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Old 05-21-2014, 10:46 PM   #1
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1960 24' Tradewind
Heyfield , Victoria
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Empty Shell Help

Hi all,

I've just today purchased a 1960 Tradewind for import to Melbourne, Australia. It's an empty shell, apart from the overhead cabinets on the front end. Would love to hear from anyone who had restored a trailer from scratch like this. How did you plan the layout? What did you use for the cabinetry and how did you make them fit to the curved roof. Any info is appreciated.
Many thanks,
Amy
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Old 05-21-2014, 11:17 PM   #2
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1972 31' Sovereign
1975 31' Excella 500
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Empty Shell Help

I used 1/4" plywood, and did a lot of measuring.....

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I did put the wood over the aluminum inner skins though,
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Old 05-21-2014, 11:22 PM   #3
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1972 31' Sovereign
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On this cabinet I framed with 3/4" plywood cut into 2" wide strips, and covered with 1/4" plywood.
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Old 05-22-2014, 05:19 AM   #4
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WOW! Thats a lot of work you've put in! But it looks great! Well done
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Old 05-22-2014, 06:33 AM   #5
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1972 31' Sovereign
1975 31' Excella 500
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Empty Shell Help

The walls went in quick and easy, cutting the pieces that fit perpendicular to the walls required a lot of fitting to achieve a small and even gap.

They were measured and cut close, and then carefully trimmed and sanded to fit.

The side wood installed in a day easy, the ends and the perpendicular bulkheads took more time.

By the time I got finished I had established a good way to get the curves real close by utilizing a straight edge and a type of grid measurement that proved fairly effective in roughly recreating the contours.

What worked for me was fitting the radius against the wall, and then cutting the straight side. This allows for several adjustments without the panel ending up short.

This technique would work no matter what material a person used to recreate an interior.
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Old 05-22-2014, 08:13 AM   #6
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Amy....do some research here on the Forums. Use the search function , above, in the menu bar. Glean the info you like, add it all up and make your own interior. Sit inside the empty shell and visualize. Have fun, most of all. An Aussie Cattle Dog puppy for company will help too.
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Old 05-22-2014, 08:27 AM   #7
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We spent some time with cardboard box mockups of our interior and masking tape to mark out what we wanted for an interior in our shell. We used that to work up our master plan with tweaking along the way. We changed our original idea to change the bath to a side bath because we would have lost almost all our outside storage doing that (and there's little enough as it is), and would have had to cancel at least one window. Looking at a paper plan helps, but walking it with "furniture" in place really helps visualize the space. We are happy with ours now. J Morgan did a beautiful job in his interior. Our almost completed interior is in our Little Girl Refurb thread under 1972 Sovereigns. There are many ways to do it. Do what works best for you. It is definitely a journey (and obsession)!
Good luck!

Kay
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Old 05-22-2014, 07:33 PM   #8
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Empty Shell Help

It had occurred to me to make cardboard templates, but I lacked the patience to follow through with better planning.

I really like how different people approach a project from totally different directions and can produce a great looking and functional product.

My planning included a desire to put everything to paper and work from drawings and a pre planned design but I ended up buying my fixtures, etc. and sliding them around until I liked it.

By the way, I have looked at the projects produced by the other posters on this thread, and all I can say is wow.

Both Melody Ranch an Minno have put out some very, very impressive trailers.
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Old 05-22-2014, 09:06 PM   #9
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I drew plans for how I wanted the interior to look when finished. This helped my husband to lay out the electric & plumbing. I used a lot of blue tape on the floor for where things would be setting & also made a lot of templates for the curves. I found the most handy thing for making patterns was a simple washer. I put a pencil in the center of the washer & ran it along the wall to transfer the exact curve to a piece of wood. Now, I will be the first to admit a pile of scrap that I messed up, but it happens! A lot of thought went into where things went, so take your time figuring what you want in your trailer before you begin!

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Old 05-22-2014, 09:52 PM   #10
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By the way....this is what mine looked like when I got it.....
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Old 05-22-2014, 10:07 PM   #11
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Well you made that wreck look real nice!
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Old 05-23-2014, 05:25 AM   #12
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Thanks. Yours is spectacular! I love your end cap. It's really beautiful.
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