Finding a Mechanic

After spending the majority of the day cleaning out the camper and assessing the repair issues, I locked it back up and went inside to see if I could find a mechanic who would work on a 1969 North Star Camper.

Before making calls, however, I decided to google and see what I could find out about the old girl. The answer, was nothing.  After two hours of searching, I could not find one single piece of information about North Star Travel Trailers.  There is a company called North Star Campers, but they specialize in over the cab pick up campers.  Perhaps at one point they made Travel Trailers, but for now, I was hitting a dead end.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the lack of information regarding our camper, I began to call RV and Camper dealers and repair facilities in our area.  We live in the Denver metro area, a place well known for outdoor activities and a camper dealer on every corner, or so it seems.  Unfortunately, every place I called told me that they didn't work on campers older than 10-15 years old.  A couple of them told me they would work on the North Star, but it could cost upwards of $10,000.00.  And no, I am not exaggerating.  I was shocked and disappointed.

There was no way my husband or I could do the undercarriage work on the camper.  It was completely beyond our skill set and because the drive to my parents would take over 9 hours if we were to tow her there so my dad could help us- with her clanking and maybe crashing along the way, it seemed like we might need to give up after one day and put it back on Craigslist.

In the meantime, I knew we had to get the camper moved from in front of our house.  We live in an HOA covenant controlled community and having an old camper sitting for more than two days would get us a notice of violation.  I began to call RV and Camper Storage places and finally settled on the RV Vault near our house.  I drove over without the camper (my car isn't set up for towing) and met with the owner.  He was wonderful.

We drove around and he let me pick out a spot that would work for our camper.  We discussed pricing and short term storage and when I told him it might only be for a month and explained the camper and it's issues to him, he asked who I had asked to do work on it.  I shared who I had called and how disappointed I was that no one could help us.  He asked if I had called Parker Trailer.  I had not, as I didn't know they existed.  He assured me that they would be fantastic and even told me who to ask for over there.

I left the storage facility, with plans to have Kyle bring the trailer over the following Monday and excited to return home and find out if the people at Parker Trailer could actually help us.   I was actually nervous as I placed the call. However, I quickly discovered that I had no reason to be.  The people at Parker Trailer acted as if working on a 1969 vintage camper was something they did every day.  Every issue I mentioned, their response was, "We can fix that."  It was so encouraging.  I made an appointment for two weeks out and breathed a sigh of relief.

We might get to keep the camper after all.

Hammie By The Light Of Day - Pictures

Stepping outside and seeing the camper parked on the curb in the morning light, I couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation and hope.  Walking around the outside, there were definite places where the camper had been sealed for leaks, rather poorly and messily.  Someone had backed it into an object at some point, but I loved the fin on the back immediately.  Surprisingly, the skin was in really great condition and all but the back window were intact.

The first thing I did was crawl underneath and take a look at why she was listing to one side.  I didn't know what it was called, but it looked like a U shaped hanger was laying down instead of standing up and I hoped that a mechanic could quickly fix the issue.  While a bit surface rusty, the underside looked relatively good and all the metal pieces were in good shape.

I decided that even though I didn't know what exactly was wrong, this piece was the reason for the clanking.  I made a mental note to call a few camper places later and see if I could find someone to fix the issue.

Next, I went inside to assess what really needed to be done inside the camper.  There is only about 25 square feet of floor space.  The camper is only 12.5 feet from bumper to hitch, so it is compact.  To the front is a dinette that makes into a twin sized bed.  The fridge is an icebox, which we like so much better than worrying about keeping an electric fridge working.  It has a sink and a three burner stove.  To the rear is a sofa that turns in to a full size bed with a retractable bunk above it.  The bunk is a little bit larger than twin sized and will be perfect for our little girlie.

There is a lot of storage in the camper.  While there is a bit more water damage in each corner that I had missed the night before, pressing into the corners, they were not soft.  I pulled all of the cushions out and set to work with a bucket, a rag and strong cleaner.  As I scrubbed and cleaned I made notes of things that would need attention - having the corners inspected for stability and rot, replacing the rear window, reupholster the cushions, paint the walls, new curtains.  For the most part, cosmetic. 

The floor had spent it's entire life covered with a carpet, which the seller removed for us.  The floors were in perfect condition, which was a nice surprise.  One interesting thing about the camper is that it has a propane light that also acts as a heater.  

While I was nervous about the mechanical side of things and the mysterious clank, I could feel myself getting excited about the potential.

Hammie Comes Home

It was dark already and it felt like Kyle should have been home with the camper already.  He had gone after work to pick up the little North Star camper we had spotted on Craigslist the day before.  Always impatient, I picked up the phone and called him.  He answered on the second ring, telling me that he was talking to my dad on the other line and driving as slowly as he possibly could in order to make it home safely.

It seemed that the tail and brake lights on the camper did not work.  It also seemed to be making a loud, rhythmic clanking noise and he wasn't sure why.  Thus the phone call to my dad, hoping he would have some idea what the problem might be.  At this point Kyle may have had a bit of buyers remorse as a clanking camper was not what either of us wanted.

