AguaDream

We took the Long Long Trailer on our road trip and watched it for the fist time today.  I have a feeling we'll pop it in to watch a few times more. Knock on wood, we don't encounter any of these mishaps on our journey.

June 29 Finally on the road.  After many many delays we finally hit the road today with a goal of getting to Idaho by July 1.  We chose to head north on I-5 and then east and north on Hwy 299 and up 395 to Oregon and on to Idaho rather than the faster route through Nevada. Here we are, all loaded up and ready to hit the road. Our ready to play inventory included: 1 slalom kayak 3 river running kayaks 2 bikes 1 dirt bike Aguadream was not perfect by any stretch yet, but definitely ready for the road-- safety wise.  Much of our delay was in getting the electrical done...just couldn't get the lights to work. Also just couldn't get the curbside front window situated so we patched it with a piece of wood hoping for little rain on our journey. An afternoon start out of Oakland meant hitting some rush hour traffic.  After Vacaville it was easy sailing, but our 50 mph speed limit meant that we'd only make it as far as Red Bluff on day 1.  We found a kind of s...

My friend Anne applying a little umph to get the skin in the track Optimism and Stick-to-it-ive-ness is a deadly weapon to time schedules. I think that Shasta restorers must have both.  That and loved ones who have deep reservoirs of patience and understanding for missed deadlines. All said, we are looking at being probably 2 weeks behind our latest revised departure date (June 14) and I am trying to inject some realism and take pride in the bits that get accomplished each day and let go of those things that seem out of my control. Can someone come up with a Shasta Serenity prayer? Enough philosphizing...much progress to report.  A couple of days ago my friend Anne and I finished adding the skin and started putting in windows, till I ran out of butyl tape Aquadream has her skin   Me putting in the first window! Yesterday was full of highs and lows.  First the high...and I was so excited I forgot to document it....wait for it.... WE TOWED AQU...

Yesterday was another milestone day. Had my friends Corey and Dave to help for a few hours. We attached the skin to the front of the frame.  I thought this was going to be really hard, but thanks to the expert work of sheet metal genius Chris Mast, the piece fit like a tight glove.  Had to work a bit to get the edges under the pittsburgh seams (open up the bend) without getting a tear.  Trick was to first do one side and then the other, and leave the middle window flashing for last. Yesterday also accomplished Installed the new trailer hitch Finished flipping the axle In progress Windows...in the stage of adding seals and putting them back together.  Replacing glass on most of them with lexan. Electrical is all connected but for some reason the blinkers are working but the running lights and brake lights aren't.  Gotta figure this out before the skin can go on the back. Inside trim is started. (I'll be doing some of this work on the road I think lol) ...

Okay so our departure date was supposed to be June 14....It is now June 18th...and we are looking at departing June 21 or 22. On the original schedule my son Ben and I would be whooping it up at the oldest whitewater festival in the US, FIBARK, which takes place in Salida Colorado on the Arkansas River. This morning is age group nationals for slalom. Next year! Instead, the first week of our summer vacation has been me furiously working on the trailer, and Ben experiencing his first unstructured school break. He's had to make plans with friends day by day. Not too bad...lots of skateboarding, a couple of movies, a day dirt biking. So here in Margueritaville, I've had several wonderful friends and some skilled craftsman helping me get her done. Caps off to Terry, Anne, Laurie, and Micci for helping scrape and polish windows and trim pieces. Corey and Dane for helping with framing, electrical and flipping the axle. And a special shout to Chris Mast at Mastco Sheet meta...

As many of you know I turned 55 last weekend, as did my soon to be lovely 1956 shasta 1500. Figured I'd be working all weekend anyway, so decided to invite all my friends over to help me. Had a decent turnout (though I guess the idea of working on an old trailer isn't as appealing to all my friends as it is to me, lol) and got a fair bit of work done. Got the side frames fully completed and insulated. Used aluminum tape to seal the air gaps. Used JB Weld and scraps to repair tears in the aluminum. (Had 3M 8115 panel bond but couldn't justify paying $50 for an applicator gun) used Gremlin Guy's method...worked great. Picked up new front and back skins from moose metals in Concord CA (great folks). They had no prob with 6" brake. This is the front skin. It's .40.... and it's gonna be a b*&%h to trim and fit, but will be solid. She's not gonna be ready for the Memorial Day weekend trip, but I'm feeling confident we can be on the ...

I have taken to polishing aluminum at night and it is a tedious job, though just heard about another product to try from Napa called simply aluminum brightner. Will pick some up this weekend. Took the front and back to the sheet metal shop www.moosemetal.com today to have them fabricate new pieces the right size to overlap the sides. The woman who helped me said I was the first woman she had ever had as a customer who was doing a restoration (of any sort) herself. And she'd been there 20 yrs! And we're in California. I was a little surprised. I decided to have them do all the fabrication brakes, bends, and holes...even though it will cost. They can do everything in four hours plus the cost of materials (just one sheet of 48x96 .040 aluminum). I figure what they are doing would take me much longer and the risk of doing something wrong would be costly. $400 the priciest piece of this project so far. But way worth it. I made my punch list of what's left to do.....

