Reaching Out

Hello Everyone!
How is our manor today?
Reaching Out

It has been such an exciting past couple of days for Justin and I. We made the choice to go ahead and move into the Spartan even though its not fully finished. With the little we do have done however, it is already starting to feel like home. We put up some old curtans , a bed, a few lawn chairs, our TV and computer , and we truly couldn't be happier. I'm also happy to report that even though its cold, this baby is very well insolated. A job well done! We still need to add one more layer of insulation befor we put up the wood.

One of the best things about owning a vintage camper is the community of people that come with it. No mater what make, model or year your trailer is, there is always groups of people who are more than willing to help and reach out to you. Justin made a cregslist add and I cannot be live the feedback we had from it! We just simply said that " if anyone has any meterials that we could use including ferniture, if you could contact us and we would be more than happy to come and pick it up for you."

The first person we came in contact with was Steve and his wife. Thy had a post about throwing away some old trim from a house that they where remodeling. Justin contacted them and after telling them about our labor of love, they told us that they actually had a whole house full of cyperess wood and if we wanted we could come and get as much of it as we wanted. Justin and I where so shocked! They also told us that a few years back they also had a labor of love. They restored 67' Airstream and knew that the wood would be going to a good place and we would use it well. So, thank you so much Steve for your help! You and your wife have help so much for your very kind contribution to our new home. We wish nothing but kindness your way for such a wonderful heart filled act you guys did for complete strangers.

Around the same time we where contacted by Ryan Pugh and his lovely wife Mellissa. They have also recently bought a 1950s Spartan named Lorelei. They have big plans on making thier Sparten as modern as it gets. In turn they planed on completely gutting the trailer and throwing the scrap away. When they saw are add on creagslist they went to our blog and saw what we where about. Ryan then contacted us and made us an offer almost too good to be true. We could have the pick of the lot! They felt kind of bad throwing away all of the good reusable materials, trust me when I say that their Spartan was in way better shape than ours, so they where happy to give it away to us. The mist exciting part for me was that they had the original oven and stove top and where willing to give it to us! 

Upon meeting them we liked them sraight off. They where just as excited as us as well as just as inspired as us. We spent a good while descussing our future ideas and plans and them telling us about thier aspirations.


It is so refreshing to know that we arent alone. It gives us hope when we find people like us that are willing to reach out. We could not be more great full to all of you. You all have given us the streanght to carry on, the words of wisdoms you share means so much.thank you for all of kind comments on your Facebook and to those we have met and to those whom we will meet, we wish you all every ounce of joy and happiness this life can give. We couldn't have done it without all of you. 

Ryan also has a Facebook page for is amazing work that he does. Please take a minute to give him words of hope and love and also check out his Spartan!
https://www.facebook.com/FineWoodStudio

Thank you so much for reading!
We would love to hear from you 
 so, if you have any comments or questions you can  leave your comments below or like us on Facebook @: https://www.facebook.com/lifeinthebestmanor
or contact us @: lifeinthebestmanor@gmail.com 
More to come very soon!! ^_^

The Little Things

Hello Everyone!

How is our Manor today? 

The Little Things

 

 

 

I have missed so much writing about our home but we have hit a brick wall in a cash flow, HARD! Now all we can do is wait and do a little bit at a time while we both look for jobs. I am happy to report however, that despite the incontinence we still continue to make progress.

 

Justin has been hard at work repairing the rear window of the Spartan. He cleaned the old window frame of any rust and imperfections, the painted it cola red. He then cut out a new piece of plexiglass to fit the frame.

It looks great! the hard part now is to install the window into the back. We only get one shot so we have put it off for the time being.

The back screen door also has been given a face lift. Justin too the whole thing apart screw by screw and sanded the old wood. the replaced parts of wood that where completely rotted. He also fixed the slide cover that covers the door handle with a new piece of aluminum and reused a drawer handle from the spartan to open and close the new hatch. Adding new screws, rivets and aluminum at the bottom really makes this screen door look sharp.

This are the original wall sconch. Its amazing what a little sandpaper will do! It look brand new!! We have the other one to do still.

Thank you so much for reading!

We would love to hear from you 

 so if you have any comments or questions 

you can  leave your comments below 

or

like us on Facebook @: https://www.facebook.com/lifeinthebestmanor

or

contact us @: lifeinthebestmanor@gmail.com

more to come very soon!! ^_^

 

We Also hope the holidays and new year was a happy and safe one for all of our readers. We sure had a great one!

 

 

Early Holiday Gift

Hello Everyone!
How is our Manor today?

