Wednesday 27 April 2016

Dear caravan lovers,

It has been ages since I last posted Betsy's progress. :( However, I am pleased to say that there has been big progress. It just goes to show that restorations are hard work and take a long time to complete.
Recently Terry and myself have been working on fitting the wall panels including insulation.
This followed on with the fitting of the beds. We decided to re configure these by having a small table/seat in the centre of the beds. This would mean that the panelling would not get kicked or scratched.
Terry built the centre seat beautifully and it fits a dream. :) It has an undercoat at present, I will paint it white to match the peg board seating top that I roller painted with the paint pictured.


These are the handles I sourced.
 Electrics all in place,
 Insulated walls.....We ran out and Terry found some thrown out in a skip!


 Nitromors applied to the bed sides. Unfortunately this didn't work and it had to be sanded as we had to glue the new oak veneer onto it.
 A sign of progress.....Scrap wood thrown out.





 The paint used on the beds. It looks so much better than the stained, tired hardboard.



 I needed to use a roller, not a brush to apply the paint.










 Terry's amazing wardrobe! He is so clever. :)
 Cutting out the hole for the electrics at the back of the wardrobe.

 The varnish I sourced has a flat finish.
 The shelf at the back. We plan to run LED lighting across to illuminate the ceiling.

 Beds show the centre storage seat.

 Looking good!

Friday 22 February 2013

Back to basics!


Hi, It’s been a while since i posted and this is not to say that we haven't been hard at work.
Currently there is no floor and we are working on the chassis Thankfully it was just surface rust and we have been able to sand this back which my husband Simon and Terry have been working on.




 This shows the damp in the corner under the toilet





Trying to get the toilet section out proved really hard as it was built into the window. In the end the window smashed and so we will need to replace this, I am not really bothered as I wasn't keen on the rippled pattern anyway.

We have found loads of damp at the front end of the van where water had got in over time and collected at the bottom. This had also ran under the toilet section so will need replacing with marine Ply flooring and sealing. 

Terry has been amazing at all the woodwork timber frames. He has created jigs and laminated ply to form the curved structure....Fantastic workmanship and its as stronger than the original pieces :)

I am really looking forward to getting a floor in again, at times it does seem a scary sight and Betsy is so vulnerable and fragile. We have propped her up one end while the toilet is out so she is more stable and we have the cover on now as  well .

Sunday 20 January 2013

Phase 1 removing the interior


Well despite the bad weather I have still been out with my father in law Terry to remove the interior surrounded by 5" of snow. We had the heater running and it was actually really warm as we managed to get 3/4 of the way through. There is not surprisingly quite a lot of damp behind the oak veneer. Still we remain unfazed and are ready to take on the challenge ahead.

Here you can see the damp around the window especially.We are keeping the polystyrene in for now to help reduce condensation.


 En suite facilities aren't quite up to standard yet!

My cover has just arrived as well but I am now having to wait until Betsy dries off before I can try it out for size...


Thursday 3 January 2013

Bringing Betsy Home


This is the day we collected Betsy with our VW camper 'Chester'. It was real slow going up the hills on the way back, not sure Chester was really up to the job!

My First Post


Here are a selection of images that were taken of the caravan on our first viewing. We loved the fact that she had lots of original features that we could restore and that the lovely curved cabinets were still in great condition. We also understand that there is lots of work ahead as there shows damp spots and areas where the wood has perished.
However she has a gorgeous curved shape and has tons more personality than the modern, white box caravans of today. She will be worth the time and energy we are putting into restore her.