About 45 minutes later, he finally pulled in to the neighborhood.  I heard him coming as he came down the main road - CLANK, CLANK, CLANK.  My heart sank.  For while my dad is a hot rodder and an amazing mechanic, he also lives seven hours away from us and although I know how to do some very basic things, I am in no way qualified for a major camper overhaul.  I stood in the driveway with nervous anticipation as Kyle rolled to stop in front of the house. 

In the dark it was hard to see the outside of the camper well, but armed with a flashlight, we cracked open the door.  It was musty, but not damp smelling.  The camper listed to the drivers side, enough to make us feel unsteady as we looked around.  I went immediately to the corners, checking for water damage and my heart sank as I saw the dark spots in the corner on the drivers side and under the back window.  It dropped even further when I opened the back window curtains and discovered the six foot window was missing completely.  Covered by an outside awning and curtains on the inside, Kyle didn't think to look at it.

Aside from those few items, leaning camper, clanking noise, water damage in the front corner, water damage under the rear window and a missing rear window, the camper was surprisingly in good shape.  The door was sticky and hard to close, but we attributed that to the leaning issue and not to an actual door problem.  

Because it was dark, we locked it up and went inside.  My plan was to go through it carefully the following day when I could do a better job assessing it and go from there.  Our hope was that everything was minor.  Our fear was that everything was huge.

Deciding on Hammie

When you look up 'vintage camper' on line, it is so easy to be taken in by the gorgeous, old time, creative, unique campers that you will find.  So many lovely campers, restored, remodeled, repainted and redone that you might think to yourself, "I can do that...."

This is what happened to my husband and I when we found Hammie on Craigslist.  Because Hammie was located a mere six blocks from where Kyle works, it was easy for him to run over and take a look.  The man who was selling this lovely 1969 North Star Camper Trailer, has received it in kind for building a deck for one of his neighbors.  He was selling is cheap, for $900 and it was parked out behind the house, waiting for someone to notice how lovely it could be one day.

With the sun setting behind the camper, it was easy to overlook all of the flaws.  What Kyle saw instead was the possibility, the potential of having our own little vintage camper and all of great times our family could have in it.  The only issue, is that neither of us wanted a project camper.  We wanted to be able to hitch it up and be on our merry way.

This alone deterred Kyle from saying yes at that very moment and so he left the camper sitting there, forlorn and lonely.  He called me on his way home and we discussed all of the pros and cons regarding an older trailer.  He assured me that everything wrong was only cosmetic and we could paint and patch and have a cute camper.  Going against my very type A nature, I said okay and we decided to buy the camper.  Kyle quickly called the seller back and said we would take it.  The man was so generous that he offered to knock $100 off of the price, saying he thought a family should have a camper to camp in.  They agreed that Kyle would pick it up the following day after work.

We had officially become camper owners.

Introduction

For fifteen years my husband and I have been avid tent campers.  Living in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, we are daily inspired to plan the next camping trip, to seek out places of solitude and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.  We hike mountain trails, dabble in icy cold brooks and snuggle into our sleeping bags at the end of the day, happy in our little tent.

Our kids have been tent camping since our oldest was six months old. Tent camping is all they have known and we all love the privacy of the tent campgrounds and tent only sites that large trailers can't get to.  There is a solitude in tent camping that we have felt we could never reach in a camper of any sort.  In fact, we have probably been tent camping snobs for most of the past 15 years.  Tent camping seems like a much grander, freer way to get out into nature and up until this past fall, getting a camper wasn't even on our radar.

It's funny how life has a way of changing things up on a person, no matter how carefully you lay your plans.  After spending a year planning a two week tent camping trip to Glacier National Park, I sustained a severe burn to my left hand three days before we were scheduled to leave.  Note to all of you bacon lovers out there- spilled bacon grease can and will give you second/third degree burns.

While my burn doctor would have preferred we stay at home, as the risk of infection would be made higher by camping and the degree of care would be less available, I promised I could self care and would not get an infection on our trip.  I was desperate to go and determined that I would not use my left hand at all in an effort to keep it clean and on the path to healing.

What this meant was that my husband and children would be responsible for doing all of the camping packing, set up at campsites, cooking, clean up, etc.  and while I love the chores that come with tent camping, two weeks of car camping is a lot of work. On the way home from what was a beautiful trip to Glacier (and in which I did not get an infection and, in fact, healed beautifully), we began talking about getting a camper. We are getting older and the idea of camper, for the first time, seemed enticing.

First on our list, and what we fully intended to purchase, was the smallest Scamp Trailer available.  With a dinette that folds to a full sized bed and sofa that turned in to bunks, it would be the perfect size for our family of four.  Too small to want to spend much time in, we would still cook outdoors and be outside except to sleep.  We wanted something light enough to tow with our Toyota Highlander, easy to set up and mostly, inexpensive.

We began looking at Scamps on this site  and also on our local Craigslist.  We thought we found one that fit our needs in Delaware and were in discussions with my dad to see if he would like to accompany my husband on a road trip.  And then came that fateful Craigslist post that changed everything.  While double checking to make sure there weren't any Scamps closer to us, I stumbled across a small, 1969 North Star camper for $900 about six blocks from my husband's office.

This is the story of Hammie, the canned ham camper.