Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Our Yellowstone Trip in Pics Part 2

Last round of Yellowstone pics. I think I summed up our trip in 20 pics. Of course, these are just my favorite 20 out of 400+!!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and another one of its waterfalls.
Buffalo boardwalk evidence. They even left muddy prints.

Dragon's Mouth Spring. This one actually made churning, gurgling sounds like a dragon lived in it. It was slightly uncomforting to be near it.

A male deer in the meadow in front of Lake Yellowstone Hotel.

On our walk to Natural Bridge, he eyeballed us for food I think.


At the end of the dock...



Pointing to Abyss Pool, the deepest in the park.

A mysterious large bird that nobody could identify, we showed park rangers asking what it was. Anyone know?? We know it's not a canadian goose, heron, or trumpet swan.

Kellog, Idaho fire just starting. Learned it was started by two kids playing with matches.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Back End Trailer Remodel Part 2

In part 1 we left off with this rotton mess...After tearing out all the 2x2's and panelling, we layed out the 2x2's on the driveway for a visual layout for when we're ready to build the wall again. IMPORTANT STEP: PRIOR TO REMOVAL OF 2x2'S, MEASURE VERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN HORIZONTAL MEMBERS AND WRITE IT DOWN ON PAPER. IN FACT, DRAW THE WHOLE WALL FRAME ON PAPER WITH EVERY MEASUREMENT. That's a huge step to remember to do, once you build the new frame, it all must be EXACT. You cannot build the framing a 1/4" longer or shorter, it screws up A LOT of other steps down the road...as you will soon see and learn from our mistakes (if not in this post, then in following ones)...

Once the whole back end is opened up, even more rot was exposed here (bottom left corner, that yellow is the original laminate flooring)......and here (bottom right corner).I really, REALLY wanted to save the yellow laminate, but it was rotten too, I guess. Once we removed it, hubby just dug right in.It literally just crumbled apart, so we pulled out the shop vac, it made for quicker removal.

See how much of that corner was rotten and is left?? Basically NOTHING!! The only thing holding it all together was the aluminum under-siding. And to think, I kept stepping on it to show people how soft the floor was. I'm lucky I didn't fall through!!After clean up, hubby pulled out the circular saw and cut away to good stuff. Now it was time to rebuild. We purchased a dozen 2x2's, one 2x4, one sheet of 1/2" plywood, 2" thick rigid foam insulation, wood screws (all of which will be added to the sidebar showing our spending as 'Back End Remodel') and we had visqueen to use as a vapor barrier already. For some reason, I guess that single 2x2 on the end there was not rotton 'cuz it loos like hubby added new floor supports and attached them to it. There's also one piece of rigid insulation there on the left. Then next step was to measure and cut a new piece of plywood flooring, as shown in pic below.
Okay, so a little back story now...the reason we tore at the entire backend of the trailer in the first place was because we needed to install a new black water tank. Okay, you're thinking how does black water tank equal and back end tear out?? Well, hubby did not want to install the toilet back onto a 'soft' floor. We started by removing all the bathroom parts and pieces. Did you know that many parts and pieces of a travel trailer are installed BEFORE the front, back or even side walls are put in?? Yup, we learned this tidbit the hard way. We could not remove the bathroom vanity until we removed the shower liner, which both are in excellent shape so we wanted to keep them. Well, the bathroom liner was installed before the back end was sealed up because there is NO POSSIBLE way to get that liner in that tiny little door to the bathroom. So...that was our extended thinking of how black water tank replacement ended up being an entire back end remodel. Here's our new black water tank installed, which is a whole other blog post in itself...maybe later...on to remodel. New plywood floor, shower liner back in, toilet back in,recycled peel-n-stick laminate flooring on new floor...now where is the vanity??Ah, there, and I even didn't rotate the pic...The next step after installing the majority of the bathroom components back is to start with the back end wall framing...but that will be in the next remodel post.


For now, a disclaimer and an explanation of a few choices we made. Keep in mind during this entire series of Back End Remodel posts that we had only three days to fix up the most important areas (to us) prior to travelling for 8 days in it. We wanted a functioning toilet (mostly because of a 4-1/2 yr old who needs to potty in middle of night. Can you imagine tent camping for 8 days with a 2-1/2 and 4-1/2 year old?? I couldn't, that's why we bought a trailer.) We worked 12 hours all three days hubby was available (he did have to work in between the first two and the third day) and I even put in several hours while he was at work on those in between days. Our long term goal is to take off the roof and remodel the other three walls, which is why we did not touch the left wall of the bathroom, which we know is rotted too. These posts are for your viewing pleasure and to share with you our process. Not all trailers are created equal, however many are as simply built as ours.


