A kindred restorer!

Interesting coincidence: Adrienne was googling something or other about the trailer and sent me this link to someone out in the world working on the same kind of trailer we have. Since I was at work, I didn’t have time to look over her link. (And also, since I was at work and I don’t waste Valuable Company Time on personal browsing, she should have never even sent me the link. I am a dedicated professional.)

Then later in the week, I get an email:

Hi, my name is Chris … . I live in West TN. I came across your blog site while searching the net for info regarding vinatge Play Mor Travel Trailes. I have a 1969 Play Mor 150. I bought it approx. 2 months ago and will start the renovation soon. It is hard to find others out there with this make of trailer. I do have the emblems on mine and have a source from a vintage trailer board I am a member of that can reproduce them. I would be happy to share info and pics with you regarding our trailers. What year is yours and how are you coming on the restoration? I look forward to hearing from you

After a little back and forth, I mention this to Adrienne, and she says, yes, that’s the same person whose blog link I sent you the other night. She pointed out that I never got back to her on that, and I had to remind her that I was devoted to a work task and could not be sidelined for even a moment.

So. Again, the Internet comes through. Chris is right: It is hard to find others out there with this kind of trailer. Not like those frou-frou Airstreams or fancy-pants Shastas. Play-Mor trailer owners are an elite club. So far, me and Chris and that survivalist guy somewhere in the Colorado woods.

So take a look at Chris’s site and check out all the good work he’s doing. Pretty impressive.

Meanwhile, in the Rockies on this side of the Rockies, my progress so far: The hideous paneling inside has been painted a light blue, which was a lot more work than I expected. I also had the brilliant idea of caulking each groove in the paneling so it wouldn’t have a bunch of black stripes all over. Looks better, I think, but it was time consuming. There’s also been a recent development that I’m keeping an eye on. After painting it, there have been some water stains show through. Now, I’m not sure whether this means there’s leaking currently happening or whether the old damage is showing through the paint. I believe it’s the latter. (Note: Thanks to the extra-super-smart Cragnotti family for pointing out my embarrassing geographical error. This writer apparently doesn’t know what side of the Continental Divide he lives on. Derp.)

We’ve also replaced all the cabinet hardware and yanked up all the carpeting. We were going to replace the flooring with something, but we kind of like the yellow original. We also added some trim and removed the head-knocking bunk.

The other day, I noticed that not only were the tires looking pretty worn, but that they were passenger tires. Apparently, there are special trailer tires, with stiffer sides, that are made specifically for being on a trailer. So we got a couple of new ones put on for peace of mind.

Vintage travel trailer restoration
If this thing is going to live anywhere near the house, the girlfriend says it needs a paint job. We're thinking about red or orange where the blue is. And red or orange for the propane tanks. We'll see. Meanwhile, there are some other, more pressing body concerns, including a glass panel that's missing from the door.

 

My Play-Mor camper trailer has no serial number on the tongue.
Chris says the serial number should be on the tongue, but mine just doesn't seem to have one. Wonder if that means it's been replaced at some point or is it worn away? So we still don't know what year this thing is, but we're guessing 1969, 1970 or 1971. Chris's is a 1969, and they look nearly identical (though his has a cooler red stove/oven). Big Mystery.

 

Play-Mor travel trailer restoration project
We figured we'd just tear out the old carpet and put some other vinyl thing down, but once it all came up, it ended up looking not too terrible. In fact, it's growing on us.

 

Bunk shelf, Play Mor travel trailer
On our maiden voyage, one thing we noticed was how many times we bumped our heads on that upper bunk shelf. So since we're just using it for light storage anyway, we took half of it down, which opens it up a great deal. Besides, no human being ever had any business being in that shaky top bunk. Can you say: "death trap"?