Beachcomber renovation

[Kevin242]

Here are a couple of pictures of our reno'd 1978 Beachcomber. It was rough to start with the ugly, dark wood interior panelling, water damage from leaking roof vent and windows and a beat up exterior. Now it's got light panelling, recovered cushions and new curtains, oak cupboards and new paint. Brenda Novakovski took the pics...

Kevin & Angela
Waskesiu Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada

[Bobbie Mayer]

Wow, it looks great! Do you have more interior pictures?

Bobbie

[Kevin242]

[attachment=12426:atta
chment]



One before picture ( ) and three interior shots ( )...

[Connie M.]

Double WOW! Nice work.

[CindyL]

Wow! What a difference!

CindyL

[ericmarlo]

Kevin - EXCELLENT work. Just a quick question, Did you paint the wood paneling white and then sponge paint a light design on it or is that a wallpaper type covering?

[Kevin242]

Just a quick question, Did you paint the wood paneling white and then sponge paint a light design on it or is that a wallpaper type covering?

It's a $16.00 pre-finished vinyl covered 4x8 wallboard purchased from a local building centre. I was careful when removing the old panelling so I could use each piece as a template when cutting the new panelling. It was installed with glue, brad nails and some screws (depending on location).

[Gina D.]

VERY nice Kevin!

The light interior makes a world of difference.

[bonnie w]

ericmarlo you have done an absolute superb job ! That panelling has given new life, and the appearance of a brand new trailer - very refreshing. Eric did you do your own upholstery ?

[Kevin242]

...you have done an absolute superb job ! That panelling has given new life, and the appearance of a brand new trailer - very refreshing. ...did you do your own upholstery ?

We took our original cushions to a place called "Lil' Country Upholstery" in Henribourg, Saskatchewan. Small town business with great service! She steamed the original foam to restore it's qualities and made new covers with automotive grade fabric. Cost was $275 for material, labour and new zippers for 6 cushions. Big city shops would have charged $750.00+ for this work and her quality was very good.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments.

Kevin

[Devan Dickie]

Kevin,
That looks great. I just gutted the interior of my '77 Beachcomber this weekend. It had been completely painted white, but there was water damage from the vent (I think thats the only place) - the ceiling panels had already been removed when I bought it.

How was the roof on your trailer? Mine has sagged (probably due to the fact that all of the supporting wood on the inside was rotten). I haven't quite decided how to approach repairing this bit yet, but I've got some ideas.

Did you re-use the cabinets or did you replace all of them as well?

[Kevin242]

Kevin,
That looks great. I just gutted the interior of my '77 Beachcomber this weekend. It had been completely painted white, but there was water damage from the vent (I think thats the only place) - the ceiling panels had already been removed when I bought it.

How was the roof on your trailer? Mine has sagged (probably due to the fact that all of the supporting wood on the inside was rotten). I haven't quite decided how to approach repairing this bit yet, but I've got some ideas.

Did you re-use the cabinets or did you replace all of them as well?

Sorry about the delayed reply... I re-used the cabinet frames and just replaced the panelling. All except the closet. That I rebuilt. The ceiling on mine had sagged as well. I used an awning pole to brace the roof and then re-fiberglassed the supports in place. It helped.

Kevin

[Dollard LeBlanc]

Kevin, excellent job. I just bought a 1987, 15 FT Beachcomber trailer with a bathroom in last Friday. It's in getting safety inspected and check so I can transfer the plates. The inside is moldy and in ruff to fair shape. This gives me great idea how to redo the trailer. I'm looking for any other picture and suggestions as to what to do, or how to do it. If anyone reading this want to send me ideas or pictures, it would be greatly appreciated.

Dollard

[J Joelson]

Your Beachcomber looks great! Wow!!

We just bought a 76 Beachcomber and would love to do something similar but really don't even know where to start. Any advice you have would be great. We still have the dark brown interior that we would like to replace and the rear window needs to be replaced. Did you replace the windows yourself?

Jason

[Kevin242]

Your Beachcomber looks great! Wow!!

We just bought a 76 Beachcomber and would love to do something similar but really don't even know where to start. Any advice you have would be great. We still have the dark brown interior that we would like to replace and the rear window needs to be replaced. Did you replace the windows yourself?

Jason

For the interior, save the wood panels if you remove them as you will need them to use as templates to cut new ones. The windows can leak from two areas - the space between the aluminum frame and the fibreglass, and between the plexiglass and the plastic strip that holds it to the frame. On ours I resealed both, but the stripping between the aluminum frame and the fibreglass was leaking the most. If you want to replace the plexiglass, a glass shop can do it or a home building centre may sell the plexiglass.