Snowy day!

Here they are set up as bench seats. I had the upholsterers make the bolsters thicker than the ones that came with the trailer because they were too thin to fill the sides when set up in the bed position. However, the leg depth of the seats is a little too short now because the bolsters are so thick. Live and learn.

The new seats set up as the bed.

Here are some shots of my work on fixing up the old seats. First I took off the old plaid fabric & the foam that covered the top & sides of each seat. Then I took off the burlap, and separated the old springs from the wood bases. (The bases are necessary because they support the seats when they are set up as a bed, spanning across the space between the bases and additionally supported by two wooden dowels. I used a wire brush on my drill and a lot of naval jelly and scrubbing pads to de-rust the springs. Next, I sprayed them with a coat of rust inhibitor/sealer and when that dried, I sprayed them with a thin coat of aerosol silicone so that they wouldn't squeak. The upholsterers reattached the springs to the wooden bases and did a great job of wrapping them in burlap again along with a couple of layers of felt-like stuff under and on top of the springs so that they wouldn’t be lumpy. No squeaks anymore!

Another Eriba blog to watch.

headlight lens restorer

I found a product that restores plastic headlight lenses from cloudy & yellow to clear again. I'm not sure how long it will last but it sure worked well. The wet sanding didn't seem to do much but the lens clarifying solution made a big difference. It's the stuff in the white bottle. I'm going to try it on the windows on the Eriba that have been replaced with Plexiglas.

Esterel, the fold-up hard shell trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJHqhFjvziw&feature=related

It says 25  9  61.  I'm guessing that's September 25, 1961. (It's just a year younger than me.) And just to the left of the numbers it says "ESM".

Here's the ball clamp next to the can of "Rust Fix" I used on it before putting on the primer and the finish coat. I picked up the rust stuff at Schuck's automotive store.

Tongue work

Here's the tongue minus the ball clamp that was bolted in place. The rust came off pretty easily with naval jelly, and then I hit it with a wire brush on the end of a power drill.

I worked on cleaning up the rusty tongue today.

"The german quality mobile home for long trips" (I believe husvagnen means mobile home in Swedish) Stockholm, Sweden 1965

I found a possible source for replacement tail light lenses.

The one in the picture is not an exact match for the broken ones on my Faun, but it looks close. The originals are plastic and this one is glass. They have it in amber too. http://www.taillightking.com/

Documentary

The light green Boler in this video is so good looking, I had to include a link here.

http://thistinyhouse.com/2009/fiberglass-trailer-documentary/

Retro cushions from a restored Wee Wind Airstream.

Here's a picture of mine, with the tent up

Rubber seals

http://www.sealsdirect.co.uk/bbCMS/shopping.asp?intDepartmentId=8

Another color scheme

Ideas for cushions

Minty fresh

Eriba parts store

http://www.eriba-uk.com/home.cfm

Here's an old photo of the inside of a Puck. Very similar to my Faun.

http://www.typ3.com/puck/index.htm

Another great Eriba web-site

http://www.epocaravan.altervista.org/schedaeriba/schedaeriba.htm
Lots of great pictures

Interior Hinges

I need to replace a few lift apart hinges that allow the table to lift off, or the counter. I found a site that might have the right ones. http://www.hardwaresource.com/hinges/FURNITURE+HINGES/Lift-off+Hinges+-+Loose+Joint+Hinges/.

Frustrations

I searched (again) for a couple of hours yesterday for hinges to replace the failing ones on the main door. No luck except Jandi Caravans in Scotland has them. Good enough. Might as well get the parts in Europe, since that's where my Eriba was built. The woman at Jandi who has responded to my questions has been great. Here's their web-site
http://eribascotland.com/

Polishing aluminum

I researched how to polish the aluminum door grills & it worked. I started with some fine grit emery paper and sanded away the oxidation. Then I used a 1000 grit wet/dry sand paper and sanded again to take out the scratches. A final polish with Nevr-Dull Wadding Polish got it nice and shiny. It took awhile but worked well.

Wow. This give me hope. A bluetiful Eriba

another puck restoration...German

1959 Eriba Faun Pics
http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=55233

Another Faun site (vintage info)

Slideshow of Faun restoration. Very nice.

Eriba Parts

Eriba restoration

Someone's Eriba Puck Blog

Vintage Eriba info

http://www.oldiecaravan.de/Hersteller_A_-_Z/Eriba/Eriba_1962/eriba_1962.html

This is mine....

More pics

Let the games begin

Just picked up my new-to-me Eriba Faun, a German-made travel trailer. Now that it's home, I clearly have some work to do. I broke one of the hinges yesterday while trying to put the door back on. Grrrr. I already had the other hinge welded, so back to the machine shop for number two.