Renovating a Retro/Vintage Caravan- Lights, Camera, Action!

Doing up Daisy! 

Many old caravans when there lights have given out, have a lighting board put in their place. (Lighting boards, can be brought or home made. Running a cable from the tow bar to the caravan, showing the registration number of the tow vehicle and the matching the lights. Brakes and indicators.) Daisy's main brake and indicators must have given up at some point. Instead of fixing them, they where removed and a lighting board screwed in their place. Even this lighting board gave up too, luckily the seller managed to find another one so we could safely tow her home. 

On the left is how we got her home and right is her now. Some great advice was to keep the warning triangles from the old broken lighting board! (Keep as much as you can, you may not think you need it at  the time but it could save you time and money later!) 

Thanks to the brilliant folks at Retro Carovan Club, they managed to find some photos of what her lights would have looked like. Also how they would have been placed! 

This is not the same year but very close!

We are hoping to do as much of the wiring our selfs and just get it checked over by an electrician. So while ordering some new (as close to what she had) lights, I also ordered a little kit to do the wiring.

The broken lighting board bolts had rusted so much that we couldn't get them undone. In the end an old saw did the tick and we cut them off. 

 There are lots of holes so while we wait on the sealant to arrive, she's taped up!

With that horrible huge old lighting board off, we can at last see the beautiful 60's lines! Even though she's dirty and has a load of black tape on her, she looks so much better. 

The new cable, lights and registration light have at last arrived! The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day here by the sea! (Make hay while the sunshines and all that.) So we have inlisted Grandpa, to help my husband with this big job! The lights!

From our research it looked like the lights should have been vertical, a really vintage look, which I loved. Having studied her many holes, (from the original lights, terrible old lighting board and goodness knows what else,) we worked out they where actually placed horizontally. So she will look quite different to the image have in my head. 

This really is a two person job as someone has to hold things inside the van while the other person screws in from outside! (Three person job, am watching our children and making lots of cups of coffee!)

Am very excited about this job, it's holding me back from building the bunk and finishing the back end of her. As all the wiring needs to be in place before I can replace the boards or extend the bunk. It's very exciting to get her 'under her own' power as it where, and not having to use a lighting board! 

They placed some plyboard behind where the lights where being fired, to be able to screw them into something. 

Pulling through the wiring for her new lights.

Now these wires are in place, I can finish the wood supports around them.

Placing on the new lights!! Above the reused/nicked off the broken lighting boards warning triangles.

Her new lights and preloved warning triangles at last in place! 

It turned into a much bigger job than we had hoped just to get these in place. So she's not wired up or tested yet! Next job will be the registration light and registration plate. The we will have the fun (the diagram looks blinking scary) job of wiring it all up! 

She looks so different to when we brought her home and at last getting a good idea of what she will look like!

The next stage was to wire up the lights.....I've been working on this for most of the day today and well, I have a 'bad earth' problem. So before I lose my marbles, I've called it a day, to start a fresh tomorrow....

Got my new cable, wire cutting thing...and diagram. 

About this point I was really wishing I had the budget for an electrician. My word, my hands hurt from cutting back the wirers! 

She looks so much better with her own lights, as you can see I have put on a reg plate light. (Was scary drilling a hole in her!) 

Am sure I will be dreaming about earthing Daisy but if I can get this job done in the next few days, then I can reboard her back! Yay! 

Most of the bank holiday has been spent getting these lights all wired in. We are almost there, it's very satisfying! We have tested them all and got her original marker lights working! So excited to see those light up! Now we are cleaning up and putting all the wirers away safely. It's quite a long job, thank goodness for Grandpas help or I would have lost my marbles! This is turning into a big job but so important. 

This mass of wires is all the old cables, the black from the lightboard which was drilled and fixed on. The coloured wires are her original 1960's wires! 

While am working on the back of Daisy I took off the horrible big, black plastic grab handles. I've been searching for something like what she would have had. It's been a long look and I've not found anything. Then I came across some 1970's ones which I really like! 

