Makes you want to cry, but...

I went out first thing today to finally begin working on disassembling the interior of my camper.  Like a really good person told me, you just start at one corner and do a little at a time and take lots of pictures and notes.  First thing I did was to get everything that isn't necessary out of the camper--not enough room to work with all sorts of stuff in there.  Much better with a little more organization area!

I decided to start at the back end and work my way forward.  Someone had previously put a cheap, ugly piece of wall paneling along the back end--this would be the first thing to go in order to see what was there.  They had cut it a little small and in two pieces to slide in around the back window.  The bottom piece was not too bad, but the upper piece had water damage--wasn't expecting that.  The original wood was underneath, but quite a bit was water damaged and peeling.  I took off the loose stuff.  Peeling back some of the wood, you could see the framing and the meager amount of old-fashioned fiberglass insulation.  I got my first inside view of the aluminum outer shell--this is scary!

Ted thought I would need to take out the window before I took the first piece of paneling off, so he had me take out all the screws from the back window.  Then, he didn't know whether the window came out in one or two pieces.  When I showed him that the panel was cut small, we decided to leave the window in--for now.  It will need to come out when I get a little further along, but not today.  Also, I have to find out what the best way to take it out is.

I immediately decided that I was going to need a larger tarp to cover my camper with now that I was planning on doing more work than I had originally thought.  Before putting a tarp over her, I took out the vent frame and screen.  All the screws in this thing are square drive--and it took my husband a long time to find his driver for the drill.

Next step was taking apart the back bunk.  I haven't decided whether to leave it out of the redo or to put it in as a smaller unit that's just a storage area.  So I don't want to totally destroy it.  First, I took the screws out of the hinge that holds the bed and the door panel together.  My husband helped me work the door front out of the camper--not an easy project.  It's in really good shape.  We still couldn't figure out just how the bunk is held in--it just wouldn't budge, even though there doesn't seem to be anything really holding it.  I removed the 3 braces, but that had no effect on it's hold.  We finally figured out that it's attached by screws on each side and the back edge--put there BEFORE the outer skin was attached!!!  I'm almost for just ripping it out and making a new shelf out of different wood, but I'm not jumping into tearing it out right away.  It's kind of a wait-and-see thing.

Before putting the tarp on, we climbed up to check out the roof.  The roof section forward of the vent is a low area that collects water.  No wonder the ceiling in that area inside is in such bad shape!  Also, all the seams up on the roof are shot.   I think I'll have to add more/new wood supports, put in a new ceiling, and then reseal all the seams up there.  It's doable!

It was definitely a day of emotional ups and downs, but I did end up accomplishing quite a bit of work.  And now my little camper is all covered up and tucked in for the night!