Scary Things

Over the past month we have gone back and forth about Hammie, from being wary, to excited to scared of her.  After spending lots of time here, http://vintagetrailertalk.freeforums.net/ , we began to realize that doing the suspension and windows and wheels, etc., wasn't enough.  While Hammie seems sturdy and strong, we have lots of long distance camping trips planned for the summer and I began to have panic attacks that she would fall apart as we drove down the road.  It became such an issue to me that we pull the skin and get rid of all the rot and reframe her, that we actually decided to sell Hammie and buy a Scamp instead.

It felt very overwhelming to take on a project ourselves and Parker Trailer was honest in letting us know that they could do the reframe, but it would be incredibly expensive. For a week, we stalked the Scamp websites, looking for one that fit our needs.  Then we stalked the Craigslist adds to get price comparisons so we would know what to sell Hammie for.  Late on a Friday night, I came across this website - http://www.vintage-travel-trailer.com/ Someone who could possibly fix Hammie in the ways that we can't!!

I called them the very next day and sent over pictures of Hammie.  They gave me a soft estimate that seems reasonable and we are currently scheduled to have them take a look and give us a hard estimate in mid February.  Hammie might be done at Parker Trailer by Friday of this week and so we are excited about the next step!  Apparently this little vintage camper has worked its way under our skin and we want to do all we can to keep her.  For me that means solid corners and framing, solid axle, wheels, bearings, etc. and turning her into a camper that we can keep for the next ten years or more.

Getting An Evaluation

After a sleepless night, worrying about the camper we parked and left in a shopping center, we woke early and headed over to haul it to the trailer place.  Finally we would have an official evaluation done and know exactly what our $800 camper would cost us to be user friendly.

We introduced ourselves to Toby, who would be our mechanic.  Clipboard in hand, Toby began to walk around the camper with us, asking questions and writing down the things we were concerned about. He exuded confidence that everything we asked about could be done and for less then we thought.  Both Kyle and I were feeling a huge sense of relief and gratitude that Parker Trailer had been recommended to us.

Just before we got ready to leave, I opened the door to the camper to get something out of it for Toby and upon trying to close it, it refused to close.  In frustration, I kicked it.  The framing around the door fell off.  Toby wrote something on his clipboard and calmly said, "We'll go ahead and add a door, too."

I knew that our camper would be in capable hands.

About two weeks later, Toby called with some news and a question for me.  His news, was that the camper was only attached to the frame at one point.  All of the others had come apart and the suspension was broken.  He couldn't believe that my husband had driven the trailer across town to our house without losing it off of the frame.  Truly nothing short of a miracle.  His question was, how much did we want to spend on the camper?  They had gotten it in the shop and he had a list of to do items but wanted to know our budget and priorities.  We had decided that our initial budge is between $2000-2500.  In order of priority, our check list includes:

• Completely redoing the suspension.
• Wheel Bearings
• New hitch
• Stabilizer jacks
• New Tires
• Rewire brakes, electrical
• New gas line
• New water tank and line
• Replace rear window
• New door (because I broke the old one)

There may be other things that come up as the get into the project, but these are our starting points.  Toby seems confident that he can stay within budget for these items and we are thrilled to know that our camper is in such good hands.