More photos before we start

5/1/20

These were taken as we went through the trailer looking to establish the good and the bad.

Our manufacturer's plate. It's a 73, officially but it was dated 11/72 on this plate.

The steel endcaps on both side are badly rusted. There's also a lot of hinky paintwork in several stages of breakdown. Hopefully the rust can be sanded/ground off and sealed and painted smoothly

(Below) This seems to be the original setup of the black water tank outlet. It's located in the back, in the center under the fairly wide bumper. In other words, you have to get down on your hands and knees and reach in about 18" to hook up your hose. That is really unacceptable. I remember the '69 Caravel had an outlet to the side, easily accessible. 

(Below) I don't know what to make of this. This looks like the grey water outlet, but I'm not sure, the water system is not hooked up and no demolition has been done yet. There looks like there were rivet holes once, but now it's just a jagged mess.

(Below) This is the compartment for the battery, you can see the subfloor has been damaged, probably eaten through, since there is evidence of several nests in the back. Yuck.

The back bumper/compartment is badly rusted at both ends, not sure yet if it's bad enough to replace.

 

Now for some inside notes. Along with the demolition at the front, where the couch/gaucho was pulled out, the refrigerator and some of the cabinet just inside the door are also missing. All of the rest of the  kitchen is intact, though in questionable shape. The stove is rusted but probably works. The sink is fine, but so shallow, we will probably replace it. On the positive side, all of the windows and hardware are intact and working great! Just missing one screen, and all the weatherstripping needs replacing, but glad we don't have to replace anything major there. 

A view to the bedroom and bath, as it was packed up at the previous owners. Those long pieces are the protective rubrails for the outside, that protect the seam around the mid-section. There's some other miscellaneous hardware we're not sure of. We got the front gaucho cushions, but they are nasty and will def be thrown out.   

More bins of stuff, and the table top that goes with the front couch. You can see the bed structure underneath, all intact.

The bathroom is mostly intact, no photos yet, but the nice pocket door is still there. Too bad we will probably be tossing that too.

These next photos below were taken a bit later, as we started to look more closely and take off some of the tape. Yes, the cold hard look. 

First, note that the carport is way too short, as we found out on pick-up night. We've had some issues with that, more on that later. 

Just to document the problems from one view:

• Badly rusted steel caps
• Shoddy installation of ceiling vent fan (rear), taped-in, because the corners hadn't been cut and the facing didn't fit. We did get the remaining parts and docs for the fan. 
• One ceiling fan with fan removed and only cap and brace still there
• Hard to see from here, but there's a round vent on the far side opposite the door, that has paper and plastic taped over it. No idea if there should be a cowl over that. 
• ALL of the running lights and outdoor house lights have been removed, with just the pigtails sticking out and bondo covering the spot.  We got the fixtures in one of the bins, we think all are accounted for. 
• No lock on the door; it's completely gone. 
• There is tape everywhere, hiding many sins, we are sure. See below.

(Below) the tape over the center front window hides a row of pitted rust. This is the front steel cap, remember. Note the front coach light pigtails. It's not rusted through, but we don't know if it's sound.  Note some evidence that the top has been painted dark red and yellow previously. 

(Below) We didn't notice this at all when it was covered in dirt, but it looks like someone went wild with his grinder, and didn't clean up afterwards. Luckily, it's not deep. This is an aluminum panel (just below and to the side of window under the front end cap) Since we know we will paint (seal that steel!) we know this can be bondo'd and painted.

Finally, (not really, more to come) this is a mess and we barely have begun to remove the tape. The compartment goes inside to a cabinet, so outdoor storage. I guess the latch is broken and the plate for the electric outlet next to it is gone. Also, one side of the step ladder has broken off. The other side is holding for now, but we really need to fix that soon, it lists to the side.

The tick list has begun.