Sides going up on the new floor of our Scotty; new dinette, cabinet installation, Gaucho bed building next up!

Each of the two trailer sides is made from one full sheet of 4X10 1/2inch AC plywood and a partial 4X10 sheet, bonded with Tightbond waterproof glue and Simpson Strong-tie fasteners.  We let these joints cure for a couple days before cutting the actual side cuts (using the old aluminum skins as templates; and allowing for the future roof joists that would have to be covered by the side skins).

Here we have clamped the two sides together, and are belt sanding the edges so each side is a perfect twin to the other, and, that the top edges are exactly cut at 90 degrees.

Building the sides: as Scotty Sportsman rebuilders will know, the trailer body is 10 feet long, and less than 6 feet tall. We looked at rebuilds which used 4 x 8 sheets, glued and strapped vertically – we decided that 4x10 by 1/2 A-C plywood, glued then strapped horizontally, would make stronger sides with less joints. So we special ordered three sheets of 4 x 10 by 1/2 AC plywood through Home Depot, picking it up at the Boise Cascade yard a few miles south of town.

We glued the sheets together with Tightbond glue and Simpson Strongtie steel strapping, let cure for a day or two, then cut the two sides using the old aluminum trailer side panels as templates – (and carefully allowing for the roof beams). 

We then clamped the two sides together, and sanded the edges with a belt sander to make sure they were exactly the same size and the edges were a perfect 90°. You'll see the result in one of the pictures.

Using those aluminum side pieces as templates, we also scribed the two side windows and location for the door on the right side, as well as the cargo door on the rear, right side.

This is the new floor and sub-structure that we mounted the new sides to.

When we moved to mount the two sides to the trailer's new floor panels, we used the marks for the door location to line up with the step-down in the floor – as to the exact placement of the right side.

We mounted the right side first, aligning the scribed door opening with the floor's step-down area; then we mounted the left side to match the location of the right side.  We used two 1x3's as temporary bracing.

This shows detail and location of the left side, at front, mounted to the floor structure.  Note we have thoroughly undercoated both the new floor structure, and both sides of the new wall along the bottom foot or so - to prevent future water intrusion.

Then, we mounted the left side to match the right. Before mounting the two side panels, we thoroughly under coated the bottom foot of each panel, both sides, which was the area that the original panels had dry-rotted from moisture coming up from the bottom.

This photo shows the wheel well crimped, stapled and screwed to the new left side panel, and the serious undercoating applied to the rebuilt area.

Once the sides were mounted, it was easy to attach/crimp down the wheel wells, undercoat that area, and then thoroughly re-undercoat the bottom edge and outside edge of the two newly remounted side pieces.

You'll see we used a couple of 1x3s to temporarily stabilize the sides, as we begin work on the cabinets, dinette, rear gaucho/bed and installation of the cabinets.

When the two floor-mounted cabinets are installed, they also help stabilize the two sides.

Here is beginning of work on new dinette, with the new kitchen cabinet already installed.

From this point, we can now finished the front dinette, install the two new floor-mount cabinets and finish the rear Gaucho/bed area, then begin to install the roof panels. It won't be too long before this is looking like a Scotty again!

For more insight into this rebuild, connect with rebuilder Tim at his Email, follow his Scotty-rebuild blog and check the web site for the National Serro Scotty Organization, nationalserroscotty.org, offering a huge resource to Scotty trailer owners and rebuilders!

Footnote: I am also the travel writer for the Stockton, CA, Record newspaper.  To read more about our travels, most of them with our Scotty teardrop, read Tim Viall's travel blog, follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Happy travels in your world!

Reconstructing the '64 Scotty Sportsman, rebuilding the floor

Scotty frame, sanded and undercoated.  Fortunately, the frame in very good shape for its 50 years!

