FOUND!! Wally Byam's '55 Cruiser - 1956 European Caravan trailer

[goransons]

Thank you guys. Much appreciated. I’m doing my best.

Did all the cuts early this morning. Here it is dry fit. Glue is down now. Will set them this afternoon.

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by goransons

All the full tiles down.

Attachment 301110
Attachment 301111

I love this floor, and it looks great. You've done a fantastic job of mixing colors too. Did you say where you ordered it from?

Carol
Never mind about that question. I see the answer above.

[goransons]

Thanks Carol. That was the hardest part getting a random pattern.

Today I put the sealer on which starts a multi day drying process. It won’t stay gloss, it will dry the same sheen as it was installed with.



I also installed the new springs on the rear axle which I had totally out. I’ll cut the bolts and replace the front springs in the morning weather permitting.


I gained 2.5” in height even though most of the weight is on the rear spring only


Old spring (shows off the rest of the plastic wheel well trim I need to clean up too before paint)



New.

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by goransons

Today I put the sealer on which starts a multi day drying process. It won’t stay gloss, it will dry the same sheen as it was installed with.


]

goransons

Beautiful tile work. What sealer did you use?

Dan

[goransons]

Thanks Dan. It’s a waterbased sealer they provide. It is something they apply before shipment then send extra to seal the glue and edges from cuts etc.

[goransons]

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Temps have dropped into the teens and 20’s so progress is a little slower.

All the tub trim is stripped and prepped for paint once it’s warmer.



It will go black once I can get the temps in my garage up into the 60’s and keep it there for the better part of the day. With some temps in the 40’s I may be able to do that next week.

I’m cutting the new skirt tomorrow and will install everything and test fit it before I make it pretty.



The shower wall is getting close. I’m on my last application of bleach gel. I’ve lost track of how many days it’s been soaking and how many applications but I know it’s more than a week.

Here’s today, top half is soaking bottom half I’m calling done.



Compare that to before.

[66Overlander]

Bleach looks to be working good. Would it also work to clean the roof locker sliders?

[goransons]

Yep, that's the hope. I'm going to pull one down, strip my paint off them and try it and see. I believe it's the same issue as on the shower wall so I hope to have the same results, or at least minimize the issue so it's much less noticeable. It takes a ton of time but I think it's worth it to save a piece of the original trailer.

I have my fingers crossed!

[goransons]

Today I sanded down the two face frames for the wardrobes and the bits of exposed wood on the shower wall. My new plywood to replace damaged sides won’t be here until the middle of next week.

The shower wall wardrobe will be first in so I needed to mock up the tub.

Here are the top shelf parts in place with a few screws so I could locate the drain hole.



I took this picture then looking at it I noticed the aluminum actually looked black.

I’m beginning to think that might be the effect in the earlier posted picture. It would explain why the yellow latex paint was the only color I found.



Frames sanded, reglued and filled.



A friend who does laser cutting for balsa rc plane kits is going to attempt to cut me new spacers for the cabinet matches. They are wood. I’ve only seen plastic versions before

[goransons]

I have started the bathroom install. Both face frames are in place for the wardrobes. I’ve also finished sanding down the vanity, reskinned the door to it and am nearly done regluing repairing the counter. My new plywood should arrive tomorrow and I can start building new sides to finish out the wardrobes and build the missing doors.

The bathroom is more about preservation that restoration. It’s the only complete part of the trailer and I’m trying to keep it completely original even if it has imperfections. Of the other 3 wardrobe sides, one was gone completely, one was rotten beyond salvage and one had a hole burned through it from a candle I think.

I vanity door I reskinned with a piece that was salvagable from the wardrobe side.

Here’s the shower wall (still missing the trim to the wall that holds it flat). Most of the stains came out.



The plywood I could save was given a coat of poly on the inside to stop any chance of odors from before the project returning




In studying photos I need to track down at least 12 more black cabinet latches. If anybody has some for sale or trade please let me know

[HiHoAgRV]

Were you able to locate new door skins at the proper thickness? I can't find anything between a veneer and 1/4" (metric, really 3/16) for my old '61.

[goransons]

I haven't picked up what they ordered in. What they claim is it's solid core (3 ply) with both sides veneered with ash. 5 ply is what is in the trailer. I haven't counted the veneers on the doors themselves. Since All doors will be new, including virtually every door frame, I'll mill the door frames with that in mind. I had a heck of a time finding double sided (which many of the panels show at least in part on two sides) and even harder time finding a solid core, many have voids, which sucks when cutting and more importantly with doors, rounded edges on cabinets etc. It's in, I just didn't have time after work to swing by and pick it up. I'll let you know tomorrow what I find out!

[goransons]

Back to my day job this week so not much to report on work completed.

I do have good things to report.

The ceiling light arrived back from the chrome shop. It is reassembled and I can mount it this weekend.



I also sold the Krefft today, much less than I wanted but it’s sold pending pickup.

I’m heading to look at what I hope is the right refrigerator this weekend.

[goransons]

Big news!! I sold the tall Krefft and heard from someone about 4 hours away that had bought a Krefft refrigerator decades ago at a flea market. Measurements are perfect and cosmetically it’s amazing.





Can’t wait to get it home and see if it works!!

[goransons]

Home now.

Checking things out.

Found a little bit of the original inspection tag



Heating element gets hot, tried it for 20 minutes as I checked things out and the tubing was starting to warm up




Here it is with the cooktop mocked up just for kicks



I’ll try it out on propane but my bottles are empty

[Hittenstiehl]

How very cool, nice to see the story come full circle. Looks like month, installation, shipping,

[MsRivet]

Originally Posted by goransons

Big news!! I sold the tall Krefft and heard from someone about 4 hours away that had bought a Krefft refrigerator decades ago at a flea market. Measurements are perfect and cosmetically it’s amazing.

Can’t wait to get it home and see if it works!!

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Amazing. I like how things work out like that.

[goransons]

I plugged it in this morning while I’ve been working on cabinets. After 2 hours I started to see frost on the freezer pipes while on electric.



After 4 hours of scribing the retest fitting the original panels 2 of the 3 on the street side have been cut out of new material and are test fitted. It’s going to all get mocked up then taken back out for finishing but it’s exciting to see walls. The kitchen water pipes will pass between the wheel well and front divider like it did originally, that will all be hidden when the small liquor cabinet goes in.



These are certainly hand built. The curb side wardrobe wall was gone so I decided to use the street side panel as a template. It’s over a 1/2” different. More scribing and templating on top of it to reach the wall then I can cut it and the curb side front bedroom wall. For now I’m headed in to warm up. 23 in there today.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by goransons

Big news!! I sold the tall Krefft and heard from someone about 4 hours away that had bought a Krefft refrigerator decades ago at a flea market. Measurements are perfect and cosmetically it’s amazing.

Can’t wait to get it home and see if it works!!

Cool! That looks to be in amazing condition! That didn't take too long...Congratulations!

Shari

[goransons]

Thank you Shari, we feel extremely lucky it turned up so fast, and so close to us and so far appears to work too which is a bonus. I still have a few things to figure out on it, and hope I can polish the door out nice, the scratches don't look all the way through the paint, so hopefully a good polish and wax and it will look great. I'm going to source out a new gasket too.