Inaugural trip to the gas station!

This may not seem like a big deal but when you have an rv that hasn't run for a number of years..its the small victories that count!  John was pretty happy with it..we were only smoking a little when we got there.  He rerouted the second gas tank to feed the generator which is next on the list.  We also patched the grey water tank that was dripping a bit with a fiberglass repair kit..will let you know how that works our first time out.

Fancy Seats!

The last piece of the upholstery puzzle to be sure.  Haven't ever done seats so this was new.  Figured out I am good with a pattern but not so much on alterations.  All in all I think they came out well.  Bought a nice durable microfiber..that's the chocolate and a micro suede..that's the camel.  I also embroidered the winnebago and Indian logos which was quite fun.  Hope you like!

Great rv flooring!

Working on the deck flooring tonight.  Looked at rubber flooring but was pricey and heavy.  Found this foam interlocking anti fatigue flooring at northern tool for about 20 a package.  Six 2 x 2 pcs.  Thought we would have to glue it down but it fits nice and tight.  Should insulate against sound too!

Love that Bling! Shiny T Molding

Found exactly the size and profile of t molding I needed at t-molding.com. This went on super quick, came with protective plastic on it and trimmed with an ordinary pair of scissors. Best of all it fit my budget, cheap! Looks sharp right! You have to touch it to know it isn't metal!

RV Flooring-Allure!

Finally got time to get Mo out of the barn so I could take some photos. We put this flooring down last fall. It is Allure vinyl flooring from Home Depot. We wanted the rich look of wood but were afraid laminate wouldn't hold up to the grime of camping and the racetrack. We also wanted something that would flex with the coach and be easy to cut and fit into the rig. This stuff fit the bill. We were a bit worried as it isn't necessarily rated for our Minnesota -30 below winters but it looks just as beautiful as it did when we put it down!

2011 Update!

Sorry its been so long folks! Racing and school has gotten in the way a bit of progress on Mo. I am now a Certified Holistic Health Coach tho so that is pretty cool! We are back on track with getting Mo on the road. Labor Day is what we are shooting for! The flooring went in last December but haven't had him out of the barn to take a good photo of it. We ended up with Allure flooring from home depot..it is a waterproof vinyl that should expand and contract ok with our change in temps. I went back to home depot today as i was thinking of using rubber matting up front under the two seats and they now have some sweet diamond plate looking vinyl. It comes in 12 inch planks and runs about $75 for 24 sq. feet. Not sure yet, will be doing some surfing on this yet. Mo got new glasses a couple of weeks ago. Both windshields had fogged up all the way around about 4 inches. It looks so good and insurance covered it! Stay tuned, hope to have some new pics up this weekend.

Update on Photos

They are all on the slide show but here is the most recent

Progress!

Okay, it's July right? Yikes, where did spring go! We have been working right along since the weather turned on Mo. He is partially replumbed..we removed all the copper and installed new Tec?, the plastic piping, in the entire system. The subfloor is also now down to strengthen the floor, it was a bit jelly like in the middle. We simply cut luan board to fit, glued it down with floor adhesive and nailed it. We will be picking up the all vinyl maple look flooring from Home Depot this weekend and installing it. I scored big time at menards and bought all of the roman shades on CLEARANCE! 13.99 each and ended up putting two on each of the longer windows which totally makes sense. Now you can operate them independently as each window opens individually. All of the cushions are done except one, going to work on that later today as soon as i muster up some motivation!

Laminate Table! Got 2 coats of behr primer applied to the table top. Then 2 coats of latex paint in a dark pumpkin color. Then I stuck vinyl stickers in various colors to tie everything in together. I currently have like 4 coats of gloss varnish on the table but am afraid I need to sand it down and put one more on. The problem you ask? FUZZ! I did this is my work room and thought I was free of any of the stuff floating around nature...oh well!

Last but not least, found a great resource for T MOLDING! Bought the coolest vinyl CHROME looking t molding that fits my countertops and table top perfectly! The best part? It didn't cost me an arm and a leg, $25 with shipping! for 25 feet! Will post a photo of this when we apply it! www.t-molding.com

Happy Rv'ing everyone, we hope to join you by the third weekend in July!

