Zan's Can no longer....

Hope the title doesn't give the reader the wrong idea.....the Can is still in my driveway undergoing repairs and remodeling as she has for the past several months!!! Been doing a few odds and ends in my sewing/craft room riding out a wicked heat wave here in the Midwest. The roof repair strategy is in place and awaiting humane working conditions so I am doing a few comfort and decor projects while I wait.

Remember how I removed the heater and planned to use the vent access for my electrical access? To avoid having to drill into that beautiful diamond plate front panel? Well the access cover is cut, drilled, painted, and insulated awaiting the arrival of an electrician nephew who will rewire for this power supply ignorant owner!

More of this in the future when I cover the exterior modifications done on Zan's can.

Made a few carry sacks out of the left over cushion fabric to make carrying and containing marshmallow roasting sticks, pudgie pie makers, and tarp poles.

Am in the process of finishing some cute tarp pole weight/supports too! One thing discovered on the Memorial Day roll out was it took ALL FOUR of us to hold poles while guide wires were staked. Since it is my plan to go on solo or near solo camping trips in the future I needed a solution to that dilemma and thanks to Pinterest I combined a few ideas and will do a post from start to finish covering this project.

What the title of the post alludes to is I have finally heard from the cosmos regarding the "real name" of Zan's Can. Zan's Can the nickname is now a thing of this blog and the past.

This week I stumbled upon this definition of the name Alma. Let's just say it didn't just speak to me!?!? I had already saved this definition earlier...

I am pretty sure the cosmos heard my "BINGO!!!" So now I will be making a name plate and spare tire cover to make it official....

....and the cosmos have made me happy, sigh.

Skipping right along....in reverse!!

I apologize for having gone silent on here for the past few weeks!! Between the hot weather and schedules, I had precious little time to go hands on Zan's Can of late. Seeing a steady stream of happy camping pictures from the holiday weekend coupled with gorgeous weather got me right back on track.

Look at that beautiful piece of diamond plate all shaped and ready to mount on the front end of Zan's Can!!!

Before mounting the front panel we had to finalize what we were doing about the electric inbox and propane gas hook up. I am loathe to drill openings in that pretty piece of metal so we wanted to have our plan set so no unnecessary holes need be made in the front panel.

Mr. Creature Comforts has been such a help to me in this little flight of fancy I am on with remodeling this pop up!! He was not keen on my plan for today but he used his skills and accommodated my ideas. In the forty or so years of its existence the gas heater in the Can was RARELY used. I do not plan to be camping in weather requiring a heater and if needed will just use a small electric heater. That space under the sink is coveted given how little storage space exists currently and is much more valuable to me than a heater. 

The heater is now scrap metal!!!

The heater's vent is now our new gas and electrical portal! We plan to put a door in this metal frame for ease of access and the space under the sink is mine to use as needed.....like a dorm fridge, maybe?

Steaming right along and ready to mount the front panel and remount the roof latches tomorrow. Except I don't have that kind of luck! When we pulled the tarps off to open the Can up today we noticed a sizeable BULGE in the roof!! Now I knew there were soft spots here and there on the roof but it was intact and something I felt could be addressed in future repair sessions......until we saw the crack/tear in the middle of the bulge, sigh.

There is no Luck O' the Irish in this family...ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all the black mold I saw there it is no wonder that Shutterfly was so sick on our inaugural camping trip. So I am skipping furiously back to YouTube to study up on DIY roof repairs!!! One step forward....three steps back...looking seriously like our tentative Starved Rock camping trip in two weeks can now be considered unlikely, dang.

So I leave you today with a picture of a small little corner of my sister's beautiful garden. Her hard work is my beacon assuring me that with hard work the Can will also look gorgeous someday. The sun has set on another beautiful day and tomorrow promises a fresh day to get back to work on the Can.

Things that go bump in the night....

Since getting home from our inaugural camping trip in Zan's Can I have been a bit busy with sewing commitments in other arenas in my life as well as the very full plate of home and work obligations.


