A Little Dab Will Do You!

Despite the excessive heat we have been having here in the mid-west my husband and I have been diligently working on Dottie, our little vintage travel trailer.  Here is a picture proving just how hot it really is...

It's kind of difficult to tell, because this thermometer is a little difficult to read because it only shows 5 degree increments, but if you look very closely you can see that it was 108 degrees the day we were working on Dottie.  The thermometer is setting on top of the counter in the trailer.  It is a good shot of the vintage counter top that is white and yellow.  BTW this thermometer came with our trailer.  Isn't it cute!

 Since my husband has been off work since April,  we have had plenty of time on our hands.  I only work 2-3 days a week, and when I am not at work I am plugging away on our to do list.

One of the things my husband has been concentrating on, is removing all the excessive silicone around the windows, emblems and lights on the out side of the trailer. Too say the previous owner got carried away is an understatement.  Evidently when he noticed the camper was leaking he got himself some silicone and went around any place he thought that the leaks may be coming from. He definitely did a thorough job!

Looks like he got a little messy with this one.

I won't bore you with a ton of photos with the cleaned up photos, but here is a before and after picture of one of the tail lights.

To date he has done both tail lights, a corner and 2 of the windows.  I keep telling him they better not leak or he will be in big trouble.

Here is a picture of my hubby plugging (or I guess on plugging) away at one of the windows on Dottie.

 

Do you like his hat? He is 6.5 and has an extra large head to go with the rest of him.  He has a very difficult time finding hats that fit him.  Since he shaves his head he has to keep his big noggin from burning.  He found this little gem at a thrift store for only a dollar.  He likes wearing it because it has little holes that help the air circulate.   

 

Before Pictures of Dottie

At home with Dottie

                                                         

The previous owner used Dottie as a hunting trailer and his wife made him these cute little curtains  featuring his game of choice, the duck.  Actually he said he loved hunting anything that flies. It is difficult to tell from this picture, but the counter tops are yellow and white.  Here you  get a glimpse of the original vintage sconce.

  

An interior shot of the kitchen area.  Here you can see the new fridge.  It does not fit the original    hole.  We have come up with a solution and it is on our list of things to update.

This is just a shot of the entry of out little vintage travel trailer.  In this picture, you can see the original mirror, and the original sconces for the lights. Difficult to see from this picture but this and the other 2 sconces are cracked and brittle. Also, if you look very carefully in the mirror, you can see the sky light and the water damaged paneling around it.
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The previous owner had the seat covers reupholstered.  I just wish they matched the decor I want to do. Sneek peek coming soon. The bunk along with the mattress is in it's upright and stored position.  My husband wants to take this out and store it.  He say's every pound counts.

 

 

    

Sunday arrives and my husband and I prepare for our 4.5 hour journey to central Nebraska by gathering up our camping supplies.  We pack our linens, pillows, food, drinks, along with our handy dandy tool box packed for emergencies just like these.

We leave at 1:00 and arrive right on schedule at 5:30.  Anticipation mounts as we introduce ourselves to the owner.  Pleasantries aside, he escorts us to the backyard where he keeps his pride and joy. 
My thoughts are going a mile a minute.  I really wanted to know if it had wings.  I didn't ask the owner on the phone because I felt a little silly asking and it really wouldn't be a deal breaker, but I really, really wanted it to have little Shasta wings.  As soon as I lay my eyes on her I noticed there were no wings.  I have to admit I was slightly disappointed, but glee soon returned as the owner started showing us around.  The first thing I noticed (after I realized there were no wings) was that it was not a Shasta Compact at all, but a Shasta 1400 instead.  I was a little confused by this because the ad said it was a 1973 13 foot camper.

Wow! What a difference two feet can make.  For those of you who don't know much about little vintage travel trailers, let me take a moment to explain.

The trailer or shell of a Shasta Compact is approximately 6.5' x 10. ' The 13' mentioned in the ad are the measurements from bumper to tongue.  So a Shasta 1400 trailer measures approximately 7.5' x 12' and the over all length from the bumper to tongue is 16'.  Just a little confusing so I hope this clears things up for some and doesn't confuse you any further.

Well anyway, we had only really been concentrating our search for a vintage Shasta Compact or a vintage Scotty Compact.  This is because we only have a 6 cylinder vehicle to tow around any little travel trailer we might happen to purchase. I knew that our 6 cylinder could handle pulling a slightly larger travel trailer, the question was did we want too.

