While researching what would be involved in the leap, we ran across two gems of good advice: www.cannedhamtrailers.com and www.vintagetrailertalk.freeforums.net. We can't recommend either enough.
After hours (days really) of binge watching Vintage trailer repair videos and reading advice on forums we felt like we could do this. The next 3 weeks were spent removing 13 billion staples 2.6 billion screws, 22 nails and about 300 lbs of caulking. Before you start taking anything apart photograph everything from every angle. We have several 100 pictures of how things were assembled in addition to the damage we were repairing. (As we start reassembly we missed some things and will have to figure those out.)
We won't say much here but some pics to show what we found.
This picture shows the wing is not much more than rot dust and one benefit of all the caulking is it effectively made a mold of the skirt board. From about halfway forward in the cargo hatch that is not wood but caulking and silicone.
We got the curb side off, We messed up we forgot to take the roof off first. just the excitement of doing this we got ahead of ourselves. But note all the rot on the paneling in lower front and several inches missing in lower back. There is no skirt board, and if you look carefully the rear section of wall has started to collapse, 3 inches of rotted paneling and 2 staples are all that is holding that on. (Honestly I got a little sick thinking we pulled this 300 miles round trip with family for our first and only RV trip outside of our yard.)
Street side rear of the trailer. everything left of the brake light mount disintegrated when we tried to pull apart, We don't have pics of the curb side as there was nothing there.
Good thing there was those 12v wires in here as there was no wing or front framing left.
Piece by piece the walls came "tumbling" down.
And we still have a functional camper. A flat place off the ground to sleep and a place to take a seat and contemplate all the choices that have led us to this point. My favorite feature is the drop top roof for those starry nights. All the necessities. :)
Warning: This privy has no privacy.
What we learned about Thelma:
She is a tough lady; she certainly has seen some things in
life and has not always been in the healthiest of relationships. She has
weathered storms, including one that put a tree branch through her roof.
Through all the abuse and neglect, she held it together to get to this point.
Together, we have broken her down, seen what she is made of. She is solid at the core and has a good
heart. We will spend the next several months helping her put her life back
together as thoroughly and completely as we can.
With help from friends, old and new we will see a new and improved Thelma.
Because we got to know you and we fell in love with you.
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