"Hard to Eggnore" is finally being worked on! - Fiberglass RV
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:22 AM   #1
Junior Member
 
Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
"Hard to Eggnore" is finally being worked on!

Hello from North Carolina! My name is Quincy and I am Charley’s daughter. After five years of contemplating we have finally gotten around to redoing our Playpac that I have dubbed the “Hard to Eggnore”. Good news is, within those past five years, I have graduated from college as a registered nurse. Which means I now have the ability to fund our Playpac redo  Since we are finally getting around to it I want to give a big shoutout to Buggeee, whose post with redo photos has been a big help to us figuring out what we need to redo and have something to compare our work to.


Now, me and my dad got this Playpac as pretty much a fiberglass shell. We didn’t have anything built in it so were rough estimating for a lot- cabinets, seating area, bathroom, etc. I plan on updating this post to include everything were working on from the floor up- yes I said floor. Together were working on taking the entire floor up down to the fiberglass shell and redoing it.
Overall we have had a lot of fun so far just doing our research and getting things together to complete our project. (Good news for everyone reading this- is I have done a lot of research and saved where I found a lot of things. I will make sure to add this information into the post so you can benefit too!) I have learned how to fiberglass, and my dad pretty much knows everything else so I get to learn a lot from him and help where I can. I’m more of the “interior designer” whereas dad is the “builder”.
Fun little side note- we own a Samba VW bus (see above photo of me and my dad) that is also in the midst of being restored. We are planning on showing both the Playpac and bus together eventually down the road, so for right now the big plan is to match all of our inside and outside color schemes for what I call a “vintage modern” look. I’ll include some pictures of the fabric and vinyl we’ve picked out so ya’ll can get a peek at the final picture.


This is a picture of our Playpac back when it was up for sale. We bought it from a very nice preacher up in the mountains of NC and it didn’t have the bubble dome, or much of the elephant skin but the fiberglass shell was in great condition- and we got the cushions, stove, and sink that I believe are original to the Playpac.
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:24 AM   #2
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
Now, this little monster was to’ up from the flo’ up! This is how our floor originally looked
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:26 AM   #3
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
As you can imagine this Playpac needed a lot of tough love. The inside was also missing the dome and most of it had been painted pink where the elephant skin was missing. Here are the photos of the inside before we started working on anything.


Yes, the dome was covered with a piece of wood and caulked in- and yes we took that sucker out and ordered a dome, stay tuned for more details!
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:29 AM   #4
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
So, now you’ve seen the inside, what about the outside? I’m glad you asked, here are the beauty shots of Mrs. “Hard to Eggnore”
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:30 AM   #5
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
Ok so now you’ve been properly introduced! Time to get down to the nitty gritty. First things first, we decided to start by working on the ceiling. We wanted to order the dome due to custom building time, and we had to order some marine grade pleated vinyl to match the design we had in the top of the VW bus. This pleated vinyl is really cool- it is a retro looking design where the vinyl is padded and stitched for a nice old school look. Up to this point I had done my research and decided on a fan to be put in place of the old, smaller fan that was original to the Playpac.

This is the pleated vinyl that we matched (picture from the top of our Samba bus- normally it would be only white but it’s not in the best shape). I was able to find this through a business called “Bristol Upholstry”- you can find them on Ebay and they are located in CT, USA, but I decided to call them directly at (860)-283-8055. This led me to the owner Tanner, who offered discount shipping on the product as opposed to buying on Ebay. I was able to order 8 yards (Playpac and the bus together amount) of the 1” white marine pleated vinyl for $240 plus S+H. This stuff is pretty neat, it has a nice texture to it and I love the retro old car feel I get from it. Once we get around to actually putting it on the ceiling it will attach using 3M adhesive spray.



***I will be continuing as soon as my posts are approved, it will not let me add more at this time but i have a lot more to say
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:35 AM   #6
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Name: Myron
Trailer: Escape
New Mexico
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Welcome to the forum! Great project - keep posting them pictures.
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Old 05-10-2020, 10:51 AM   #7
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Name: Walter
Trailer: 2017 Escape 17B
SW Virginia
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Wow, what a project, and you clearly have the enthusiam to carry it through. Welcome to the whacky world of fiberglass. I love to see these oldies brought back and look forward to following your progress.


