What to do during the winter months...

[Gary350]

I never have a shortage of things to do any time of the year. It is 29 degrees here and snowing a little, I am restoring an old vintage 1964 FAN camper trailer. I stripped it down to the frame, cleaned the rust off, made some repairs, then painted the metal. Cleaned out old wheel bearing grease, packed wheel bearing with new grease, new bearing seals, new electric brake parts, tested brakes. Built a wood floor on the frame, now I am building walls. Sunday we are going to Florida to hang out on the beach for 7 days. I have trouble finding seed potatoes in Fall and Winter. We had grocery store potatoes growing in the pantry so I cut them in smaller pieces and planted them in pots, they grew tops 2" tall, they have nice green leaves but for 2 months they have not grown at all in the house in a south window. I am not thinking about gardening until April.

[gumbo2176]

Nice work buddy. Taking something like that all the way down for a ground up restoration is a task, but I like your work space. Looks like you have plenty enough room to get things done without being cramped. Be sure to post pics when it is all back together and on the road.

[pomerinke]

That looks like quite an enjoyable project! I'd definitely like to see some pictures as well once you're finished.

[gumbo2176]

Gary, what are your plans for insulating this thing, or are you planning to? If I may suggest. before putting the outer shell on the body, staple some Tyvek across wood framing then apply the metal body work. That way you can use that expandable foam spray to fill the voids in the framework and the Tyvek will keep it from adhering to the outside metal in case you have to remove outer panels in the future.

Foam insulation would really help in keeping things quiet in the camper and help keep it warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. Just a thought in case you haven't considered it---------------but I'm betting you have.

[jal_ut]

Gary350 nice project.

[Gary350]

Winter project is coming along nice. I work on it when I feel like it. We took a week vacation in Florida 2 weeks ago. Sometimes I work on the camper trailer 1 hour per day and sometimes 3 hours per day and sometimes 0 hrs. I finished these 2 walls after returning home from Florida vacation.





I have been poking along slow 1 to 2 hrs work per day. I finally got insulation in the walls and 1 sheet of 1/4" plywood on 1 end.



I finally got the electric wires in 1 wall and all the plywood cut to fit. Window in the front framed.



Now the back end of the trailer is framed in and the cargo area is almost finished just have to hold off installing insulation until the bathroom is framed and the kitchen table and 2 seats are framed several of the screws that hold it all in go in through the outside wall.



It was 22 degrees this morning I checked my onion seeds nothing has come up yet. If seeds do not germinate until spring there probably won't be any onions this year from seeds. We had 2 weeks of 70 degree weather still no onions growing from seeds. The yard is looking nice and green I am glad it got cold again I am not ready to mow grass. Weather man says, 60 degrees Sunday, 70 Monday, 40 Tuesday. LOL. Still not time to plant the garden.

[jal_ut]

I don't have a green house and am not big on planting things in the window sills. Though I do have one ice cream bucket with a couple of pea plants and some radishes growing in the window. What we do is read, research, visit forums, visit, learn, make plans, order seed. Here its 41 degrees today and expecting snow tonight. Won't be doing any planting for a month or so. Plot is under 2 feet of snow.

[Gary350]

I am setting here thinking about what life was like 59 years ago when I was a kid growing up on the farm in Illinois. My grand parents planted a 1 acre garden for the whole family, 6 aunts, 6 uncles, 14 cousins, we all helped work the garden. Every Sunday after church we all gathered at Grand parents house for a big feast, we all helped, pick corn, pick tomatoes, the women cooked and we all gathered around several tables of food for Sunday dinner. Memories are never lost they are just covered up some where in your mind until one day something triggers a memory that you had not though about for 50 years. One thing I remember the most is how simple life was and how much fun life was then. There was a small vegetable market in town that would buy excess vegetables from anyone's garden so Grandpa had me collect, tomatoes, melons, apples, peppers, squash, grapes, peaches, blackberries, corn, potatoes, etc. and put them in the pickup truck then we drove 8 miles to town. I can still remember how good the vegetable market smelled and the sound of the honey bees buzzing around the fruit. I carried in most of the vegetables while grandma shopped for a few things and grandpa talked to the store owner. On the way home we would stop at the Dairy Queen for 5 cent ice cream cones then stop and filled up the gas tank, $1.34 filled the tank, gas was 9 cents per gallon then. I loved riding home in the back of the pickup truck on those dusty gravel roads it was fun to look at everything as we drove, lots of cows, pigs, chickens at everyone's house, everyone had a clothes line full of clothes in the yard just like us, a pond in the barn lot or field, tractors in the fields some bailing hay and some cultivating the crops. When we pulled into the driveway the dog would come running up always glad to see us return home. Several of the 26 cats would look up then go back to sleep. I would get a bucket of water at the well for grandma then run out across the field to the pond with the dog. I had a lot of fun catching fish in that pond then throwing them back and catching them again. Grandma would honk the truck horn when it was time to come eat, wow the smell of fresh baked home made bread and fresh black blackberry cobbler sure was good and we always had a table full of fresh garden vegetables. .

[SQWIB]

Here's what I do in the winter