Refinishing cabinets

The birch cabinets are in pretty good shape. 

A few places will need to be repaired with new plywood and a few cabinet doors are irreparably damaged (including the doors below but you can't see the damaged side in the photo).

They are well built and sturdy, with mortise and tenon joinery and full length hinges.

Mostly the issue is the old shellac finish is yellowed and wrinkled and that won't do. 

We don't want to paint them.

It seems like this is the original clear shellac. 

I checked on line (including the Tin Can Tourist discussions on Facebook) to see what people are doing to refinish old cabinets.  Some people were saying that if the original finish is shellac, then you can wipe it down with denatured alcohol and it would be a good preparation for a fresh shellac, as long as you are going with a darker shade (like amber over transparent).

I tried that the denatured alcohol.  The results were not satisfying at all. It didn't look like the alcohol did ANYTHING.

So I tried Citristrip and it was beautiful:

Before and after. The light is weird so you don't get the full effect of the beauty but it is VERY satisfying.

I am excited to get stripping all of the cabinets! We moved them into the laundry room and I'll be working on it indefinitely. 

BTW, Citristrip label says to use mineral spirits for cleanup. I think that the denatured alcohol is a million times more effective and smells better too.

Next phase and a later post will be about the new shellac. We'd like a warmer color. Stay tuned and happy stripping!

Removing a stubborn vintage propane furnace

We keep this blog to share information with other camper renovators.  Most of what we have found about Camper Renovation comes from other people's blogs, and we want to participate in the community of knowledge.

Taking out the furnace has been quite a riddle. We weren't able to find a method from others that worked for this Duo Therm furnace:

Everything has to come out of the camper for the new floor and general clean up.  We want to keep the furnace and keep using it, but for now it needed to come out. Not easy. David kept looking for a final elusive screw, or finding the right way to wiggle or pull it out.

When we did our 1965 Security Traveler, and its Hydro Flame furnace, we had the same problem: STUCK.  David couldn't remove it, so it just stayed in place and and he worked around it.  Not ideal.

Searching online, we found several other people that ran into this problem with a variety of mid 50-70's campers, but there wasn't an easy solution. Many people ended up destroying the furnace while taking it out, or sawing through the exhaust ducting.  We didn't want to do that.  In general, everyone seemed to agree that they are just stuck with rust, and with enough wiggling and elbow grease you can get them out.  This one wasn't budging.  Just before resorting to the sawsall, we figured it out a solution. 

Part of the problem lies in the vent- there is no was to get your hands on the exhaust pipe because the vent (whether it is a Hydro flame or Duo Therm) blocks it.  

Here is how it worked.  The exhaust pipe goes through the wall to a vent, and the vent is covered like this:  

Even after unscrewing the vent cover from the outer wall, the heater didn't come out. So David drilled out the rivets on the vent cover, exposing the flange:

And hit that flange with a hammer. The exhaust pipe, previously stuck to the flange with rust, came loose.  And voila, the pieces came apart.  

(You can tell there was water leaking around the vent cover, which is why a previous owner put so much caulk around it).

Here is David with the whole furnace.

The rust that held the exhaust pipe to the flange was the only rusty part. The furnace looks great over all and we look forward to years of cozy camping in the Montanan mountains.

Vintage advertisements

Let's enjoy these previews of our Life with Avion

Dress code: elegant.

Carpet: Full shag.

Activites: cards and dancing Indians. 

Wait. What?

Here's a good article describing the history of using Native American imagery to advertise products to white people.

I think this ad is trying to convey all the exotic places the white family will visit on vacation.  

Cringeworthy.

ANYHOO, Our camper does have the original bathroom curtains, shower curtain and privacy door:

 

We'll replace these with something a lot less Vintage!

Thanks for checking in!

New project: 1965 Avion Sportsman 18S

Excited to announce our  new project! David picked it up in Spokane this week and he got right to work taking it apart. It will be a total gut job on the inside, but the outside and framing are in great condition.

There is nothing wrong our current camper('66 Security Traveler). We love it and we use it all the time. Yet we've always wanted an Airstream of Avion type of camper, and this was a really good opportunity.  The Avion is just a little bit longer than the Security, and the Avion has a bathroom. 