Reconstructing the Scotty: In the last few months, we are back working on the Scotty.  I think I have acquired about every item needed for the rebuild over the past  several years, some through Amazon.com, like roof and running lights, new two burner range, new bar sink; some off eBay, like a Humphrey's gas lamp and sink hand-pump; and quite a bit on visits to a true old trailer resource in nearby Sacramento, RVDoctorGeorge.com (a company in Sacramento that scraps old and newer travel trailers, with about everything one might need that can't be found elsewhere). 

New Jalousie window, top, old one (missing most of its parts), below, and 12 volt fan; found both at

RVDoctorGeorge.com in Sacramento, an old trailer rebuilder's dream!

There, I found a good Jalousie window for the door for $75, almost a perfect fit, though rebuilding the door is yet to come. And, a set of four dinette cushions, the right color scheme and only $200, and other miscellaneous objects like knobs, hinges, a 12 volt fan and the like.

Save all those side, floor and roof panels and pieces; you will use some of them as

templates for your reconstructed Scotty trailer.

And, as mentioned in a previous post; we kept those old body panels, as templates.  Boy, happy I kept those old pieces, for they were/are very helpful in figuring out items as "just where to the two wheel wells get inserted into the floor", how were the front dinette and the rear gaucho bed constructed, and much more.  We also took extensive pictures of the "before trailer" and the trailer as we tore it apart - many times these have been helpful in beginning to put the new trailer body back together again!

The partially deconstructed trailer body; and, keep those side, roof and floor pieces as templates for the new trailer - they will come in awfully handy.  Also, take a lot of pictures of any tricky finish/construction details.

Working on installing the step-down floor, after installing all new redwood 2X2 joists.

New floor down, wheel wells installed, prior to putting down new linoleum.

Once we had the aluminum skins and roof panels off, it didn't take too long to knock the trailer box apart. Other than the right rear quarter panel, totally dry-rotted, saved the pieces for templates for future use. And, we took lots of pictures of the interior, and details of the demolition – as future reminders for rebuilding the Scotty.

New floor, and new linoleum, now installed.  Seems like we are headed in right direction!

Down to the floor – each side of the trailer is attached in 4-5 places, to the side trailer extensions, and in four places to the drop-down floor supports. Cut most of those off with my Dremel tool – then it was easy to pull the floor up and out. Again, saved the floor pieces as templates – this would be useful when it came time to locate the wheel well locations on the new floor.

We purchased 4 x 8 by three-quarter inch sheets of exterior marine chip board – believing this was more stable and weather impervious than three-quarter inch plywood. We used 2X2 inch red wood for the subfloor joists and edge pieces – thinking this was rot resistant. Once cut and bolted down, I  double-waterproofed from underneath with intent to make it weather-impervious. Will probably hit the undercoating again, once the entire body, aluminum sides and trim is finished. Best of all, in the West, we hardly ever camp in nasty weather, so the trailer, seldom wet and garaged when not used, should easily last another 50 years!

We found a nice linoleum pattern at Home Depot, with a subtle pattern, and in a few days had it cut and glued down. Future challenge will be to find new molding trim – but this can wait till later Will probably check out RVDrGeorge.com in Sacramento.

The three new cabinets constructed by friend Tom Wilson, with a bit of help from me.  We trimmed 6" width off both floor mount cabinets, so we can add 6" width to the gaucho bed in the rear of the trailer!

In the meantime, my buddy Tom Wilson, with only a little help from me, has remanufactured the three cabinets. With both the floor-mounted kitchen cabinet, and the wardrobe on the other side – we trimmed 6 inches off the width – with intention to make the bed 6 inches wider in the back (that will make the rear gaucho, when made into a bed, almost 55" in width; yay!).

Commensurately, the overhead cabinet was remanufactured, 6 inches narrower than the original. However, a new two-burner gas stove and oval bar sink (Amazon purchases) will both fit into the new kitchen cabinet – when we get to that point. In each case, the new cabinets for quality man, much better than a foot out – thanks to Tom's skills and experience.

