by Truck Tents Canada on March 10, 2013
Our 1967 Camper Gets A Full Restoration
In the summer of 2011 we found an old camper for sale and although that it would need a bit of work to restore it the price was right so we bought it. A week later we hooked up the little camper and headed out to Pancake Bay Provincial Park on Lake Superior. The camper towed great and we didn’t have any trouble at all with it, although I did notice that the tires seemed to be rubbing on the sides of the fender wells from time to time.
Trailer Before Reno-1
Summer 2012 I decided to fix the trailer for our upcoming trip to Esker Lakes Provincial Park. The kitchen area in the front needed a lot of TLC and the so called washroom area was to be made into storage space. I had Sean ( our youngest daughters boyfriend) helping me tear out the old “kitchen cabinet” and as we pulled it away from the wall of the trailer the whole front wall dropped about 3″.
” Washroom And Kitchen “
Front Wall Frame Totally Rotted Away
As we stripped off more of the interior the damage due to dry rot was to extensive to repair and it was decided to completely tear the trailer apart and do a full restoration.
Jade Inspecting The Damage
The Whole Back Section Just Fell Apart
You Can See How Bad The Rot Was
Devon and Sean Helping to Remove The Roof
When we had the trailer walls removed we discovered there was only one bolt left holding the trailer body to the frame, explains why the trailer tires would rub on the fender wells, it was shifting from side to side. Good thing it didn’t come off while we were going through the hills up in Lake Superior Provincial Park!
There Was Only One Bolt Here Holding the Body to the Frame
After removing the floor we discovered the frame was badly cracked in the same place on both sides. Had to take it to my buddy Ron for some welding.
Frame Needed to be Welded on Both Sides
Well its stripped down to the frame and time to start to put her back together.
Stripped Down to the Frame
Part 2: the restoration, coming next.
by Truck Tents Canada on January 1, 2013
Fishing on Howard Lake
Happy New Year to all. Well, we made it past Dec.21, (end of the world) and hopefully everything will get back to normal (whatever that is). Looking back on 2012 it was a very busy year in business as well as in our personal life. We lost a very near and dear sister in law to cancer, had to put down our old horse Buddy, my brother and sister both split with their spouses, our oldest daughter got engaged (after 8 years) and our youngest daughter bought a house with her partner. It was one hell of a year to say the least.
We did not even get to travel like we wanted and only took one camping trip up to Esker Lakes Provincial Park for 4 days, and would you know it, during the driest summer in a long time, we got rained on for 3 days. Despite the rain though we managed to have a great time with our girls and their guys and got in some fishing, and had a chance to explore some of the shops in Kirkland Lake.
Looking ahead into the new new year, I am going to start to do less building construction (after 28 years it’s time to slow down a bit) and concentrate more on the web stores and working out of my workshop. Here’s to hoping. We are also wanting to do A LOT MORE CAMPING AND TRAVELING this year and enjoy the short summer months.
Well that’s enough rambling on for one day, I hope everyone is well and here’s to a healthy, happy and prosperous 2013.
Rod & Heather 
by Truck Tents Canada on August 25, 2012
Stopped for a shore lunch on Howard Lake
Summer gets so busy; I just don’t seem to get much of a chance to write. We’ve had a lot going on this summer, Rod has been very busy with the construction business and the garden has taken up a lot of my time, and with the drought we’ve had, it makes it hard for us to get away for very long, because the garden needs watering so often.
Rod totally re-built our little camping trailer we bought last year, there will be more on this story in the coming weeks, and we did manage to get away for our family camping trip up to Esker Lakes Provincial Park, which I will also try to get posted soon.
We’ve had cold nights this past week, Wednesday night (August 15th) I got up in the wee hours of the morning and checked the thermometer; oh my…I was shocked, it was almost 0 degrees. So here’s Rod and I covering the garden at like four am in the morning. We didn’t actually get frost and I am amazed and very thankful that we didn’t. Yep, it seems as soon as the calendar turned over to August, the weather changed, got cool and there was a nip in the air in the evenings, at least we did manage to get some well needed rain, after the dry, dry summer we’ve had (I think it was the driest summer I can remember). Anyway it’s nice to have summer back this week; I’m just not ready for summer to be over just yet.
Rod and I won’t be making our camping trip up to Superior this summer, as we had hoped. We’re disappointed and well that kind of bummed about that. There is so much more we want to do and explore up at Lake Superior and area, as well as other parks to see, but unfortunately we just won’t have the time. Better luck next year
We are still hoping to make a trip to “the Bruce” in September, as we just didn’t get enough travelling and exploring in this camping season. I will try to do some writing over the next few days, well in between my pickle making!!
