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Old 09-13-2012, 04:40 PM   #21
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Name: Cathy
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Florida
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update

We got the shell off. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!! bent the spare tire bracket then 4 of us lifted it off of the frame.

The frame is being worked on by a friend, (what a friend!) The frame isn't crooked any more - glad we went to the extra trouble of having that done. There were broken welds that couldn't be seen till the frame was out and examined on both sides. Almost finished with that bit

The ridge of fiberglass that held the floor to the shell has been ground off in preparation for reattaching, Hubby has been dremeling out the rivet holes, (Ozzy has the chicken pox)!

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding to go!

We have done a few rivet hole repairs and are feeling much more comfortable with the fiber glass process. Still more prep work to do inside the shell before we get down to business with the glass work.
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Old 09-13-2012, 04:51 PM   #22
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forgot to add pics

frame and chicken pox
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Old 09-13-2012, 06:07 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by Cat futrell View Post
We got the shell off. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!! bent the spare tire bracket then 4 of us lifted it off of the frame.

The frame is being worked on by a friend, (what a friend!) The frame isn't crooked any more - glad we went to the extra trouble of having that done. There were broken welds that couldn't be seen till the frame was out and examined on both sides. Almost finished with that bit

The ridge of fiberglass that held the floor to the shell has been ground off in preparation for reattaching, Hubby has been dremeling out the rivet holes, (Ozzy has the chicken pox)!

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding to go!

We have done a few rivet hole repairs and are feeling much more comfortable with the fiber glass process. Still more prep work to do inside the shell before we get down to business with the glass work.
Cathy, We too bought a "fixer" though we knew it had more to do than what you thought yours would, it still had more than we expected. We might have backed out if we'd known.. The good thing is now you will really know that things are right when you are done and no worrying later. Our frame had cracks clear thru that we would not have found if we had not taken it off the frame. Even the leaf springs were cracked! We are like you and had to rebuild everything (and are still working on it!) We did reinforce/rebuild the frame replacing sections with new steel and extended the tongue. I console myself with the thought that even if we had got one we thought was road ready, we might have got a few nasty surprises. We have put in all new flooring too. The tricky part for us was putting it back on the frame. If you do change any of the frame make sure it isn't going to cause a conflict with your shell. We took pics and measurements to the welder and he did an excellent job, but still he changed something and it affected how easy the two fit again. My hubby and I are looking at this as a bonding experience. We are working together on it (prepare us for the small sleeping arrangements) Good luck on your Love Bug. I am looking forward to camping in our trailer one day...maybe sometime in Oct. (even if it isn't completely finished )
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Old 09-13-2012, 06:43 PM   #24
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I have. It forgot about you hope it's not too late I'll get the floor pics tommorow.... Looking good, You will appreciate it even more, I know as we both probably still itch from classing how comforting that is :-)
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Old 09-13-2012, 08:23 PM   #25
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....... I am looking forward to camping in our trailer one day...maybe sometime in Oct. (even if it isn't completely finished )
It doesn't need to be perfect, only perfect for you. More than one person has camped in a "hard sided tent" and had a great time... I hope you find the same memories... they will last you a lifetime.

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Old 09-13-2012, 10:04 PM   #26
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It doesn't need to be perfect, only perfect for you. More than one person has camped in a "hard sided tent" and had a great time... I hope you find the same memories... they will last you a lifetime.

Thanks Donna. I totally agree. We are going to try to get down to the Fall NOG. If only for the day to meet and greet. We may be in the middle of moving our kids (down to Albany) at that time, so we can't commit to the weekend until things have been worked out. I saw that they have first come spaces in the other section and we may have to go with that. So hoping to meet a few fellow FGRVer's
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Old 09-15-2012, 06:50 AM   #27
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Look forward to meeting you Tania. If you can't make it for camping, drop in anytime during the weekend
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Old 09-15-2012, 09:35 AM   #28
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Donna,

Great perspective. It is too easy to get caught up in the mess of it all and loose sight of the original goal.

