Scamp 13-Reborn to Run

[NDorion]

Hello and welcome to my journey.

Like so many others here I've seem to have been bitten by the fiberglass bug.

My wife and I first learned about these little eggs during a causal lake side discussion with some family a few years ago. Needless to say this lead to a bit of googling and we stumbled into the scene.

My wife loved their cute rounded shapes and all the personalized decorating touches, while I was taken by the light weight, durability and simplicity of nearly seamless construction.

We decided, should the opportunity arise, we would jump in and grab an egg of our own. But, being a bit stingy, I wasn't willing to shell out the kind of money I soon found it took to get one in ready to camp condition.

One day, some months after I had resigned myself to the fiber life being nothing more than a fun day dream, I absent mindedly typed "Scamp" into my local craigslist search. To my surprise, a local woman had posted one for sale that morning in my town. It was listed as a project, with the PO before her having entirely gutted the shell, while preserving all the furnishings and cushions. She had bought it expecting to do the restoration herself, but after sitting untouched in the single garage stall included with her apartment for a year, she decided to pass it on to another starry eyed dreamer.

Knowing even then that these trailers sold fast, I called right away and when she said she would be leaving for the weekend in two hours, I told her I would be over ASAP. I then cut out of work early, swung by the bank for an envelope of cash, and then back home praying the battery in the 97 Dodge Dakota I only drive to and from the home improvement store wouldn't be dead.

I made it to her place with about 20 minutes to spare and after a quick walk around and a run to the nearby gas station for a can of fix-a-flat, I soon had it hooked to the bumper, rolling toward home with a bungee cord keeping the door from flying too far open.

[NDorion]

Here are the earliest four pictures I have of our egg.

I didn't think to take any until after I had already decided to and went ahead with, pulling the body of the frame.

The first two are simply outside views, while the next two are from the interior as I was putting the jigsaw pieces back together, trying to get a feel for the original layout.

Again, the two ago PO, had gutted everything, so when I brought her home all the interior components were randomly strewn/stacked throughout the inside.

[Borrego Dave]

Welcome to FGRV Trever, funny how the FG bug can bit someone . Be sure to post pics as you go along.

[lisantica]

So glad you found one! Pics please when you can.

[MurrayC]

Good on you Trever.
I'm just finishing a 1976 Ventura I bought last fall.
Going on a maiden voyage to Port McNeil on Vancouver Island next week to go halibut fishing. Need I say why I bought it. Go and Enjoy

[Tom 72]

Lisa, Nice to see your post. Hadn't seen you in a while.

[NDorion]

I tried posting and editing a follow up to my first item, but either I messed it up somehow, or it was overlooked by the moderators.

I'm not sure if the down arrow envelope symbol on my threads is for when I have a post in for review or if it means something else entirely.

Anyways, here goes again. Hopefully you will now see two exterior photos and two rough interior shots.

As mentioned the two ago PO had gutted it to the shell, so when I pulled her home all the interior pieces were stacked and spread loosely inside. This was my first time putting the puzzle back together to get a feel for the original layout.

I don't have any pics of the way it rolled into my yard, as I didn't think to start documenting until after I had already pulled the body off the frame.

[Borrego Dave]

Don't know about anyone else Trevor but all I'm seeing of your pics are squares with X's.

[NDorion]

Yeah I don't get it. I figured I would use Google to host, after seeing others whose links failed when their hosting companies changed or closed.

My test links in the "Hi I Am" thread worked, but I can't seem to get them to show up here.

I am going to try the upload option next, but I'm doing everything from my phone, so we will see.

[NDorion]

Ok so here I go again. This time I tried the direct upload.

One exterior, one interior

[NDorion]

Looks like direct upload worked, at least I am now seeing the pics in the preview.

So here are two more angles, once again interior and exterior

[NDorion]

To continue the story of the restoration to this point, it was deciding to pull the shell off the frame, and doing the requisite googling, which first landed me in this forum.

Unfortunately, I was in "get the information for the task at hand and get out" mode, so again I didn't do the kind of thorough photo documentation I later learned snooping on some of the wonderful resto threads here.

With the shell removed, I set to work cleaning and modifying the frame. The rust was pretty minimal, so the wire wheel had the bare spots and lose paint taken care of in pretty quick order.

With the small interior volume and no idea the size of TV I would end up hauling with, I decided to add a receiver hitch for the flexibility to add a cargo rack out the back. In addition to notching out and welding the tube to the bumper, I added a 2" angle iron cross member.

I then cleaned off all the grinding dust and primed the frame, before applying a final coating of Herculiner, a roll/brush on pickup bed liner product. I figured this would stand up well to the rocks and road salt, plus as it bonds to itself, I shouldn't have to worry about chips or flakes.

You may also notice my egg didn't come with and rear stabilizers, something I learned was a necessity the first time I stepped into the dinette area while unhooked from the TV.

I didn't like the aesthetics of drop stabilizers off the bumper, nor the bulk of the scissor jacks found commonly on stickies, so I went with what was a bit more expensive route. I chose a pair of BAL RV "C" jacks. The link is to a current Amazon posting, but if I recall correctly I ended up buying mine elsewhere, as I went with the 17" versions not listed on Amazon. I like the clean lines of these and the fact that while closed for travel the jack screw is encased by the interlocking channels, reducing the amount of grime which can spray up into the mechanism.

