Welcome to Gilberts Go Glamping

 

Welcome to Gilbert's Go Glamping 

We are Donnie and Cindy Gilbert, and this is our 1961 Shasta Airflyte Camper that we found on Facebook marketplace January 2022. Our friends and family kept asking questions about the camper and when it would be ready. I thought this might be the easiest way to share our progress and also help some others along the way as we were helped by the numerous Youtube videos, Pinterest posts and blogs we read to find the the answers we needed to do a complete rebuild on this cutie.  We met these lovely people Mr. and Mrs. Johnson who already renovated one Shasta Compact and had dreams of renovating this one, but life happens, and they decided to sell this one, so we were able to purchase it from them from here in Georgia less than 10 miles from home.  We decided to do a complete rebuild because of the water damage that was hidden from view behind 60 year of insulation and a big hole that had occurred during a storm when a branch fell into roof.  The Johnsons were lovely and disclosed everything to us before we purchased her. 

Warning Alert: If you have ever tried to buy anything on marketplace it isn't as easy or safe as it seems.  I had this great idea well over 2 years to find a Vintage Shasta and renovate it.  I searched on all the standard sites for vintage campers for sale close to home and finally after two years, ta-da. There she was the exact "canned ham" style I was looking for.  Now, this isn't the only inquiry I made this particular week.  I made another one to someone in Athens, GA.  This person was selling their camper for $1000 less than this one but something about the interaction made me uneasy.  So, I googled the meet up address and it was way off the beaten path in very secluded area, so my gut said DON'T DO IT!  I followed my gut and then the following day this one popped up and this time just like Goldilocks, it just felt right, and the Johnsons couldn't have been any nicer or more helpful. 

My idea was to do this as a couple's project then use to increase our travel mostly around the south. It took a lot of pics to get Donnie completely on board but after two years of looking I guess he realized this dream of mine wasn't going to go away. So he did what every husband usually does and jumped on the band wagon.  He even decided to sell his kit car that he had moved around and tinkered with for 17 years and used the line: "my wife has a new project for us," in his ad.  It sold pretty quickly even though the buyer did call for questions for about a week after that.  I❤ love him for that. 

Most of our friends have moved to other states so this would make traveling easier for us.  Doing the work ourselves would allow the camper to be a reflection of us.  I knew we could do it because Donnie has done just about everything and good at pretty much anything he puts his mind to.  I spent a year renovating a 150-year-old building into a quaint little coffeehouse in 2003 which is actually where we met.  I knew between the 2 of us we could pull off this project.  So far, we have 3 sides painted all the windows were pulled out completely scrubbed down shined up and debugged. YUK, those little windows have lots of crevices and 50 years is a long time for little critters to find a home to live and die in.  

Shiny Windows

Oh, and if you want to know more about those shiny windows check back for my blog on Shiny Windows.  I spent weeks working on them.  If you want to know how I cleaned them up check out my Shiny Window Blog next time on Gilberts go Glamping.