I'm excited about having an indoor shower; neither of us are excited about the toilet. We usually camp where there are outhouses, or where we can set up a backcountry latrine; both options seem better than dealing with RV dump stations or toilet repair. Gross. I will probably sew a permanent seat cover for the loo and pretend it isn't there.

We (meaning David, mostly) are spending the weekend in Demo Phase.  Everything got sprayed down with a mild bleach solution because there were a lot of Mouse Houses and Smells, and no one wants to get Hanta Virus.

Old bed: OUT

Upper cabinets (all 3 sets): OUT

Subfloor: OUT!

The sink, floor cabinets, dinette, oven/stove, and fridge all came out too.My main contribution today was cleaning the fridge (we plan to sell it and replace with an ice box), and cleaning the sink, oven etc (not too dirty).

David got a lot done today and yesterday already. He needs some different drill bits pronto; apparently there are some unusual screws in various places.  We are keeping all the original "things" for now. Even if we don't re-use them (water damage, mouse smells) we can use them as templates for the new cabinets and furniture that David can make in his woodshop

Looking at the outside again:

Looks like there was some kind of incident here. It was badly patched but this is the only spot that has an issue on the outside. This is where the water heater was originally located (under the bed). However we are going to switch locations for the bed and the dinette, and to make room for legs and feet, David is moving the water heater towards the front of the camper. It will go in the spot where the luggage area is currently (you can see the access panel in this photo).

It is going to work out great. If you have ever patched the skin on an Avion with this kind of metal, leave us a comment on how it went.

Next time: See some vintage ads for this camper (holy smokes, they are strange).

Mysterious camper wiring issue

Here is the issue.

The brake lights, running lights and turn signals work great... 

EXCEPT when the running lights or headlights are turned on in the truck. 

If the truck lights are on, then the camper running lights work, but the brake lights and turn signals do not.

This happens not just when connected to our truck, but when we connect to other trucks too. (Thanks for bringing your truck over today, Rob).

We've scoured the interwebs, and the advice is to:

1) check all the grounds (done)

2) check for a weak ground by adding a jumper wire from a good ground (on the frame)

 to each light assembly 

(that doesn't change anything, so a weak ground isn't the issue)

(but it did help us identify a weak ground in one of the camper running lights, which we fixed)

3) make sure there isn't an exposed or pinched wire anywhere in the camper.

Say what?

This is overwhelming.  David checked many places but how can you check them all? 

Has anyone experienced this? Or have a suggestion?

It's also worth mentioning that David hard wired a separate ground wire from the tail light assembly 

to the trailer frame. Those suckers are grounded.

This was all ok in summer when the days start at 5 am and it's light until after 10 pm.  But the days are getting shorter every day people! There will be a time soon when we need to pull the camper somewhere in the dark, with the truck headlights on.

Suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Here's a relaxing photo of the last place we took the toaster camping. A cedar forest on the Kootenai National Forest near the Montana/Idaho border.  

UPDATE SEPT 11, 2013

Thank goodness for the Tin Can Tourist group on Facebook! People had several suggestions, which David tried, and now the problem is fixed! Huzzah!

He wired the lights backwards, I believe. He reversed the wires and now it works.  The internet is just amazing. Thank you friends! Now we can travel at night.  We are unstoppable.

Oven repairs (second attempt)

Things are going well. We've take the camper on many weekend trips. There are tons of beautiful places near Missoula to explore. Here's the toaster in the Bull River Valley recently.

We're down to three remaining issues, and they are proving a bit tough to solve.

They are: a wiring issue with the signal/brake lights (they won't work if the headlights are on), the oven, and the trailer brakes.  I'll leave the brake discussion for another time (it's been a long day), and put the wiring issue in a separate post.

Let's start with the oven.

The burners on the stove top work great. However we can't get the oven going.  Propane never seems to enter the oven. Today we took apart all the gas lines, blew them out, turned the propane on and off, while checking different points in the system, etc.  After a thorough investigation, it appears that the problem is either in the safety valve or the pilot mechanism.  Above you can see David warming up the sensor on the safety valve- if you do that, you can hear a CLICK and after that point you can blow through the supply line.  If there is no flame (ie the pilot light isn't lit) then no gas should be allowed through the valve.