Despite networking to find someone comfortable working with sheep metal to repair the front panel on the Can I have yet to find a willing craftsman. Despite not feeling at all competent to work with a sheet of aluminum it is beginning to look like Mr. Creature Comforts and I will be developing a new skill set!!

In the meantime.....you'd think with teen drivers with learner's permits might have been warning enough for us to move the Can somewhere other than the front of our driveway?? Well lesson learned that often it is the most unlikely of circumstances that come together to create havoc!

So there are four of these pegs bolted to the undercarriage on the Can that support the aluminum poles that brace the pull outs. They are very thick and substantial metal.

Well one of them is not like the others now!!! 

When rubber meets metal it isn't a fair fight....usually. While the tire shows the rip and subsequent loss of air, it is clear that once punctured into the sidewall the support peg was not up to the rotational force of a mini-van being reversed out the driveway.....by MR. CREATURE COMFORTS!!!! The Can is beginning to have too many unplanned and unwanted costs for my liking!

Innaugural Camping Weekend!

Well....we did it!!! Zan's Can was hitched up to the car and she rolled like a charm right into our first joint camping experience. There were hiccups. We expected more actually!! The most concerning was the abrupt loss of power to the lights on the can. Something is up between the newly installed hitch's electrical outlet and the Can's plug, but that problem has been handed off to the experts and will NOT be a DIY project!!

Sweet Pea and her BFF, Shutterfly, and myself worked like a very well oiled team and had our little campsite set up and organized within an hour.

The weather FINALLY cooperated and the newly blossomed spring flowers lured us out and on several long hikes.

I know this sight often brings dread to homeowners with landscaping concerns, but for this group of concrete jungle dwellers it was a thrilling moment!

We even braved the swarming mosquitoes to follow a few creeks as they flowed away from us.

I hate to be a tease....but I am excited to give a sneak peek of how the Can's decor is coming along by showing you my little nook of comfort in Mother Nature this past weekend. There is more sewing of curtains and accessorizing to be completed before I can have the full reveal.

I enjoyed teaching my girls how to make "hobo dinners" as I called them in my youth. Despite HUGE skepticism on their parts, one's appetite can change greatly when camping and all were gobbled up in short order. 

I know a truly talented DIY blogger would have documented the scenario of dubious teens assembling their foil packets and the set up process of the campsite but I vowed to use this weekend as a way to show those same teens the joys of being technology free so my phone stayed firmly in my pocket. I promise that trips later this summer will be documented more thoroughly!!

Despite happily abstaining from joining us this weekend to experience the first trip with the Can, Mr. Creature Comforts was a trooper when we got home and dove right in to help us empty out and clean up the camper.

Gardening Zan Style

The Memorial Day weekend looms large and the plan is still to take Zan's Can out on a "soft opening". By that I mean we are staying close to home and in a campground with all the amenities! I figure  I'll need a trip or two out in her to get a true feel of what does or does not need to get packed. Spent the day gathering the bedding and cookware. Bedding is basically all new or gently used off eBay but the cookware is exclusively thrift store purchases. Sadly my piles are growing in the brick home because the forecast rain has actually arrived preventing me from opening up the Can and filling the meager storage compartments, sniff.

As I stuffed duvet covers with comforters and made stuff bags to carry the various tarps, stakes, and tools I have been mulling over the Can's final name. I have a sense of what I want but the "perfect" name is eluding me. Basically I am looking to convey how I do "flowers and gardening" on fabric and wood unlike my House Beautiful gardening guru of a sister whose flower beds are beautiful to behold already this early in our 'Sprinter'. I'm pushing myself to settle on a name because I want to make a custom spare tire cover that has the name included. To that end I've been wandering the internet looking for inspiration. She would say this about me:

And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows...
~Rudyard Kipling, "The Glory of the Garden"

Basically she's right....things that grow in soil should not be left in my care! However, not all gardens require soil and sometimes solarium masquerade as glamped up campers. My sister's garden does for her soul what the Can is doing for mine...bringing us joy and a reason to believe in tomorrow! Her genes must be from our ploughmen Scottish ancestors just like mine must be from an unknown Tinker/Traveler/Gypsy ancestor. This vagabond soul is hoping for clearing skies so she can hit the road this weekend.

