The Shastah Disastah! 1961 "canned ham" camper

As some of you know, I have a thing for old crappy campers, especially the classic "canned ham" shaped ones from the 1950s and '60s. There's something about their quirky exteriors, tidy size, and warm wood interiors that really speaks to me. Plus, I'm probably a little nuts. I wrote a story for the Classic Motorsports January issue that shared a secret you guys already knew from the forum: A couple of years ago Tim and I purchased the perfect project: A 1961 Shasta 16-SC (the letters stand for self-contained, which I like because I'm fancy and like fancy things--also because poop is something you shouldn't share too liberally). She's 16 feet from hitch to back bumper, has that self-contained potty, and originally came with wings, so yeah... I'm in. We purchased our little Shasta sight unseen in Ohio, thanks to the assistance of Aussie Steve, who not only went and fetched her a bit closer to us with Clifford, but also helped us get her good enough to sleep in for a week while we road-tripped home. (Good enough being a very liberal definition.) Here's what she looked like on the way home:

 Not too bad, right? What that doesn't show is the pretty thoroughly rotten inside, the burned wiring and scorch marks on the wood paneling (good thing we didn't know about THAT when we were sleeping in her plugged into shore power), or the just plain scary and tiny toilet compartment/hole (which Tim wouldn't even fit in, and I sure as hell didn't use). The trailer did the past two summers in our pole barn, but this spring our little Shasta came out to play in the workshop. Plans are to do a resto-mod that hides modern goodies like air conditioning and a larger toilet/shower combo inside a package that's faithful to its midcentury origins.

These things are built like little airplanes, with a super-light framework covered by a stressed-aluminum skin. Waterproofing was accomplished by butyl tape at the seams held down by what's called a J-rail; over the years, the putty-like tape hardens and cracks and allows water to seep inside, where it makes short work of the 1x2 framing and 1/8-inch birch plywood. Since the skin goes on last during original construction, it comes off first for a restoration--most of the thing is nailed together from the outside. And for extra grins, it's held together with a metric crapton of an evil fastener called a twist-nail: It's like a screw and a nail got married and lived happily ever after to screw (get it?) anyone who ever tried to remove it. Tim ended up making a miniature claw to remove them, and we spent days pulling them off the skin. Underneath, we found this:

See all the nail holes? Every one of them was filled with a tiny bit of evil. Inside, there was lots more water damage:

Fun, right?

Since getting the Tornado finished, Tim's been able to devote pretty much all of his time to the trailer for the past several weeks, and is making real progress. All of the rotten framing and paneling is gone, except for the roof--that stays open so that the rebuilt cabinetry can come back in once it's ready. (Just like the little girl on the Shake'n'Bake commercial, I help! My job is to cut out the little metal gusset plates and staple them on.)

I would love a photo of the little nail puller in action. Fear of damaging the skin is the biggest thing that keeps me from buying something like this. That and fear of my wife.

This past weekend was a big one, because for the first time it really started to look like the trailer had passed from a demo project to a build: We put the floor in! This might seem premature, but according to the professional trailer restoration shop Heintz Restorations, everything in the trailer sits on top of the finished floor: brown paper is taped over it to protect it, and cabinets and bunks go on top of that. Our Shasta's floor is commercial VCT (vinyl composition tile), used because it's durable and, unlike sheet vinyl, will allow some "give" when the Shasta is wagging down the highway. She's a bit of a trollop and really has some shake and sway. I'm calling the combo Creamsickle.

I say "we" put the floor in, but unfortunately Tim tried to slice his thumb off when he was cutting that first tile around the wheel well, so he had to step down to our doctor neighbor's house for 5 stitches while I kept going with the floor.

The plasticky adhesive has a 50-minute working time, and I couldn't really stop since you're always spreading a row ahead with this crap. Trust me on this: You do NOT want to become a flooring installer. Just... don't. It suuuucks.

Also, do not move near the Suddards if you are a doctor. You will find a sweaty bloody guy at your door on more than one weekend. (At least this time Tim didn't bring Dr. Paul a chain-sawed palm that he had tried to sew up himself using one of my needles and some carpet thread.) That's the bathroom in the back RH corner. It's bigger than it looks. Hopefully. Once Tim heals we start the really hard work of figuring out how to fit a marine shower, cabinets, sink, fridge and cooktop along that wall. Stay tuned!

Margie

mazdeuce wrote: I would love a photo of the little nail puller in action. Fear of damaging the skin is the biggest thing that keeps me from buying something like this. That and fear of my wife.

