1975 CareFree (On life support)

[Borrego Dave]

Looks like you are doing a good job on adding glass for more support. Post pics of how your interior goes back together.

[David Morgan]

[Donna D.]

David, it will end up BETTER THAN NEW

[David Morgan]

Goodness sakes I sure hope so! I am no expert for sure. But it seams this thing was doomed before it left the factory floor. The engineers were so convinced it wasn't water tight they actually built in drainage holes so that the owner would never know it was rotting away.

Thanks you for the encouragement, I have been stressing a bit on the size of this project.

[David Morgan]

Finally felt like I had the ceiling supported well enough to pull out the shower surround. Unbelievable hard job. Had to do it, the roof has damage in that corner, and so did the surround. Also the floor is rotten under it as was the entire wall behind. In fact the wall was so rotten, that it desegregated into a pile as I pulled it out. It won't fit through the door, so I have to work around it till I can slip it back in. That's going to be interesting.



I have already refurbished the toilet.

[David Morgan]

I repaired the spoiler the other night. Here is what Plywood looks like after 40 years of water.


I have repaired it, and now its actualy water tight. But I feel I should seal this up with gelcoat or something. As polyester resin is not water proof water erodes it.

I have heard several times over the years that you never paint both sides of fiberglass. Anyone know why that is?

[Borrego Dave]

Never heard anything about not painting fiberglass...even on both sides. Fiberglass doesn't soak up anything but it may have something to do with it breathing ????

[WildBirder]

Wow. Great stuff. Thanks for the pics. I saw one if these for sale in Gabriola island BC. Did some research and found it was made in '74. It had the shower stall as well and I was curious if it was a solid/single fiberglass unit. Often wondered why this wasn't done more often.

[David Morgan]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

Never heard anything about not painting fiberglass...even on both sides. Fiberglass doesn't soak up anything but it may have something to do with it breathing ????

That's what I am guessing, but I have had more than one boat person tell me not to do it over the years. I don't think it will be a problem on this part. But then again it made it 40 years as it was too.

[David Morgan]

Originally Posted by WildBirder

Wow. Great stuff. Thanks for the pics. I saw one if these for sale in Gabriola island BC. Did some research and found it was made in '74. It had the shower stall as well and I was curious if it was a solid/single fiberglass unit. Often wondered why this wasn't done more often.

The concept of this trailers design is actually very good IMhO. According to one article I found, they Canadian Olympic Ski Team stayed in these up on the mountain for a week in sub zero temperatures. And "were very comfortable". The floors are made from foam, the walls have fiberglass insulation. The door is insulated and very heavy too.

I think that the design was rushed to the street, and too many corners were cut in production. It's little things to kill a trailer. If this one had been maintained better it would have survived. But it was riddled with holes, and no one ever fixed them. Instead they made more.

The unfortunate thing is the belly band seam it think. That's something that would have to be re-sealed every couple of years. And would require complete removal, new putty laid on, and all new screws into the wood.

There was also on this rig, several spots where at the factory the inside she'll was damaged coming out of the mold, and they did sub par repairs on it. The shell is a little too thin, and I know that's why they had the breaks in it. The Bondo that they filled in with failed and cause cracks the develop and also leaked water.

This shows some of that damage.

Then I found this yesterday.

Someone wrote with a sharpie "Sink Needs Fixing" on the shower wall. There is a huge crack in the fiberglass of the sink pan, that was there from the factory. It wasn't fixed

All in all though i think it's a pretty cool trailer.

[David Morgan]

It's been nearly a year since work stopped on this restoration. Due to work and health. But I have finally gotten back to it and made a little progress last few days. There were many hours in repairing the top of the bathroom insert. And what a chore to get it back in place. Since the maker put it in through the ceiling before the roof half of the shell was put on. It was never designed to be removed. The cap of the shower is a separate piece. The damage was pretty extensive in that area in both the camper shell and shower cap and wall. So I had to do a lot of glass work to get it back to shape. I have not repaired the gelcoat or faired it up yet but structurally its sound. I had to also modify it and remove a mating flange in order to get it back in the hole. So I glassed the cap to the top and made it one piece. It still took about 4 hours to get it back upright and in. But well worth it!


