Ok so we left off with me getting some of the siding off of the old girl and seeing that I was dealing with a Flintstone trailer, feet through the floorboard and all, and almost as old.
Well, I have now removed all the tin on the drivers side and it has been inspirational. Inspirational in the sense that it has inspired me to not ever do this again. NO , really it has inspired me comically as well. Let me share some jokes I have come up with so far
What's the first thing I do after working on my camper?
Repent!
Repent!
Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
A guy with a trailer for sale.
Hold on while I get my shotgun and rock salt.
How many Mitch's does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
WHAT THE CRAP KINDA LIGHT BULB IS THIS??? DO THEY EVEN MAKE THESE ANYMORE?? AND THE WOOD HOLDING IT UP HAS ROTTED?!?!? SOMEONE SUPER-GLUED AND DUCT TAPED IT UP?!?!
A man, who is, by the way, restoring a camper, walks into a bar. and cries big sad man tears.
Some good stuff huh? yeah I think so too.
So kids let's look at what my knuckle-busting day revealed. Oh by the way I had a rhetorical question for everyone. What hurts worse? Hitting your knuckle with a hammer? Or somehow managing to find that exact same spot not 2 but 3 times? Ask me later for the answer.
The mosquitoes around here are pretty annoying, probably because we're close to the woods and all, or maybe I put off a scent that says "my blood tastes like mosquito ice cream." Any way, I have to wear a mosquito repellant when I'm out there. I also have to use a rust cutting lubricant to loosen some of the bolts. So imagine this mixture- Sweat, Deep woods off and WD-40, mmmmm. Just sticky enough for the small chunks of sawdust and cobwebs to stick too. Someone remind me again why I'm doing this? Oh yeah, I'm an idiot.
OK so before I took the tin off the wheel section, here's what she looked like.
Not bad, huh? looks like good, sound construction.
DOH!
Upon looking at the space over and behind the wheel well I had an odd thought. "Seems like there out to be some wood there", thinks I, "Strange to see staple and nails just sorta hanging there all dangly-like." Yep in place of wood there seemed to be something that might just be ancient termite poop. I can only hope that the leaking walls dropped enough water on the termites to drown a few of them. Petty, yeah I know, but I was mad, sorry.
Think when I replace the wood I'll use treated wood, treated with termite poison! Camping will be fun, camping will be fun , camping will be fun.
Gonna need a total rebuild of this entire section and the floor underneath. Matter of fact the whole floor around the edges will need to be rebuilt unless I want to spend every minute in the camper walking like that guy off KUNG FU trying not to leave a mark on the rice paper.
Yeah i know I'm putting videos in my blog now, well I just learnt how to do it so I'm showing off, helps me to know I can still do something right in some field.
Yet another shot of rotten wood, isn't this fun AND informative?
If you look really hard you can see the remnants of the little termite town that was here, complete with the note that say "Nothing left to eat here so we left, thanks!"
That was polite of them.
Check this window out, it decided to mess with me and be tough, heh heh. I taught it a lesson.
Yeah!!! Who's the tough guy now? Now maybe you'll think about it while you're decomposing on a junk heap and I'm out spending my money on a new window that will probably cost more than.....DANG! why does everything that ticks me off have to be an inanimate object?
So here is the whole side with the tin off, after many hours with rusty weird-headed screws, much WD-40 and a few tantrums.
I may get motivated later and go out and work on it, or I may just stay inside spray myself with WD-40 and smack my knuckles with a hammer, at least that way I can stay cool.