Here, the two new sides were made from two pieces of 4X10' 1/2" marine plywood, special ordered from Boise Cascade through Home Depot.  We joined them horizontally, with Tightbond glue and steel ties.  Next step...to install the sides!

Next post will cover the installation of the sides and next steps to finishing the trailer box!  Already starting to think of the exterior color scheme (white base, Scotty Aqua blue and some Ford Ruby Red to match our 2013 Ford Escape tow vehicle)!

For more insight into this rebuild, connect with rebuilder Tim at his Email here, follow his Scotty-rebuild blog and check the web site for the National Serro Scotty Organization, nationalserroscotty.org, offering a huge resource to Scotty trailer owners and rebuilders!

Footnote: I am also the travel writer for the Stockton, CA, Record newspaper.  To read more about our travels, most of them with our Scotty teardrop, read Tim Viall's travel blog, follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Happy travels in your world!

Back on the Scotty project; deconstructing a trailer with lots of dry rot!

Our '64 Scotty, after purchase in Oceanside in 2012.

OK, I'm going for the world record in time delays, over four years, in rebuilding a '64 Scotty Sportsman!

This view, under the gaucho bed, showing daylight, portended considerable dry rot on lower rear trailer body edge.

For those of you not up to the latest – I bought the '64 Scotty from a motorcycle dealer in Oceanside, California, in 2012, for $900. At the time, I knew it had dry rot problems and would need a certain amount of rebuild – but not quite how much. But, it was complete, original and had all the original inside features, even if in rough shape.

Our '58 Scotty Junior teardrop (reproduction by a talented West Virginia shop teacher) in Harper's Ferry, shortly after we picked it up on a planned trip to bicycle-tour the Gettysburg battlefield and the C&O Canal.

And, shortly there after, we had the good fortune to find '58 Scotty Junior teardrop (a reproduction model, constructed by Tom Scott, a West Virginia shop teacher) for sale, in West Virginia, just before a planned trip to Gettysburg for a bike tour of the battlefield and the C&O Canal. So, we bought the teardrop, picked it up and have used it extensively in the last three years. It's presence made it all too easy to think "next week, I'll start on the '64".  Weeks became months, then years...

Able friend Tom Wilson, with newly constructed kitchen cabinet, kept

after me (not-too-gentle prodding!) and helped greatly in recent months!

That made it relatively easy for me to delay work on the '64 Sportsman. Fortunately, I have both a good friend – Tom, a quality woodworker - and a spouse who have kept after me. So, in the last five months, we have resumed work on the Scotty.

This shot shows the left, front side, with aluminum skin removed, showing dry rot beneath the molding.

To get underway, one first has to remove the aluminum skins and roof panels. It's a bit daunting to remove all the aluminum screw nails that hold this trailer together, starting with about 250 that attach the trim on the side moldings.

Left rear, behind wheel well, showing dry-rotted side piece and edge of floor.

But, with a newly purchased Dremel tool, I ground off most of the nailheads and removed the trim. With help from friends Tom, Gary and my wife, we removed the aluminum roof pieces and side pieces. From there, the need to replace both the floor and the body became all too evident.

Revealing picture of the right side - yes, the entire area in rear of trailer, from 10" behind door to rear, was dry rotted - only the aluminum skin, and a piece of plywood paneling a previous owner nailed over it, held the trailer side together!

Most of the right rear side panels were totally dry rotted – the aluminum skin was holding it together. Plenty of dry rot around both side windows, the front window and along the roof seams meant the need to replace both sides in the front and rear. With the floor, dry rot had ruined the areas around both wheel wells. Hence, our decision was made to totally rebuild the trailer.

Trailer with the rear and the right side torn off.

From there, deconstructing the trailer body and floor was relatively easy. In each case, we saved the deconstructed pieces as templates for the future rebuild. This would become prescient soon after.
In the series of pictures, you'll see the trailer with the skins removed, and the process of tearing it down, all the way to a bare frame.  From there, sand the frame (in good condition), waterproof the bare metal, and begin figuring the list of plywood and additional items necessary to put the new trailer together.

