It's getting interesting..........

Well as it turns out the framing in the remainder of the trailer was in pretty poor condition. I replaced a large portion of the framing in the front of the trailer and I am not done yet. As you can tell I removed all of the aluminium skin from the exterior with the exception of the roof but don't fear it is only merely resting on top, as it is completely detached. I have installed five new birch panels since removing all of the original blond paneling.

Well as it turns out the entire back of the trailers framing was rotten. I was not expecting to make these types of repairs. I was certainly not planning on removing the aluminum skin but it was the only way to replace the rotten framing. On the positive side I am using pressure treated wood and my framing seems to be much stronger than the original framing. I am hoping that the rest of the framing is in better shape as this has not been an easy fix.

What have I gotten myself into........

Uh Oh.....

Well, we spent the weekend working on the trailer. We finished getting all the drip edges off. Then it started pouring rain. So we went to work inside. My husband ripped everything out. We now have a shell of a trailer and plans to rebuild. Looks like a lot of rotten wood to replace.

ceiling


kitchen



bed




dinette

Painting the frame and tongue

After all the rust was removed, we started painting the tongue and frame with Rustoleum high gloss black enamel paint. We like the way it turned out.

Great Product for Rust Removal

We found a great product to remove rust off of the frame. It is called OSPHO and is found at Sherwin Williams. During our never ending quest to get the sand blaster to work, I found myself at AABCO Rents trying to buy some sand media that would work in our sand blaster. While there, I ran into a painter who said to try OSPHO. He said it would take off anything. So we got some, and it worked great. All you do is paint it on and let it sit overnight. When you wake up, the rust is gone!

Getting It Ready for Paint

My husband has spent most of his time lately scraping the old paint and rust off of the Shasta. He first thought that he would use a sand blaster. Well, after several failed attempts with that (and lots of money spent on a sand blaster and all the necessary tools that go with it), he found that using a paint remover, scraper, pressure washer, and wire brush worked the best.

Lift-off was used to prep the surface

Uncovered stripe - originally it was orange then was painted blue at some point.

The Shasta sticker was uncovered.

More paint scraping.

Even more paint scraping.


Almost all the paint on this side is removed.

Now to start taking off all of the drip edges and windows...........

Inside Pictures

Here are some inside pictures of the Shasta. Hopefully, this will help us determine the year in which it was made. Looks like we have a lot of work to do!


Kitchen



Icebox




Dinette





Floor






Bunk

Bringing it home............

September 5, 2009

We took our first camping trip EVER a couple of months ago. We went tent camping to Oak Mountain State Park. We all had a great time! After returning home, we started looking online at travel trailers and really liked the vintage Shastas. My husband has enjoyed renovating homes and decided that he would like to renovate a travel trailer. So we went on the hunt for a Shasta. We started looking locally but quickly discovered that these trailers are hard to find and go fast, so we broadened our search to within a 12 hour drive of our home. Finally, we found our Shasta in Lenoir City, Tennesse. Luckily for us, it was only about a 3 1/2 hour drive. The previous owner had used it as a hunting camp for about 6 years. It has a title that states that it is a 1963. We seem to think that it might be a 1966. We would appreciate any help in determining what year it is exactly.

More photos to come later!!!