Walt
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Past owner of 1995 13' Casita, 1994 16' Casita, 2012 Parkliner, 2002 17' Bigfoot.
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Old 05-10-2020, 01:54 PM   #8
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
We also ordered the replacement bubble dome! I ordered this from EZ Tops Worldwide Inc. https://www.eztopsworldwide.com/
The dimensions I went with are as follows a clear Lexan dome with 1/8” x 26” diameter x 8” high plus 1” flange. It took about 1 month for the dome to get shipped to me, and the dome itself was about $200 and S+H was an additional $100. It came packaged with tape all around the dome- this tape had to be removed immediately after delivery. Right now I have the dome sitting in its box waiting to be installed! Here it is in all of its bubbly glory
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Old 05-12-2020, 09:05 PM   #9
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
The fan I had done quite a bit of research and finally settled on the Maxxair vent corp (https://www.amazon.com/Maxxair-00-04...9013006&sr=8-4), because it has a rainproof cover on top that is easily adjustable to open and close. In addition from the reviews it looked to have a pretty powerful fan that helps with airflow, and seemed pretty easy to install. We still have to add the adjustable base, but it needs to be cut to size. We have not caulked it in yet, but we did get it to stick with a material called Dicor BT-1834, basically it is a rubber sticky type material that can form fit to your surface. To get the fan in we had to measure out the base and cut into our fiberglass. This was achieved with a hand saw and we decided to cut out the old fan as one whole piece. After we got it out we sanded and then placed the fan in on top of the Dicor so the edges connected with the top of the fiberglass and sealed nicely, we then added screws and screwed the fan into place.
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Old 05-14-2020, 08:00 AM   #10
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
FYI – for anyone who didn’t know your “tag” number is located under the left rear taillight on your Playpac. We still haven’t figured out what the numbers stand for, but ours had been partially scratched out! Luckily on the title we have our number and it is “SB040399”. My best guess is the 04 is the number indicating which # out of 75 our playpac is. The 03 might be the year it was made (73’) and the 99 I’m stumped on.
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Old 05-14-2020, 08:01 AM   #11
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
Now that we had the fan in place we decided to go ahead and start working on what really needed to be fixed- the floor. Due to our Playpac sitting for years and its age, it had a few leaks here and there- especially from the dome area. So our floor as you could see in the before pictures was a bit rotted. We made the decision to take up the entire floor down to the fiberglass layer and replace the plywood completely. To do this, we had to use a saw and cut small pieces into the floor and then meticulously use our chisel/hammer to then get underneath our cuts and literally hammer up the wood. Then we had to repair the fiberglass wherever it was damaged. It has been a time consuming process, but we are almost finished! We have put in 2/3 of our new floor and once we finish I will be doing a thorough cleaning of the inside with some Mold control and soap and water in preparation for our wallpaper applique!
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Old 05-14-2020, 08:04 AM   #12
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
As you can see, the floor had to be cut into those really tiny squares and then taken up. What was leftover, was a mix of fiberglass and some wood, so we had to use our sander at 80grit and sand to the fiberglass layer so that we would have an even surface to lay the wood on. Once sanded it was up to me to re-fiberglass the imperfections.
I did this using fiberglass resin (you can buy 1 gallon at Lowes for about $38) and fiberglass cloth /fiberglass matt for big holes. To use you have to follow the directions including wearing proper mask, eye protection, and gloves, and mix what you can use. I mixed in small amounts and cut my cloth to size, brushed the mixture laid the cloth on top and then re-brushed the cloth with the mixture. Once I had my cloth on I poured a bit of the resin mixture onto the surface and used a flat leveler to push my resin across the whole surface of both the fiberglass in the trailer and the wood piece that was made to go in. Then after they both had resin on them we quickly moved the piece into the trailer, fitted it into place, and bolted it to the floor to harden.




We are almost finished with the whole floor- we have about 2 feet left to take up and replace. The plywood is marine grade treated plywood that I bought at Lowes at $38 a sheet. So far I have purchased three sheets. The plywood will be sanded after its all finished and we will be laying down a sheet of vinyl to help “waterproof” our floor. We are going to run the sheet up the sides about 6” up so that any spills wont soak into the wood. I found the vinyl I was looking for at Lowes for a 12ftx7ft sheet I paid $105. (I only need about 10ftx7ft for the Playpac). Below is a picture of that pretty floor! Once we finish the floor my next plan is to clean the inside completely and order some new elephant skin to put in as wallpaper.
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Old 05-14-2020, 08:06 AM   #13
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
So our big dilemma- everyone uses the word elephant skin but when you look that up you can’t find it! So by chance when we took out the old light that was in the Playpac there was a tiny piece of elephant skin left- and it had the word “Tolex” in it. I’d happened upon a post saying something called “Nautolex” was what was originally inside as the wallpaper. So I looked it up and found my way to a website called Omnova- who only sell to companies but would provide free samples of the Nautolex. I couldn’t tell online if I needed the marine grade vinyl Nautolex flooring or the Nautolex fabric. I contacted Omnova on the telephone and they gave me the number for the person in charge of samples, Mrs. Diana. I emailed her and asked for the different samples and discovered the closest thing to the original was the Nautolex Voyager off white marine fabric. You can find this on Amazon, but I wanted to buy locally and was able to contact Omnova and ask for a distributor and that ended in me finding the Mill End Store in Fayetteville, NC. The owner, Babette, has been wonderful in helping me find fabrics and she ordered me a sample of the Nautolex to make sure it was what I wanted. This sample came in and I can attest that it is the same as elephant skin and I will be ordering this in the off white coloring for my walls.

