17th October 2008
The floor at the front of the camper was taken up. Yes, even more rotting wood .
Hubby replaced the 2 downward part of the side frame. H e also braced part of the existing frame, put a whole piece of wood around the hole for the petrol tank filler pipe which had previously had 2 separate pieces of wood one each side of the hole.
15th October 2008
As hubby was screwing the outer seal in, we discovered that the wood was rotten, he looked inside the small compartment at the back of the seating section and found that the floor was soaking wet, nothing for it but to take the seats out .
This is what we found when the seats were removed, a lot of rotten wood, what a surprise. This also affected part of the floor.
We then discovered even more rotting wood – this wood was doing its best to become earth, that is how rotten it was, fell apart in hubby’s hand, was I going to touch it, was I heck.
The rot spread up into the bottom of the wood against the cab. I sat in the drivers seat, took the leatherette from all around the cab, the ceiling of the cab was full of rust, we left it for a while to dry out and I then scraped it off. The metal above the windscreen was running with water but once the leatherette had come off it dried out very quickly.
We looked in the back of the seats on the other side, same thing so out it all had to come.
The wood up the sides was even more rotten wood similar to that on the other side but worse, the floor was also affected.
10th October 2008
Hubby fitted a new floor – hooray, no more trying to get in and out of the camper struggling not to walk on the aluminium or wooden frame.
Spot the deliberate mistake (or not so deliberate) – we closed the door to go home and discovered that the back door would not shut so the wood by the door had to be sanded down so that the door would shut. We also discovered that the door wasn’t closing properly because the head of the screws went through the hole – this was corrected with bigger screws and the door hung properly.
While the waste water tank was removed hubby checked the underside, sanded all the surface rust off and painted it. No problems with any part of the chassis up to the cab so far, keeping fingers crossed. He also noticed that there was nowhere to fix the support bars to the outside edge, there were hooks that fitted to the inside – you can see the holes in the ‘arm’
8th October 2008
We had a disaster in Ireland with the back door, there were gale-force winds, we could hardly stand up and a gust of wind took the door out of my husbands hands and hit it against the outside panel, the force was such that it smashed the clear plastic that someone had put in – luckily we had plastic and duck tape so at least the rain and wind weren’t outside and no inside. When we got home we repaired it with another piece of clear plastic. We had parked it temporarily outside a friends house but vandals threw a stone at the plastic and yet again we had a broken window. This time I decided we would replace it with proper glass supplied by a local glazier so at least that part doesn’t need replacing. Unfortunately we had started prodding any wood we came across and had prodded the bottom of the door which we discovered also needs to be replaced hence the brown wood under the bottom window.
Hubby decided that 1 ft wasn’t really enough taken out of the floor so decided on another 6-8 inches. In making that decision he then had to get the wood out from the bottom of the cupboard on the left which was a wardrobe with space underneath a shelf for the gas bottle.
While having a rest we were looking at the back door and of course couldn’t resist a prod and a poke and guess what, the wood on the back door needs replacing as well.
Hubby inserted new wood making sure that the whole thing was supposed by the original frame running down the middle and the supports on the outside edge.
1st October 2008
About 1 ft of the wood by the back door of the camper was also rotten, hubby cut the rotten wood away revealing rotten joists. Before we could replace the joist along the back of the camper, we discovered the whole joist right into the corner and along the side of the camper was rotten. All the rotting wood was taken away and hubby made a frame to join the joists that were not affected by rot, to the frame which also ran along the side of the camper to the wheel arch.
In the process of doing this the back outer panel of the camper had to be removed revealing even more rotting wood both inside the panel and underneath and around the shower tray which was also removed.
The rotten wood was removed from the back panel and a new frame was made which fitted well (it did take some time to get it in the right place due to the lack of sound wood all around the bottom of the camper). Hubby put some more wood on the middle of the frame as the catch to keep the door open was fastened to this – unknown to us at the time the previous catch was only held on by the outer aluminium panel.
