Finishing Touches

Just to show you some of the finishing up of things. We had to paint the light fixtures because they had some rusting on them. We decided to go with a metallic spray paint that looks real close to aluminum.
The couch is installed, although three of the drawers need to be re-veneered. We were both able to sleep in it, but found it to be really tight, as we are used to having a king size bed at home. It seems like we may be able to add another 6 inches onto the couch and still have it work, so we need to try to figure out how to make the mattress bigger without spending a fortune!

The Maiden Voyage!!

We did it! We got the 1963 out for a camping trip in less than a year! Here we are all hitched up and ready to go! It's hard to believe that we were able to get it back out on the road again in such a short time, especially with my husband being laid up for 6 months of that!

Doesn't it look great out in the woods? We went with two of our friends and their families for the weekend of camping. Not everything is complete, but at this point, we do have more than what we ever had in the 1953 as far as amenities!
Some of the things we need to complete yet before being finished are:

• Counter top trim
• Grey water tank (not made yet)
• Plumbing to the Grey water tank
• Shower curtain
• Door curtains
• Loops on one of the Venetian Blinds
• Veneer fronts of several drawers and cupboards
• Remake medicine cabinet
• Remake spice cabinet
• Remake magazine rack
• Redo table & chairs
• Clean and buff the outer shell
• Upholster the back of beds
• Build bunk beds (has anyone ever done hammocks in an Airstream?)
• Hooks & Fixtures here & there!
• Repaint steps, hitch and back bumper
• Install TV???
• I'm sure there are many more I'm not thinking of!

I know it seems like a long list, but overall, I don't think most of the things are huge jobs, so it seems like we are getting closer.

Curtains

Not to be outdone, I have been spending much time making and thinking up curtains for the camper. I have my hesitations about putting slide apart curtains on all the windows, because the curved walls make the curtains hang away from the wall. I decided to make just regular slide apart curtains on the windows by the beds and then put a Venetian blind on the the double stacked windows in the living room area. I'm not sure what I'll do in the kitchen or the bathroom yet. Pictured above is the pleated curtains I made for the window above the goucho.

Here are the side bed windows opened and closed. I am hand sewing rings for the Venetian blinds right now onto the curtain for the driver's side living room double window. I am praying that it works when I'm done, because I don't think that I can handle making it one more time! I used thermal lining for the backs of all the curtains. I am debating which material to use for the bathroom, but I know I need to make up my mind soon - like this week, so we can be in privacy in the bathroom!

Snapshot of Progress

I apologize for not getting this up sooner, but I had a week layover in which I was searching for my missing SD card! I took it out of the camera with the intention of uploading the pictures onto the blog, and lost it in between! It has totally disappeared and I can't seem to find it! Never mind that I had a 2 & 4 year old asking a million questions on my trip and had to get some dishes into the dishwasher, and any other number of things I did on my 100 foot trip from the camera to the computer! So, it may be official, I have not only lost my SD card, but I have lost my mind with it! (Oh, yeah, and then there is the suspicion, that the 2 year old followed behind me, and has a great knack for 5 finger discounts in an instant, never to be found again! When you ask her if she has it, she always says "yes!", but is never able to speak English and tell us where!) So onto just a Snapshot of our recent progress!
As you can guess, my husband has gotten the plumbing run in the kitchen sink. Doesn't it look beautiful? It was previously held together with duck tape and rags, so I think he's getting pretty good at this! We can't actually test out weather it works or not, because our grey water tank is not finished yet! What we thought was a great spot (just down the road from us!) to get fiberglass work done, has turned into a big waiting game!! I guess the proof will be in the pudding, so to speak when we see the finished product!

The cabinetry has been all installed, and my husband has figured out how to do laminate counter tops. It looks wonderful. The edge is not yet finished, we need to pick that up - he says, I need to pick it out for him! Shopping! This cabinet is the one by the door on the curb with the refrigerator under it.

Which leads me to the refrigerator - which is in and working! My husband is doing finishing touches on a cupboard door below the frig to make up the difference in the original design. Obviously, the refrigerator is not original, but we are pleased to have one that works, we don't have to buy and it happens to match the new flooring. That really was a mistake, because we just fell in love with the flooring and never thought about the impact on the the appliances already in place!

On, to the other side of the kitchen, as you can see, the beautiful counter tops and an installed sink to go with the plumbing. (I feel like a TV announcer now!) The "brand new" stove is in. My husband is working on getting the gas lines run today! He is very upset about all the holes he is having to cut into the new flooring for all the plumbing and gas lines, not to mention screw holes to attach the cabinets! I say the new stove, because when we originally offered the past owner $700 for the camper, he said, "For what? The Stove - it's new!" So we have kidded about our "new stove" since we got it! We did bring him down from his $5000 original price and he included the stove, by the way.

To add to the stove story, the stove actually is new in the sense that it had all the original plastic wrap on it and the burners were wrapped in a newspaper from the 1980's. We think that someone must have purchased a new stove for it, but never got it installed or working. We realized half, way home from the junkyard, that we were lucky it didn't fall out a window, because it was in place but attached in no way!

Stay tuned for more updates soon! We actually think we will take it out Memorial Day weekend! We figure if we can at least get the gas in, we will have just as many amenities as the 1953 has and more room! My husband will never let me hook up the water on the 1953 because it is too much work to empty out the bucket underneath (I know, we never got a blue boy, but it doesn't even heat the water!) We'll keep you posted!

Warm Weather Prevails!!

We waited all winter for the warm weather so we could work on the camper, and then when we finally got the warm weather, we had to halt work for the black water tank to get finished by the fiberglass company. Unfortunately, he had a very important order for the Military that took priority over our poop tank! I guess we can't blame, him but what was really a couple of weeks seemed to be years! So Ta! Da! The black water tank is finished!!

Now that the black water tank is finished, my husband made a new floor over the tank to set the toilet on. He then tiled that and put the rest of the bathroom cabinets in. He even put a seal around the tub, cut the dreaded hole in the new floor for all the drains and everything.

The fiberglass company is working on the grey water tank now. We are praying that he can get that done quickly, as we want to try everything out for a trial run for Memorial Day weekend! I know, we have lofty hopes, but it seems to be going together fast.
Now everything has started to get fastened down and finished. On Saturday and Sunday, I spent the days stripping the last of the furniture that hadn't been done and then staining it all, while my husband started to get everything screwed in and in place. Above you can see that he screwed the bed into the wall after sealing all the seams on the floor with silicone.

Over the weekend and on Monday, we were able to get the following attached and in place:

• Beds
• Bathroom Closets
• Electrical Box
• Tub
• Tub wall
• Vanity
• Overhead mirror
• Built, stained and installed a new kitchen wall between bedroom and kitchen sink.
• Kitchen pantry
• Goucho
• Shelf behind goucho
• Door-in-a-door clasps put back together
• Upper Kitchen cabinet installed

We are really booking along right now, and will get up pictures as soon as we have time to breathe! My biggest fear was that we would go really fast on getting everything together, and I will be in a crunch to get the curtains made. My fears may be realized at this pace!