Most people who heard about my camper project, or saw the creation process were supportive and confident of a positive out come (at least to my face). But there were a few nay-sayers, one notoriously tactless neighbor said he wanted to see what it looked like in a year, because he knew that there would be problems with it. Well, it has been a year, and I'd have to say it held together pretty well!
The biggest issue were some cracks that formed in the outside, especially on corners and edges. I think what happened was I used the wrong wood filler, all the cracks happened at joints where there was a particularly crumbly wood filler. Well, the jostling over back roads probably had a little something to do with the crack formations...
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This is my door, which had the most cracking, and the least fiberglass resin.
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I remedied the issue by carving out along the cracks.
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| It felt wrong cutting right into the camper, though my surgery ended up with some good results. |
Then I filled in the cracks with good waterproof, paintable, flexible caulk.
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| Now for the plastic surgery. |
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| Don't worry, as soon as the weather is bearable Pika will get a bath. |
After I wash Pika, I'm going to do a touch up of the paint. Now on to the improvements! One of the main reasons I wanted a camper (versus living out of my Subaru) was a way to shower. It never happened last year, which meant a lot of using friend's houses to shower and bathing in VERY cold mountain streams. A few youtube searches, a serendipitous Lowes purchase, and building on old ideas, and finally I have a shower!
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| Outside view of the set up shower. Basically two shower curtains strung around the awning wing of Pika. |
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| There is the basin to catch the water, my sister actually bought this at Lowes, it is a cement mixing basin. Now my bathtub. Don't worry I'll buy myself one. |
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| It is quite spacious in there! The shower pump is a weed sprayer, with the nozzle cut off and replaced with a sink sprayer attached. |
I also wanted more storage space, and a table/counter inside Pika. My dad helped me start on a two shelved counter in the front.
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| Deja vu! |
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| Bare bones at this point. |
