Dixie's First Show

Dixie got invited to a fall festival car show here in Stuart, Florida. So we cleaned her up a bit and took care of a few punchlist items and off we went. It was a good show of classic, musclecar and exotic European cars and trucks. Dixie commanded a lot of attention and a few offers to buy, even though she's not for sale. Nadia and I had dinner with some friends in Dixie during the show. It was a great time!

Back To Work

Well... It has been a while but I have been inspired to get back to work on Dixie ( thanks to Tyler ) of http://www.nastyshasty.blogspot.com/ NastyShasty is a great new blog that I found today and shows a really well done Astrodome renovation.  Tyler has come up with some great ideas and a new layout for his Shasta. I love woodworking and really need to get back into Dixie and continue on with all the hard work I started.

 I still enjoy going out and sitting in Dixie just to chill-out! It's like my fort I guess. Nadia and I stayed the night in her last weekend but never left the yard. It was fun! We had dinner in her, drank a little beer, played strip scrabble and then passed out! (sorry... No pix of that!! ;)  Campin' is AWESOME!!

 I am in the process of moving her forward again. I expanded the privacy fence toward the front of my house about 20 feet and made a 10 foot wide gate in an effort to be able to get her out to the street with much more ease. I am going to move Buddy (my 19 Deluxe) behind her so now they will both be up tight to the side of my home and shaded by the home and existing trees. I'll post pix of that later. for now... Here are some pix of Tonka enjoying hanging out in Dixie!

Dixie Pix

We had a great trip to St. Augustine for our maiden voyage on Independence Day weekend. We put about 400 miles on her! Things went really good with the exception of low air pressure in the tires. I had them at around 40psi when we started out and once we reached 65mph, she got kinda squirrely. I pulled off in Vero Beach and put them up to 65psi and that solved that issue. When we returned, I decided to relocate her to closer to my home due to hurricane season. She will not be as exposed to potential high winds from the East and fairly well covered from the West. Also, she is out of direct sunlight due to the shade tree seen below. The tree is not really big enough to do major damage if it were to blow over in a storm but it provides a lot of shade. I had company in town this past weekend so Dixie became Billy's Inn.

 Here are the latest photos. I still have a ton of detail work to do which I look forward to. Enjoy!! 

Oven For Sale

I am selling my Holiday oven due to a new configuration plan for cooking. The chrome has a bunch of surface rust but the unit was barely used. The inside of the oven is very clean. 

I would like to get $150 plus shipping for it. Feel free to email me at dozerb79@gmail.com  

The oven is 21 1/2 inch wide from outside edges of chrome trim.

21 1/2 inch from top to bottom of outside edge of chrome trim.

19 3/8 inch front to back to outside edge of chrome trim not including the handle or knobs.

Dixie getting some sun at the beach

Happy Independence Day!

Flamin' flamingo

We made it!

On the road! St. Augustine here we come!

Almost Done and ready for Independence Day

A view of the rear storage compartment under the bed

Table installed.

120v outlet and 12v outlets

A place to lay my weary head

Last night I built the bed. I did not make the bed to slide out like the original because I felt as though I did not need extra floor space or another couch to sit on. I would rather have more storage space. I divided the space into two compartments. One is accessible through a door inside and the othe through the outside compartment door. I raised the bed platform from the original 13 inches to 20 inches to further increase storage capacity.

A Place To Sit And Reflect

The original floor plan for this Shasta had a bench across the front facing the rear. We decided to change it to the two bench facing each other configuration because the views are much better looking out the front windows. I have the first bench completed. It was the harder of the two to build in that you have one side exposed.

 And now I have them both done and will be working on the rear bed tonight. I got the seats from my 1961 Deluxe. Dixie did not have her original seats when I got her.

Now She's Really Coming Together

With my deadline rapidly approaching, I can say that I am comfortable that she will be camp-worthy by the end of next week. Not finished, but camp-worthy.

I cleaned up the wheels and hubs and painted them. I also got chrome lug nuts and it looks like a HOTROD!!

My Insulation Installation Technician (Nadia) did 95% of the installation of insulation. She used 3/4 inch fiberglass duct board for most of it and 3/4 inch foam board for about 20% of it. I spray foamed the smaller areas.

This is the bathroom area (Head) in the rear of the camper. 

We installed the "Wood-like" planks of vinyl flooring which we LOVE!!!

Then we started the new 1/8 inch birch ply walls and ceilings. HUGE milestone!!

And my favorite part of the whole project was rebuilding the bathroom. 

I actually made it a bit bigger than the original in that I took away some countertop space from next to the sink and added that countertop space to the bathroom. Now I am a bit less claustrophobic in there!

   So...... That's all for now. Stay tuned for more later!!

Just wanted to shed a little more light on a subject

Hello! My name is Billy and I am a L.E.D.aholic. It has been 6 days since the last L.E.D. was installed on Dixie.

I took the grab handle off her and retrofit a three lamp, yellow L.E.D. fixture up inside the handle.

I also installed a yellow plastic lens into the existing opening on the front of the handle

It serves as a subtle porch light, a night light, and it lights up the lock, handle and step nicely!

It is wired to the 12v system and being that it is L.E.D., it won't be drawing a lot of power. Easy retrofit for sure!

As promised, here are a couple shots of the factory roof vent that I installed.

I am 95% done with insulating using foil backed duct board and soon will be installing the wall paneling. A huge step for me. I can't wait! The A/C is working so good. It has been up to 95 degrees here and she stays so cool on the inside. Insulating really helped. Night and day difference! After wall panels, I can build the front seats and the rear bed and the bathroom. My specialty is woodworking so this ought to be a breeze! Looking forward to Independence Day on Vilano Beach (St. Augustine)!!!!