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[David Morgan]

back wall insulated and skinned. Looks huge without the window. Ill be cutting the window in this weekend. And hope to have all the wall paneling finished by Saturday. Then I can move on to cabinets, mechanical & appliances! Yey!


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[David Morgan]

This is as far as i got. The project Stalled for a couple of years due to many factors including my job travel and health circumstances. I am moving now and it is up for sale. But i wanted to finish out the blog - to date and hope whomever ends up picking up the torch completes it and posts the final results.

All of the new appliances are installed, plumbing, electrical and propane are all complete.

[David Morgan]

I wanted to take a moment to thank the folks with the Trail British Columbia Historical Society. They were able to dig up the following newspaper clippings. This is just about all of the information i have ever been able to dig up on this manufacturer.

[Buggeee]

I just got a new cylinder with keys for my Bargman handle for 35 bucks or something on EBay. Just search Bargman and your model number on EBay and see what pops up.

I like the fiberglass door. Have fun with your project!

Edit - Duh -. I was replying to your first page of your three year old thread before seeing that it's many pages, and years long!!! Pobably don't need the keys anymore ��. Good luck with your move.

[David Morgan]

Originally Posted by Buggeee

I just got a new cylinder with keys for my Bargman handle for 35 bucks or something on EBay. Just search Bargman and your model number on EBay and see what pops up.

I like the fiberglass door. Have fun with your project!

Edit - Duh -. I was replying to your first page of your three year old thread before seeing that it's many pages, and years long!!! Pobably don't need the keys anymore ��. Good luck with your move.

So on the lock set. This came with the Bargman l-400. However it had been completely damaged by the PO. I attempted to repair it, but the casing was cracked in several places. I took it to a professional that claimed to be able to fix it and of course got it back in a million pieces and not repairable. I sold the parts to someone else. I planed on just installing a generic modern RV door latch set. It's pretty easy! But if someone wanted to go the OEM way you can get them complete on the Ebays for about $400

[EricAllyn]

Didn't see a price. Did I miss it?

[David Morgan]

Originally Posted by EricAllyn

Didn't see a price. Did I miss it?

It's listed in the classifieds. I did not think it proper to advertise it in the build/mods blog.

feel free to PM me to discuss.

Thank you

[David Morgan]

Originally Posted by David Morgan

So on the lock set. This came with the Bargman l-400. However it had been completely damaged by the PO. I attempted to repair it, but the casing was cracked in several places. I took it to a professional that claimed to be able to fix it and of course got it back in a million pieces and not repairable. I sold the parts to someone else. I planed on just installing a generic modern RV door latch set. It's pretty easy! But if someone wanted to go the OEM way you can get them complete on the Ebays for about $400

Sooooooo.... the door latch!
This is something I have needed to get to since taking on this project.

This came up with one of the folks who came to look at it the other day so I figured listen to the feedback and deal with it. So I did! And the result is very good! But for the hole to plug! It's no L-400 but it works.

[Buggeee]

The hole will be easy enough to plug. It looks like it fits really well both mechanically and aesthetically.

You really came a long long way with this trailer, your work looks really really good and thorough too. Tasteful decor. Whoever ends up with this trailer will really have gotten a bargain. I see these things going for what you are asking in their pre-renovation, must be gutted condition. I would have paid someone just to gut mine if I didn't have to study the way it came apart. This one is honestly in the home stretch considering all that is involved in what you have done.

Yours will find a good home. You've gotten it to a phase now where many people can handle it from here, and people will be happily camping in it for years and years because you cared about the way you went about this. Clean title too? Wow.

Good luck Dave and God Bless!