With many helpful suggestions and consul from handy friends, I managed to jack up the trailer with a couple of bottle jacks and voila, I'm back on track. AS you might recall I was stumped a week or so back after finishing up most of the framing only to find that the skin didn't line up, due to sagging on the back of the street side. I'm betting this is a common problem with years of rot combined with removing the skin during a partial rebuild. I had a 1.5 inch difference between the floor height and the skin Borrowed a couple of bottle jacks from our local tool lending library (every community should have one!!and on the suggestion of a couple of VSTF members tried jacking up the back side of the trailer. First I screwed a 2x4 across the frame to hold it together and to give the jack something to push on. Then very easily lifted it 1.5 inches...no problem. Checked the fit with the skin.....perfect. Had to reframe the baggage compartment area to match, and ...

so in the mean time here's some pics of recent progress floors Done! framing 90% Done! Insulation 60% done windows...half way through polishing, all the gaskets are out of stock and on order from VTS Going to order my new skin on Saturday Electrical....ready to wire and hire an electrician for the hard stuff What is the hold up.....well the street side skin doesn't line up with the framing in the back....diagnosis....50 yr slump....prognosis....not sure yet. Trying to jack it up if that doesn't work will just adjust everything. new floor used homasote 440 with butyl window flashing instead of asphalt celotex board, then 3/8" CDX plywood framing First piece of interior birch replaced!

Have been a little preoccupied this week. Ben my 12 yr old attends oakland school for the arts. He has been in a school production called "That 60's Show". He had the opportunity to sing the lead on Dylan's The Times they are a Changing. Have a look. Hope the trailer turns out as well as this performance...though I doubt the finished product will bring a tear to my eye as this did.

Bones: Have cut and dry fit sub floor front and back. It's slow progress with the few hours here and there I'm able to put in. April will be a big month for getting this done. Hopefully once a few of the puzzle pieces fit together it will go faster. Right now it's still do a little, scratch my head a little. Before it's attached, will adhere butyl based flashing on the undercarriage and maybe at some other strategic points where water tends to be a problem. Next step make sure that the framing matches the skin. Finishing touches: I made a quilt a while back for the bed when I thought all I was going to have to do the camper was add a few finishing touches. Just got the top back from the machine quilter and finished the binding. The second picture is a close up of the quilt stitch design, which I think has a very "jetsons" flair to it. The quilting is done on a big long arm quilting machine, takes 1/20 the time of quilting by hand. I th...

shelter has caved in twice, 50 mph gusts, 3 inches of rain since yesterday. They say that we will see the sun on Sunday...and then next week looks good. Gonna try to get some polishing done on the rails, and maybe a little framing. Gotta wait for it to be dry to do much else. sigh.

Dang. Had to stop midway through tarping up today. Bent over and strained my back. Hoping everything doesn't blow away tonight. High wind watch through mid day tomorrow--very unusual for this area. Anchored shelter to fence and house with eye bolts. Was going to secure the tarp better under too....and then I tweaked my back! So no stretching for me today :(

Aguadream what kind of name is that? Well here goes for the explanation. My son and I are both whitewater kayakers. Ben taking on one of the bigger rapids on the South Fork American at age 10 Mom (me) on the South Fork I've been involved in river conservation and advocating for clean water in one way or another for the past 30 yrs. Ben and me on one of his first river trips approx age 5 on educational trip down the Mokelume River Our plan is to repaint this trailer somewhere in the aqua/blue/green range. And the interior decor curtains, quilt, seat covers etc... same. The color scheme for Aguadream We'll be pursuing a dream I've had for some time this summer-- to take the summer off and tour the west with my 13yr old. He'll be participating in the kayak junior olympics, and we'll also explore rivers in Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Wyoming. So traveling in our newly renovated Shasta trailer will be an Aguadream. Ben in a junior ol...

Got a bunch of framing done today. The first dry day since Saturday. Using the Kreg pocket screw jig which makes everything feel really nice and solid. Coming up Wheel well framing (using a solid piece) both sides Curve framing floor and subfloor in the back. Reinforce all visible joints Reframe front After framing....replace old wiring with romex. Adding one outlet. then......... I added a gadget to the blog showing how to use the jig, on the side bar

Well, finally have removed the skin from all four sides. The bad news is I will have to replace the floor and subfloor in back, and install new skin on the front and the back. The original owner did a "fix" at one point that included replacing the drip rail with flashing and eliminating the overlap on the edges. Enter WATER! The good news is that none of the windows lead and the rest of the trailer under seems to be in pretty good shape. Still it's a major rebuild at least for me. I scored a 3 speed with reverse Fantastic Fan for half the retail price. First part of reconstructing was putting in new oak (with aluminum to further reinforce) framing in the ceiling to make it VERY solid, and then installing the fan. Plenty of butyl tape, vulkem, and pocket screws. A big confidence builder that I can do this. Also scribed curved portions of the corners for the back and front frame. And then it started raining....and it still is.

AquaDreamToDolist

So it begins. Ever since spending summers with my grandparents on their airstream travels in the Northwest, I always figured that at certain age I too would leave tenting behind (at least most of the time) and hit the road. The certain age arrived, and I began my search for a vintage canned ham (airstreams are too pricey for my budget) and not long after picked up this 1956 Shasta, which I thought was not in need of much except upgrades. Well I found out as many a vintage trailer fanatic has that most of these gals have a bit of rot and mine maybe has a bit more than a bit. Here I will chronicle my hopefully short but perhaps intense rehab. Our goal is to be roadworthy and camping by April 11. What she looked like when I found the damage. And now that I've dug into the restoration