LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

Yes!  I've received a lot of email about my little 18 foot mobile scout - and yes - it is gone.  It's been gone from here for quite awhile now. - I've got another one now.  Come and see it at http://shastatraveltrailercamper.blogspot.com/

There is nothing better than living in a 1964 Mobile Scout Camper!!!!

Great response on my blog page! I really appreciate it! So - I've been living in my Mobile Scout 18ft. Camper - FULL TIME - for about 4 months now. I have it in a State park in Mississippi and it sits on a beautiful lake. I LOVE it! In Mississippi we have SEVERE weather. My 1964 Mobile Scout has withstood all of it. I've really been comfortable. As a matter of fact, I'm probably more comfortable in my camper than anyplace I have ever lived. I grew up and have lived in beautiful places. In VERY nice houses, apartments, and condos - but my little "house" never ceases to AMAZE me! I love it! Understand this - - I bought this thing in Louisiana. It was owned by a family who has had it for a very very very long time - which means that - It has been in every hurricane in the state of Louisiana since 1964....it is STILL around and in VERY good shape. Granted - I DO need to do some work on it - minimal stuff - I just haven't had the money for it.....- Stay tuned. I'll include a video tomorrow! I PROMISE!!!!

Love the Rain!!!!

OK! I've been living in the Mobile Scout now for about 3 months. Great experience! This camper is so comfortable I hardly ever want to leave. I've really settled into it. Most people that live in theirs full time seem to feel the same way about theirs too. Mine is vintage and it's COOL!
One of the best things about it is when it rains! I have no leaks. I don't have to worry about anything - but when it rains, the sounds of the drops beating or falling on the roof are SO relaxing.........TUNED!

Outstanding Shower

It never ceases to amaze me about this vintage mobile scout travel trailer. I feel like I have all the room in the world in this thing and the convenience of having one of the best showers ever made right inside the camper with me!

A great original feature of the Mobile Scout!

Check this out! There is SO much that it original in this 1964 Mobile Scout that I just had to talk a little about this feature. In order to really make it self-contained, the people at Mobile Scout decided to add a fantastic feature. It's a gas lamp! Check it out. It is hooked up to the gas line, just like the stove, oven, and hot water heater. It works great and uses a mantle like the ones they use in Coleman lanterns. Can't ask for anything better than that for "off-grid" living! Check out the video.....

Power Management in the Mobile Scout

OK - now let's consider power management. What I had to do was break the interior of the camper into three different power zones. The breaker box that I plug my power cord to is only 15 amps. Every time I wanted to run the heater and the toaster, it blew the breaker. There were a lot of other combinations that threw the breaker also. Couldn't have that! So I decided to break it down like this. The front has a power strip now that runs into a 20 amp cord, which runs into a 30 amp three way splitter, and plugged into my 50 amp plug at the pole. The back appliances also run into a 20 amp cord that runs into the 30 amp splitter, and it runs to the 50 amp pole. And, the cord that powers the trailer, runs into a 20 amp cord, which plugs into the last free socket in the 30 amp splitter, which course, is plugged into my 50 amp socket at the pole. Now I have no problem. I can run any of my appliances in any combination at any time. Solved that problem!

Kitchen upgrade and review

OK - so I've been living in the Mobile Scout full time for 2 weeks now. Finally starting to figure out everything and how everything is going to work. Things are working great and I am probably more comfortable in this vintage Mobile Scout, than I have been just about anyplace that I've ever lived in! So, in this ongoing saga, the kitchen is one of the first things I had to deal with. I've just about figured out how I'm going to use the kitchen and what appliances work well and the benefits of each one. I just replaced the gas refrigerator with a brand new electric one and it really upgraded the kitchen! So at this time, I've got mircrowave, coffee pot, skillet, and toaster oven running on electric, and the stove, oven, and hot water heater are working on gas. I'll probably only use one small $19 dollar bottle of gas every 6 months. Today is the day I replaced the refrigerator with the new one. Check out the video, look at the pictures, and stay tuned.....

My Very First Camper!

Well - this is the beginning! I've always wanted a travel trailer/camper. I've always wanted one from the 1960's era. Here's how it began. I ended up at my mother's house down in Louisiana for the Xmas holidays. While I was there, I was cruising the listings on Craigslist and I saw this 1964 camper for sale. I got to thinking. First of all, I was really between places in my life and wanted to start on a whole new beginning. Second of all, there is over a hundred thousand homeless people in the country for one reason or another. Hurricanes, tornadoes, financial crisis, or whatever. I didn't want to ever be homeless, and I knew that if I was to get a good camper, I would never be homeless now or ever in the future. Also, if I had one, I would never really be tied down to one physical place. Time to move? Just hook up my little house and go! So, I looked at the Ad for days. It really looked rough, but I really really liked it. The size was perfect! So we went and looked at it.

Well, it was rough. It had been sitting for years. I immediately fell in love with it though. It was what I've always wanted! The carpets were worn and dirty. The curtains were pretty much rotten. The bed cushion was worn. There had been leaks in the past that were fixed at some point and had left a little damage, but overall not too bad. There was a small leak in the back window and a leak in the front where the front glass had been cracked, but other than that the condition on that aspect wasn't too bad and workable.

The appliances were all gas, couldn't say for sure if they really worked or not, but I figured they probably did, and if they didn't, I'd just slowly convert everything over to electric as time went by and the funds came available. The owner said that the water lines needed to be replaced. He tried to patch them before, but they were leaking at the present time. OK - I can do that!

So we went and picked it up the next day and brought it home! Parked it in the driveway and I went to work! There was a terrible mess to clean up. There was pine needles, leaves, dirt, spiders, and everything else in it. I took out everything I could and put it all in the driveway and then I took the garden hose and sprayed out the entire interior. What a mess! On top of that, it rained for 3 days and I thought it would never dry out. Boy I was anxious though! I really wanted to make this thing work. There was no smell of mold or mildew though so that kept me with a positive outlook on the whole thing.

I hooked the hose to the bottom of the camper and sure enough, the water lines needed to be replaced. It took several trips to the hardware store and a lot of advice and instruction from the people that worked there, but in the end, I was finally able to get them working with no leaks.

OK. So far so good. Hooked the gas bottle up to the front and got the stove to light. Smelled all around and didn't smell any gas, so I figured the gas lines were OK. I had no clue as to how to fire up the hot water heater or the refrigerator or the oven, but I knew I could deal with that later.

Rain rain rain! Spent a lot of time inside of it during the rains trying to isolate and determine just where any leaks were and only found a few. Soon as it started drying outside I went to work on the outside.

Where to start? Walmart of course! I got 2 tubes of caulk, a gallon of Kilz 2 primer, a roller, and a brush. Got a little sandpaper also and went to work on the outside skin. Caulked every possible place I could think of and then went around and caulked again. Had to let that dry and then put the first coat of primer on. Well it rained, of course, but it wasn't in too bad shape. First dry day after that I put another coat of primer on it and the whole thing dried really well. Well, it rained again and I checked and check and inspected and inspected. NO LEAKS! Hooray!

OK. Now it was time to go back to Walmart and decide on the paint. I got a gallon of beige for the top and a gallon of "Buffalo" for the bottom. After many trials and tribulations I was finally able to get two coats of paint on, dry, and nice and neat - and after all that - finally - I have a camper!

The next day - we hooked it up to the van and pulled it to an RV park in Mississippi and that's where it is now - still a work in progress - still has some problems, but I'm working them out and step by step, little by little, I'll have it up to par with the best of them.....Stay tuned!