New Tambour Doors

After an unsuccessful to find tambour locally, we found a source online, purchasing a sheet of unfinished maple tambour. After applying a light coat of stain and tung oil, it was ready to cut.

The existing tambour doors had long since desintegrated, leaving only the metal pull and a few loose strips behind.

Fabulous Floors

Update: March 20, 2009

We're in the home stretch. All that's left now is are a few intricate cuts in the bathroom.

Update: March 14, 2009
Finished about 75% of the floor, working all day. Some of the cuts are rather tricky!

Today, I began laying the foam underlayment and testing the new laminate floors. In retrospect, it probably would have been nice to have purchased the laminate flooring that has the foam underlayment already attached. (But at $0.99, you have to expect a bit of extra work.) After laying most of the foam, I was itching to see what the new floors were going to look like, so I place a bit of it.

Goodbye Carpet!

The electric blue carpet had seen better days. Not only was it thinning, but was stinky and nasty. We purchased some laminate flooring at Home Depot (bargain at $0.99 a square foot!) Under the carpet was a layer of black foam, which was glued to the subfloor. Using a putty knife and lots of elbow grease, it took two days to get all the carpet out.

Cabinet Facelift

The original cabinets were scratched, dull, and missing some of the latches. I removed all the cabinet doors, sanded the doors and all the interior wood, and coated them all with Howard's Restore-A-Finish. I also added new knobs to some of the doors.

Curtain Call

While Maude spent a month getting her mechanical makeover, I spent the weekends preparing for her interior makeover, beginning with new curtains. The original curtains were threadbare and stinky, not to mention deteriorating. When the window was broken a large section of the curtains were shredded.

Original curtains ...

Disassembling the old curtains, and fashioning a pattern for new ones, we purchased fabric from Tonic Living to complement the retro colors and patterns of the 1970s. While it was labor intensive (especially sewing on nearly 200 drapery carriers!), but worth it. I lined the curtains with black out, to preserve the fabric, add some weight, and block out the sun. I even made a new fabric shade for the kitchen window.

Winter Work

After a few more camping trips in the summer of 2008, it was time for a winter's rest. In January, 2009, she went back to the RV service center for more renovations ...

The 40-year-old plumbing system was in need of updating, as was the old furnace and awning.

Old awning ...

New awning ...

Old furnace and plumbing ... New furnace and plumbing ...

Need some water?

After filling the fresh water tank and checking the water pump (which worked) there was no pressure, meaning a leak in the system. Rather than tackling that chore on our own, we made an appointment at our local RV service center to check all systems. In addition to repairing the plumbing leak, we had the water heater replaced and got a screaming deal on a new Dometic refrigerator. Turns out they had one in storage that did not fit a trailer for whom it had been special ordered, and it fit ours perfectly!

Old water heater ...

New water heater ...

The Maiden Voyage

With the window replaced, we were ready to take our first trip. In July, 2008, we took the trailer to the Hungry Horse Reservoir for a long weekend. We still weren't sure if any of the systems worked, but figured a brief camping trip would be fun and primitive. And we were right. We had a great family trip (Rhys even learned how to ride her bike without training wheels!) and left with a laundry list of repairs to the trailer!

Window Woes

From the time the trailer arrived, we were scratching our heads as to what to do about the broken window. The curved glass presented an even larger challenge. Unfortunately, the trailer remained parked in our garage for more than a year as we puzzled over it. After lots of research online, Tim decided to replace the window with Lexan in lieu of the obscure (and very expensive) curved glass. He carefully removed all the rivets around the window, disassembled the frame, scraped off the old Vulkem, removed the inner rubber gasket, and cut a piece of Lexan to size. It was painstaking and stressful, as one mistake could result in damage to parts that were no longer available. Finally, in the summer of 2008, the window was completely repaired.

And he installed a rock guard to prevent having to do this all over again!