the story of Rucio

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by jen b

These things are never really DONE-done, are they?

Not as long as you own it. (or It owns you...)

[monasimpson]

Good going. Refer to 1990 Casita Redo on Feb 13,2011 I began the process, and had experts finish it up. Enjoyed recycling and bargain shopping. I am still "fooling around" by incorporating ideas of RV Camping enthusiasts. Next time you come to WI, stop in Cedarburg. mona simpson

[Andy B]

Jen, you have made a lot of great progress with the Burro! I have a question about the floor. In post #9 you mentioned that you had a new floor installed and they took the body off the frame to install it. In post #33 you showed a picture of the smoothed up floor and that looks like the original floor to me. Could you explain what was done, did they leave the existing floor in place and put a layer of plywood between the frame and the old floor?

Thanks, Andy

[monasimpson]

Originally Posted by jen b

Fran, good luck with your sewing! My feeling about the matter is that I won't learn if I don't do it myself, and not being a perfectionist I'm usually satisfied enough with what spits out of my sewing machine.

I spent the past weekend back in Pittsburgh working on lil' Rucio. We made a ton of progress, though were delayed when the RV place didn't finish their stuff on schedule. I got the camper back a full day later than anticipated, which put a big dent in my ability to get everything done that I wanted to do. A bummer particularly because I'd taken friday off work and then ended up twiddling my thumbs for part of the day. But at least the RV place got most of the things they'd agreed to do finished. There were a few things they didn't get to, but the stuff that DID get done was done nicely.

I forgot to take a photo of the exterior work - the new floor and the paint job on the frame. I'll try to remember that this weekend when I go back to work on it some more.

So, another parade of photos coming up.

I started with putting my drop-leaf table together. I used two basic hinges to let the drop part drop, and my solution to keeping the drop side up was to get some door pull handle thingies through which I would feed some small boards cut to fit snugly.

I need to come up with a solution to the inevitable scuffing up that is going to happen under there, but haven't figured that out yet.

Pictured here are two views of the table, with and without the supports, as well as the moment I finally wrestled Rucio away from the RV place.

Recently I had a new table top made. To secure two leaves tog., the cabinet maker used the closure hardware that normally is used to hold a double hung window closed. Mounted on the underside, the leaves are tightly matched when the hardware is in closed position.

Your cushion covers look fine. If there is a next time, cut the covers slightly smaller than the foam. Wrapping drycleaning plastic bags over the foam, when you get ready to stuff them in, makes the job an easy one. Foam expands when you pull out the dry cleaning bags. No wrinkles!
I learned" how" during upholstry classes ar a local Tech. College. After I learned how to do everything the correct way, I figured out to cut corners and still get good results.

When making a pillow cover, the "rabbit ears" that result at each corner will disappear, if all the corners are tapered instead of cut true "square."A small triangle , 4" x 4 and 1/4" x 1/2", taken off each side of the corner is the solution.

My finished cushions are shown in The Casita 1990 Redo 2/16/11

[jen b]

Mona, thank you for sewing tips! My formal sewing training was limited to 7th grade home ec class.....a looooong time ago.

Originally Posted by Andy B

Jen, you have made a lot of great progress with the Burro! I have a question about the floor. In post #9 you mentioned that you had a new floor installed and they took the body off the frame to install it. In post #33 you showed a picture of the smoothed up floor and that looks like the original floor to me. Could you explain what was done, did they leave the existing floor in place and put a layer of plywood between the frame and the old floor?

Thanks, Andy

Andy, you've got it. We left the old floor, and put a new one between the old floor and the frame. The old floor was riddled with screw holes and deteriorated in a bunch of places, but taking it out altogether would have been a pretty complicated job due to how it's stuck between the molds.

The new floor is 3/4 inch treated plywood that has been additionally waterproofed on the up-side, and then sprayed with that substantial rubbery liner stuff on the underside and up around the visible edges.

The new floor was screwed into the old floor, and that whole assembly had stainless steel bolts run through the frame. So the interior smoothing up had to do with whacking off the sharp tips of any screws from the underside, and smooshing down any bolts that didn't get sufficiently driven down from the top.

[Andy B]

Jen, thanks for the description of the floor repair. As far as I know it is a new method of adding strength to a floor, others have done partial or full floor replacements or added another layer of plywood on the inside. Be sure to let us know how it holds up over time.

[jen b]

Andy, I'll keep everyone apprised. I feel like it's a pretty solid plan, and I really like the idea of the rhino liner, even though it adds a bit of weight. It should in theory protect the floor quite well from getting wet.

I finally got my weekend photos off the camera. Et voila....


First a couple of exterior shots. In the first you can sort of, possibly, see the black (rhino-linered) edge of the new floor.

The second is just an additional view of the brown-painted wheels. My RV guy was slinging paint around the frame while he had the body off, and he called me to ask if I wanted the wheels done too, and that sounded great to me. Apparently the color is called "french roast."

