Restoring 'her' 1975 Trillium 1300

[Isaac M]

Well, Barbara reminded me to post some of the progress on the 1975 Trillium 1300 that I'm restoring for my wife. I get to do all of the physical restoration, then she gets to do all of the decorating. Between work, family activities, camping in the Scamp, and life in general, progress has been pretty slow.

The trailer was in really bad shape when we got it. The shell had several puncture holes, the interior was trashed, and i didn't know that a person could drill so many "extra" holes in a trailer (I think that the previous owner must have drilled a new hole in it every time that he used it).

[Isaac M]

I knew that it was going to be a lot of work and that I was going to learn a lot. I'm definitely learning more than I thought I would!

I first checked the appliances. Thankfully, everything worked! I then ripped everything out of the interior and began scrubbing...and scrubbing...and then I scrubbed a whole bunch more. There was a previous thread that I posted about literally scrubbing the entire surface of the ensolite with an electric scrubber the size of a toothbrush...several times! It cleaned up nicely.

[Isaac M]

I then took the wheels off of it and pushed it in the garage. Work was insanely busy for the next year, so no real progress happened on it (and I used to laugh at the people that started restoring an old car, only to have it sit in their garage for years ).

This last fall (2011), I was able to get started on the body work before the weather turned wet. We removed the belly band, ground and pulled out all of the steel retainer pieces (I think that there were over 70 of them). We'd decided to permanently remove the heater since we've never used the propane heater in the 7 years of using our Scamp, and storage space is a premium. I then started my first attempt at cosmetic fiberglass body work: filling the punctures in the shell, filling the belly band, and filling the hole where the heater was. Thankfully, the boys like to help on the trailer (Barak removed the belly band).

[Isaac M]

I had a local boat repair shop color the gel coat for me in January. While talking with them, I found out that they were incredibly slow waiting for boat season. I had them quote finishing the body work and applying the gel coat. They came in at about 1/3 of the cost that they would normally charge, and it would probably save me a year (or more) or work. Cheri and I decided that it was worth giving them the business, so I put the wheels back on it and towed it down to them (just as the snow flakes were starting to fall...literally). I had them do more work and completely remove the belly band. They did a great job getting it all contoured.

[Isaac M]

I'm now working on rebuilding the windows. The corrosion (white growth and pitting) is more difficult to clean up than I anticipated. After lots of elbow grease and different chemicals and polishes, I bought a bench polisher and am in the process of completely disassembling each window (including every piece around each piece of glass) in order to get the corrosion off. They do polish up nicely and I'm probably the only person insane enough to literally have highly polished window frames on a Trillium. This will most likely take me a few months to complete...so it will probably be a while before I post much more that is worthy of being considered progress!

[Gina D.]

Nice! I just did a giant patch like that where the Winegard Antenna was. Yours is prettier tham mine :-)

Fortunately, my big patch is on the roof and I hope no one will ever see it :-P

[Donna D.]

Wow Isaac! Looks like you're making good progress, even if slow. But you know perfection takes time?

I can't believe how tall Barak is getting. Now he gets to play with the full size logo!

[Thomas G.]

Awesome work and what a great idea to give the boat shop off season work. A win-win!

It is sad to see these neat little trailers abused, but so great to see one come back to life.

[itlives]

Nice work Isaac!
It is a lot of work bringing these back to life. I am doing some things to mine but not anything like you're doing.
I had jalosie windows in my VW camper and cleaned them up a bit, but would never take them apart unless they didn't work properly!
I'm glad you mentioned about cleaning the interior. What cleaner did you use?

[RRJR]

Nice work Isaac !!
I have a 75 also and wish it looked like yours (on outside) My inside is pretty good, only 1 upper corner emsolite needs refitting. Some one said there may be a sourse for the ceiling trim & trim chanel availibe from Outback/Trillium in Calgary, hope this comes thru.
Keep up with the good work and showing us progress.
Ron

[itlives]

I talked to Tom of Trillium California. He already has it. Here's the link to the thread I mentioned it in.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ack-49683.html
Tom is easy to get a hold of. I think I just went to their website and used the "contact us" . I haven't talked to him since because my track is good.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by itlives

I'm glad you mentioned about cleaning the interior. What cleaner did you use?

Mike, here's the topic where Isaac talked about cleaning the interior: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ean-43009.html

[D Davis]

Wow this is really hard work and such a beautiful job! Enjoy it.

[Isaac M]

Thank you everyone for your kind encouragement!

Donna...Barak is definitely getting big. He is searching for his own full size trailer to restore. I told him I'd help him buy one if he can find one that has a solid shell for $500 (he still has to pay for part of it, but I figure that will keep him searching for a while and give me time to save up a bit). So, the search is on. He really wants a 13' Scamp, so if anyone finds one...you can make a young kid really happy!

I snapped a picture of before and after polishing of the window frame pieces. The 'before' shot was been scrubbed hard with 'Flitz' aluminum pre-cleaner. This brightened the aluminum and worked better than any other cleaner I tried, but did not get rid of much of the corrosion. The polished one still has some slight pitting, but I'm probably the only one who will ever notice that. Only 19 windows to do! Now, where did I put my straight jacket?