Early Holiday Gift

So we have finally run out of our savings, but that doesn't mean we stop. Every day, whether it be big or small tasks, things are getting accomplished. Everyday Justin buffs more of the Spartan or fixes the little things he can. To me that just means we wont miss any important details and when shes done, she will be done right.We have been very fortunate enough to have my grandparents help us and support us while we have been creating our beautiful new home.

The other day while we contemplating what to do next, being that there was little we could do at the moment, my grandpa pulls up with a big smile on his face. In the back of the truck was a huge sheet of aluminum as well as aluminum braces. "Santa came early this year!" I said while hugging him. We thanked and thanked him because now we had the missing piece for the back of the Spartan. Now she finally looks like a trailer and not so much like a , well toy hauler.

Justin started first by pre-drilling all of the holes for the rivets on the trailer first. He then applied silver cocking to prevent water leeks. 

Justin hand riveted over 200 rivets to secure the back.

He also fabricated new braces on the inside of the trailer and then riveted them into place from the outside.
It truly makes a difference seeing the Spartan all closed in. Its coming along so well. We will have to eventually find tail lights and instal those in the new aluminum.

 We are also replacing parts aluminum under the wheel wells; we think that the people who owned the trailer before us must have had a blow out because of the extent of damage that we found in the wheel wells.

Thank you so much for reading!

We would love to hear from you 

 so if you have any comments or questions 

you can  leave your comments below 

or

like us on Facebook @: https://www.facebook.com/lifeinthebestmanor

or

contact us @: lifeinthebestmanor@gmail.com

more to come very soon!! ^_^

Let There Be Light

Hello Everyone!

How is our manor today?

Let There Be Light

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe holiday! I have been super busy and haven't been able to write a new blog in a while, however progress is always being made.

For the past few days Justin and grandpa have been hard at work. Thanks to them we have power!!

 They installed it all! we now have lights in the living room, kitchen and bathroom. We have all the outlets we could ask for as well as light switches.

 Justin has also finished repairs to the roof by redoing the last two vents as well as covering it with silver Black Jack to keep it water proof.

Justin has also started to polish more of the Spartan and it is so beautiful.

Thank you so much for reading our blog! 

we would love to hear from you as well so if you have any comments or questions 

you can  leave your comments below 

or

like us on Facebook @: https://www.facebook.com/lifeinthebestmanor

or

contact us @: lifeinthebestmanor@gmail.com

more to come very soon!! ^_^

Venting &Spot work

Hello Everyone!

How Is Our Manor Today?

Venting & Spot Work

On Friday November 22nd, 2013 Justin and I decided that our next big step was to make the Spartan as water tight as possible. We have had bad experiences with water leeks in tents and in our pop up so we are determined to make this thing so water tight, it will double as a boat...just kidding ;) This is though a very long and important process. If you don't take your time and do it right, you could potentially ruin all of your hard work. Pay close attention to every detail and when in doubt, overkill isn't always a bad thing. We found our leek areas by spraying the top and sides of the Spartan with a hose.

We first started our mission with the air vent in the front room. It was in very bad shape and we had contemplated taking all of them out and replacing them with new ones. The problem with that is RV vents are no longer made in the same dimensions that we need and we are trying not alter the frame or the outside aluminum as much as possible. we had also thought of taking the frame to a welder shop and have it rebuilt but that was not exactly cost efficient. So it was decided that we do it ourselves. We rebuilt the box that the vent sits in and the frame work as well.

Justin began by first measuring the air vent on the inside of the trailer which came out to be 16"x12". He drew up a design  that when cut out would fold downward and, from the top of the trailer down into the hole for the vent, could be secured back into the frame work with rivets to hold it in place.

Some of the aluminum surrounding the vent was corroded, so Justin cut it out to be replaced. We kept in mind that this would need to be covered so we enlarged the dimensions to compensate for the loss.

using a rip saw gave a very precise cut

The existing areas  where bent to create the new box to fit the air vent, as well as cover the new holes carved out from removing the damaged aluminum.

We then went about rebuilding the new frame on the vent itself. We attached new aluminum to some of the old aluminum that was still in good shape using rivets.

The vent cover was in good shape but the hinge needed replacing. We took the old one off and used piano hinge to create a new one. we also riveted it into place using, what Justin called "Fat Boys".

The larger rivets held the larger                                                                                     Piano hinge

holes from the Piano hinge in 

place; the stander size just

wouldn't cut it.

We used Loctite on both the vent and new box frame

This was our over kill, we used both spray and gel form of Loctite. Better to be safe then sorry.

We then placed the frame inside of the box and then riveted the whole thing together.