Well as soon as my husband stepped inside he was sold. The little bit of extra weight we would be towing was no longer  a concern.  You see, my husband is 6.5 and the extra square footage we would be getting with the 1400 out weighed any concerns he had about any extra weight we would be towing.

The trailer looked to be in pretty good shape, but did have some water damage in one corner and on the ceiling where the little sky light is, which seems to be the norm for most of these vintage travel trailers.  The owner also disclosed this over the phone so there was no surprise there.

It did not come with the original fridge, but the stove was original and looked as it had never been used.  Actually he said he had never used the oven but the stove top was used often.  He could not say one way or the other if the oven worked because he had never had any reason to fire it up.  He also was throwing in a microwave oven and a little George foreman grill!  YAY!

He also threw in a TV antenna that looked right out of the 50's and a converter box that allowed you to pick up local channels.  Not sure what all that is about, but hey it was free. He also threw in a stabilizer bar used in the towing process, again I know nothing about it but did not hesitate to accept it graciously with a smile and a thank you.

We took her camping, that night and didn't even have to pay for electricity.  As it turns out, the owners wife worked for the electric company and informed us that there was a trailer park less than 5 miles away that was free to camp at.  I will give you more info about this later.

Finding Dottie-The Journey Begins

The day began like any other.  As I eat my morning breakfast and sip on my favorite beverage, I log onto the computer for my daily vintage travel trailer search.  This is a tedious process, and although http://www.searchtempest.com/  is very helpful in searching all of Craigslist for terms you are searching for,  I never completely trusted it to do a thorough job.  This is due to the fact that I had done a search in my area and found a 1966 Scotty, (no title and really rough condition) but when I did my tempest search it did not come up in the search even though I knew it was there.

Any how, I started my search with my metro area, then expanded it to the other metropolitan area's within my area.  That is when I found her.  She was listed on craigslist and was located in a small town in central Nebraska.  The ad had no photos and only stated that it was a 13 foot 1973 Shasta.

Hmm, it wasn't as old as I was hoping to find, but I had to have more information.  I called the owner to ask for more info and to see if it was still available, and wouldn't ya know, it was.  Of course the first thing I wanted was photos.  Unfortunately he was heading out of town for a camping adventure of his own (He had a larger trailer parked at a campsite) so he would not be able to send pictures until he got back Sunday afternoon.  What!?! I still wanted more info, so he proceeded to tell me all about her.  He was the 2nd owner and owned her for 10 years, he used it as a hunting cabin.  Yikes! One can only imagine what kind of shape it was in.  However, he was an older gentleman and seemed to take exceptional care of her.  By the end of our conversation I had an appointment to see her that Sunday as soon as he got back from his trip.

Because I had no photos to go on, and had never researched a 1973, I got on the web and started seeking out for pictures of a 1973 Shasta compact trailer.  The body style looked just like the 1969 and 70 body styles, soooo HOORAY!!!!

My husband thought I was insane (and maybe I am) to travel 4 hours to see a travel trailer that we had no idea of what kind of condition it was in, and going only off the word of the owner who is trying to sell a camper.  However, after some discussion we decided that if we didn't buy this little vintage travel trailer, we would just make a little road trip out of it and go to the Omaha Zoo which just happens to be one of the best zoo's in the country.  On the other hand if we did buy it, and if it was as ready to camp in as the owner had stated, we would find a little camp site and let the camping begin.

Searching for my Little Travel Trailer

I have wanted a little travel trailer for some time now, but the timing was never quite right.  If the timing was right, the money was tight.  Although the dream of owning a little travel trailer got put on hold for a really long time, it has always remained a dream.

Earlier this year we started a quest for for a little vintage travel trailer.  I had narrowed my search down to vintage travel trailer's between the years of 1950 to 1970, and I knew that I wanted either Scotty or a Shasta and I really love the canned ham styles.

Well, if you have ever looked at purchasing a little vintage travel trailer, you know they go fast.  Sometimes I would see an ad that was posted in the morning, but by the time I found the ad that afternoon and called about it, it would be sold.  When I first started my search, I was searching within a 50 mile radius of my metropolitan area.  Fifty miles soon became 100, and then 200.  The travel trailer we ended up purchasing was a mere 250+ miles away, and only took 4.5 hours to get there.

I did end up with a Shasta trailer but it not as old as I was hoping for.  My husband is on a temporary layoff (with pay) for about a year and I only work a few days a week, so in April when his layoff started, our search got a little more serious, after all, we now had plenty of time to go camping, just no camper to do it with. (I am way too old for tent camping, it just ain't happening.)  After a few months of looking we broadened our search area and the year as well. That is when we stumbled up on Dottie.