The restoration process took place in our driveway starting November of 1999. This made the neighbors real happy (well, except those we didn't care about anyway). We even received a CC&R code violation notice from the city, but doggedly continued (what'ya mean I can't work on my trailer in my own driveway??). Our original estimate was 450 hours of work and $2000 additional to complete the work. Check at the end of this section to see what the actual amounts were. They were rather surprising.

First order of business was to remove the newer Duo-Therm roof mounted air-conditioner and replace it with the original vent and fan that the prior owner had saved when installing the A/C. The air-conditioner overpowered the little Caravel and almost rivaled it in size. We mainly boondock camp in the Sierra Mountains or along the Pacific Coast, so not much was lost other than 50 pounds of dead weight that was deforming the inner skin panel. Luckily the skin panels popped back out when the AC was removed. The old vent went back in with Olympic Rivets, Vulkem Sealant, and 2 new inside trim strips I fabricated to replace missing ones. A little Zolatone paint treatment and they looked like the originals. At first, all we had was a replacement plastic 14x14 cover, so I riveted strips of garage door bulb seal (Maclanburg-Duncan brand) on the outside of the 12x12 vent opening, as the plastic covers won't come down far enough to meet it. This provided a tight seal.

The Duo-Therm looks like a goofy hat on the little Caravel

The vent cover as it is now with an original Hehr cover

The vent as converted to a modern 14x14 plastic vent cover. Click image to see how it was done

The soggy insulation was replaced with 2" styrofoam cut to fit between the frames

The gap between that had to be sealed to prevent water from going into the wood floor, causing it to rot