He gutted the trailer!

[Gwenn]

After a couple years of looking we had a little adventure & did a 2am to 930 pm round trip to pick up our "new to us" 86 Cadet. It took some creative use of our finances and on first look we knew we had a project ahead of us. There I was thinking ... scrub with TSP, rip MapTack off windows (up instead of curtains!!), make curtains, replace outside plastic cover thingeys on electrical cord pull-through... you know used trailer repairs. Windows need replacing, but could hold until this winter when the budget will allow but, with elbow grease, useable for the rest of the summer... The next morning DH goes out to "clean out" the trailer of all the "stuff" they'd left in it. When I go out two hours later he has the rear dinette turfed out on the grass and the fibreboard (?) ripped out of quarter of the trailer. "What are you doing honey ?!?!?" - in my sweetest voice... Apparently he didn't see it as being as useable as I did & was planning to have it ready for "maybe the May long weekend"! After judicious negotiations we're now aiming for an autumn inaugural tour.
Questions -
- under the fibre board was a "blanket" like the spongey/velvety blankets for on your beds... DH has heard of a spray on insulator "paint" that is R12. Any idea what the R value of the blanket stuff/fibre board was? Any experience with the paint??
- where do we go for windows??? Any advice as to which are the best types?? Crank out strips of windows or sliders?? The ones we HAVE to replace are the front and back. We want to be able to open them for the breeze, but they need to stand up to wind at travel...
- Kitchen... gone! He saved the sink, stove and cooler (a plug into car lighter type), and junked the rest. His vision included stainless steel counter top and back splash and Ikea bins for drawers... I like that... hints on where to get other parts??
- Is the order of doing: paint, replace windows, flooring, new wall coating (and/or) new fibreboard, electrical before board if it's going up, interior bits & pieces, kitchen...?
We live just east of Ottawa, Ontario and would like to buy reasonably close to avoid spending more from our hemorraging finances on shipping, and so we can see / figure out what we are buying before jumping in.
All is not lost though, DH is a shop teacher and has built several beautiful pieces of furniture for our house, as well as our designing / contracting / building / inspecting the actual house as well. He has talent, just not the amount of spare time it'll probably take to get it done on my timetable (yesterday!). After our many adventures, he continues to surprise me!

[Charlie C]

Gwenn, about your front and rear windows, are the window panels themselves shot or would a replacement of the sealing trim solve the problem.

Maybe you could post a few photos of both. From what I remember, the window sealing trim is similar to the tubular sealing trims used for auto doors and trunk lids etc. These come in many configurations and are not too hard to obtain from auto restoration specialits such as Martin MacGregor in the Hamilton area.

If the window panels are warped, a very judicious appliction of heat to warped edge areas with the application of weight or twisting forces may flatten or straighten the edges.

I don't think these window panels are something that will be too easy to find here, they may have to come from Europe.. Do a web search for "Predom" this should bring some information from Poland I Believe. Also do a search for Cadet or Captain on this forum as there have been several threads of related information.

[Mike Watters]

If I'm remembering correctly - the windows are the same (roughly) as on my Esterel (pop-up). They're a European thing.

Options might include:

Search for European caravan parts stores on the net.
Start trolling the Euro eBay sites for parts and people willing to ship to the Great White North.
Hit either trailer surplus yards or eBay here for windows of the same size (they won't be exact replacements).

The T@B trailer uses these windows - maybe you'd get lucky and they swap over.

If you are forced to buy new custom sized windows, it'll run into SERIOUS $$$. If you are able to find windows that you can make work it'll save a LOT.

Only thing I'd add at this point is that it isn't really advisable to put a glass window on the front of the trailer. There are some with built-in covers to protect the window or you could try having a piece of lexan cut and mounted (like a Boler) - won't open, but reasonably economic and looks nice.

Mike

[Gwenn]

Apparently the rear window was "broken", so the PO had removed it and screwed on a piece of plexiglass with two layers of maptack on it. The front window has an 8" crack coming in from the top edge & paralleling the top edge... I think all new windows might be the only answer. DH is looking at some of the plastic molding companies in Ottawa & seeing if they can duplicate. We'd have to provide a prototype or pay for them to make one, so I'm hoping the front & back windows are the same size. Unfortunately the PO removed the full frame for the back window.... Good news is, the shell is in good shape with just "spidering" on the exterior...

[Gwenn]

Here is a photo of what we get to work with on the rear...

[CindyL]

Shopping European ebay is kind of fun. I got a new bed and headrest for our Eurovan from Germany that way. I lined up an English ebay page with the German one and used Babelfish to help figure out what it was saying. After learning the German for headrest and bed, I could search a little easier. Luckily, the seller spoke English and was willing to ship. Kinda costly, but VW has not sold the Eurovan here since '03, so we could not get the parts here. Ebay recognizes you on the nonEnglish site and Paypal converts your money when you win.

We found the window wire for the curtains in the UHaul from the UK.


CindyL

[Donna D.]

Gwenn (and hubby), Don in Chattanooga, Tennessee has a Cadet (and a Blog going!) I remember him posting about his front window problem. You might want to check out his blog for his solution. Here's his profile, it has a link to his blog: DonInChatt