When we returned to the Pawn Yard the first time, we told the owner, "we're still thinking". It was rainy.
He said, "I hope you don't mind that I don't come out and stand in the rain with you".
We said, "Nope!"
Sitting there in DW's little yellow Jeep in front of the trailer we scanned from the warmth and dryness of the car. I looked again at the sunburst on the front lower sheet metal and told DW, "We could harvest that metal and make TWO campers out of what's there". (I'd been thinking in terms of salvage for some smaller builds I've been designing in my head).
DW said, "And it has a titled chassis! What kind is it?"
I said, "I don't know, I couldn't find any identifying tags".
Later when I spoke to the owner again, he corrected his original description of the trailer as a 1954 - while reading the title, "it's a 1957 Leisurehome".
We couldn't find very much online about this make, but what we did discover was kind of interesting.
For one thing, this was a company making mobile homes (more so than travel trailers) out of Salt Lake City, Utah - my home town! I used to ride my bike all over that place, back before it got post 60s modified - the town, not the bike. Come to think of it I DID modify that bike, but that's a story for a different forum.
And according to this advert, their smallest mobile home in 1957 was a 23' "Traveler".
Note the sizes seemed to be every 3' or so. Fairweather June is a 20 or 21', depending on how they interpreted the 20.5' actual length.
Therefore, I suspect our trailer was their largest travel trailer, the size just before they got into their mobile home lengths. No idea on a model name.
I've seen online, a "16' Leisurehome Vacation", and some smaller ones that look like a canned hams, or other similar styled TTs. None I've seen in the smaller sizes have the look of this one, or of the advert mobile home models!
And if we size it down by a foot or two, we are open to and have license for, renaming the model too!
What else?
Well the advert says these are specially insulated for extreme weather, and were popular in Alaska and Canada oil camps. There's evidence that's how ours was likely used during it's most recent lifetime (North Dakota Balkin oilfield? Wyoming oil camps?).
But I think ours started out life as a more expensive sort of travel trailer rig for a Shriner. I think the Shriner's are a branch of Masonry, but I don't know much about that stuff. Check out these painted over emblems on the back of the trailer.
There's the Shriner emblem at the bottom, add-on by a first owner perhaps. And above is the manufacturer label.
Leisurehome Trailers, singular and one word. And yet on the previous advert, two words and plural! Like the travel trailers were a division, requiring a slight difference in identification.
And both the mobile homes and our larger TT is in 8' wide.
Extreme weather insulating? What is that, 2x2 construction with double thickness fiberglass batts when compared to many TTs using 1x2 construction?
Here's a side of the bathroom used most recently as a closet. Note the wall framing.
And there is some salvageable birch wood paneling in this camper. We'll be harvesting as we demo.
Here's the other side of the bathroom. Check out that light fixture!
What is "Floor Flo" Heating? This add-on radiant heater is what we found. Nice in cold oilfields, but June doesn't want to keep it. We'll find a purpose for it somewhere - just not in this trailer.
Our planned heating system is two units. One is a non-electric, gas only tank heater like the one in Tow-Mater, for up front facing the dining area adjacent to the entry door, kind of right where this radiant heater is placed. We're taking it out of a smaller truck camper we bought and are now planning to demo too, due to some mouse concerns in the bunk. The other heater is a combo gas/electric with the fan - small, but effective, newer like we had in our 2003 Starcraft pop-up TC, and which we harvested out of the kids 1995 Skamper camper. That way we have two, for needs front and back - depending on how cold it gets where the trailer goes, and one not requiring electricity.
Note these door latches. These look just like a pair I had on an old hardtop I bought from a Jeep salvage fella in SLC named Dew, when I was in my 20's, for our 1973 Jeep CJ5, our first family vehicle. The top was older, but I don't know by how much. Maybe it was late 50s?
Yeah, guess I'll be rebuilding another door. :)
From the back of the trailer, this view shows a number of things. First note the falling ceiling. The original leak damaged ceiling wood has been covered by this 1/2" insulating board, what I've called soundboard. A relatively lightweight fiber stuff in dark brown that was commonly used back in the day as house sheathing, except in corners where they strengthened with plywood for sheathing.
The roof is leaking badly, and the whole central ceiling is falling. We bought a second respirator for DW, as she wants to be involved in this one, so someday soon, we'll pull the ceiling down and get it to the dump. First we want to get in and harvest other stuff we wish to retain.
Right side of the front room.
Left side.
Note the missing glass pane.
Which allowed in birds that nested here. Total yuck!
I caulked in a plastic panel for the winter.
More previous construction. Two bunks, non-original. Oil camp? Front room maybe had recliners and a TV on the shelf?
Here's the side dinette, and partly removed so I could get the range out.
There's my dustpan. I've been looking for that over the past few days!
And some salvageable cabinetry.
There's some mix and match of hardware, you might note.
Previous to removal work.
Look at the dirt blown in here on the floor!
Check out this 120 volt Range vent fan and wall control!
We'll dispose of all the ****, including this included TV, then get the other dinette half out and put both here on stilts to keep it off the floor, which continues to get wet, soaking up water like a straw into the wood of the bottom edges, and then someday decide if we wish to build fresh, salvage parts, or some combo of both.
I foresee a ceiling "pull down" and "dispose of". Maybe some other interior obvious stuff. Then when it comes time, we'll harvest exterior metal, and take it apart from outside in.
I haven't yet determined the best method of fixing the crushed forward corners, but if I'm shortening up the front by a foot anyway, I may be able to simply cut the damage out, and set the front side windows back in place at a distance from the front wall corners equal to that of the front wall windows. That would give the appearance of full wrap-around glass, with small structural corners, and let me clip away damaged metal.
Or maybe I'll just straighten it. Now that I see it again I have to keep the similar length between front wall and entry door opening, for a wide enough sleeping area in this room.
In fact, the foot or two I should remove in length might best come from here, where the opening is for the range vent,
and here, where the repair job was done, perhaps where a fridge originally lived.
Peeling chrome on the license plate fixture.
I duct taped several openings in prep for winter. Killed a wasp nest in the roof vent, and got back onto the house jobs needing attention. All in good time!