 

They needed a big clean! Lots of hard work, wire wool and a wire brush....and....ta da!! 

Am so happy with how they have turned out, I was thinking about repainting them but I love this used look!

Was a bit of a job, reusing some holes and drilling new ones. It was a two person job as Grandpa held the wood the other side while I screwed in the handles. Love the look and feel of these *new* (1970's so pretty close to her age) handles. 

Grab handles on and her new (very shiny) registration plate holder on! It's so shiny it's showing her up a little, as she's needs a good clean! (Guess I better clean her and filler all those old holes! 

My Grandpa left on the little tabs I had quickly made, when I got fed up of looking at the diagram. I love that maybe one day me or someone will find them again! I hope the lights last another 30+years. 

She's looking a lot different to when we brought her home!! Lots still to do! 


If you want to read more about doing up Daisy, click here. Want to see what she looks like now, and where she has been on adventures? Click here!

Renovating a Retro/Vintage Caravan-Rot, Rot and more Rot

Doing up Daisy! 

Keep in mind Daisy is over 47 years old, she is going to have a few bits of damp and most likely rot. We knew that she had some damp, due to the window seals being broken and condensation dripping in. We brought her knowing full well that there maybe rot hidden under the damaged wall panels. 

At some point there has been a leak in this part of the van (under the bathroom.) It looks like an extra bit of wood was used, most likely to give more strength to this area or cover up a bit of a 'quick fix.' 

Rot, rot and more rot! I was hoping that we would only have to replace the damaged panels, due to time constraints. But it must be love as even though we have uncovered what looks like lots of wet rot, am not at all worried. Having got great advice on what to do, I ordered some wood treatment and new proper sealant

While we were waiting we made a start on the prep!

Clean up and see what you have got, getting the rotten floor up as let her breath again and already feels like she is drying out. Don't throw it away just yet, as it will come in handy to use as a template. 

After we had taken out the bathroom, we started to strip way the walls (keeping what we could to use as a template.) To get to the bits which needed to be replaced and to see what needed to be done. We had to take out the bed. We moved this to the front of the van out the way so we could see what we where left with! 

Lots of added in wood, lots of small repairs.

I wanted to get out the small bit of joining wood which was between the bathroom and the main room. 

With this removed, it looks so much better. Lucky we shouldn't have to replace this window ledge.

She is becoming a much bigger job than I had hoped, due to time constraints. But it's inportant to get this early work right, as if we where to miss a big bit of rot it will make more problems down the line! 

It was great to find lots of good wood, around the window!!

At some point mice had made their home in Daisy! Lots of insolation was missing so we can get that put right! 

This is the wood preserver and sealant we ordered. We wanted to make sure we had this before removing the awning rail on the outside.

Removing all the rotten floor was a little scary, being able to see the ground below did worry me!

The supporting beam at the back had rotted and needed to be removed. This was screwed in from underneath. 

This is the new beam, cut to size and about to be treated. The wood that was ok has had a layer of wood treatment as well. 

New treated wood, screwed in, which will hold the new bit of flooring. 

New bit of flooring down. The two extra pieces are there to give the joins some extra support and strength. I will add sealant over all the screws too. Now to start building the frame for the new wall! 

Now the new floor is in, I could start rebuilding the frame. Having taken off the awning rail, I could pull out all the rotten wood and add in the new. Then screw the awning rail back into the new wood. Having added in lots of sealant. 

This was quite hard, a few *mummy wishes she could swear right now* moments. As the frame I had made was not as tight in the corner, as the old one so the screws where screwing into the air! A bit more wood and a stronger screw driver and we got there! She is now watertight in this corner! Am going to add a few more new bits of wood to add strength to this wall. 

Awning rail back on and new sealant in!

Such a big difference and just a few more bits of wood to go! 

Here is a quick video, will upload a more detailed one soon. 