Happy Travels!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Our Yellowstone Trip In Pics Part 1

Lewis & Clark Caverns-the only non-blurry pic
Yellowstone Gibbon Falls

Artist Paint Pots

One of the artists at the paint pots?

Norris Geyser Basin

Lones Star Geyser-2 mile hike in on level paved forest road.

Old Faithful

Grand Prismatic Spring and buffalo prints

Yellowstone traffic jam. The bull almost backed into our truck while herding a couple of females back into the group. Would insurance cover that?

Snoozing buffalo along East entrance road.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Yellowstone Travel Trailer Woes

Our trip to Yellowstone started out 3 hours behind schedule and with me in a miserable state! The night before departure day, I stayed up until midnight packing and folding laundry. Then I tossed and turned until 4AM only to wake up at 8AM to continue packing. The stress of finishing the back end of our trailer, yardsaling AND packing in 12 hours made me come down with a cold all in my tonsils! They were so swollen and red and hurt! Thiat is how are day of traveling started.With a 1PM departure and 6 hours (according to mapquest) of driving ahead of us, it was going to be a long day! We finally pulled into our campsite (above) around 9:30PM, just in time to make the beds and go to sleep. As we prepared for bed, we learned that we had absolutely NO POWER! My guess: the battery is dead. Hubby's guess: the 2yr old battery is not being charged by the truck. Either way, we had no power for bed time, just the propane. No power means no light and no water pump. That's okay, we packed bottled water and had full propane tanks.The next morning we toured the Lewis & Clark Caverns. SO COOL!! Well worth a visit. In that pic above that tiny white column in the middle of the pic, that almost looks baseball bat-ish, is over 6 feet tall! There is no depth perception in a cave, when I took the pic, it looked as if it were a few steps away. Weird! We finally got on the road after lunch again, but this time we were only two hours north of West Yellowstone. Well...with a stop in Ennis, Montana to figure out the battery problem, we didn't arrive to our next campsite until 6pm. Whew! Another long day!

West Yellowstone painted buffalo. They were all over!

So what was wrong with the battery you ask?? I'm getting there...the drive to Ennis was a stress because we kept trudging on not knowing if we would have to back track 3 hours to Bozeman or continue on to West Yellowstone. Thankfully, due to hubby's 3G network fancy phone, we were able to Google auto part stores and rv part stores between us and our destination. This is where Ennis saved the day! We quickly learned of a few places in Ennis we could stop at and get looked at. Did you know that Ennis has a population just over 1,000 people?? This small town saved our derrieres because it also had a NAPA autopart store. With a quick stop at NAPA then a referral to down the street, we learned a heck of a lot of silly stuff out our trailer battery.
There's the culprit of this "woe" story. Did you know that most trucks are installed with a fuse for it's towing cable plug-in that it will blow if you're RV battery is wired BACKWARDS?!?!? Yes, I said that right...our RV battery, whoever installed it last (which for clarity sakes, WAS NOT us) wired it BACKWARDS! Now, if you're anything like me and not electrically savy...that's as far as the explanation will go. Here's a lengthier explanation as quoted from hubby, "the white wire and the black wire were wired so that the white wire was wired to the hot side when it should be the common." And if you need a website that explains A LOT about RV batteries, I found this one that helped me to understand. So...the fuse was blown because of the wiring on the battery. An hour later, that was basically it. With a new fuse, a new battery and less money in our pocket, we were well on our way to West Yellowstone! I'll be adding that dollar amount to the side bar. Keep in mind though, that side bar does not reflect our rear end remodel costs. I'll be adding those as I explain it all.
Happy Travels!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Blog Help

As I have been posting on this blog I have noticed that I'm having minor issues with the layout. Whenever I insert a picture, I also have a huge gap between pic and text. Whenever I hit return to type a new paragraph or line, I have a big gap between lines. I've never had this issue on my other blog...anyone have blog tips or pointers to overcome this?? I'd appreciate any comments that would help.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Back End Trailer Remodel Part 1

It appears as if our Yellowstone trip hogged my time for the past week! And that trip wasn't without more trailer woes!! As promised though, lets begin the story of our trailer remodel and save those Yellowstone stories for later. It's a multi-step process just for the back end and will probably take numerous posts. Here's a teaser pic of one of Yellowstone Lake's geysers... obviously not erupting. Okay! On to taking apart the trailer!SHORT VERSION:



  • REMOVE WINDOWS, LIGHTING, DOORS, PANELS, ETC.


  • FROM SIDE WORKING ON.


  • CORNER MOULDING SCREWS, REMOVE SCREWS.


  • SCRAPE OFF LEFT BEHIND PUTTY TAPE.


  • REMOVE STAPLES AT ALUMINUM SIDING EDGE.


  • REMOVE ALUMINUM SIDING PANELS.