Thanks,
Cathy
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Old 09-15-2012, 10:04 AM   #29
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Oh, the door.. while sanding, scraping, sanding and sanding we realized that the top of the doorway has been completely redone by a PO. I originally thought it was just reinforced with additional glass from the inside. The unpleasant paint job camouflaged the rough unsanded glass work on the outside of the door frame.

The door was ill-fitting when we brought him home but we attributed that to the poor condition of the door. We will have to make repairs to the door and reshape the bottom but now my concern is that the intended configuration has been obscured by the PO repair and the curve of the top of the door opening may be "messed up". I am not a purist and this is not intended to be a "restoration" but doors scare me a little. I'm going to get out the dremmel and try to shape the top of the door opening to match the recess of the parts of the door that weren't previously "repaired". Hopefully it wont come to this but any suggestions on reshaping or bending doors without causing swing problems will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Cathy
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Old 09-25-2012, 05:15 PM   #30
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Fossils?

Ok, maybe not fossils but while stripping paint today, I discovered a footprint on the dinette seat. It has been there since before there was any paint.

The stripper that I used only removes paint so all of the dirt, cigarette smoke residue, rust, scuffs, dirt, dirt, did I mention dirt, was left behind once the old (at least 4 layers) paint was removed. Most of it wipes off with just water.

This little doggie footprint was the chuckle that I needed while trying to figure out why someone wouldn't even wipe off the surface dirt befor painting. I know that when you own something you can do whatever you want to it, somehow doesn't help the frustration... but the footprint did.

The frame is done, we will probably lift the shell on by Thursday. I'm still thinking about ways to make this step a little simpler. May glass blocks around the perimeter of the skirt at the right height, and screw the floor to those to glass it in.

Anyway, here's the footprint.
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Old 09-25-2012, 06:00 PM   #31
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That's funny! I have to apologize seeing your post reminded me that I forgot to get the picture you requested..... I am sorry. Sounds like its too late. I've been slammed,just found out my wife is pregnant again so I've been taking care of our other while she is not well, working, cleaning, cooking, and trying to finish the camper ( needs a name ) boy I'm ready to camp!
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Old 10-02-2012, 05:55 PM   #32
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update

Spent the weekend trying to get the floor to fit onto the frame and into the shell. Finally got the floor in the right place and put first layer of fiberglass today. May do another layer tonight if we can get some light out there. The window gasket was delivered today and the flex-trim is in as well. Hubby is purchasing the plexiglass right now.

I took the rear side windows apart to replace the plexi so will be cleaning them up as well.
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Old 10-02-2012, 06:41 PM   #33
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Wow, you're moving along in jigtime! You and your husband are a pair of tough hombres, Cathy.

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Old 10-02-2012, 09:12 PM   #34
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Wow. Lots of hard work, but now that it's coming back together, it's getting exciting!
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Old 10-14-2012, 05:49 PM   #35
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update

Repaired wheel wells this week and installed; the floor is finished all the way around, yaaay! NOT... I didn't figure correctly and made a mistake calculating the placement of the passenger side wheel well. The door didn't fit!!! So, wheel wells in, wheel well out, wheel well back in.

Had to cut the shell away from the floor, from the door to the center back. Sure am glad its fiberglass...! Have things put back together now, glassed in enough to hold things in place will try to get that side completely secured tomorrow.

The tarp came down last weekend and water ran down the side of the little guy. We had the expected water drips at the windows but discovered some new drips too. It seems that the belly band seam has been leaking. So, I started grinding out a bad place on the driver side, thinking to myself (I need to redo this whole belly band seam) oops, almost had a panic attack. I got a little to zealous with the grinder and went through the shell a little bit, just above the seam..... Scarey..!! So I clamped the 4 foot section (way too much for me to take out at one time) and got fresh fiberglass on that. Whew, scared myself, allot!!!!!!!!!!