28th September 2008
We then put sealant on the seal for the front of the camper and that was screwed into position. We then did the same to the other seals which were then replaced.
As we were looking at the rear of the camper, the waste water tank fixings had not been fitted properly and someone had put a piece of wood under the brackets to hold the tank up and it was not doing a good job (and I am sure the Irish roads did nothing to help). We held the tank up with the blocks of wood as the only support it had was being screwed to the drainage hole in the shower room. The brackets with which it should have been fixed with one end on a hook attached to the chassis and the other to what should have been wood (we think) but whatever was there is no longer, have now been taken off, rubbed down and painted with red oxide and black gate paint. The tank was taken off, cleaned and is waiting to be put back on.
25th September 2008
23rd September 2008
The further we got into the corner of the pod it was obvious that the wood was also rotten across the front of the pod and on the opposite window. Somewhere in the camper’s history was a would-be renovator who loved expanding foam, it was everywhere.
Beginning the renovation – 21st September 2008
Info on CF prior to the Renovation
BEDFORD CF250 AUTOSLEEPER CAMPERVAN RENOVATIONS
The above picture is how the Autosleeper would have looked when it was new in 1978.
The above is our camper
We bought this camper in 2003 never having been inside a camper before. Hubby prefers the older type vehicles as they can usually be fixed at the side of the road instead of finding out that relays, computer gizmo’s etc have packed in and then having to wait for the road rescue services to collect both you and the vehicle and once home, order the relevant parts. The previous owners had for reasons only they know, hand-painted the camper cream with a thin green stripe.
We used it occasionally to go to the seaside and a few 7-10 day holidays but then I retired. In 2004 we decided to go over to Ireland for the month of June. We had a fantastic time, meeting the locals and people from all over the world. The Irish roads were in desperate need of an iron, the roads were full of potholes and we found every one. We bounced along uneven roads but the camper held out quite well, practially everything that was bolted/screwed on shook loose, we nearly lost the battery box, a bumper and the insert for the light fitting. We drove over ploughed fields, up 1 in 2 mountains, around very sharp bends with no fence or even boulders on the edge, the CF took it all in her stride. We came home, did the repairs including replacing the 4 shock absorbers and then went back over to Ireland in the camper in September 2004.
This time we drove to friends and stayed with them for a few days. We wanted to go through the centre of Ireland as we had gone all around the coast the previous June. We left our friends in the morning, by lunchtime we were well on our way, we stopped to pick a hitch-hiker up and a little later heard a grinding noise coming from the wheel. We discovered it was the wheel bearings in the rear axle. We eventually managed to get through to the AA having been diverted to the AA in France using a telephone in a local store and emptying the purse and pockets of all the change needed to feed it – approx £40 !!!!!
A breakdown lorry eventually arrived and took us to the ferry terminal, it was a micracle we arrived at the terminal, we went under low bridges without the driver thinking we may not get under (we did with hardly any spare space), he nearly pulled into a covered garage to fill up with petrol when I shouted don‘t forget we have a camper on the back, he swerved just in time. He also drove quite quickly when we first started off and as he turned a corner the camper which has very very soft suspension, was banking from left to right going further and further left and further and further right – thank goodness the 3 dogs who were in the back didn’t know what was going on, when we pointed out what was happening, he then decided he ought to slow down. We limped very carefully onto the ferry under our own steam, limped off at Fishguard and waited for the breakdown lorry to bring us home. When we got home hubby changed both wheel bearings and hooray it was ready to use again. Did we use it?? No!!!
We parked it up in my parents drive and went to Australia and New Zealand in 2005 and since then it has been standing on the drive with hubby starting it (having to charge the battery first) every now and again but it has never gone anywhere.
Thanks to the father where the camper has been since late 2004, I am sure he is really fed up with seeing it deteriorating day by day, but we decided this year to put it back on the road and use it next year and this is the story and pictures of what we found and how we overcame any problems that arose.