Darkroom IV: The Trailer (no, it's not a meth lab)

More pull down and a close-up at the worst of the worst

kwmullet — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:08:17 +0000

The other day, I did some more work on the trailer, but haven’t gotten time to post until now.

I decided to pull down the last remaining cabinet, in case there was any water damage or mold I needed to fix. Luckily, it seemed better than I anticipated. I’m still glad to have full access to that wall, but that adds more cabinet cost to my budget once I get to that point. I sure was glad to have a reciprocating saw and my “Fubar”.

The cabinet above the table plus...

a reciprocating saw and a "Fubar"

equals no cabinet and the last revealed wall.

And I took a look at the worst of the worst of the internal framing of the trailer. Here’s the pictures I took. This wood looks like it’s too rotted away to be replaced, but the wood near the floor looks good enough that I can cut down to there and build back up.

Another post later this weekend, probably.

I found it pretty disappointing that wordpress.com didn’t let me embed a slideshow like I’ve done in the past with blogger.com. I spent a few minutes trying unsuccessfully to import this blog into blogger.com, but no dice, so I’ll have to sort this out more later.

David Brown’s Darkroom — a much needed carrot

kwmullet — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:07:47 +0000

David is also blogging his darkroom construction project. He’s nearly done, and his progress is a much needed carrot as I experience the stick of making incremental progress on my own project.

Thanks for the blog, David.

http://newdr.blogspot.com/

The end of subtraction. Addition is next.

kwmullet — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:00:58 +0000

Here’s a couple of wide-view images I stitched together using AutoStitcher app on the iPhone.

I think I’ve stripped everything out of the trailer that needs to be removed. Next, I need to shore up the framing, then enhance the wiring and plumbing, re-panel, light-seal and install shelves and cabinets, and put in equipment.

Click on an image to see it on Flickr, and see the notes about what’s going to go where.

out with the hide-a-bed

kwmullet — Sun, 02 May 2010 15:09:28 +0000

pulled the hide-a-bed from the trailer yesterday. How I wish the furniture guys were still on tv or that their shows were online somewhere. I wasn’t even able to find torrents of them back when I did such things. I know I’ve seen them reupholster furniture like this — and I want to redo it in red diner booth vinyl with buttons but I think I’d do a better job not doing it from memory.

At any rate, the thing is out now and I was able to pull off the paneling, Dianna was able to clean out where we couldn’t reach before, and the entire fresh water supply system is revealed now.

here’s the two pieces of the sofa bed waiting for me to redo them

and here’s a stiched mosaic of the area
afteward

Time to fish or . . .

kwmullet — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:13:00 +0000

new blog time. I’ve got a self imposed deadline of July 4 to turn this derelict trailer into a working black and white (and hopefully alt process) darkroom.

Here’s a couple of shots of the trailer in question. Since I’m composing this on WordPress for the iPhone, I’ll be interested to see how much fixing from the pc is necessary.

note from later: iPhone WordPress is good for putting in the bare bones of a post and lumping in images, but I really needed to be on a PC to add text next to each image.

Here’s the starboard side of the trailer. We used to have a big canopy that would stretch out from it, but I “retired” it.

And here’s the port side. All the connections are here — shore power for 110vac, waste water tank disposal, access to the water heater, fresh water fillup. Getting everything in shape and learning about it will certainly be an educational experience.

It’s a Fleetwood Prowler 19E.

Not sure what year for sure, but the tail lights have “SAE. – AILRST – 73 D.O.T. REFLECT-O-LITE NO. 910-950″ on them, so I don’t know if that means it’s a 1973 trailer or not. There’s a metal plate to the left of the door that has a Recreational Vehicle Industry Association # 4913503.

Here’s a shot of the interior. I had a guy replace the roof (soso job, but probably couldn’t have gotten much better for the price, and it is waterproof as opposed to the sieve of a roof it had before), I’ve stripped most of the paneling and insulation in preparation for putting in new lights, electrical fixtures and general post-seventies (or whatever) refresh.

The area to the left used to contain an enclosed bathroom with commode, sink and shower (tub for really short people.) I’ve pulled down the wall, sink, shower enclosure and capped the sewage hole to the black water tank. This will eventually be the enlarger cubicle for an Omega (? don’t have it near me right now) 4×5 enlarger with a moveable baseboard and a bench.

To the right is an example of the rotting, waterlogged wood situation I have in various places throughout the trailer. Once I get it all stripped down, I’ll need to replace a fair amount of the framing.

This area used to hold the gas oven, kitchen sink and counter. We pitched the counter, sold the oven/stove and sink, and I’ve got a prefab darkroom sink that will fit in here and encroach into the center passageway about 2-3 inches, and hang out about a foot or so above one end of the fold-out sofa bed in the front (upper right.)

Well, enough of blogging right now and back to working on the trailer. I’ll probably have one or two more entries today. I have already pulled the sofa bed so I can strip the walls to the side and behind it. I did want to dig in on this blog, though. Before this, I just had a bunch of photos in a flickr set — not very informative or well-organized at all.

Please feel free to comment, suggest and ask questions. Just be prepared for lengthy answers, if you catch me when I’ve got time to do so.

cheers, all!