  • REMOVE INSULATION, DISCARD IF OLD N MOLDY.

LONG VERSION:


For any side of the trailer, front, back, or either side, the first step is to remove windows, lighting, doors, etc., because they all are screwed through the aluminum siding. All of ours were held together with a #8 Hex headed 2" long screw.If you jumped the gun and ran out to your trailer, by now you're probably asking "How the heck do I remove those windows and access panels??" Well, some panel covers are simply screwed on and you can remove those screws and the panel. Others have hidden their screws in an ingenious U-channel to protect them from the elements and thus preventing rust and water seepage through the holes. Remember: ALL HOLES IN THE ALUMINUM SIDING ARE POTENTIAL WATER LEAKS! These U-channels have a plastic cover that slips into them, thus covering the head of the screw. One more measure taken to prevent leaks. Example of U-channel, windows left side with exposed screws, bottom still intack but I pushed the plastic cover over an inch.This is an example where the plastic covers are mitered and meet in the corner. Not exactly sure how I will get these out without breaking them. At their age they are brittle and just chip out. Oh well....I can buy more of the plastic cover.The tail lights and other exterior lighting is wired in and will need to be un-wired. I'm not the saviest electrician, but I'm pretty sure you should disconnect the battery FIRST before messing with the wiring. You could also cover the exposed wires with a wire nut, but being unplugged from the battery, there shouldn't be any current running through 'em.




So, you've removed all windows, lighting and panel doors/covers?? The next step is to locate your corners. On this model of trailer ('76 Layton), the aluminum sides are butted together at the four corners then covered with a metal corner moulding. A quick google search resulted in THIS resource to show you different moulding profiles. In the event the I need to buy more, now I know who to call!This is the bottom front corner missing about 6" of corner moulding!! Not good. But it is a good close up of how the metal panels meet at the corner. Once you've located the corner moulding, our model of trailer has a flexible plastic cover that covers up the center strip where the screws are located. Remove this center cover to expose even more hex-head screws, remove the screws as far up as you need to go.
This pic shows the corner moulding and middle plastic cover separated from the trailer and unscrewed 3/4 of the way up the back. (As I type this post, I've realized that I've done a horrible job of taking pictures to show our process and have had to go out and take more.) Between the corner moulding and the aluminum siding there should be a layer of putty tape. A metal corner moulding sitting on metal siding does not seal out water, therfore putty tape is put in to help seal these corners. This putty tape will need to be scraped off, or in our case, chipped out because it was so old it lost it's puttiness. Where the two sides of aluminum siding meet, and beneath the putty tape will be a row of staples the entire length of the corner on both sides (and probably along the roof, we didn't go that far. This pic shows are front exposed corner which REALLY leaked at some point before we purchased the trailer.) These staples will need to be removed, and as rusty as they may be, make sure you have your tetanus shot and throw them away. We collected ours in an old Starbucks cup because we have two kids running around the area while we are working. This post sure is getting long winded....I'll add a quick review towards the top. Once the moulding is unscrewed and the staples are removed, the aluminum siding can begin to come off!! YAY! We're getting somewhere!! Our model had three different colors of siding,cream, lighter yellow and darker yellow. Each color is a different piece of aluminum, therefore we took off four different pieces of aluminum siding, two of which were cream colored.


That siding exposes THIS pink mess which, once removed, exposed THIS ROTTON MESS!!The entire left cornere was crumbling apart rotton!! Which we suspected was in bad shape, but not crumbling. The main reason we opened this whole back side up was to replace the soggy bathroom floor (that little window is the bathroom window). So when we opened this up, we new we would have more to replace. Le sigh....oh well! We wanted a trailer to fix up a bit, I guess we got one. The next step is wood/paneling removal, floor removal and other little bits along the way, all coming up in the next post or two or three.



Happy Travels!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Show and Tell

I've been doing some research on Skyline's Layton Travel Trailer in the 1970's, but all I have to show are online pictures of models ranging from 16'-23'. I do not have links to any of these, the majority of them were found in search engines that searched in Craigslist ads or other For Sale type websites.



1968 23'



1970 16' Here's a link to a 1971 model repainted on Flickr

1971 19'
1972 19'




1974 21'


1975 23'1976 19' (My handsome fellow!)1977 probably 16'


1977 22'1978 maybe 19'?


1978 16'


1978 19'
1979 19'


Conclusion: I don't think that image of a 1970 Layton is a 1970 model. I would guess that it is either NOT a Layton and possibly a Nomad since from what I saw were more colored with blues OR it is a Layton that's been repainted and they typo'ed the year. Either way, it does not fit with this timeline. Another conclusion: They mainly stuck with YELLOW as the exterior color choice. Neat to see!



Happy Travels!