[jen b]

Here's how I did the tall closet. We screwed pine shelf supports from the outside walls of the closet, on which the shelves sit, not themselves screwed to anything assuming that anchoring them firmly is not a great idea with the flexing and whatnot of the trailer in motion.

We put front lips on the shelves to minimize stuff flying out when the door opens. And this is hard to see in the photo, but I also lined the inside of this closet with some contact-papered reflectix just as a way of not having to stare at the raw fiberglass every time I open the door.

You can also see the gorilla tape in these photos, which I used to secure the edges of the Marmoleum flooring. Because gorilla tape is black and clashes with the decor, I later did an artistic cover-up of the gorilla tape with turquoise duct tape. Yep, fancy.

[jen b]

And finally, assorted other interior photos. My mom is pretty awesome and she had a plate of cookies and a bowl of fruit on color-coordinated plates and placemats all set up when I arrived late Friday night. Hilarious. OF COURSE I camped in Rucio in my parents' driveway over the weekend.

In this set of photos I have the rear dinette area set up with the half-size table my dad and I made. Together with an additional plank it covers the dinette gap to make up the bed. Being this size makes it possible for an actual-size person to move around it. Not that I plan to use it much - I anticipate leaving the bed set up most of the time - but I thought it would be nice to have the option.

[jen b]

I have several ideas bumping around my head as to additional modifications if my dad manages to get hold of some garage space over the winter to work on it.

Apart from shoring up some fiberglass areas, I'd like to pretty up the edges of all the cabinet openings - they are all unfinished, just scratchy sawed-out hole openings. Surely that can be improved.

I'm up in the air about the refrigerator - what I have now is the AC-only Montgomery Ward dorm fridge that came with the camper. Since I've already bled out a boatload of cash on this thing, I'm going to wait and do some camping and see what emerges in terms of fridge preferences before buying a replacement, maybe for next year.

Also, I can already see the point of putting in a hatch from the outside/back of the trailer to easily access the under-rear-dinette cubbyholes when the bed is set up. I could stick things under there like folding chairs, wheel chocks, the patio mat thingie, leveling jacks, and so on. I'm figuring there must be a way to make a watertight little door flap.

The big-big maiden camping voyage is scheduled for the first two weeks of May - we are going out to Wendover, Nevada/Utah to visit a friend who's got a little not-yet-open-to-the-public USDA approved zoo (rescue animals and exotics and whatnot including a lion, a tiger, bobcats, lynx, jungle cats, fox, wolf dogs, coatamundis, and so on and so on and so on). We'll hang out and camp at the ghost-town/zoo area which I think is going to be pretty outstanding.

In the meantime I had hoped to do a quick overnight practice run on Easter weekend to Assateague Island, but other campers are more on the ball than me, and grabbed up all the sites. Alas, ponies are put on hold for now! Instead we'll run up to the Delaware State Forest in northeast PA where I did successfully reserve a free boondocking site near Thunder Swamp. If my upcoming weekend weren't getting full I'd dash over to the pine barrens in New Jersey because I'm just dying to get out camping now.

[Vickie B.]

So beautiful and classy!

[Sheryl M]

What an awesome looking camper. Maybe I'll get to see it in person one of the days. It's got real style.

[francene]

Nice work, Jen and family! Now you've got a fresh, clean, tuned-up trailer ready to go camping. There's always things to improve or tweak, and that's fun too, for some of us.

Have a great time using it!

Fran
(just finished all my cushions, yeah! Your enthusiasm was contagious)
74 compact II

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by jen b

Apart from shoring up some fiberglass areas, I'd like to pretty up the edges of all the cabinet openings - they are all unfinished, just scratchy sawed-out hole openings. Surely that can be improved.

I've heard others complain about the same thing in other brands. You might want to consider something like Scamp uses, I'm sure you could get it elsewhere too: White Mini Trim For Cabinets (Price Per Ft), slips over the raw edges.

Have fun camping!

[jen b]

Thanks, guys! I'm super happy with how it has transformed.

Donna, many thanks for the link to those Scamp trims! That looks like just what I need.

[Vickie B.]

Yea, Donna, thanks for putting in the info about the trim! I've been googling and looking everywhere (guess not in the right places!) As usual, you came to the rescue!

Vickie

[Donna D.]

Group... there are two kinds of cabinet trim. One is rigid, the other more flexible. I'd call Scamp to see which one you really want.

Glad I could help

[Randy Bishop]

Could use trimlock it comes in black or white, found this roll on E-bay and was going to buy it but forgot whrn it was ending and let it get by me. This was a steal.....
SNAP-ON TRIM EDGING WHITE 80/FT ROLL | eBay

[steve dunham]

Try an electrical supply house . They have edging for use on pull boxes and electrical panels to stop conductors from cutting and shorting out on metal edges . They have a spring steel clamp inside a fabric cover which you drive over a raw edge and they stay in place until pounded or pryed off

[Vickie B.]

Thanks everybody for your ideas on the edge trim! Randy, using the name you supplied (Snap on trim edging) I was able to Google, and found just what I need and in different colors! Now I just need to measure how much I need!