Spring is here!

Glad to have moderate temperatures...going to go out and finish up the painting tomorrow! Will post pics then!

Spring is Here!

Happy Spring Everyone! Seems like the holidays were yesterday but glad warmer weather prevails! Just getting into the 60's and 70's here in Minnesota but the nights are still chilly. Big Mo has gotten a few new parts on the engine bought off of ebay. A new carb and a new belt. He smokes much less now! The cushions are all recovered and I am ready to paint the kitchen and the countertops! Just need a bit more moderate temps so it will cure properly! We have been scoping out craigslist and some local auctions for carpet for the front doghouse and the front seats are next on the list. Wish I could find seat covers for now rather than reupholster them but will do some checking online! Need to seal the new bathroom ceiling that we put in this last fall too, that was the only water damage we found so used interlocking flooring boards to create a new ceiling, then finished all the edges with moulding. Next up is the water heater and furnace, then onto the floor!

Wallpapering over Paneling in an RV

So just hit me the next time I say I want to wallpaper. It's bad enough on four relatively straight walls with no interuptions. Try an RV with curves and windows and corners with beadwork and paneling with grooves! Didn't have to fill in the grooves as they were minimal. Thought I was going to go up to the seams in the corners as they had rubber bumpers in them, but alas the first one went around tightly and seamlessly sooooo.....I thought why not. Well the other two not so much. One small child with pokey fingers and I have holes!

Brightened it up anyway but next time I will choose paint! Well paint only as I had two coats of primer on this paneling so it wouldn't bleed through.

First Venture out of the Barn!

Okay, the day was sunny, the neighbors were home and we pulled the big bad stinky beast out of the barn for a car wash trip! More than one head turned let me tell you!

Flooring Update

Kilzed the floor today, just as a precaution against any trapped smells or leftover moisture damage. There are two kinda cushy spots in the floor where the seams come together but there doesn't seem to be anything structural. We will be laying a thin luan layer of wood over the whole thing just for some additional support without lots of extra weight. I am still debating on the couch/bedroom area. Found a complimentary caramaly colored wallpaper for this area but didn't realize i still have to kilz it first which means more painting! Don't get me wrong I love to paint but this area is so close and it is a pain to tape off and edge yikes! I will sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow. This weekend is the big push to get alot done as john has friday off as well as the weekend! Stay tuned!

Update on the mechanicals.

37 years can produce tons of dirt and rust! Most of what we have come across thus far has just been dirty parts. Once you take them apart and clean them, they seem to work fairly well. John has made friends with some of the dealers on Highway 10 who have been around rv's for quite some time. This has been helpful as they have had great advice on different items. Tonight while cleaning I found the original owners manual which indeed confirms our suspicions that this is a 1973 Indian. I emailed the prez. of the Minnesota Chapter of Winnehahas (owners of Winnebagos) but have yet to hear back. We are hoping to find some Indian owners who may have resources we haven't yet discovered. John is stil questioning the furnace reliability. We may end up buying a portable heater just in case for our trip south next month. South u say? Heat? The last time we went it was only 32 degrees the whole week! Previously John has gone and it has been 72! Hopefully I am not the jinx! We hope to give him a bath this weekend, secure the vent covers on the top of the rig and hopefully put some water into the system. We have yet to figure out if the water heater works. So a quick checklist

furnace-mostly yes
refrigerator-yes
stovetop-yes
oven-working on it
water pump-actually it is an air compressor system-working on it
hot water heater-working on it
invertor-works
engine-works!

Paint Paint Paint

A word to the wise, rv bathrooms are small, small spaces! Spent the weekend putting on two coats of kilz, spray painting a primer made for plastic on the vinyl trim, then bought the high buck primer and paint in one to throw on it! All in all worked pretty well. The "decorative" grooves routed into the doors and painted at the factory with burnt orange are still a bit orangy even after all this! You have to look pretty close but it is still there yikes! 1970's is still hanging on! Found a great hammered spray paint that I used to do ALL of the hardware, that was a job but boy it looks sweet now. Posted some close ups of it, would love to replace some of the handles as the white acrylic part on some is a bit worn. The bathroom color ended up being Pineapple Sorbet which in daylight will pick up the decorative panel on the sink..the sink really pops now doesn't it! I think once I find some cute fabric for the roman shade that picks it up as well, it should all tie in well! The hardware looks pretty good on the woodgrain too!