**Side Note**

The mosquitoes where, at this point, eating us alive!!!!! Note to self, buy OFF!!

After putting the lid back on, Justin went to the roof and just slid the whole thin into place to make sure that it fit correctly. he also used both types of Loctite to glue it into place, then riveted it to the roof and on the inside to keep it secure. 

On November 23rd we mainly did spot work on the spry foam insulation, oh by the way, it took us about 50 cans to finish everything. We also mapped out where everything was going to go including plugs,lights, light switches, breaker box, counter tops and all furniture as well as appliances. 

If you ever want to find stuff for a good price, Amazon is the way to go. We got this breaker box for $55  and its a house box that came with breakers. when we went to Lowes they where double the price and didn't come with anything other than the box itself. We mounted the box to the frame with self tapping screws. 

Thank you so much for reading our blog! 

we would love to hear from you as well so if you have any comments or questions 

you can  leave your comments below 

or

like us on Facebook @: https://www.facebook.com/lifeinthebestmanor

or

contact us @: lifeinthebestmanor@gmail.com

more to come very soon!! ^_^

Making A Cozy Home

Hello Everyone!

How is our Manor today?

Making A Cozy Home

                                         

This is our theme song for the project

^_^

I can not believe how far we are getting in such a short amount of time!! I mean we do work on it almost all day long and we have been working on it since we have gotten to Florida, but still!! I'm so proud of us!!!

On November 19th we spent most of the day on one area of the camper, the wheel hubs. it was an extremely long process and took Justin a while to get it all put together correctly. First of all we had to replace part of the right wheel hub where the aluminum  was missing. he had to figure out a shape for the missing area, then cut it out perfectly, then, rivet it all together and make a water tight seal...ugh. Second of all, cutting the plywood for the sub-floor to go around the wheel hubs was a pain!! I feel for anyone who may encounter this same issue. a tip, try to take your time and just do it right because if done wrong dirt, mud, water and what ever earthly things, could damage the inside of your trailer. we plain on building a cabinet to go over that area and we don't want any possibility of rot.

(Steps explained below)

 First, Justin cut out all of the bad aluminum with a rip saw.

Yes that is my finger, my bad haha. Never said I was a pro.

The old rivets where also trimmed so they could be replaced.

With a black sharpy, he drew a shape to cut out to fit the hole. keep in mind that you need to make it about and inch bigger than the hole so you have plenty of space to connect the old and new aluminum together with rivets.

Clean up the edges for a smooth finish.

 Looking like a pro.

Drill a hole for the rivet. Make sure you go through the old aluminum as well as the new.

Place your rivet.

Pop the rivet into place.

There you go! Justin found it easiest to place one rivet at the top to secure the best position for the new aluminum. Then do a couple more around the aluminum to hold it in place so he could put the other rivets in with ease.

He also braced it with an L shaped piece of aluminum by drilling holes in to the bottom of the floor them using wood screws to hold into place as well as riveting it to the aluminum. Its not going to go anywhere I think any time soon; some times over kill is just being safe.

This is our finished project.

I dont have any pictures of the flooring around the wheel hubs from that day because Justin was getting kind of frustrated so i went inside to leave him be and didn't see it until the next day. what he basically had to do was cut out a giant "H" shape in the plywood and the center part was too big and wouldn't fit. then the small pieces where too long...so much frustration.

My sister and Dad

On  Wednesday November 20th,  I spent my morning with my grandma helping her run some errands and going to her Doctors appointment at my Dads office.

When I came home, Justin was hard at work and this is what I saw!

 

The floor was almost done!!!!!! He also used spray foam toy fill in all the cracks for a water tight seal.

We then had to make a trip to Lowes and buy some more wood screws because a box of 100 wasn't enough as well as more foam spray.

When we got back Justin finished the floor and we started the insulation process. I measured, then cut each individual piece of insulation to fit in between each beam or frame work. It was hard work but it will keep the house very cozy. Justin also used spry foam to fill in the sides for a water tight seal.

We ended up buying about 10 cans because each can didn't go very far.

 

We got half way through before we had to stop. Mosquitoes are still horrible this time of year and i was getting very tired of them. Tomorrow we will finish this part!!

Thank you so much for reading! We are more than happy to hear any comments you may have. We love to hear from you so please do comment below or 

like us on Facebook @

https://www.facebook.com/lifeinthebestmanor 

or

Contact us @

lifeinthebestmanor@gmail.com 

If you have any ideas or people you may know doing a project of any kind or one that may be simular to ours pleas elet us know so we can also support others. 

 **Thanks guys**

**More to come soon**

^_^