The problem before that, then, is how to get the pilot light lit. Even after cleaning out everything possible, we can't get propane to come out of the pilot light assembly.  It may be easier to just replace this. Where can one get a 1966 Holiday Oven pilot light assembly? If you know, please tell us. I checked at vintagetrailersupply.com without success.

It could be the safety valve too. If it were possible to replace both, it would be very satisfying. We will continue looking for repair information and/or replacement parts.

It is also possible that we are missing a step in the basic process of trying to turn on the pilot light. The control knob does NOT have a setting for "pilot", and it is not possible to push the knob in (some ovens have that).  There is just an on/off switch for the main supply. 

If you have some ideas about this, please leave a comment, or even email me if you don't like commenting on blogs. marilynjmarler@gmail.com

We are perplexed.

UPDATE 9/10/13

David got the pilot light to work- it turns out that there is a little screw at the end of the assembly that opens or closes so you can adjust the flame size. It was completely shut, and hence no propane was coming out.  

The heater pilot also works. However the burners still don't come on.  So the remaining possibilities are 

*broken thermostat

*broken sensor on the safety valve

*broken safety valve in general

We did find some replacement safety valves on eBay but they are $80.  We may end up getting one just to rule it out... and who knows, maybe to just start hoarding replacement parts! I called a local RV service shop and they said it would be extremely hard to get any parts for a '66 Holiday Oven for a camper.

UPDATED UPDATE 9/10/13

David fixed it. The problem was that the heater pilot was coming on, but not burning high enough to touch the thermocouple (sensor) on the security valve.

So... the solution was simply to adjust the heater pilot. And the control for that is hidden behind this knob...

Voila. That's the adjuster, between 12 and 1 o'clock. Clearly labelled "HTR".

If we'd had an owner's manual the whole repair would have taken mere moments! 

Step 1, open pilot valve at the tip, and 

Step 2, adjust the heater pilot flame with the super secret lever.

I hope this helps someone else with their classic camper oven!

Let's bake some muffins!

Solo trip

I took the camper out by myself this weekend.  Meaning, without David or Miles. 

I wasn't by myself once I got there. 

I went to Montana Summer BOW, held near Missoula this year.  BOW (which stands for "Becoming and Outdoor Woman," which sounds dated but is Super Cool) is a program run by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.  It's pretty much summer camp for adult women. You have a chance to learn various outdoor skills like shooting, archery, boating, fishing, natural history, in a supportive mostly women environment. 

 Here's the Toaster next to a 1959 Hiawatha.

And here is a cute little pop-up style camper.  It had large skylights for star watching. 

I enjoyed seeing others' campers. A mini-taste of how a vintage camper rally would go down? 

Most women were in tents or little cabins, but the campers got some love and we all gave some tours. 

I've done several of the Montana BOW workshops and they are always fun and educational.  I learned how to shoot a gun at BOW several years ago, and learned how to talk about the various calibers and what not.  This time I took  butterfly id, fly tying and birding. Lots of states and Canadian provinces offer BOW workshops and I suggest you visit the International BOW webpage and register for one near you.  If you are woman and you enjoy the outdoors, at least.

I had a good time at BOW, and relevant to this blog, I am really glad that I learned how to hitch up, drive, back up, and set up the camper on my own.  I feel lame when I have to rely on David for all those things, and fortunately for me, he is very willing to teach me how to operate and tow the Toaster. 

I didn't think I'd ever be able to hitch up the trailer, let alone without someone there to give me hand signals.  But allow me to show you my first ever attempt at solo backing up:

I KNOW.  Not too shabby. 

But a little off so I did it again. 

And then again until it was perfect.

It is taking practice and it's a bit frustrating.. But after a few lessons I feel pretty confident.  I didn't hurt the camper, and no one got hurt or killed. I'm glad I could this, and I think it's appropriate my first solo outing was to BOW, a program of women's empowerment. 

Thanks David for teaching me to do this! 

Oh and here's some flies I tied at "summer camp."