'74 Compact II restoration started Options

[francene]

Hi Raya,
What kind of paint would I use over the existing vinyl/foam backed wall covering that is currently in the Compact?


Ensolite is what was used in the Bolers, Trilliums, and earlier Scamps. It's a closed cell foam and has decent R-value. When it was put into the trailers, it had a white(ish) outer skin, but many people have painted it since then and it takes paint fine. I mention that as I can no longer it with said skin, so it would want to be painted.

[francene]

Hi Joe,
Thanks for the reply. I am so glad to be in contact with other Compact owners as I do the restoration. Keep the feedback coming, please.

Answers to your questions:

1) Yes, I've heard battery fumes are a no-no inside a trailer. A sealed top sounds adequate. There was a top in mine, just a piece of wood, but it had two 1" diameter holes in it. Not exactly 'sealed'. I also have had one of those maintainers; they're good. (I rebuilt a discarded Jeep Powerwheels kiddy car last year, and used that maintainer from WMart on the 12v battery the car used. Worked fine.) My Compact has no converter or inverter. Someone put in some fuses, though.

2) I heard about that little black water tank from Chuck Hagen, another CPII owner. So that explains the hole in the floor of the bathroom. And yes, there is a fresh water inlet on the outside of the trailer at the bathroom exterior, as well as a fresh water inlet at the kitchen sink exterior. I am considering putting in a little corner sink in the bathroom, but no other plumbing; just use a porta potti. We'll see. My husband says just convert the old bathroom space to storage, and have a porta potti stored at floor level. Pull it out when needed. That's what Chuck did. BTW, we went to see Chuck's redo yesterday, at a classic car show; he restores cars too. His restoration of the Compact II is AMAZING. Beautiful oak cabinets,
too many upgrades to list here. Most people that saw the trailer thought it was new. I have some photos I could post with Chuck's permission. Seeing Chuck's trailer was a real inspiration. He had it painted at MAACO and it looks super on the outside as well as the inside.

3) the fridge works on 110V and propane. Have not tested it on 12V yet. It needs a little exterior rust removal and a new electrical plug and cord, but otherwise it looks pretty good. An old Dometic, made in England.

4) The stovetop works great too. Real clean; must not have been used much.

I'll keep photos posted. The trailer is gutted now. Next, I'll remove the rooted plywood floor and de-rust the trailer frame, maybe beef it up a bit ( I can weld ), put doen fresh, sealed plywood floor and go on from there.

Please post your rig's photos when you get them. Thanks for keeping in touch!

Fran
1974 Compact II

[JenPB]

Fran -

Thought I'd share while you're still in the remodeling mode.

I had a little mishap thanks to the battery being housed inside my Compact Jr. As a result, I've decided to move it outside. I reconfigured the tongue (with a little help from my local welding shop) to include a battery (and spare tire) there rather than inside. Cupboard space restored, too. BONUS!

Now...for the rewiring.

Jen

[Raya L.]

Francene,

Re: Paint. Do you have something like Ensolite in your Compact II? I have been in a Compact Jr. which had a smooth-vinyl-covered, open-celled foam in a diamond quilted pattern, but I've never been in a Compact II. I think the insulation I just described in the Compact Jr. would be pretty hard to paint, but people have painted Ensolite with everything from acrylic latex (interior house paint) to Melamine (common in Canada) to Rustoleum spray paint.

The Ensolite in my Boler is not painted, but if/when I do paint it I will probably go with an acrylic latex.

A number of people have used Zinsser's "Perma White" with mildewicide to good success. I'm not fond of the idea of sharing such a small space with a mildewicide, and my trailer tends to be dry (no sign of mildew at all even after long-term storage), so I will probably seek out an acrylic latex that does not include a mildewicide.

(Ensolite is a closed cell foam, usually with a thin white or grey or cream vinyl type surface laminated to the "room" side. On the Bolers and older Scamps and Trilliums the texture somewhat resembles elephant hide.)

Raya

[Joseph Domingos]

1) Yes, I've heard battery fumes are a no-no inside a trailer. A sealed top sounds adequate. There was a top in mine, just a piece of wood, but it had two 1" diameter holes in it. Not exactly 'sealed'. I also have had one of those maintainers; they're good. (I rebuilt a discarded Jeep Powerwheels kiddy car last year, and used that maintainer from WMart on the 12v battery the car used. Worked fine.) My Compact has no converter or inverter. Someone put in some fuses, though.

2) I heard about that little black water tank from Chuck Hagen, another CPII owner. So that explains the hole in the floor of the bathroom. And yes, there is a fresh water inlet on the outside of the trailer at the bathroom exterior, as well as a fresh water inlet at the kitchen sink exterior. I am considering putting in a little corner sink in the bathroom, but no other plumbing; just use a porta potti. We'll see. My husband says just convert the old bathroom space to storage, and have a porta potti stored at floor level. Pull it out when needed. That's what Chuck did. BTW, we went to see Chuck's redo yesterday, at a classic car show; he restores cars too. His restoration of the Compact II is AMAZING. Beautiful oak cabinets,
too many upgrades to list here. Most people that saw the trailer thought it was new. I have some photos I could post with Chuck's permission. Seeing Chuck's trailer was a real inspiration. He had it painted at MAACO and it looks super on the outside as well as the inside.

