Wierd looks from the people at Home Depot

Well my coral boomerang formica came in. When the lady called she wanted to know just what I was using it for. I guess it's not everyday someone orders such a finely colored countertop. When I told her it was for Coralee she understood...I think. I did have to explain what Coralee was. She wasn't impressed. Some people just don't get it. I'm sure they're all waiting to see if I have orange colored hair and look a little freaky...lol. We'll find out tomorrow.

Buying, buying and more buying

Well yesterday I ordered the formica for Coralee 's countertop and dinnette table. She will be Coral colored boomerang. I was lucky to get it since I read a couple weeks back they were discontinuing it. Called Formica and they still had a few sheets in stock at the factory..Yea!!!  She'll be soooo pretty. Can't wait to get to the point I can put her all back together again. It's been hard to work on her recently since it hasn't been above 30 in a couple weeks. I guess it's time to invest in some long johns.

What the hell was I thinking! Oh yeah it was love at first sight....

Well as we started to take Coralee apart it has now become apparent that the old girl needs most of her wood replaced. She was definitely built very late in the day on a Friday. What the hell were they thinking!  I don't do wood, but even I know that corners and joints need to match up. And what the hell is with using strips of particle board as a spacer. Someone must have needed a beer bad. She has been jack knifed in the front and somewhere along the line hit in the rear lightly. Most of her wood below her windows is rotted. I'm not real sure what held her together. Must have been dumb luck.It's a very good thing my dad is a patient man, and very good with wood. All he can do is look at Coralee, shake his head and say " This is going to take a while". Yep she's going to take a while. I was prepared for that, but I think I was the only one.

EWWWWW! Bugs! Stink bugs that is

Well we thought we would see just what we got ourselves into today. Dad and I each grabbed a screwdriver and went to town. We decided we would start curbside and work our way around. First off let me say whoever had Coralee before was a baaaad person. I don't think there was 2 screws alike in her. I think they grabbed whatever was next to them and put in her no matter what the size or head. No wonder she hung her head low. We took her vent covers, drip rails, storage door, and windows off. The door was in real bad condition and will have to be rebuilt. For the most part everything was good but the wood underneath. Most of the wood around the door and diner window will have to be replaced. The door mostly because the PO took it upon themselves to "remodel" where the closet was and took most of it out. This resulted in a weakening of the frame next to the door. You can literally move it back and forth. Bad, bad, bad. The closet will be going back in. We did find where all the stink bugs were living. They crawl into the damnedest places. My poor dad. All he can do is look at her and say "boy is she going to be alot of work". Duh, I knew that when I brought her home. I look at her and know that its going to be ok and she will be beautiful in coral and cream.

Coralee- The rebirth of my 1960 Shasta

Finding The Right Camper

 This is the story of Coralee. She is a 1960 Shasta Airflyte.
     To start at the beginning I love old stuff. It doesn't matter what it is cars, furniture, people, Campers, I love old stuff. For years I have wanted a camper to pull behind my 1960 Ford Starliner. You see I like to road trip in the old girl and don't really care to stay in hotels. For me a camper would be perfect and of course it had to be a canned ham. I looked for a long time to find just what I wanted. It was that whole thing of " I'll know it when I see it". So that is how I found Coralee.

Sept. 2010
    A friend of mine (Dave) knew that I wanted a canned ham trailer. One day he came into my shop to tell me he had seen a couple in a storage yard a few miles from where I was. He didn't know what they were but they were old. So the following week I had a meeting in the next town over and on the way back I decided to stop and take a look.
     There she was. Lonesome. Sitting by herself, out in the weather. It was love at first sight. I still didn't know anything about her, but I knew I wanted her. I stopped in at the office to find out if she was for sale. She had been there a few years, the man said. He took my number and said he would pass it on.
A couple weeks later I received a call from the elderly lady who owned her. She said she loved the old girl and had lots of great memories in her, but couldn't use her anymore due to her health. Turned out she was a 1960 just like my car. That was fate. We struck a bargain and $300 later she was mine.
     I called my Dad ( isn't that what dad's are for) to please come help me get her home. Out he came, we hooked her up and away we went. She towed great. No problems getting her home. Once at home we tucked her into her spot and waited for my hubby to come home. He came home took one look at her and shook his head. Luckily he said he knew I was nuts years ago. He opened her door, took a deep breath and said "Boy do I love the smell of these old trailers" That was it, he was hooked.
    
Coming Up With A Name

     Every camper needs a name. Kind of like an old car, finding the right name takes time since you have to find out their personality. When We got Coralee home and started to try and clean her, we called her Dirtball. She had been used as a hunting camper and for huckleberry picking. They would drag her out into the woods and leave her for sometimes months on end. I'm not sure if she ever had a good cleaning until we started in on her. So Dirtball it was. Than as I started to strip the paint off her , her real colors came through. Under all the baby blue and white paint she was really Coral on the bottom and Cream on top. I could envision her repainted Coral and Cream with her polished Z stripe. How beautiful. This is when we changed her name to Coralee. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

The Rebirth of Coralee

Sept. 2010

    Well I started to strip the paint off her. It looks like shes only been repainted once. With a brush! Poor thing. They even painted a new Z stripe. Of course its totally in the wrong spot. It took me about 3 days to strip it off the sides. I wonder how she'd look polished.....
    I started cleaning the insides. There for a minute I had that "What the hell am I thinking" thought running through my head. I put that thought aside and went back to work. She cleaned up fine inside and it didn't take as long as I thought. I did find that she needs pretty much all her paneling replaced. I was actually ready for that.

Oct. 31, 2010

Took Coralee over to my Mom and Dads today. My Dad gets the honor of redoing the woodwork on her. This serves a dual purpose. I get my wood done and Dad has something to do. He's retired and doesn't like to sit around. Winters here can be tough so a project is a must. Plus my Mom gets tired of watching the Discovery Channel and needs him out of the house. He's awesome with wood and is the perfect person for the job. Getting her in their shop was another thing. It took a couple days to clean a spot and move his Mustang so we'd have room. As we were pushing her in the shop we notice her chimney for the furnace was going to hit. We let the air out of the tires and in she made it. Now shes in her new home for the winter. Can't wait to get to work!
    

This is Coralee on her way to my Mom and Dads to start her renovation.