The Honu

[Papi]

I just joined this forum after lurking a few weeks, and I figured it would be quite a while before I took the plunge and started anything. But I saw a craigslist ad for a Starcraft Starlight 17 pop up camper and couldn't resist! It has the functioning stove, the sink, rotted canvas but working up-n-downer crank, leveler, and even a decent awning. All for the low, low price of $100!! It may even be cheaper because one of the guys who called the seller works for a trailer sales places, and just wanted some parts off it, like the lights and such. Seller said he would not part it out, but gave me his number because I sure will! All I really want is the frame. Pics as soon as I figure out how. Oh yeah, the tires are flat. no biggie.

P.S. I was gonna call it the "Escape Pod" but someone already has that. so I came up with "Honu", which is a Hawaiian turtle. Seeing as how my wife and I met on Oahu, and a turtle's shell is the original camping device, it seems to fit.

[Papi]

OK, got a pic loaded into the album. After I get some sleep I plan to go over to where it sits (about 40 minutes away) and see if I can get the old rims off so she'll roll. The wife is out of town, and while she was gone I got a dog, so I may have to live in this thing!

[Shadow Catcher]

Good luck on the dog
you have a good starting point.

[down under tech]

Hi Papi: Greetings, glad to have you here with us. You will have a great time building your "Honu". I am looking forward to watching your build.


I posted your picture of your lovely donor pop-up trailer from your album (above, I hope you don't mind). Plus with all of the sellable goodies you can recoup some or most of your initial costs of your trailer frame. The price was right that's for sure.

Just be sure the dog is clean when your wife comes home. A picture of your four-legged friend would be nice to add to your thread, also. hint hint...

If you need help adding pictures to your post, look at the top of the page and check out the link that says "Help With Photos". That will get you up to speed on adding pics to your thread. Everyone here likes to see what you are up to and you know a picture is worth a thousand words.

Once again, Welcome and Good Luck on your TD.

[teardrop_focus]

You're on your way!

Your pop-up Starlight''s chassis has a euro-style tongue wheel caster. That's kinda neat (I don't know much about the parts used on Merican-built pop-ups; that style wheel may be routine)...

I don't have the room at home to dismantle something like this but I think it'd be fun.

Looking forward to watching your build!

[Papi]

She's home! I know I should be snapping pictures left and right, but I was fighting 100* heat, an approaching storm, and a tight schedule before work. I drove 40 minutes south to where the camper was perched on two flats. The spare, also flat, looked to be in better shape than the ovoid tires on the ground, so I took to removing it. POP! The weld broke on the spare carrier! So I took that loose from the camper and tossed it into the truck. A little PB Blaster on the lug nuts helped just enough to get the rusty rims loose.

Next problem: the top was stuck in the up position! Try as I might, nothing worked to free it. So I ended up snapping all the cables and standing on it to get it lowered into place. It wouldn't fully go down, but close enough to get it home.

As for the tires, the PB Blaster again did wonders and the spare was free from the mount. It leaked around the bead when I tried to fill it, so I deflated it, cleaned the bead, and filled it with Fix-A-Flat and air. One of the other tires was obviously toast, but the one that was ovoid turned out to be good enough. I put a ratchet strap around the circumference, cranked on it with all my might (after lubing the bead seat with Vaseline) and the beads popped back into place! Added 60 pounds of air and she was no longer ovoid.

I made the trip home in less than an hour. I passed no less than two police precincts on the way home, and no one stopped me despite not having tags, a canvas flopping like a vulture with a full belly, and going 10 mph slower than the prevailing traffic. Normally cops here will stop you for anything. Pulled like a dream the entire trip!

Sorry, I promise to post some pics by this weekend. Gonna go to work on it soon, very soon; demolition will begin and I can't wait! Plans are to clean the rims with Pine Sol (you read that correctly) and get them ready to accept new wheels, tear out all the stuff I won't be reusing, and formulate a plan. But for now, I have to go swimming with a beautiful 3 year old princess.

[Papi]

Well, no pics. I got suckered into babysitting and that threw off my plans. The tires are still holding air, and I have someone interested in a few of the bits and pieces I would otherwise discard anyway.

So Far: Money spent
$100 for the camper
$6.99 for the Fix-A-Flat
$10 in gas going back and forth to where I bought the thing.

Time:
4 hours.