3) the fridge works on 110V and propane. Have not tested it on 12V yet. It needs a little exterior rust removal and a new electrical plug and cord, but otherwise it looks pretty good. An old Dometic, made in England.

4) The stovetop works great too. Real clean; must not have been used much.

I'll keep photos posted. The trailer is gutted now. Next, I'll remove the rooted plywood floor and de-rust the trailer frame, maybe beef it up a bit ( I can weld ), put doen fresh, sealed plywood floor and go on from there.

Please post your rig's photos when you get them. Thanks for keeping in touch!

Fran
1974 Compact II

Hey Fran,
Great hearing back from you, and I agree, always nice to be able to network and share info/ideas/etc with fellow Compact family owners!
It sounds like we need to see some pics of Chuck's trailer, it sounds VERY impressive!

As for the bathroom, yup, sounds like you've seen/heard about how they work. Mine's all original as far as I know, and works well. As far as a sink, well, you MIGHT be able to squeeze one in there, but I would say it'll be VERY TIGHT. Personally the bathroom feels like a glorified cabinet/closet, but at least it IS a bathroom! hehe I did once, just for the heck of it, close the doors while just sitting on the commode (not actually using it!) and it felt a little too claustrophobic to me. Mine has, I'm guessing as original equipment, the commode and one 12v light in the bathroom, and that's it. Some previous owner added a few hooks to hang things on, and I added a mirror to the inside of one of the doors for shaving and such.

EXCELLENT that your fridge works on propane and 110v, honestly that's all I use on mine, have never tried the 12v as I don't have a power line going to my tow vehicle. My trailer is plugged into 110v at my folks place while it's stored, so the battery is all charged up by the maintainer. I'll usually turn the fridge on as soon as I can before a trip, to let it cool down on 110v. When I actually am ready to pull out on my trip, I switch it to propane. I know this has been a discussion point here on the forum, personally I discussed it with my folks and other long time campers, and the concensus was that they've always done it that way without problems. Also with our rigs I can see the fridge grill in my side-view mirror, so I would hope I'd see any smoke or flames if something did happen...

Also, that diamond patterned vinyl insolation that Raya mentioned is exactly what my rig has in it too. I don't know how great it works, I'm sure it's not very efficient since it's 30+ yrs old, but it's not in bad shape, and since it's 'not broke' I'm not going to mess with it yet! hehe

Anyway, overall it sounds like you're on the right track, just keep up the good work, and post pics as you progress through your renovation, K? hehe

Joe

[bbuehler]

What a nice way to wake up and find my POD out there, talking restoration on the website!!!!!
I'm another fellow Compact II owner. I think we should get all our names and email addresses and have a sub-club and sub-mini-meets...or at the very least, we could all caravan to a meet, once a year and WOW the traffic with our cuter-than-cute Compacts.

We could even be magnanimous and include the Jr. owners, as well.

I was the only Compact II at the recent NOG meet [at]Waterloo Park, OR. I know there will be another Compact II, Cory Hilby's, up at the Ft. Langley meet next week. We may even end up caravanning up together, if I don't stop off overnight at Whidby Island to visit friends, who are also attending the meet.
I wonder if Chuck H. and his wife will come up for that one. He's love to see those Canadians classic cars and Eggs, since they are all ABOUT (AKA: 'Abowt') their classic cars matching the bottom half paint job on their EGGs. It's so gratifying to see the height that our Canadian buddies take with their serious trailering and accessorizing!

Chuck's Compact restoration is nothing short of AMAZING. He is an incredibly skilled and incredibly nice man. I want a laminated copy of his original Compact II factory brochure, published in the '70's. It's fantastic and would be such a wonderful addition to the Compact, when traveling and showing off.

Let me know if any of you are going to Ft. Langley. I'd love to get together and get some ideas. I haven't done one blessed thing to restore mine, yet (since buying it two years ago), although I bought beautiful curtain material and all kinds of trailer trashy nick-nacks! I want to paint the bottom half a glorious bright hot pink/fuschia color...glossy glossy and showy SHOWY.

Enough for now, I'd better head out and work.
Hope to see everyone's pics and I'll have to send you mine.
Barbara

This post has been edited by bbuehler: May 4 2009, 05:17 AM

[Phill Roehrs]

Wow, nice find. Great to hear you're planning a full renovation, can't wait to watch.

I re-did my Compact Jr. in 07/08, a work still in progress. This site has been a great resource.

