Chapter 5 "Restoration Begins On Our Shasta Compact"

 
We spent the night at The Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, after zipping over the Continental Divide with ease and this was not a portent of the return trip....

Dave and I love grand old hotels.

The history, architecture, and ambiance just can't be surpassed.  This was a natural hot spring hotel but we did not take "The Waters" as we arrived late and had to leave early.

The previous day's excitement morphed into the next morning's trepidation.  My husband sensed this as we neared Basalt, CO in the beautiful Aspen Valley.  With the trees just beginning to flicker gold, Dave turned to me and said, "Now sweetheart, I want you to know, if this doesn't feel right, we can just turn around and tow it back home.  We've had a nice trip to Colorado and we can just find somewhere else."




That's my Dave.  Selfless, supportive, and when it comes to sparing my feelings, he's first in line.

We found the shop on a bright brisk morning high in The Rockies in a low slung one story commercial building.  When we rounded the corner, we could see a few small trailers and a door with pink flamingos on each side.  "This must be the place", Dave said.

I took the flamingos as a Sign From Above!

John was as easy going and genial as he was on the phone.  We met his work partner, Dennis, who's shy manner and silly grin put us at ease.

The whole time I had an internal monologue running in my head, "If the setting were different and the two guys had pie plates in their hands by a mountain stream, they'd be panning for gold!"  What a couple of crusty 'ole mountain men!  I grinned at the thought. 😏

We were shown trailers in progress and the work was clean, precise, and we were impressed.  I gave John my drawings.  He was glad to see I had a vision.  We discussed them at length and talked about a timeline.
This was the third week in September and the goal was to pick up the camper Thanksgiving weekend before the heavy snows began to fall.  We would be their only trailer and they would devote their undivided attention to it.

Then, we talked about money and how to stay in communication.  A price was agreed upon of $17,500.00 with $5,000.00 down to start.

Now, before you flip over the cost of what would amount to a total tear down and rebuild of our trailer, go and look and a new one and see what they are made of and what you get for your money.  Go ahead, just for fun.
   
I'll wait......

It was all done on a handshake with no contract. 
There's always a leap of faith in any transaction.  Dave and I glanced at each other in the way married people do without saying a word.

We would proceed.

John and I agreed he would send progress photos every Wednesday at 11:30am and would call at a point when he needed more funds after work had progressed.

Sounded fine.

There was a little voice in my head, "You just met these people, gave them 5K and your trailer, then walked away."  At some point you have to trust people.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right. Good. Okay.

As we drove off, Dave said, "Don't worry, we'll see how it goes."  "Yes", I replied but I will admit I was very anxious until the next Wednesday.  I thought about the trailer all the way home.  Over the Top Of The Rockies Parkway, past the headwaters of The Arkansas River, through the grasslands of southeastern Colorado, and beyond the smelly oil fields of the Texas Panhandle, I thought about it.

What would happen?


We would find John to be an honorable man.


True to his word and my delight, John flooded me with pictures which began with Dennis heat gunning the paint off the siding.  I was right, there were many layers.  I still don't know how long it took to remove it all but  Dennis did a great job.

 


Just look at all the pretty colors, how many can you count?

Then, the skin came off...... our lovely little trailer was rotten in all the wrong places, as if there are any right ones!  Dry rot, water damage, and wood fungus.  We had it all, in abundance.  There was a fungus among us!

 


Wisdom from The Baptismal Fonte:

There is no such thing as "A little water damage" "Had some dampness here and there" "Had an older leak that's been fixed" And my personal favorite, "It has a couple of moisture stains"  All trailers will eventually leak and if they leak long enough it will leave a mark.  Those marks are indicators of interior framing rot and trust me, it's there.

Insider Tip:  (and it was the case with our trailer)

If a trailer is painted on the inside, it will hide stains that indicate water damage.  They are important clues.  Another IMPORTANT tip is to press on the interior walls, especially by the windows. If the walls move easily, the joinery in the interior framing is gone and the aluminum is holding the trailer together.

Yeeeeeeeeeeesssss, a mulch TV Dinner on wheels.

You will achieve the realization that you need to offer waaaaaaaayyyyyy less in the purchase of a trailer or figure you need to tear it apart and what you are really buying is a pattern for a total rebuild and you better be ready for it.  It may fall apart on the highway, leak on you at your favorite camping spot, or send you up in a bonfire.  All have happened before.  If it's really bad it will be unsafe to tow and don't ignore your sniffer. If you smell mustiness do not assume it's just old, there's a reason for le' odour.  Mold, mice, and mulch, all have a fragrance and the combination is not Chanel Number 5.
Sure, you can paint and put up cute curtains but what you will be doing is tarting up a time bomb.  I know it's hard to do all the unseen unfun stuff first but for lasting enjoyment of your little coach, peace of mind, and most importantly, safety, redo your framing, wiring, and plumbing first, before you pick out your fabric.

*I know it's really hard to do*

 Our little jewel was covered inside with Fleckstone, which hid interior history.  I did not know about the wall pressing trick as yet, it did not smell bad, and we still had major issues.  So much so, it had to be torn down to the deck.

That's right, as good as we ( and possibly you ) thought it looked in the beginning, it was a total redo.

* SIGH *

As with any rough gem, it had to be "cut" to bring out it's beauty.  Somewhere in there was a flawless diamond and we were going to find it!

We also wanted it to last the rest of our natural lives and it became immediately apparent it was the only way to go.....

When the pictures started to arrive of the new framing, we were both excited.  We had chosen to reframe in red cedar instead of the original pine which would be much less susceptible to rot.  John beefed up the original stick framing with solid wood sections as seen in the photo.  Piece by piece all the supports were rebuilt.

The interior was next and it had to all go, too.  We did keep the upper cabinet and doors in the front plus all the hardware and windows were there.  The deck was solid as was the frame underneath *miracle*  The walls for the closet had to go too making room for the new shower pan. Geeeeze, gone, ALL GONE!

 

I had given John detailed drawings and the build back was going to be exciting!

After all, we had once turned this....

Into this.....

I left out a ton of pictures ( I appreciated every single one of them ) that show plumbing, wiring, to cut to the chase.  After many weeks of work and pictures, we were extremely excited to leave for Colorado.  We had no choice but to have Thanksgiving Dinner on the road in Aurora, CO at a Furrs Cafeteria.

Oh my, it was dreadful.

But no matter, we were getting closer to Basalt.  We drove into Aspen Valley to leafless trees and a melting snow, it was warming up. But, as we would find out, not for long.

Once at the shop, we were happy to see John and Dennis beside our Shasta Compact. It was a miracle! An unfinished miracle ..... but very close.  We pitched in, as is our nature, and I learned a lot in those few days about putting in windows and installing the little wings that would benefit me later on.  You'll see.........

We ran back and forth between Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Walmart ( battling the Black Friday crowds gobbling up flat screen TVs and the free attending $150.00 gift cards like Piranhas in the Amazon ) *no exaggeration*

We managed one afternoon to take a break and go to Aspen where I got to skate on an outdoor rink.  I hadn't been able to do this in forever.  Being a figure skater, it was a real treat to spin and fly in the crisp mountain air.  I was full of joy that day.









After some really long days of finishing touches, we were hitched up and ready to go!  There was a snow storm coming and we had to beat it over the Rockies...... 



 














My restoration "Mountain Men" Dennis on the left, John on the right.

I would miss them.......