Rub A Dub, Dub....

Once the seams had been reinforced it was time to give the Can a bath. Not just a cosmetic wipe down but a deep down to the bone scrubbing! I used Fantastic 5 in 1 spray cleaner and Dawn dish detergent with a scrub brush and one of the generic miracle sponge on the vinyl.

The dirt that was flowing off the vinyl was so thick I just had to take a picture!! That buttery blond section in the upper center is the actual original vinyl while the grey section on the right in the picture was how dirty it was when I received the Can.

 Every saw horse and ladder in our arsenal was called into duty to hold the canvas up and out so I could do a thorough scrubbing!

 This side was in the shade of a tree and took longer to dry but today was in the high 70's and sunny so the canvas dried quickly!

Once it was dry we raised the roof back up and began to apply the waterproofing. 

 

 Once again, I do not have any affiliations with any products and list them only as a service to someone embarking on a PUP remodel. I went through 4 cans of the Kiwi brand silicon water repellent on just the back and one bunk!! Off to the store tomorrow to buy a BUNCH more.

Once I started weather proofing I noticed a seam I had missed....and not being able to lower the top because Mr. Creature Comforts was inside working on the heater vent cover....I had to get creative about how I could get my sewing machine up high enough to reinforce that seam!

Tomorrow is theoretically the last warm and sunny day of the coming week so I plan to finish the water proofing and start loading in the cushions and curtains. Hopefully the weather will co-operate so we can take her out over Memorial Day weekend for a "soft opening" or at least get a photo shoot to have the "big reveal".

Oh The Weather Outside...

....is FINALLY delightful!!! Had two good days in a row and we made the most of it by working on Zan's Can. The interior is really coming together and it is down to tweaks and touch ups. That supporting end board with the protruding bolts and nuts....remember?

 

Well after Mr. Creature Comforts fitted them each with a lauan facing I had a nice smooth surface to place the Smart Tile subway tiles I have come to adore.

 

No I am not in any way affiliated with the company and yes I mean adore!! They cut easily with scissors making mounting a breeze and can be washed reducing any concerns about putting them in a camper where dirt is going to be a given.

See how pretty it looks and this was before we placed the molding?!?! I'd show other angles except Mr. Creature Comfort has also been busy adding the new hinges and pulls to the drawer and doors and mounting them and I want to save those views for the "big reveal",

Since the interior is nearly complete and we have a forecast absent of any rain for the weekend I decided it was time to get serious about the exterior.

What, you may ask, did my neighbors see most of today??

Me and my sewing machine working our way around the camper!!! Since I want to do a thorough washing, mildew treatment, and re-weatherproofing of the Can's canvas I decided that I wanted to do the seam repairs before the last of the original thread dissolved during that process.

No need to have a special sewing machine for this task. Just a sturdy and well trusted basic Singer is what I used on the canvas. Now you do need to use the appropriate needles and thread though!

You will need a larger gauge needle like these size 16 jean/denim needles I used. I am expecting if you are contemplating your own canvas repairs that you have a certain level of competency in sewing. It isn't particularly complicated as it is mostly straight line stitching but a working knowledge of your machine is a must!

Once you put in the larger gauge needle and thread the upholstery weight thread you need to take the time to adjust your tension. I did a couple of practice runs using scraps of the cushion fabric to make sure I had my machine settings where they needed to be to work on canvas.

Not only did I sew the pinned and duct taped seam failures shown in the introductory tour post but I decided to reinforce every seam I could reach with the machine!! Figure I might be saving myself a repeat day of sewing dry rotted thread failures by proactively stitching over the seams that were still intact. Later in the day we did lower the top down so I could reach up as high as on the vinyl bunk roofs and corner zippers as possible thus reducing the amount of hand sewing....but I was so busy sewing I forgot to get a picture, sorry!! I still have more seams to do tomorrow so hopefully I will snap a picture so you can see how it looks with the machine and canvas in the lowered position.

Loss of daylight and the rising of the moon ended today's adventure!! Here's to the same enthusiasm tomorrow. Sleep well tonight! I surely will!!!