Old Small Caravan Renovation – Completed

Newly painted exterior of our little Franklin Caravan (travel trailer).

Painting Exterior

In the previous post my wife prepared and painted the interior. Now it’s time to do the outside. I used the wire brush and chisel to scrape off excess paint first. This was quite a big job. But the end result was a nicely finished bright white painted surface, and much less shabby.

Painting wheels, new draw bar & other related components

Originally I wasn’t going to worry about painting the wheels or even the drawbar. Howver once I start something I tend to go all the way to make it good. So off come the various drawbar related parts for grinding and wire brushing the rust off before painting. And the wheels could do with a paint too.

Old Drawbar Removed & New Drawbar Welded in

Before removing the old drawbar I checked out the wiring loom for the 7 pin round connector that connects the lights etc to the car. I then measured the drawbar so that I could cut the new  one to the same size.

Now comes the tricky part… Getting the old draw bar cut out requires a lot of grinding under the chassis in awkward positions. I used a reciprocating saw also for hard to reach areas. I had an accident with the grinder that could have been quite tragic. Thankfully my beard saved me. Finally I got the old draw bar off. I also cut off the old vehicle chassis number and later reattached that to the new drawbar.

My friend Dirk helped me with some of the initial welding to attach the two drawbars (He’s a better welder). I welded the plate steel where the tow hitch would go. There were two top and bottom pieces plus a plate for the front.
There was a gap of a month or so before I got the tow hitch attached.

Old Drawbar Accessories
wire-brushed, painted & reattached

The old gas tank holder and spare wheel hlder were wire brushed and repainted, there was nothing wrong with them.

I decided to use the original tow hitch because it still worked and it had an attachment that held the jockey wheel at the centre of the drawbar, not on the side, and I liked this arrangement as it gave me moor room for the spare tire and was more logical and a more efficient use of space.After repainting the tow hitch, I bolted it with new bolts to the drawbar.
I decided to add some extra chain to the old chain, both had to be wire brushed, welded and painted.

The jockey wheel needed a new screw as the old one was rusted out, I just happened to have a half wrecked jockey wheel lying around that still had a good screw in it for raising and lowering the wheel. So I put that it after cleaning it up. Painted it too.

Finally the old chassis number plate was riveted into place. in front of the gas tank.

With a lick of paint it all came up looking great.

I replaced the old round 7 pin plug and 7 core electrical cable and checked that everything worked. With a bit of work it all came together.  I reattached the gas line and the break cable.

Sewing Machine Work

We had some seat  covers, cushions, curtains and other things to sew for our little caravan. A friend named Janine gave us an old Singer 15K sewing machine from the 1920’s, which needed a bit of work to get it going. I made a little hand crank  for the main wheel. It was hard work for Hadassah, my wife, as you can imagine, but she managed to get some sewing done for all the seat covers and curtains.

I really like the idea of having machines that work off the grid or are simple to maintain. These old Singer Sewing machines are exceptional.

Later on I got 3 more Singer sewing machines, including a treadle and two electric ones. I needed to rewire the electric cables because the insulation had perished. But I enjoyed restoring these beautiful and well designed and sturdy machines. They don’t make stuff to last like this any more. We don’t have the fancy sewing patterns, just a straight stitch, but it was good enough. My wife made two rows of stitches along every seam.

Interior Curtains, Cushions, Hatch, Mirror, Cat door etc

We were very pleased with the homey sort of feel the new curtains, seat covers and cushions added to the caravan. We got the material for them from old curtains that were not needed any more. It’s wonderful to re-purpose and reuse something.

As well as the curtains, my wife made a cover for the sofa-bed and something to hang some books in and also a bag for her essential oil collection.
I added some more layers of polyurethane to our new wooden bench top that covers our gas cooker. I removed the small cat door from our large caravan and made a place for it in our small caravan door. I put a new and slightly larger cat door in the large caravan.

I also added a 3mm panel below the top hatch to cover the unsightly polystyrene insulation. I made a wooden bracket/housing to go around the white plastic hatch that helped keep the 3mm ply in place. All these little finishing touches really made a difference.

Caravan painted below, Water Tank reattached.

There was one job I really didn’t want to do. It was a dirty laborious job. I cleaned off the rust and dirt from the metal frame and axles etc under the caravan. I then put the water tank back in also. I also painted the rear hand cranked parking stabilisers white.

Queensland here we come!

With very little money, but some faith and petrol, we can now set off for Queensland for a winter holiday with our cat Leon. Hopefully we can find some work, and maybe a place to stay for a while. Eventually we would like to live where the weather is warmer for my wife. And we don’t want to live in a big city like Melbourne when hard times come. We prefer to life off the land and off grid. We will see what Providence opens up.

Personally I believe that the world is heading towards economic chaos, natural disasters and world war. We don’t want to be in the big cities when that happens. We are also hoping to meet some folks who are down to earth and want to live similarly and who have faith in God and family values.

That’s all for now folks.
Rory & Hadassah