I am on a sabbatical from my teaching job- which is allowing me to spend lots of time out working on the Shasta. It is proving relaxing to me- believe it or not- and I am enjoying figuring out how to best solve the myriad of challenges that come up along the way. I find myself just standing and staring often- contemplating what to tackle next. Does the mind good :)
Wall and Ceiling Paneling:
The original walls in my camper were 1/8" Birch paneling. It is a beautiful wood- awesome grains and looks beautiful when shellacked. Unfortunately- finding Birch in that thickness is next to impossible around here. I did eventually find a dealer for it- but it was $70 a sheet...and I need about 15! Too expensive for sure. My solution- I am using 1/4" on the walls, (which I can get at Home Depot for $25/ sheet) and will install 1/8" poplar for the ceiling panels.
I spent some time mixing amber shellack with a brown wood tint my brother had in order to match the color of the remaining wood that is original to my camper. I felt like a mad scientist- adding droppers full of tint to a small cup of shellack and then seeing how it looked on the wood. I eventually found the right mix- and stained a sheet of poplar to see how it looked.
Wall and Ceiling Paneling:
The original walls in my camper were 1/8" Birch paneling. It is a beautiful wood- awesome grains and looks beautiful when shellacked. Unfortunately- finding Birch in that thickness is next to impossible around here. I did eventually find a dealer for it- but it was $70 a sheet...and I need about 15! Too expensive for sure. My solution- I am using 1/4" on the walls, (which I can get at Home Depot for $25/ sheet) and will install 1/8" poplar for the ceiling panels.
I spent some time mixing amber shellack with a brown wood tint my brother had in order to match the color of the remaining wood that is original to my camper. I felt like a mad scientist- adding droppers full of tint to a small cup of shellack and then seeing how it looked on the wood. I eventually found the right mix- and stained a sheet of poplar to see how it looked.
It's a great match! Yahoo !
Windows and Aluminum Trim:
I also started to work on the windows and aluminum trim. I brought all the windows, screen door, window trim and window brows into the basement, and started to do the difficult job of cleaning and shining all of the aluminum of their 50+ years of dirt and wear.
Using a combination of scotch-brite pads, steel wool, Goo-be-Gone, aluminum polish
and a TON of elbow grease-
I slowly started to put a dent in the miles of aluminum before me.
I also started to do repair work to each of my windows.
With the help of the Larry/Mobiltec's videos-
I have learned step by step how to take each one apart, clean them,
and replace all of the seals and gaskets.
There is actually a store online that sells replica seals for all of these old windows- amazing !
It will take me many evenings of work to get this all done-
but I sit and watch TV while working on them at night- so I don't mind :)
The clean and shiny aluminum - when all is said and done-
will really make the camper look amazing !
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