My 13' Scamp remodel

[Kim, S]

Hi, I sent a message earlier, but after thinking about it, I thought I'd post my questions here as well. First of all, I really enjoyed your renovation, congratulations and great job! I especially liked the way you did your door, and since the rat fur on mine is old & worn, I'd like to remove it. If you don't mind, Can you give me any tips on:

1. how you stripped your door, what you used, and how long it took?
2. how you mounted the wood to the door?

Thank you, and all the best!

[Robert Johans]

LED taillights...

Thought some of you might be interested in seeing my new LED tail lights.

The original housings from Scamp are 7" in diameter—and the biggest round LEDs I could find online are these 7" school bus lights. (Given the "curvy" shape of my Scamp, I much prefer the round taillights over the rectangular...)

However, I couldn't leave well-enough alone. I wanted lights that made a bigger impression, so I added a bit of my own customization. Note the flat "flange" ring that encircles the LED housing. This is a piece of white Formica painted a reflective red and affixed to the shell. Now I have taillights that are 8.5" in diameter!


Next project: custom bumper and tire carrier...

[Robert Johans]

In case anyone is interested, here's how my new bumper turned out...

[FRED SMAILES]

Robert,,,,,,,do not be surprized if someone posts renos to the front of their
Boler 13 that look really familiar to yours!!
Your posts have solved all my problems!!
Except PROCRASTINATION. lol
Fred

[Robert Johans]

Thanks, Fred,
As you probably know, many folks have gone with a mini-dinette reno to the fronts of their trailers. But I wanted more storage, and as far as I can tell, my solution is unique. You are welcome to mimic my work. Glad to help!

[francene]

COOL Bumper, Robert! What's it made of?

Fran
74 Compact II

[Robert Johans]

COOL Bumper, Robert! What's it made of?

Fran
74 Compact II

Fran,
That's 2" tubular steel, designed and finished to match the bumpers on my Bronco.

[Danielle Ash]

In case anyone is interested, here's how my new bumper turned out...

Looks great!! I'm jealous that your trailer is so white and shiny! Really makes me see how much ours isn't! Love your pictures!

[DannyH]

Robert, I've been looking at your cabinet photo's and have a question on your piano hinges. The cabinet over the kitchen looks like the hinge is on the bottom, and the door rests open in the down position. I like this because you don't need anything to keep it open if the hinges were on top. If this is correct on your door, how did you put in your piano hinge to allow full opening of the door. If you install the hinge flush to the bottom of the door, I would think the door would only open 90 degrees before the bottom of the door would bind with the cabinet. You must have something going on that I cant see.

[Greg A]

Was this the same trailer that was just up on eBay?

[peterh]

. . . I like this because you don't need anything to keep it open if the hinges were on top. If this is correct on your door, how did you put in your piano hinge to allow full opening of the door . . .

Danny, there are two ways you can top-hinge a door and still have it stay open. One is to buy cabinet hinges that are designed with a "dent" that keeps the door open. (You can find them at Lowes or Home Depot mixed in with their other cabinet hinge offerings.) The other is to make a door support from a cheap spring (also from Lowes or Home Depot) and two small eye hooks, like this:

[Robert Johans]

Robert, I've been looking at your cabinet photo's and have a question on your piano hinges. The cabinet over the kitchen looks like the hinge is on the bottom, and the door rests open in the down position. I like this because you don't need anything to keep it open if the hinges were on top. If this is correct on your door, how did you put in your piano hinge to allow full opening of the door. If you install the hinge flush to the bottom of the door, I would think the door would only open 90 degrees before the bottom of the door would bind with the cabinet. You must have something going on that I cant see.

Danny,
You have described the mechanics of the hinge correctly— and indeed, I cannot get a full 180° rotation. But I come close enough.

It's kinda hard for me to describe in words, and I hope I got this right, but here goes: the barrel of the hinge is proud of the cabinet face by about 1/8" and the thickness of my cabinet door is 3/8". The difference is 2/8 or 1/4". So my door drops down (and binds) to within 1/4" of the full 180°.

