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Polly Luna wakes up! A classic RV build story


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I think Polly Luna has always had nice lines and now they're even nicer.   The color combination is one of my favorites. Here's one of my creations, notice anything.  

Meet the newest member of our family, Polly Luna, a 1967 Dodge Travco motorhome.       We've always been big fans of vintage vehicles, and before our kids were born we camped in a 1972 VW Contempo ca

Before I dive into this one, I just have to warn you that I might turn up the cheese a bit in the next two updates. A bit more than usual, that is.   We've been working so hard on Polly Luna. Practica

We also just realized we should be at the Fort when you are, so hopefully we'll get to see the reincarnated Poly Luna in person.  :)

 

Awesome!  Guided tours available for all Fiends! I plan to get a Snarky sign for our visit, although I suspect no one will need one to recognize our campsite.  :))

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For the record.

 

People I do not like:

  • The person who wrecked the back of Polly Luna at some point.
  • The person who did bodywork on Polly after said wreck.
  • The person who invented vinyl graphics.
  • The person who bought all of the 100 grit sandpaper from the store. 

 

People I do like:

  • The person who brought an orbital sander back to the store so that I could buy it at 50% off.
  • The workers of Dunkin Donuts for making a fine glass of iced tea.
  • My MIL for watching our little ones while we work.
  • The person who invented the orbital sander.

    Gottlieb-Stoll.jpg
    Thanks Gottlieb!

 

Up next:  Polly Luna gets naked

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My son and I are having the best time reading all about your re-do adventures!  So inspired!  (Not sure we'll do anything.  Got to finish the Great Race project before taking on anything else so large.) But, having a blast keeping up!  Thank you so much for sharing!

 

Also, Most Adorable Spooky Storytelling Award goes to Little E!  ;)  Too cute, that one!

 

Looking forward to the next update!

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Polly Luna was listed on Craigslist in a town a few hours away from our home. When we looked at the pictures in the listing we thought, "Bonus! We don't have much to do on the outside!"  The paint colors weren't our favorite, but definitely workable for a year or two until we could get her painted. 

 

It wasn't until we saw her in person that the bubble burst. 

 

Cracks and pinholes don't show up so well in pictures taken from 30 feet away. 

 

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See that pale area with all the cracking (the one next to the field of holes)? That was our first clue that maybe a little something had happened to Polly at some point in her life. We figured someone must have backed into something on the corner at some point. Nothing major, though. 

 

Oh, we were so wrong. 

 

Other issues with the paint included something called "crazing," which essentially means that at some point the gel coat covering the fiberglass cracked and broke the paint that was on top of it. They kind of look like stretch marks. 

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Anyone know of a good stretch mark cream we could rub on this?  Anyone?

 

Our next thought was that we'd take it to a shop that specialized in fiberglass or rvs and get it redone professionally. We don't know the first thing about working with fiberglass or painting vehicles. 

 

Remember this, folks. We don't know the first thing about what we're doing. Don't try this at home!

 

We made an appointment and happily drove it in to get a quote. We were there for less than ten minutes when it became apparent that as much as we didn't want to deal with the paint work, the shop wanted to do it even less. They quoted us 80 hours for prep (reasonable, I thought), and 120 hours to spray paint. Yes, three weeks worth of 8 hour workdays just to spray a very simple paint job our 27' motorhome. Total cost came to $19,500 for labor alone. 

 

That sinking feeling that came as a free gift with the inflated quote was the knowledge that we were going to have to do this all on our own. 

 

Yep.

 

We put off the outside work while we worked on the inside, but once the floor was done we knew it was time. 

 

We bought two orbital sanders on the clearance shelf at Sears and what we thought was enough sand paper. 

 

Lessoned learned: It will never, ever be enough sand paper. 

 

This is what it looked like after a day and a half of sanding a 27’ Class A motorhome with two 5” sanders. 

 

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Polly with her teeth out. 

 

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We took her lipstick off, too. 

 

6a59dc6e-275f-46a7-b948-37fc10b1d4e6_zps

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I'm impressed you are tackling the paint. My husband's uncle restores old cars and Jason grew up in that shop. He says once the prep work is done (which would be the hardest part of the job), that's an 8-10 hour paint job. When I told him what they quoted you, he said the same thing... they don't want to do it. 

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