[Joseph Domingos]

I'm another fellow Compact II owner. I think we should get all our names and email addresses and have a sub-club and sub-mini-meets...or at the very least, we could all caravan to a meet, once a year and WOW the traffic with our cuter-than-cute Compacts.

We could even be magnanimous and include the Jr. owners, as well.

Chuck's Compact restoration is nothing short of AMAZING. He is an incredibly skilled and incredibly nice man. I want a laminated copy of his original Compact II factory brochure, published in the '70's. It's fantastic and would be such a wonderful addition to the Compact, when traveling and showing off.

Barbara

Hey Barbara!
I agree, it's great that more and more of us are showing up on here and slowly networking, excellent! I highly agree too, lets not only include the Jr owners in that group, but all the Hunter siblings (TrailsWest Campster, Havasu, Family Wagon, Peer Mini, etc...) After all, they all seem to have come from the same (Or almost the same!) molds, right? hehe

And I'm just more and more curious to see some pics of Chuck's rig, it sounds quite impressive! And he has an original factory brochure??? Sounds like something I bet we'd all love to see, and that might be great to have scanned into the document center here on the website too. I would DEFINITELY love to have a laminated copy for my rig also, if Chuck is taking orders for them! I'd happily cough up some cash for that too Chuck! hehe My rig actually came with brochures for the appliances, and then there's this typewritten 'Options' list, but that's it.

Honestly it's great to find more and more owners, and so great for us to be able to network and share ideas for mods/repairs/remodels! Our rigs are just different enough from the more rounded FBRVs that sometimes mod ideas don't quite carry over, so it's great to know there are a few more people of skill to be able to bounce ideas off of...hehe

Anyway, sorry to shoulder in on Fran's thread, but I just had to put in my two cents! hehe

Happy Trails!

Joe

[francene]

Hi All,
Here are some photos of the restoration so far. So far it's been rip-out this, strip out that.... tsp cleaning, removing rusted screws.... - just kidding!! I'm fine!

Best,
Fran

P.s. Barbara, what's a POD?

 exterior_striped.jpg ( 45.73K ) Number of downloads: 85
 fiberglass_patch.jpg ( 32.5K ) Number of downloads: 66
 interior_stripped.jpg ( 58.74K ) Number of downloads: 114
 pop_top_off.jpg ( 51.45K ) Number of downloads: 84

 

[Raya L.]

Well that's pretty well empty! I can see the remnants of the diamond quilt on the walls - kind of like a reverse snakeskin.


You go!

Raya

[JenPB]

WOW! Look at you go! You don't mess around! Very inspiring. It takes me weeks to get anything done, between the kids' schedules and other projects. The CJ just doesn't seem to be a priority right now. Then again, after last week's gathering at San Antonio Lake I'm again inspired.

Next up for us: mere wiring.

Keep us posted on YOUR project. I'm particularly interested in hearing about how you do any 'glass work, the paint project and how you end up dealing with the interior (liner).

Jen

[Tim M]

I love it! What a way to start the perfect camper.... My next project/camper will have to be a rear door model of some sorts, I love the idea of having a large bed up front and the door in the rear of the camper.

I like many look forward to the many posts that are to come of your "little" project....

Keep up the good work!

[bbuehler]

Francene,
I wan't looking on the restoration thread until this morning and saw your question to me about, "what's a POD?"
A POD comes initially from the whale PODs...they travel together, are very loyal and more importantly, they FIT together. When I see retro EGGS and like minded people, I will often think of them as being in MY very own POD. It's a term of endearment.
I will keep everyone's email address...or better yet, send me them and we can have the first Annual Compact (Hunter club) meet sopmewhere between Oregon and California or Washington. We'll take votes for the most popular place...everyone can give one or two suggestions and we'll vote. Then, next year, we can plan it all and JUST DO IT.

My home email address is: gardencoach[at]live.com

Everyone who knows someone with a Compact, TrailsWest, etc...pass it on, and we will plan a great time.

Joe,
I'll let Chuck know that others would also like copies of his original color brochure. I'll see him in 3 weeks at the Taidnapam meet in Washington state. If anyone else wants to come up, please do...it's June 5th and 6th...leaving on Sunday the 7th.

Barbara

[JenPB]

we can have the first Annual Compact (Hunter club) meet sopmewhere between Oregon and California or Washington. We'll take votes for the most popular place...everyone can give one or two suggestions and we'll vote. Then, next year, we can plan it all and JUST DO IT.

I started a new thread on this very topic here (building off THIS topic's initial discussion) in hopes of finding more of us out there. I'm really keen on this idea!

[Heath G.]

Hi all, I juast joind and this is my first atempt at posting so we will see if it works. first off that looks like a wonderful project. my rig is a 72 compact jr. the only thing my wife and I think we would like is the built in bath. there just is no room in the jr. for one. we got it last fall for only $500 and are going to use it this moth for the first time. will post some pics then if I can figure out how. Thanks for the opertunity to share with you all anfd hope to do this more as we learn more about this hobie

Heath and Candy G.