MyTristate

Another absolutely beautiful day in Kentucky and in early April, no less.  I spent the day working on the old Cox Camper.  I measured up the AC I plan on using.  The plan is to put it in the front in between the benches.  I filled in the supports and, wouldn’t you know it, the scrap lumber I used is fairly warped.  I figured I can work around it.  Well, on the side wall, I noticed that I messed up measuring and the height of one of the sides is 1 inch higher on one end that the other.  No way to salvage this so I headed to Lowes to grab some 2×2s to rebuild.  Finished it up and clamped it all together and it looked pretty good.  Tomorrow I am going to work on the rear walls/door and I may just rebuild the front wall since it’s warped.  I mean, it’s only about 6 bucks worth of lumber and I only want to do this rebuild once.  Here’s a couple of pictures.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

Nice day here for Easter.  It was upwards of 80 if I had to guess.  After dinner, I decided to take advantage of the day and do some work on the walls.  I did some rough framing on the Front and Both side walls.  The reason I say “rough framing” is because I still need to decide where the AC is going so I’ll have to frame around that.  I did make some differences in the walls as opposed to the original.  Cox used 3/4″ wood with 1/4 sheeting on both sides.  I wanted something a little heavier so I decided to go with 2×2 lumber with 1/4″ laun.  It should make for a much stronger wall.  Since the wall width has changed, This means that almost all of my original extrusions will no longer work.  I am fine with that.  To me, it’s worth the loss of original extrusions and the little extra cost in exchange for the heavier capacity.  I found some metal extrusions at http://www.metalsdepot.com/ which oddly enough, I found it is actually fairly close to me so I can run down and pick them up.  I’ve decided also not to reuse the original sheet aluminum on the new build.  I’m planning to go with a light diamond plate aluminum on the front and rear and sheet aluminum on the sides.  Estimates for my extrusions and sheet aluminum is right at 300.00 and change.

I had left my newly covered beds out unprotected in the weather and it took it’s toll.  I’m going to have to get some new laun for the bed top.  No biggie pricewise but I used a ton of staples so it’s going to suck if I try to pull the old sheet off.

Tags: Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

If you have a Cox Camper or if you just love em from afar, you really should check out the Yahoo Cox Camper group.  Head over to http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/coxcampertrailers/ and join today.

Tags: Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

In Kentucky, we actually have had a couple of warm days when compared to the last couple of weeks.  That’s got me itching to get out and camp.  To do that, I really need to get our camper finished.  Last year, I neglected updating the blog because I got busy and didn’t really have much time to do a lot with it after spring.  Well, I spent a little time last night and this morning to update the blog with my progress and I am pretty much caught up to date with where I am currently.

One thing that I foolishly didn’t get any pictures of was the rebuilding of the beds.  This was fairly simple.  I laid out a bedframe by using 2×2s.  Over that, I put 1/4″ laun and cut holes for the bed supports to connect to a couple of bolts with wingnuts that I used.  They are still unpainted in storage, waiting the cold weather out.  Once the weather breaks and work resumes, I’ll grab some pictures and post them.  The goal is to be camping by Memorial Day Weekend.  I think it’s doable.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

If you have an original Cox Camper with the original hubs, you probably know, instead of using lug nuts, it uses lug bolts.  I thought this might be a good time to update the axle a little.

Since the axle itself is nothing but a piece of steel, the hubs were all that should need replaced.

I ordered a could of new hubs from Powersports Superstore on Amazon.  http://www.amazon.com/I-T-P-ITP-TRAILER-SPACING-25042001562407/dp/B0012TYVYY The were about 23.00 each with 11.00 each for shipping.  so, for around 70 bucks, I replaced them both.

They come in with the bearings dry so you need to pack them.  Packing them is easy with a wheel bearing packer.  You just put the bearing in and with a grease gun, pump it full.  When you see grease coming out of the bearings, it’s ready.  Once everything is reassembled, it’s an updated axle with brand new hubs.  Should last another 40 years at least.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

Once the frame was painted and dry, it was time to rebuild.  I wanted to make the camper floor a little heavier.  I started out by laying 2X2’s out across all the outer rails and cross members.  Once they were laid out, I glued and screwed them together to create my frame.

I didn’t take any pics of the next step but I really wish I did.  On top of the frame, I cut 3/4″ plywood to go over top of it.  Once the plywood was on, I flipped it over and sprayed the underside with rubberized undercoating from an auto parts store to protect it from the elements.  Since I am thinking about putting an air conditioner in the front where the spare tire used to go, I put 2 3/4 galvanized bolts through the floor to mount the spare tire underneath the camper out of the way.  I was incredibly happy with the way the base floor turned out.  Except one thing…  The wood I used was too rough.  Because of that, I had to put some 1/4 laun over it to give the flooring something smooth.  Here’s where I screwed up.  I used an air stapler with 1 & 1/8 staples along with some liquid nails to attach the laun.  Once that was down, I put some linoleum down.  After a few days, I started noticing some of the staples bubbling back up through the linoleum so I made the decision to strip it all back down to the plywood.  Yea it sucks but I want to do it right.  When I put the floor back down, I’ll use screws this time.  It takes a bit longer but shouldn’t bubble back up as bad.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

Well, with the camper gone and nothing left but a rusted hulk of a frame, it’s time to paint it.  We started off by cleaning off the surface rust.  Considering that this frame is 40 years old, it’s in incredibly good shape.  Cleanup meant just knocking off some surface scale and rust here and there.  Instead of going back with basic black, I wanted to go with something different so we chose blue.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

Today we spent all day working on the demo.  And, I’m proud to say, we completed it.  The camper is down to the frame.  The remaining demo took all day for several reasons.  First and foremost, the thing was built so damn good.  I would challenge anyone to show me a popup camper built as well as this was.  Not only was the wood stapled and screwed together, it was glued also.  Even with advance wood rot, the camper was still fairly sturdy.  Another reason for the longer than expected demo was because we were trying to preserve the aluminum siding to use on the rebuild.  That sound easy enough but, the aluminum was glued on with contact adhesive or something like it.  Again a testimony to the craftsmanship put into our little camper.

So far, we have been able to salvage all the aluminum trim and siding.  That does two things.  First off, it saves a good bit of cash.  Aluminum extrusions can get a little pricy especially if you have them shipped in.  Second, it allows us to restore it back to as much of the original appearance as possible.

Before I called it a day, I took a grinder and took off all the old screws that were holding the old floor on the frame.  Today, we’re going to take the frame to the car wash and clean it up some then bring it home and wire brush it and paint it.

Here’s the pictures from the day.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

Forecast is for temperatures in the 70’s today so the camper rebuild will continue after a long cold winter hiatus.  The plan for today is to finish the demo and evaluate the frame.  Tomorrow, if the weather holds out, we’re planning on laying plywood and linoleum flooring.  Also today as we demo, we’ll be getting measurements for the CAD drawing I’m working on.  We’ll be sure to snap some photos so check back.

Tags: Camper Rebuild, Cox Cadet 220 Camper Rebuild

We have a 1969 Cox Cadet 220 Camper.  It’s pretty cool but, it’s in a little disrepair.  We’ve had it a couple of years now and during that time, the top got damaged during a hail storm which causes it to leak.  We’ve always tried to be pretty good about popping it up to dry it out after rains but even with that, we’ve got quite a bit of rot.

As you can see, it’s a pretty nice looking camper when it’s popped up.  That was back when we first got it.  Here are some more recent pics.

Tags: Camper Rebuild