Welding a pair of tabs to the crossbar I added with the hitch mod gave me a perfect place to mount the new stabilizers. This also moves them a bit forward under the dinette area reducing leverage loads in the frame vs a bumper based location.

[Paul O.]

Welcome to the forum, Orion!
Judging from your approach, we are going to see a beauty of a Scamp here in a few months.
What is the finish you applied to the frame after brushing the rust off?

[NDorion]

Originally Posted by Paul O.

Welcome to the forum, Orion!
Judging from your approach, we are going to see a beauty of a Scamp here in a few months.
What is the finish you applied to the frame after brushing the rust off?

Thanks Paul, It's been more than a few months already, and I likely won't have it "Done" for years.

1. Because I am going to take the advice I picked up here to get it out and get it camping, before making drastic mods.
2. Because I know that while it's mine, I will always tinker on it.

For the undercoat I used a basic Rustoleum metal metal primer, the top coat is Herculiner which I picked up at Menards during their 11% off sale and with a $20 manufacturers mail in rebate.

[RussL]

Nice work Paul!

I think you'll like the BAL stabilizers. I used them on my Boler and they've been great.

Russ

[Paul O.]

Originally Posted by RussL

Nice work Paul!

I think you'll like the BAL stabilizers. I used them on my Boler and they've been great.

Russ

I think you meant Trever.
Paul

[NDorion]

So I have begun another element on the scamp restoration. This one was entirely the result of my travels here on the forum and while I therefore have seen others undertake it, I am going to give it a twist and try a solution that is new to me at least.

When preparing to remove the shell from the frame, my first step was to remove the door. I recall lifting it from the hinges the first time with some strain and thinking, "wow I didn't realize fiberglass was this heavy". Only after seeing it here did I realize the problem was water which had past the window seal and became trapped between the inner and outer fiberglass layers of the door.

No wonder door fitment and sag is such a common problem, mine must have weighed 80 lbs (36kg)

In my first photo you can see the tools I assembled to begin the task of lightening the door. I should mention, I had already removed the rat fur inner carpeting and edge trim. Drilling out a few rivets and a couple minutes skinning the rat with a utility knife made quick work of that step.

Next I used the grinder and cutoff wheel to cut through the sides of the two layers. I chose to cut here because a wanted each half to maintain a vertical lip of fiberglass to help it keep the original curve. With my cut completed, I began to work my way around the edge with two long flat screw drivers. Working a each in just a little at a time and leap frogging one over the next. I soon found it was best to work then down, toward the outer shell, then in as the adhesion was stronger on the inner fiberglass half.

After 10 minutes and three times around, driving the blades deeper with each pass, I split my door in two, revealing the buffalo board and plywood strips within. Again, you can see how nearly all the material has stuck to the inner half while the outer is relatively clean.

[NDorion]

As the outer shell had pulled away so nicely, I tackled it first, swapping the wire brush onto my grinder and making quick but dirty work of the residual inner material.

By the way, this is one of the cheap grinders from Harbor Freight, whose Canadian contemporary seems to be Princess Auto. I paid $10 for it nearly five years ago. Money well spent.

As I was cleaning the edges of the outer shell in preparation for the eventual reunion with its inner half, I found evidence of the door having been rehung, in the form of two other sets of hinges holes.

I had previously noted what looked like some later glass work on the interior of the shell ceiling, just at the hinge side corner of the door. My current theory is, at some time in the past, my egg may been cracked by a falling branch or other misfortune. A PO appears to repaired the crack and gel coat, so it's hard to notice anything from the outside.

With the outer half complete, my attention turned to the inner. As you see, this is where everything was adhered. One can tell how during the manufacturing, the outer shell was sprayed and had begun to cure in the mold, then the strips of brown buffalo board and plywood were laid in, before finally being slathered over with the inner fiber layer.

Here was all my water weight. The bottom half of the door, below the ply which reinforces the handle area was soaked. And this was after the trailer had been inside for at least 3 years. I started out using the hand scraper, before realizing I had a much better tool for the job. Pictures is another Harbor Freight gem, my oscillating tool. If you do even occasional DIY or restoration projects and don't have this type of tool definitely pick one up. Once you have it, you will find yourself using it on nearly every project. This one was $35 with a coupon from the back of a magazine and came with a case and attachments for cutting, sanding, & scraping.

With this tool I was able to remove all the nasty material, and cut out a rotted section of plywood where the handle leaked in about 40 minutes. This half then got its turn with the wire wheel.

Next up will be the construction of a jig to maintain the proper curve as I re-join the two halves and work on the replacement for the original particle board. This is where my ideas will be explained, so hopefully wife, weather, and infant daughter all work in concert for me to make a few more hours progress this weekend.

[Paul O.]

So many people have seen what you call the "buffalo board" soaked in water and swelled up. Why don't they create two or three channels made up of layup fiberglass, going vertically to keep the curve. And use one of many possible waterproof materials to maintain the spacing. Some cheap closed cell foam would be a better sacrificial material than the particle board.

[fofobraselio]

Looking great!

Really like the look of your frame and the idea of built in C jacks. That will definitely become a future mod with my build.

I look forward to following your reno and seeing your trailer come to life

Nice work,

Mark