Friday Night!

Just getting things around for another full weekend of working on this rig. We have about 4 weeks until we leave for Tulsa in this thing! The plan for tomorrow is to reinstall the furnace and pray it works! Then onto the refrigerator which is a whole other deal. Apparantly it runs off both electricity and lp and actually has a pilot light, yikies! Then onto an oil and tranny fluid change. If the furnace works and there is heat, I will be priming the bathroom tomorrow and perhaps paint on Sunday! We have one soft spot in the floor that we will be checking out as well, may just need to lay another layer of luan board down for extra support! I stopped into my favorite store, menards today! Picked up some wallpaper samples. As the paneling is smooth with no ridges, this may be an option. However they did have paintable wallpaper that is heavier specifically for paneling, interesting!

Fabric Selection

So here is how the thought process goes! First u love colors, then you work with what you have and then you go and look at fabric! If you haven't ever visited SR Harris in Osseo, it is something to behold. I think a helicopter would be helpful as the rolls of fabric goes for what seems like miles! Went in there completely open to fabrics and patterns and colors as long as it wasn't brown. Guess what, i bought brown! Ah well, so much for preconceptions. The big bold graphic print is chenille and just fabulous, very well made, this will cover the two couch/bed areas which will really brighten it up. The more subdued stripe in the middle will be the dinette and then the smaller pattern will cover the bed over the drivers area. This will allow us to really get funky fun with paint colors and countertop treatments i think. The new countertop will get edged in stainless steel, have been researching painting laminates and relaminating them. Any suggestions on tops, paint or wall treatments are welcome! I also threw out modge podging the counters...everyone keeled over at the thought! HA! A good friend Kerri forwarded me this link http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/BHG/index.html and after looking at it, figured i can't go wrong can I compared to what they did back in the day!

Interior Design Thoughts

Taking a break from the cold to do some internet surfing and check out what ideas are online for this vintage restoration. Not a whole lot on RV renovations but found retrorenovation.com. Am thinking we are going to do clean and fresh but a little funky. I want to give a nod to the past without being in the middle of an orange or avocado mess!

The color pallete so far includes a beautiful dark green, not olive but not forest either, a deep rich orange red, tan and a rich gold color. A trip to SR Harris (fabric wholesaler) is in the works this week to find the fabrics, that will determine alot.

I think we are going to paint the back bathroom in its entirety in a super pale green to freshen it up and get rid of just some of the brown. Plus that will make the vintage viynette pop on the sink. I am trying to treat the lounge/bedroom seperately than the dinette area but still make it cohesive.

There are some super cool sites out there on unique wall treatments. Check out this site http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/top-10-affordable-wall-treatments-048136. In addition to the color, all of the grains in this rig go in different directions so your eye never rests on any one place. I have't ruled anything out yet. Tossing around fabric shirring on the walls in the bedroom, vintage vinyl graphics, modgepodge of sepia newspapers..yikes! Even thought about cutting out the middle of the uppercabs and putting in decorative metal.

Pop up your ideas or fav. websites to help the process! Would love any and all ideas!

Boom!

Okay John about blew himself up tonight. WARNING be aware that really old lp powered appliances can be dangerous! Well, we got the stovetop to light, its the cutest stainless number ever! It has a standing pilot in the middle which is excellent, the thermostat is out on the oven so we will have to run the part down on that one. The furnace is another story. John cleaned the rusting burners and is hoping with a new gasket and some new wiring (the old stuff melted when flames were shooting out of it!) will get it right as rain! We also looked at flooring options as shown in the picture. Decided on a light maple vinyl made flooring. It's called Allure and is supposed to be waterproof and very flexible for this type of application. Probably won't be going in until spring however as it needs moderate temps for install!

More Demo Photos

Not to worry, the black in the photos is the old rubber padding.