Tore out the Gaucho today...

[Mexray]

I finally got up the courage to tear out all the old 70's, plaid, Herculon covered sofa-bed, along with the foam backed wall coverings of the same material!

Our sofa is on the street side, and when I installed the new Prego Indian Tigerwood laminated flooring last year, I stopped at the front of the sofa...

Naturally, when I went back to my local big-box building supply, they no longer carry this pattern of flooring! CRAP...I found something close, but had to 'special order' it...double CRAP!

We also have mid, twin beds, and there are two big panels of that plaid Herculon on the walls there too...really UGLY stuff...it wore like iron, I remember having Ratan cushions made of that stuff in the 70's that never did wear out - the chairs fell apart, but those cushions never did!

We've found a sofa-bed, kinda futon like rig at Ikea recently that will take the place of the old sofa-bed...The length is the same, but it's a few inches wider than the old sofa, and has enough room underneath for the original three plastic 'bins'...except you have to lift the seat frame to get to them...also, you have to slide the sofa out a few inches to retract the back rest to the 'bed' position - I'm thinking of using some quarter round moulding to make 'slotted' areas to restrict the amount of movement of the sofa-bed's movement...

We selected a Blue cover for the new sofa-bed, to kinda supplement our 'Blue Halo' trailer name, theme...I took the three ugly wall panels to my local auto upholstery shop today and picked out a blue fabric that's close to the Ikea cover's color and texture - where they'll sew on some foam backing, etc - should really improve our AS's interior...

Remarks from anyone else that's done this 'project' are appreciated...

I'll post some pic's when things begin to take shape...

[Aage]

Mexray,

Good luck with your project, redecorating ia always fun.

But please don't wait to show us just the "after" photos; the "before" ones are always fun to see too!

[COArgosy78]

FYI< If you haven't thrown them away already, you might also consider the other members here who might be interested in the old gaucho or its parts. We ended up purchasing several of the nylon stops for our gaucho and were told that we got the last that they had. It's so nice, and helpful, if someone is ridding themselves of something to get a PM offering!!!!

[funkill]

Sounds like you have a good plan in work for the replacements.

Question: I replaced the tired wall panel in mine as well. My original had a semi-rigid, card-stock type backing. When I made my new panel with fabric & foam, I did not replace the backing (mostly because my machine wouldn't have sewn through something of that thickness/rigidity). When I re-secured the panel with the screws (don't know if screws were original or not), it was a little droopy between the fasteners. I tried using some really heavy duty, self-adhesion Velcro to support the panel but was met with limited success. I don't know if you can see what I'm talking about or not in the picture.... when I sleep and roll against it, it definately moves around more. What are your ideas on this? Are you having the shop incorporate some kind of semi-rigid backing?

Laura

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by Aage

But please don't wait to show us just the "after" photos; the "before" ones are always fun to see too!

Yes we love the reminders of how bad some of the 70's fabric colors were.

[Mexray]

Funkill....that old Herculon fabric was really thick stuff, and quite rigid - AS sewed some thin foam to it to help give it some 'depth', but the fabric itself supported the panels quite well, without any 'sagging'...they only used screws across the top and bottom, and one extra screw on the ends...

The new fabric I've chosen is much thinner, but the foam backing they are using is made of two ply, one for 'cushion', and the other a 'rigid' foam to hold things in place - I hope it will make the panels rigid enough so I can remount them similar to the originals - I plan to use stainless steel screws, and can attach a few in the middle of the panels if they don't appear to be rigid enough - we'll see, next week when I get them back...

As too any 'leftovers' from the old gaucho, there isn't really all that much to offer anyone - I saved the tambour parts and the frame for the storage units at floor lever, in case I need them for some of the other tambours...I did keep the two nylon 'blocks' you referred to, but the rest of the gaucho wasn't worth saving, IMHO...it had been 'repaired' by a PO, and was just plain worn out!...BUT, that Herculon fabric on the couch cover was still in one piece!!! As I said, it wears like IRON! The foam inside was shot, as were the velcro strips, etc...I think that Herculon is indestructible and will probably be around to help destroy the ozone layer....

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by funkill

when I sleep and roll against it, it definately moves around more. What are your ideas on this? Are you having the shop incorporate some kind of semi-rigid backing?

Laura

Why not screw a piece of wood molding to the top and sides of it? It would probably look better, having a wood frame.

[funkill]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Why not screw a piece of wood molding to the top and sides of it? It would probably look better, having a wood frame.

That's an idea. But your comment jolted my memory... my original interior also included a shelf that ran along that wall. I did not reinstall it either. Between the shelf and original card-stock-type backing, it was more secure. Wood trim.... on the *to do* list. I think I'll like that.

Mexray - make sure to post pics of your job!!!

[Mexray]

I'll do some 'after' photos...

However, our original interior looks exactly like this AS shown on Vintageairstream.com's site...EXCEPT, we don't have the overhead 'bunkbeds', just two mid twin beds - with the heavy plaid fabric along the beds on both walls...

1978Ambassador3

[Mexray]

Here's some 'after' photos...got the three wall panels back and installed, along with the Ikea sofa-bed with a blue cover...

The panel fabric came out real close in color and texture to the Ikea cover...I just went to an auto upholster and went through their rolls of fabric till I found something close - they glued some 1/2 inch, 2-ply foam backing on and straight stitched around the edges like the original...

I used SS screws with matching tapered SS cup/retainers to attach the new panels to the interior skin...

Wow, this new sofa-bed sure is an improvement in comfort over the 30 year old original!

[L&R]

Originally Posted by funkill

Sounds like you have a good plan in work for the replacements.

Question: I replaced the tired wall panel in mine as well. My original had a semi-rigid, card-stock type backing. When I made my new panel with fabric & foam, I did not replace the backing (mostly because my machine wouldn't have sewn through something of that thickness/rigidity). When I re-secured the panel with the screws (don't know if screws were original or not), it was a little droopy between the fasteners. I tried using some really heavy duty, self-adhesion Velcro to support the panel but was met with limited success. I don't know if you can see what I'm talking about or not in the picture.... when I sleep and roll against it, it definately moves around more. What are your ideas on this? Are you having the shop incorporate some kind of semi-rigid backing?

Laura

I have been contemplating this situation as well. I still have the original panel but I am not sure how to replace it. How to remove old fabric from cardstock and then what to replace it with. I was thinking about using the fabric to wall snaps to install it with but was not sure how the snaps would do with that sort of thickness. I love the colors and patterns you have used!