Here, the floor remains after tearing off the trailer body; below, author Tim sanding the trailer frame..

Watch for the next installment, where I'll share insight on rebuilding the floor, sides and cabinets.

For more insight into this rebuild, connect with rebuilder Tim at tviall@msn.com, follow his blog at serroscotty64.blogspot.com and check the web site for the National Serro Scotty Organization, nationalserroscotty.org, offering a huge resource to Scotty trailer owners and rebuilders!

Thanks for reading!

Second Scotty added to the fold; a 58 "repro" Scotty Junior teardrop!

Photos, from top down: Builder Tom Scott stands beside his just-finished gem; rear-galley opened to show storage space for camping gear; front cabinets are nice addition to the interior; view of center of sleeping area, with nice cabinets in rear (not pictured); the Scotty body, during Tom's building of the trailer.

Who would have thought it, but, in midst for planning a June/July trip east (for a bicycle ride of the Gettysburg battlefield and the path of Lee's retreat, with side trip into Washington, DC), I discovered on eBay the coolest little Scotty.

A "repro" 1958 Scotty Junior teardrop, built by Tom Scott, a W. VA. shop teacher in 2011, it looked too good to resist. So, I contacted Tom, asked if he would hold it for a month, paid half down, and picked it up on the way to Gettysburg in mid-June.

We then towed it along as the "sag vehicle" on our bike ride, then to New York City/Long Island, and back across the country with stops in the Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and more. A lovely little trailer, very well made, and tows easily behind our five-speed 2013 Ford Focus Hatchback, acquired just for that purpose (26 MPG certainly beats the 8-10 MPG that most giant pickups get towing their over-sized fifth-wheels)!

Enjoy the photos; builder Tom Scott started with a Scotty torsion axle and two Scotty hubcaps, and built all the rest, working from a couple photos. Happy to have it; we have several trips planned in September and early October, then I will get back to the 1964 Scotty Sportsman, sitting forelornly in my garage!

Tow vehicles, small and big!

So, about to get back to my Scotty project after a couple months "off" (too cold in central CA, too many other retirement projects, and, as a member of the Dodge Ridge National Ski Patrol, working to get my patrol days in - tough duty, of course!).  In last two months, think I have acquired about every item needed for the rebuild, some through Amazon.com, like roof and running lites, some off Ebay, like a Humphrey's gas lamp and sink hand-pump; and quite a bit on visits to a true old trailer resource, RVDoctorGeorge.com (and company in Sacramento, with about everything one might need that can't be found elsewhere).  There, I found a good Jalousie window, almost a perfect fit, a set of four dinette cushions, the right color scheme and only $200, and other miscellaneous objects.

 

And, just bought, maybe, a new tow vehicle, a 2013 Ford Focus SE hatchback, five-speed stick shift, a spry, quite-sporty car with peppy 160 HP engine.  The older Focuses, smaller and with less HP, were listed at 1,000 lbs. towing capacity, though newer models (with the variable speed, high-tech automatic tranny) are not listed to tow anything.  But, bought the stick shift model to avoid that problem, and just installed a Hidden Hitch receiver on the back end.  That purchase caused me to sell my lovely 95 Nissan 300 ZX, which towed a tear-drop, and the Scotty, quite handily. 

On the rebuild, I am also planning to trim 50 to 100 pounds of the original 975 pound dry weight of the Scotty (remove the water tank, use lighter-weight interior panel replacements, roof joists, and probably drop the propane tank and a few other "less-than-necessities").  Will also explore trailer brakes, after getting some good advice from two local trailer specialists.  Our Focus, and the departed Nissan, are pictured above...