Hubby just finished grinding out the rest of the belly band bad spots. He is much better at grinding than I am (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)! I have decided that the rest of the belly band is just fine.

He also has finished stripping and sanding all of the furniture.

I am ashamed to say that we took back one of the pieces of pleiglass that we bought and I paid a window guy to cut and install the front and back windows. I had the gasket so that saved a little. They are beautiful.. would have waited if we knew that we were going to be grinding in there again. Tried covering them but makes it too dark for me to work. Will wait till we are all finished then figure out how to clean them without scratching.

Have reassembled the side windows but will wait till later to put them in, or we won't get much ventilation while still doing fiberglass.

Camping this month isn't looking too promising but it could still happen. We shall see!
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Old 10-14-2012, 07:15 PM   #36
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Looking good Keep up the good work .It is all comming together and will be soooo very nice to camp in your home away from home.
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Old 10-14-2012, 07:33 PM   #37
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Thanks Lynn!
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Old 11-04-2012, 10:10 AM   #38
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Update

The floor and wall are solid and the door fits properly all except for the top. It is sort of flattened out. As I stated previously, the PO did some strange repairs above the door.

The other Love Bugs that I have seen pics of have door windows, this one does not. Looks like we are going to have to try to put some curve into the upper part of the door so that it doesn't catch the rain. Thinking about putting a small plexiglass window in while we are at it.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Cathy
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Old 11-14-2012, 01:54 PM   #39
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Update

Dry fit the furniture and got the blocks installed to secure to shell. ran 12v wires and glassed them to the shell. Found some ensolite locally. (got a bargain) Need to make a wooden brace for the hinge side of the door and get that glassed in place, then ensolite!

Well, here we go again. This past weekend when I really got serious about trying to reshape the door we discovered that it is wood. Well, that's another story (looks like we are going to have a boat builder help us with a new door) anyway - while I was sitting behind the camper with my chin on my knuckles and my elbows on my knees, trying to get a grip I noticed...

From where I was sitting looking from the rear of the camper toward the front that the shell looked (not right). The shell bent in behind the wheel well and then out just at the back of the wheel well. How did I miss this before now??

It appears that I pushed the wheel well, out too far, and then just behind it, in too far when I re-fiberglassed it the last time.

Today, I finally dragged myself out there to do what must be done. Yup, I cut the sides of the thing open again. Hubby thinks I'm obsessing. After all this work I want it to be as good as I can possibly make it. Took some pics.

First two show the problem with the sides,
Next two show my nice neet wheel wells from the inside, all primed and pretty.
Last two show my next project (spreading the floor from the shell properly and then getting it glassed back in).
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DSCN9623.jpg   DSCN9624.jpg  

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Old 01-15-2013, 02:51 PM   #40
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Name: Cathy
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update

It's been a while since an update. Not much to report for the past few (maybe 6) weeks... coming off of a fibromyalgia flair and being swallowed up by the holidays we are slowly getting started again.

After my freak out about the wooden door I am gaining some perspective.

Have cut the sides open again to spread the body, sanding, cleaning, then re-glassing still tweaking body work. Plan to work on the door this week if the weather holds. (It has been in the 80's here this week. Unseasonably warm but nice to work in.)

I heeded advice of some of my friends here at FGF and the inserted a piece of plywood just inside the hinge side of the door to add support. Fiberglassed that piece in too. Still have some finish work to do, plan to do that when I do the doorway exterior.

We started installing our ensolite Saturday. Uggh! Not hard to put up just requires lots of thought and measuring. Using 3M 90 spray adhesive. So far so good. We didn't get to far this weekend but I think now that we are set up and have a system down it will go a little faster. We have been trying to butt the pieces up together as close together as possible but after looking at it today I am wondering if we should have left a space on purpose to hold the caulk

I will attach pics below.

I sat in there on Saturday covering the windows befor we started spraying adhesive thinking about going to North Carolina in the spring. There isn't much joy in things right now just trying to trudge through. Hope the inspiration returns soon.
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