Part 2...the "Before" photos

Part 2 of the "Before" photos of our 1959 Catolac Deville.  As I shared, the trailer itself is still pretty much all there.  Initially I thought we could clean really well....do some shellac and load her up to go.  On closer inspection, I realize that I might have been hasty in that judgement.  I'll share some of that in this posting.

The side is pretty straight but there are some small dings

We were very lucky in that all of our glass is intact and the Hehr windows work flawlessly.  Of course, the down side is that three of the windows were remounted with copious amounts of Silicone....the kind that small artillery could not dislodge.  Folks need to take a solemn pledge when they buy one of these canned that they will never...ever use a silicone product on the trailer.  I am looking forward to hours spent removing that goop so I can reseal correctly with butyl tape.

          Original water fill          

The shore water fill....electric shore power plug and water tank fill are all original.  All will need to be resealed.  The water tank fill and shore power, need some kind of shimming inside to pull the tin closer to get a good seal with the tape.

.  You can see the original side and back lights.  License plate light is not original.

The top has had issues with leaking.  Lots of silicone in places and the wood inside reflects that water had been leaking for a while.  The vent works well and there is a smaller vent for the sink...more about that later.  Both were sources for water entering the trailer at one time.
The j rail is in pretty good shape but the putty was dry and brittle.  I have already replaced all of that.

The reason the PO gooped this J rail up was there was water coming in.  The water was coming in because the wood frame was rotten and falling apart.  We'll fix all of the that in the coming weeks and months.

Dinette on the door side

The dinette upholstery was a bit on the rugged side.  The table will need to be rebuilt and recovered as well.  We have the upholstery done already and are very pleased with the final result.  the table was just some masonite with a paper covering that is coming up.  It will get a rebuild and new covering as well as a new table leg.

Propane light....needs cleaning up, mantle and globe.

Some people don't like these propane lights but we are very comfortable with them.  I found a complete spare on EBAY with intact globe so we are looking good on this.  We have a number of Amish friends in Ohio and they all use propane lights in their homes, barns and workshops.

Rear of the trailer...The Gaucho bed

How the gaucho bed slides back to make up a sofa

We have a gaucho bed in the rear that my wife would like to have made into a permanent bed.  We'll do that after doing the rebuild in the rear of the trailer.  Notice the Oak placed over the birch paneling?  There's a reason for that....rot, mold and wasps nests....lots of them.  Thankfully the wasps are dead.  The sink is to the right and the closet to the left.

We have a 3 burner Princess oven and stove

The aluminum back splash is pretty cool

The stove looks like it wasn't used much.  I will be placing some heat shields under it and next to the ice box as there is none now.  The back splash polishes up very nicely with aluminum polish and my buffing wheel.

Drawers, sink, icebox and stove.

And so it goes.  Part 3 will share some of the reasons I will have to be doing a partial rebuild on the trailer.  I was amazed what I found under the oak paneling.  Until then... thanks for sitting a spell.  I will leave you with another of the reasons we enjoy living in this wonderful valley we call home.

Yep....we get Hummingbirds that winter over each year