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Since it looks like I'll be in Michigan a little longer, I decided to dig out some of my "What I did on my summer vacation" photos. (Remember those September school essays?) Sorry for the shadow patterns -- think the color of robins' eggs or Tiffany boxes.



I patched almost 100 holes in her fiberglass, both small and large, interior and exterior.



Getting a strong, watertight patch with fiberglass is easy. Getting a smooth finish to take a gelcoat or paint is miserable. I will not be taking up working fiberglass as a hobby!



Then I painted with a marine topside paint. This is the most annoying paint I have ever used -- but oh, the gloss when it's finished! Also, I love my new ladder. I haven't felt this secure on a ladder since I hit 50. I'm actually fantasizing about carrying it along when I travel.



Then came the interior. I pulled out an enormous amount of junk - nonfunctioning systems, outdated appliances, etc. Then I put back just what I wanted from my tent camping gear.



Finally, I added some pretty!



Many more plans ahead, but this is Kit today.

Awesome

You have put in a lot of elbow grease. Congratulations. Looks much more comfy that a tent but not loaded with features that are un-necessary.

Beautiful! Wow, I think it's so great that you rolled up your sleeves and gave it a go. I hope you feel very very proud of yourself. You earned it.

Nikki

Well done. You have way more energy than I have! Happy camping.
Velda

Kit looks fabulous. You did a wonderful job fixing her up and should be proud.

Adorable! Would love to have a trailer like that, maybe just a tad bigger but similar! Fun project!

Wonderful you did a fantastic job congratulations now have fun with it

Looks great! Can't wait to see it in person.

So cute, cozy and my fave color to boot!!!! Excellent job Louise!

Beautiful.

Oh, I forgot! Oldest Son was home unexpectedly over the holidays, and he put the spare tire mount on for me.



He had to do some adapting -- modern mounts don't fit the depth and angle of the original bumper. He did a great job!

Getting the wheel was exciting. These little old UHauls have a proprietary axle/wheel setup, and of course new wheels are no longer in production. It was about six months before one of the original wheels turned up on ebay, and I was starting to worry!

I'm so happy that you all think she is pretty! I got exactly what I wanted: an office/kitchen space that is tall enough to stand up in and pretty enough to spend time in. That's happiness!

I don't really have that much energy, Velda. It drives me nuts that I can't do more than a 4-hour day any more -- and that sometimes I have to get a person with more muscle to help. What I do have is a stubborn streak a mile wide. It's a very useful trait. I call it 'tenacity' when I'm worried about annoying other people.

I don't know about 'proud.' Mostly I'm just happy that it turned out the way I imagined. Proud is for more perfect results in projects where I care about being perfect.

It's my favorite color too, Kathy! I had to mix the exterior paint myself -- the closest thing to turquoise was a deep teal, and I really was set on the marine paint. You'd have laughed at my sample board:
1:1 -- way too dark
2:1 -- still too dark, and a weird undertone
4:1 -- nasty!
8:1 -- tolerable, but not quite right
10:1 - yes!!!
There's some paint left over. I think my aged van might have a turquoise stripe in the spring. She still has two or three years left in her, so why not?

Barbie, I bet you'd like one of these old trailers, and you could work at your father's place, right? They have a lot of advantages. Kit weighs 1000 pounds dry, and nothing being manufactured today comes in that light. (If you put in modern amenities, it would be more -- but I just use my tent camping gear.) Fiberglass is really easy to repair and modify. The shell is molded, so if you ever needed to replace the undercarriage, it's possibly to literally lift the shell up and put it on a new base. (Not me. I'd have to hire strong young men to do that. But you know what I mean.) I think you might like it.

Wow, you're a tough nut. I'm proud of myself for getting out of bed in the morning. Actually accomplishing anything is stellar.