Little Girl Refurb 1972

[Minno]

Texasbound,

Here are the additional bed pictures you requested. Figured someone else might find them useful as well.


Bed closed. The plywood top is ½” thick. Nothing special about it really. I used a long piano hinge to mount it to the part of the bed that’s attached to the wall.



Bed open, looking aft towards the bathroom. Base is a ¾” basswood frame covered with ¼” red alder plywood. Center divider is the same construction, but the plywood is ¼” luan instead of alder.



Close-up pictures of the frame at the head of the bed (rear in the trailer). I had to build a second frame inside the original one that’s attached to the wall to support the weight of the plywood top and mattress bearing down on the gas strut.



Tucked in the rear under the bed is an outlet. This is for an electric blanket we’ll buy sometime. Probably pretty soon based on the weather lately.



Now you’re looking toward the front of the trailer, which is the foot of the bed. Same basic construction, but the support for the gas strut isn’t quite as massive since I planned a bit better on this end of the bed. The furnace duct still needs to be insulated and boxed in to protect it.



Close-up view of the strut support.



A closer view of the divider partition and the plumbing that runs from the gray tanks under the bed forward to the galley sink and vent. You can also see the blue and red pex lines for the galley sink. The outside section under the bed is accessible through the hatch you can see in the picture as well as from the inside.

Is that what you wanted to see? Let me know if there are other areas you would like more detailed pictures of.

Chris

[Bauxter]

You are holding out Chris, how about a shot of behind the divider, showing the floor next to the outside wall. We want to see the drain/vent/pex/cat5/electrical/heating raceway.

[Minno]

Yee gods and little fishes! Chris is at a meeting, you'll have to wait!

Kay

[texasbound]

Looks great!! Thanks for the pictures. What was the total construction time??

[Aage]

No too long... This thread was begun May 3, 2009. :

[Minno]

For Bauxter:


Picture of the other side of the partition. Taken through the hatch door 2 minutes ago. The things I do for you people...


For Texasbound:

I think we build the bed frame in a weekend. Problem is, we bounce around from one thing to another, so there's no real tracking of time for any one project. Suffice it to say, we built the bed sometime in 2012.

Aage's right though. This is towards the end of year 4 of the 5 year project.

Seriously though, I'll get some pictures of the other side of the partition tomorrow when the sun's up.

Chris

[Bauxter]

Anyone have a flashlight?

[r.swanson]

mino what year is your as pic are great . i have a 1971 29ft. ambassador redoing the floor now and everthing indside. started about 6 months ago . we will be comming to mn. next summer with it if everthing works out . i have a sister living in braham, mn. good luck on your trip .

[Minno]

Originally Posted by r.swanson

mino what year is your as pic are great . i have a 1971 29ft. ambassador redoing the floor now and everthing indside. started about 6 months ago . we will be comming to mn. next summer with it if everthing works out . i have a sister living in braham, mn. good luck on your trip .

She's a '72.

If you come up I-35 and use I-35W through Minneapolis, you'll be about 1 1/2 miles from our house once you get north of I-694 a bit. Stop on by - we'd love to meet you and see your trailer! Plus we can show you ours in person.

[Minno]

As promised, here are pictures of the chase under bed, which is also outside accessible storage.



This is the same shot I took at 9:30 last night, looking in the outside hatch door. A tad easier to see details I think.



Looking forward through the hatch. The ¼” plywood box on the left is the cover for the furnace duct that goes to the bathroom. I stuck an upright piece of plywood on the front end to keep stuff we may set on top of the box from falling off the front of it onto the plumbing and ducts in case we have to stop quickly.



Looking rear through the hatch. You can see the low point drains, the outlet under the bed, and box protecting the bathroom duct. By the end of today, this will be filled with various boards, wheel chocks, hoses, etc.



Back inside, looking rear under the bed. The two ABS pipes are the kitchen sink drain and then the gray tank vent behind. They are sloped up to the left slightly, even though it looks like they slope down in the picture.



Closer view of the storage area.