(Found on pinintrest)

This image is close to what I think it will feeling like to sit on the back extended bunk. I can wait to get to the point where we can start building the extra section so we can extend the bunk over where the bathroom was. I think it will make the perfect place to sit and read a book (if the mini people let me!) Keeping this image in my head has helped me see through all the rotten wood am pulling out of the back of Daisy! A lot of my spare time is spent on pinintrest, keeping my imagination going to push me onwards!

Next side, started! First job was to pull out the rotten wood and treat the remaining wood. 

As the floor is still intact this side it made it harder to pull out the rotten parts. 

I've started to rebuild the frame from the bottom.  

Work is currently going quite slow this week, working around nap times. Looking forward to finishing this side off this weekend, so we can get the rail back on. Fingers crossed no more rain while it's off! 

***note to self, don't panic***

Not much wood left to replace now, then we can wire in the lights and board her back up! 

She's looking a lot better! Insolation in place and all her lights are working! Very excited to board her up and that's all the rot at the back of Daisy finished....think next spring when I look at the skylight and front. Eeek.....

Check out the other blogs about 'Doing up Daisy!' by clicking here

At last it really feels like am getting somewhere! Last of the plyboarding done! Just a shelf to make to give her a little of stability, as we removed the shelfs and bathroom. To see her off on her adventures, click here.

Renovating a Retro/Vintage Caravan- Removing the bathroom

Doing up Daisy!

At the back of the caravan is a very small room which a Portaloo could be put or it could be used to change in. Right from the start I knew I didn't want to have a loo in our van. Due to one of my best memories as a child was heading off in the middle of the night, armed with a torch to find the loo block. 

We thought about keeping the small room for storage but the van has lots of storage space and it's taking so much light from the van. Also we are thinking of putting in bunks.

What we used: a hammer, chisel and screwdrivers. 

A lot of the screws had rusted and there was no way they were coming out. Some we managed to hook out using the hammer, like you would a nail. Some had to be cut out, by cutting the wood around with the chisel. We knew we didn't need to be too careful with the bathroom walls as we didn't need to reuse them. We kept any good (non rotted) wood to reuse if possible, else where. 

So much more light! Do not give your husband a hammer and take your eyes off him.....the original Gaslight did not make it out alive! 

The shelf didn't want to come out whole, so we will need to add back in a plain shelf to give her a little more stability. 

First job done! 

Wanna read more about doing up Daisy? Click here!

Whats Daisy up too now, click here for her latest adventures!

Renovating a Retro/Vintage Caravan- Blast from the past

Doing up Daisy!

Thanks to the RCC I have now got lots of photos of what she used to look like.

I love these family photos, of our van in use. I can't wait to recreate these with my family.

About Daisy, she's a 1968 Bluebird Europe. 

The Bluebird Europe was launched in 1963/4 and ran until 1971 when Caravans International (Ci) dropped the Bluebird name and renamed the Europe the Europa. This lasted until the early 1980's and was relaunched by Swift in 1991 and the Europa name carries on to this day, now under the Sterling badge.

I don't know anything about Daisy her self, the lovely owners we brought her from had brought her to do up. I was very lucky that they sold her to me, they have many vans on the go and going to see there barn *aladins cave of wonder and amazement* was a real treat! 

The person they had brought her from had started to strip her, it's a shame not to have seen her original cushions and curtains. As we may have been able to save them. It would have been lovely to have heard all her owner story's of their travels and adventures in her. 

Owning such an old van is such a special feeling, more than just owning her but making sure she is around for future generations. I hope we do her proud. 

So, I have to update this. It looks like Daisy is not a mk3! She is a mk4, not a huge change but it does mean she's not a 1968 model but 1969!! 

While resealing the awning rail I found this......very clearly she's a mk4! 

So she's a 1969 Bluebird Europe Three mk4! 

Just like this one, she looks very different now! 

Click here to read all about doing up Daisy!