In other words, based upon the height of my 6" doors, and if I've done the math right, my doors swing open about 176°. (Whew! That's more geometry than I've had to pull out of my hat for quite a while!)

[DannyH]

Peter, thanks for the hinge idea. When closing do you have to give the spring a push from the side to close the door, or does pushing down on the door bend the spring enough to close. I found the stamped metal at lowes that you used and plan on useing a combination of roberts holes and your screen idea for the doors. My wife gets bruises so easy that cabinets without hardware in such a small place looks like the way to go.

Robert, thanks for the response. I understand what saying, I'm surprised that the door comes down that much. I did notice that your lower cabinet doors looked slightly pushed out, which must be from your proud 1/8" beyond the face that you explained.

[Donna D.]

I like KISS mods. One of the easiest to solve the problem of keeping cupboard doors in the up position I've seen was done by MichaelT on the CasitaForum. A simple notched piece of wood placed around the hinge. The wood rides inside the cupboard until needed, grabbed and placed... done.

Sorry, ya gotta be a member of CasitaForum to view this topic:
Cabinet Door Lift Mod

Besides being simple, it's free!

[peterh]

Peter, thanks for the hinge idea. When closing do you have to give the spring a push from the side to close the door, or does pushing down on the door bend the spring enough to close.

To close the door you just kinda "bump" the spring with your thumb and the weight of the door closes it. I used the spring support idea on the original Scamp upper cabinet doors until we replaced them with "dent" types hinges on the new uppers I made last year. They work really well.

We considered having the doors hinge downward, by the way. Having them hinge downward has a couple advantages, like stuff that's fallen forward onto the door while you're towing not coming crashing down when you open the door. On the downside, doors hinged on the bottom tend to be at the perfect height to collide with one's forehead. We chose an upward swing . . .

Good luck with your doors!

[cyndi H]

Just got back from my first NOG, which commenced at Stub Stewart State Park, Oregon. Had a great time meeting folks from this forum and showing off my work on my Scamp.

I picked up this 1988 this past June. It was in relatively good shape, but I wanted to make it uniquely mine. Here are a few pics of the upgrades and changes I've made. Please feel free to comment or ask questions, if you have any. Cheers!

can you tell me all about the shower? I'm trying to think of an optimal way of doing one that doesnt require 'shore' water. It looks great by the way.Thanks.

[Robert Johans]

can you tell me all about the shower? I'm trying to think of an optimal way of doing one that doesnt require 'shore' water. It looks great by the way.Thanks.

Lotsa places carry outdoor RV showers. I found mine at a local RV retail store. There are many options online as well.

I installed mine just below my porch light, with all the fittings inside my vertical cabinet. My 6-gallon hot water heater sits below the shower, below the belly band. The entire trailer was re-plumbed with PEX to provide hot and cold water to both the galley sink and the shower.

To answer your specific question, when not "hooked up", water is provided by my on-board 10-gal tank via a Shur-Flo water pump. (FYI: A one-way valve prevents city water pressure from back-filling my tank.) You must have an appropriately strong water pump to deliver enough pressure from the tank to the shower for it to function properly. And obviously, one 10-gal tank will not provide many showers, but as long as you have a ready "refill" source available, much bathing can be had.

[Pam Garlow]

EXCELLENT job! My favorite details is one of the littlest and that is the clock on the cabinet door. I assume you just drilled through the door, mounted the clock movement on the back, and the hands/numbers on the front. It's brilliant - I just might do that on mine too!

[Mustang Josi]

Perhaps I missed this but how did you do the door? What wood and attachment methods did you use? I am re-doing my 1981 Casita and I LOVE what you did!

[Ice-breaker]

Originally Posted by Mustang Josi

Perhaps I missed this but how did you do the door? What wood and attachment methods did you use? I am re-doing my 1981 Casita and I LOVE what you did!

This is a pretty old thread that you are responding to Josi. The most recent previous post was made in 2010!