Looking forward under the bed. Those two pex fittings on the floor are the two I was most worried about when we pressure tested the fresh water system. I wasn’t sure they’d like the stress of the bends in the tubing over the top of the wheel well. But then, after a few 95 degree days, the stress from the bends was pretty much gone as the pex formed itself around the wheel well liner really well in the heat. So far, no leaks. I’ll keep a close eye on them as we use the trailer this Fall.

Chris

[Minno]

Her first outing this weekend was a complete success! Well, almost complete. Everything works, and works quite well – water pump, plumbing, fresh and waste tanks, dump drains, fridge, furnace, toilet, etc. Only issue we have is the spray handle for the toilet leaks a bit. Discovered that Saturday morning, so I put it in a bucket for the rest of the weekend. I’ll take it apart and see if some dirt got stuck in the valve. If I can’t fix it, we’ll buy a replacement.



Here’s Little Girl all decked out for camping.



A close-up picture of the flag pole holder I made (which I never posted a picture of before).

We had a great time at our very first rally as official WBCCI members. Met lots of really nice people that welcomed us into the fold with open arms.
We showed Little Girl off, and received many, many compliments on her.

Now we can take it easy for a bit, and work on some house projects that need to get done before winter sets in. But not to worry, we’ll be back to building cabinets and finishing her on the inside in a few months I’m sure.

Chris

[Lance M]

Congratulations on your first outing! I'm sure you got lots of praise! Very cool. Your hard work paid off, for sure.

[texasbound]

Chris/Kay,

I see your bumper looks might shiny What process did you follow with POR15 to make it look so nice?

Thanks,
Leo

[Minno]

Originally Posted by texasbound

Chris/Kay,

I see your bumper looks might shiny What process did you follow with POR15 to make it look so nice?

Thanks,
Leo

Hi Leo,

Well, that's the way it looked when we bought her. It's an aluminum bumper that we have not done anything to.

Chris

[Minno]

We got insurance for her through State Farm. They have a Vintage vehicle department that deals with vintage cars, and apparently vintage trailers too.

We tried to insure her last year, but was told she was not insurable yet. She still needed many things, including axles at the time. Their requirements to insure her were to have axles, wheels and tires on her, be road ready and tow-able, be self contained with a working galley, bathroom, and bedroom, and be at least 75% completed.

A couple of weeks ago, after we cleaned her up and put the recliners in, we took a bunch of pictures both inside and out (2 dozen or so), and brought them along with our itemized list of everything we've bought and put into her. The list includes the item, price we paid (including shipping), date we purchased, and where we purchased from. Each item can be backed up with a receipt I have in my Little Girl folder.

Our agent was impressed enough with the work we had done that I wrote him a check for coverage right then and there, and he submitted the whole thing to have the underwriters look at it. A week or so later, they came back and said yes. So, she's insured for the amount we asked for, which is the amount we have into her so far, including what we paid for her originally.

Once we have her finished, we'll get her appraised, and then go back to State Farm with the appraisal to increase our coverage.

[Wabbiteer]

Oh my, that looks like lake front camping almost, did'ja hafta pay extra to have the picnic table so close to water?

I suppose they guessed you wanted the boat launch site when they saw the outboard motor there on your hitch A-frame..

Thanks for sharing three gorgeous photos of some very fine moments.

Y'all have our respect and admiration for pushing through details and get out before the first frost! We confess a wee modicum of jealousy! Nice show you two!

[Minno]

The closest water was the faucet next to the trailer... There's a pond there too buuut it would take a little to get there. We were at the Airstream Park in Clear Lake, MN.

Hey, we did it......you can too!

Kay

[Wabbiteer]

Sorry, just a little tease from the puddles visible in the pictures

[Minno]

I didn't even notice the puddles! They happened when Kay was watering the garden at the site we were staying at.

[Minno]

Waaay back in post 45 on 10/1/09, I posted a picture of a quilt top I had designated for the Airstream, to complete when we were ready to start using the trailer. WELL, here it is! All quilted and finished and "installed" on the bed. It is SO nice to be able to put things in the trailer that we have planned and dreamed about for what seems like soooo long!

Kay