I have the sample piece of off white Nautolex and the original piece we found pictured below!
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Old 05-14-2020, 08:09 AM   #14
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Name: Quincy
Trailer: Playpac
North Carolina
Posts: 21
Now I have the walls, ceiling, and floor planned out. We have some wiring to do before we attach the Nautolex and work on the ceiling, but my dad is in charge of that! I will help where I can and keep everyone updated. Fun teaser- I have the fabric picked out for the seat cushions! I thought it gave off a retro vibe and will be water resistant so when we finally get to go camping in this I can clean it easily! Fun thing that I just did- I bought a sewing machine that can do upholstry fabric and I am taking a sewing class and then an upholstry class! Very excited to learn how to do these things myself and redo my own cushions.



It has been our pleasure to become a part of your community and I look forward to meeting everyone in future posts! Please let me know if you have any questions or something you particularly want pictures of while we are working on this so I can include them in future posts! Excited to hear from everyone and hope everyone is staying safe during this time.


And thank you everyone who has welcomed me so far, I hope you can follow us on our journey and see the finished project! Shout out to WaltP and MyronL
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Old 05-14-2020, 08:24 AM   #15
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Name: Lesley
Trailer: Scamp
New Jersey
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Smile

I love reading about your project - can't wait to see it when it's all done! I love the fabric you chose.
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Old 05-14-2020, 10:38 AM   #16
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Name: Bob
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Looking great! Keep up the good work. I'm really enjoying all your progress!!
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Old 05-14-2020, 11:39 AM   #17
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Name: Charley
Trailer: Play-PAC
North Carolina
Posts: 12
Floor looks good

Your Dad must work hard and love you bunches to work on that awful floor. Oh yea I am your Dad and I do.
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Old 05-18-2020, 04:41 AM   #18
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Name: Carolyn
Trailer: PlayPac Hitch Hut
North Carolina
Posts: 5
Another PlayPac in NC, congrats!

So glad to know of another PP in my side of the world. I bought my little gem last October. It was a shell like yours but luckily the previous owner did all the demo and replaced the flooring. I've not done any permanent interior improvements but have had the frame sanded/painted, windows re-caulked, put in a small solar marine fan as well as having the wheels greased and electric brakes with 7-way connector installed for the anticipated NC mountain camping trips!

Thanks for great posts with useful info to help on my remodel. If you're ever around Charlotte NC, let me know and I'll give you a tour! I tow my PP with a van too, a 2015 RAM Promaster City . It's worked out great to haul/store my gear and pulls the PP with no problems.

Here are some pics I took last fall. The interior is all temporary (my bed are 2 white resin loungers stacked for added height!) I put outdoor carpet on the floor, led string lights and tension rods for curtains. Very cosy and easy to breakdown when traveling!

Good luck and keep the posts coming!! Click image for larger version

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Old 05-20-2020, 01:03 PM   #19
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Name: Charley
Trailer: Play-PAC
North Carolina
Posts: 12
Qbird needs lights

Does anyone have any original Taillights or running lights they are not using and would sell. She needs two red running lights and one taillight without license light. Bargman 50 and bargman 70 are the series.
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Old 05-20-2020, 01:22 PM   #20
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Trailer: Scamp 13 ft
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Lights ?

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Originally Posted by Ccoghill View Post
Does anyone have any original Taillights or running lights they are not using and would sell. She needs two red running lights and one taillight without license light. Bargman 50 and bargman 70 are the series.



Unless you are going to try to make it original for a Trailer Museum, i would get newer LED lights. Available in lots of sizes and shapes, cheap, and WAY brighter and better than original ! YMMV ! ( Your mileage may vary ) David in Fresno and Sonora.
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