Let me see what I can do. It's a large common screwdriver with a V ground out of the center of the blade, then bent into a slight curve. Seemed pretty ingenious to us until we went to Lowe's and saw that they actually sell a tiny little claw tool. And, uh, if you read the last post above, not sure I'm going to be the best person to convince you that you won't damage your skin. But I'm pretty sure your wife would love this. It's a chick magnet... um, as long as you dig middle-aged women who remember these from when they were kids.

Margie

Thanks Margie, I've been thinking about an RV project; not any more.

Dan

This has the potential for a really fun build. Personally, I can't wait for the wings. Not enough campers have wings.

Thank you.

You posted the floor picture a couple of days ago with a mention of stitches and I thought about a build thread. I was afraid it might have been a sore subject at the time.

Very cool and it looks like a fun project.

Dan, you may have a point. A lot of people take these projects on thinking they just need to replace a few stained and water damaged pieces of paneling. Too many just paint the interiors and then sell the campers as "restored" to people who are surprised when they spontaneously turn into open trailers on the way home.

We knew that most any unrestored camper was going to be pretty much made of mush, so we shopped hard based on price and model, knowing a full restoration was in the cards.

Margie

The Scamp camper (or was it a boler?) fiberglass camper seemed to be in better overall shape than this one.

Based on what has been posted about them- I would lean toward one of those OR see how Airstreams are put together. Both of those have a different kind of failure mode than rotted wood.

Cool stuff. There's a thread from a few years ago over on the HAMB board where someone did a similar canned ham restoration, with lots of pictures. It may be worth searching for.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: This might seem premature, but according to the professional trailer restoration shop Heintz Restorations, everything in the trailer sits on top of the finished floor: brown paper is taped over it to protect it, and cabinets and bunks go on top of that. Our Shasta's floor is commercial VCT (vinyl composition tile), used because it's durable and, unlike sheet vinyl, will allow some "give" when the Shasta is wagging down the highway. She's a bit of a trollop and really has some shake and sway. I'm calling the combo Creamsickle.

Well, when you are done with it, you can always sell it to a Tennessee fan.

Also, bonus points for the word "trollop".

In reply to alfadriver:

The Scamp and boler's are still one a wood floor. Always seemed silly to me.

TnTTT forum has a ton of good info if your not over there already.

And a heat gun makes cutting VCT tiles much much easier!

No wings! Needs tail fins.

NOW you tell me about the tiles... Oh well, it's done, and hush your mouths about the Vols. Them's fightin' words. I prefer to think of it as Gator lite. Oh, and no question an Airstream or Bolus is better built. But... wings! Wood interior! Midcentury design!! And no worries about the fins: We're going to tow this thing with the Edsel. Because more. Margie

Marjorie Suddard wrote: And no worries about the fins: We're going to tow this thing with the Edsel. Because more.

Looks better than last time I saw it! Can't wait to see it done.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: We knew that most any unrestored camper was going to be pretty much made of mush, so we shopped hard based on price and model, knowing a full restoration was in the cards. Margie

Looking at the amount of work involved, I'm hoping that price was damn close to: "Free! Come take it away!"

Otherwise, I agree about the minimal requirements being the "Three S's: Sleep. Shower. S#!&".

It was Challenge priced. These things have gotten silly popular, and everyone "knows" you just need to roll some paint on the outside and inside, remove all the mechanicals and doilie them up to go "glamping" so the bottom end price-wise is surprisingly firm, even if these would-be restorers are almost completely delusional (and produce useless, over decorated junk).

We knew all the wood would be crap, so tried to get the best skin we could for the money. It's pretty good.

Margie

Here's the build thread I was thinking about on the HAMB board - it's a 1959 Shasta so it should be pretty similar. There may be some pictures and details that are useful.

Build thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/canned-ham-yum.825609/

Finished trailer: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-strange-days-canned-ham.936179/

Marjorie Suddard wrote: At least this time Tim didn't bring Dr. Paul a chain-sawed palm that he had tried to sew up himself using one of my needles and some carpet thread.

There has to be a good story that's associated with this little throwaway sentence.

Because of this thread, I looked some stuff about restoring an Airstream. Basically, a different set of pain. They took the skin off the trailer, which was a lot of rivets. And then the construction inside one big curved surface.

So much for that idea.

I'd venture a guess that once you get that new floor in, it gives you a huge psychological boost and makes tackling the rest of the mess a whole lot less daunting.

I don't want one of these things, but I'm having fun watching you rebuild this one.

You can now get the wings without all the restoration headaches:

http://roamingtimes.com/2015/11/10/2015-shasta-airflyte-16-reissue-travel-trailer/

But what's the fun in that?