With temps warming up, will get back on the Scotty this weekend (only a few more old aluminum screws to Dremel off, and I can pull all the aluminum skin and roof and find out just how extensive my sides and rear-panel replacement will be.  My wife retires in four months, and, we have reserved a spot at a vintage trailer rally in early June at Lake Tahoe.  By September, we want to begin doing some Scotty treks, the first up to the Northwest; so, the time-clock is begining to tick!

Dang screw nails; but, wonderful Dremel tool!

All the windows and almost all the trim, lights and receptacles are out of the Scotty, leaving only the side/top "L" molding on each side, and the two seams across the roof - as to ability to pull much of the aluminum siding and roof panels off -  to assess just how much hidden dryrot that I have to deal with.  In last week or so, in attempting to remove the "screw nails" that hold the molding down, and also hold the two roof seams together, using putty knives, screw drivers, small nail removal bars, it seemed I did a better job of bending that trim than removing the nails.

So, with insight from the two Scotty Facebook sites and NSSO web site, I broke down and bought the basic Dremel tool, and a set of metal cutting discs.  Pretty slick, a small, hand-held (that's it in the first picture) high speed cutting/ grinding/sanding/polishing device with many other uses.  Applied to the Scotty, with a 1 1/2 inch metal cutting disc, one can either "slot" the screw nails, or, entirely grind the heads off.  And, with a bit of practice, seldom gouge the remaining "L molding" (or, fairly seldom). 

Powerful little tool, that Dremel tool - use eye protection!  Some of the screw nails were stainless or galvanized steel and most of the original ones were aluminum.  The steel nails send a vast shower of hot sparks and steel shavings flying, and the aluminum nails create a blizzard of aluminum shavings/aluminum dust; so, eye protection is a must!  Here are a couple of pictures:

At top left, me and my trusty new Dremel tool attacking those nail heads; are top right, several nails that (with the new slot cut) could be backed out with a screwdriver.  Bottom left are nails with the "groove cut"; with some, a screw driver will back them out, with others, part of the nail head, or all of it breaks off.  With the aluminum nails, it's easy to just grind the entire head off!  Hopefully, this tedious grinding process will be finished by tomorrow, and, we'll be pulling those aluminum skins and roof panels to see what water damage, and fun, awaits!

Dry rot revealed; away we go!

My third Monday as a retiree; not bad with no job to report to!  Over the past 4-5 days, have pulled all the windows out of our Scotty, and yesterday, the door and door jam.  As feared, the further I go, the more dry rot reveals itself.  Below are two pictures, the first is the outside wall panel to right of the Scotty door; I knew it had dry rot near the roof line, but it extends all the way downward, to left side of window/beside the door.  The other picture, is from the inside, above the rear bed, showing extensive dry rot on the entire right rear exterior panel.  Sorry those photos are on their side..., but you will get an idea of the extent of water damage.  Ugggghhhh!

Tomorrow, friend and fellow trailer owner Gary is stopping by, to loan me his Dremel tool, so I can grind off the heads of the 200+ aluminum screw nails that hold the two exterior trim pieces on.  Then, in a day or two, will have the aluminum skins off and know just how extensive my dry rot challenges are, in addition to what I have found so far.  I am intrigued by what I see on the National Serro Scotty site, about owners who have replaced their "three part roofs" with one new sheet of aluminum  - no seams!  It's too bad so many of these trailers leaked at both seams, ruining these little trailers.  Of course without these challenges, I would have paid a lot more than the $900 this trailer fetched, and, would not have this fun winter project staring me down!   Fun, fun, fun...yes, I keep telling myself that!

In the past two weeks, I have acquired a functioning Bargman L 66 lockset to replace my broken-handled one, an almost new Humprey gas lamp (trailer had merely the gas line from the one that came with the Scotty), new running and roof lights, 3 rolls of butyl tape, a new exterior door/nite light, a replacement Hehr Jalousie window for the door, and a hinge for my Scotty dinette table (to replace the missing hinge assembly).  So, not much to need, once I get dry rot assessed and fixed.