[xddorox]

Ain't towing junk fun? Your adventure reminds me of mine. Have fun with the demo.

Gerry

[Papi]

My wife can't wait for the demo! She will enjoy it as much as I will, if not more! I toyed with the idea today of using some T11570D14s as tires on it, inspired when my son came to pick up his daughter in his ancient Nissan Sentra. I am not really keen on using a temporary spare tire, but the rim is lightweight and much larger than those ugly little 8" things on it now. (I want more ground clearance). I was thinking aloud that maybe I could find some motorcycle or scooter tires that may fit those rims.

Anyhow, when the schedule clears I plan to bust out the tools and take my junk apart!

Here's an example of the rims once the trailer was loosed from its earthen tomb. yet, the frame has no rust whatsoever. strange.

And here's what I did despite the 104 degree heat:

[Papi]

So, until today I had $116.99 in my project, but that's before I found $0.37 in the storage bin! So not I'm only into it for $116.62, and a total of 5.5 hours.
I also found a can of 2003 pork and beans, a skillet, an old meerschaum pipe with a dirt dobber's nest in it, a banjo pick, and a big aluminum wash tub. I got my wife to brave the heat and mosquitos and she got busy unscrewing the aluminum bits we may or may not reuse. My boss wants the lights for his camper (same make and model, just broken lights and otherwise in great shape) so there's some brownie points for me! Also discovered the sink and stove are in amazing condition, so we're gonna use those in our build. I also found evidence the trailer is a 1985 model. I had no idea because all I got was a bill of sale and a shrug of shoulders when I got it.

Buddy Boy is on guard duty, as always! <img src="http://a.imageshack.us/img245/8350/onguard.th.jpg" border="0"/>
Anna is really getting into it! <img src="http://a.imageshack.us/img204/2359/annasummer2010.th.jpg" border="0"/>

[Papi]

Not much progress to report, as we are busy getting ready for our 25th wedding anniversary. But I did manage to sneak outside and do some demolition! It really wasn't too hard because the floor was rotted underneath the linoleum and scraped up like hot buttah and the only structural elements on the whole trailer were basically just sticks stapled to 3mm paneling.

I did find the original specs to this thing inside one of the cabinets. It's a 1985 model. Didn't know that until today. Also good news is that my desire to upgrade to bigger tires won't be hard at all, as what I thought was a structural member was actually just for show.

More pics later, as time allows.

Spendometer is stuck in the same place, as i haven't needed anything yet. Time wise, add another hour.

[Papi]

Finally got the walls and roof off! The answer came to me while I was asleep: since the floor was rotted and most of the "sticks" inside the walls near the floor, why not hook it up to the TV and tie a chain around the top? So I did. Wasn't as easy as I envisioned, but after an hour it was just a pile of rubble!

Gotta admit, even though Starcraft builds these things out of sticks and styrofoam, they're pretty stout!

The whole process wore poor Buddy out.

[aggie79]

Papi,

Buddy does look tired! I bet that was a could feeling to get everything stripped off the frame. You'll be starting the building part in no time now!

Tom

[Papi]

Well, the trailer has to be put on hold, as today is our 25th wedding anniversary! How Anna put up with this old beach bum all these years I'll never know! But here's where she sits until the second week of September. I'm very motivated now!

All I did was tied a cable to the hole in the roof (a tree limb had fallen all the way through the trailer, causing the rain to turn the floor into bug-infested oatmeal) so with the rotten wood it ripped off in a couple of tries!

[Papi]

Our 25th anniversary weekend was amazing! we had family from all over come watch as we walked down the aisle again to renew our vows. Basically, we said despite knowing each other's flaws, we'd do it all over again. But now it's Tuesday and she had to go back to work, while I still have a day of vacation left.

I've spent the morning installing a new wiring harness in my old Dodge D100 pickup, but still had some time to rip into the tear project. Buddy Boy watched in the shade as I tore off the oatmeal-like particle board that once was a floor, then loaded it all up into my stepfather's Ford truck and hauled it off to the dump. Gonna need to make another trip to get the rest, but the wife is happy the back yard does not look like Sanford and Son any more!



My question now is this: should I move the axle back? I plan to follow (somewhat) the squared-off teardrop plans. I may lengthen the tongue regardless, but what do you suggest?

Spendometer notched upward another $11 for dump fees, and I had to add another 2 hours to the elapsed time.