having leaky windows. Now if I can just find the corner pieces that hold the frame together. Putting feelers out but have not gotten anything back yet on what others have used for this window rebuild. I know I am not the first to do this.

I did  chip a notch out of the corner of the window. Now I have to get a new piece of glass. I hope I do not have this happen often......

Did a little polishing on the window frame. My Dad's stainless wheel did a great job. I think I will do all the windows before I put them back together. I wish I could put the whole trailer on the buffing wheel!

made it!

After interruptions, many interruptions. I got a little done on my trailer. I got the bedroom portion all vacuumed and almost got the under belly off the trailer. Just a few stubborn screws left. I can now see the ground!
It started getting cold so I stopped for now. At least I got some time to work today!

I think the trailer gods are against me today! Try as I might, I just can't get to working on my trailer!
Someone comes over then I am stuck on the phone for an hour. The sun is even out...........Sigh..........

a little history

I bought the Spartan 6 (or so) years ago with my now ex husband  The plan was to restore her and put her on a nice piece of property. I started the restoration work with my father. 

Life never goes quite how you plan it. Fast forward (say 6 or so years) to the present.
I am sitting here trying to figure out just what happened. Lets just say there was a cheating husband, a divorce, a job loss, the loss of my father, the loss of my house and the soon to be loss of my mothers home. 

I need to take control and make a change! 

I tried at first to sell my Spartan and after 3 weeks of "lookie loos" and 2 long distance "buyers", I decided to  keep her and make myself a place to live. 

I have begun taking my trailer down to the beautiful aluminum studs. There was a lot of mouse damage! Some water damage to the walls and floor around some of the windows. Along with the mice,bees and  carpenter ants, a family of gray squirrels were living under the floor.

I was going to put down new floor in the rotten spots but I think just taking the whole floor up will be the best idea. What I can see so far of the frame is rusted but looks structurally ok. 

I will attempt to take the body off the frame so I can sand and paint it. That way it will be done well and thoroughly. Parts of the body pan will also need to be replaced. 

 I am learning as I go and want to do a god job of it. So.......here's to my spartan adventure and starting a new life plan!