Rebuilding The Dolphin: Making it look inviting!
Oh Crap... There's another project at DreamLand Homestead!!!
See this old thing from 1984? Yeah it's a Toyota... So apparently, Toyota, Dodge and a few Recreational Vehicle companies came togetjer to build these state of the art motorhomes.
This is a Dolphin with a real dinette. And it's about time to salvage this little beauty... the question is, do we restore it to it's original look or do we DiY this thing into a cool piece of art?
This is going to be a short series as the winter is approching and we're giving up on our homestead (just for this winter) and will not be around to do all that much to the dolphin... but we'll be back with more in 2019 for sure!!!!
I'm super happy, my Dad's in town for a month and this RV has become the in-laws suite!
The top cabin had a bit of dry rot when we got the Dolphin, back in 2014 so we took it apart and never really put it back together untill this past week!!!
I used pieces of palettes for the side walls that had been cut open. I thought it looked pretty good eith the corners rounded off. I didn't fix anybof the dry rot, or the leak that surely must be there!!! Big mistake, but we needed a cozy little place for my father to sleep in...
The plan is to take the living cabin completely off the frame of this little truck and rebuild our own thing, tiny house style.
Yeah, it was a bitbof work but again, Ibwanted something nice for my dad!
For the rest I used ply wood, I was running out of time and now I realize I don't even have a photo of the finished bed area there!!! Perhaps I'll add it in tomorrow.
In the mean time, here's the piece of plywood I cut for the bottom:
Next was the dinning area, there were parts of the walls had water damage and had become brittle. Instead of using paletts which are enoying to take apart I used boards from an old fence I collected this summer.
The hardest part was probably sending each piece down indivivually after they were cut to fit in the dinnette.
That's all I have for now, it took me a couple days and I even got some kond of rash on my arms and legs, I blame it on the old fence... I realized after thebjob was done that it probably was treated wood and sanded the bull of it inside the motorhone one rainy day!!! I wouldn't recomend using that wood to anyone, I am going to look into randering it none-toxic by sealing somehow, and I'll report back on that.
It may be a while before the next update but please do keep a lookout!
When someone believes in you, you're far more likely to rise up the best version of you that you can be.
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It's so nice seeing an old campervan restored, or even better, improved into something artistic and functional. But I would attack that mold with some bleach. Inhaling the wrong spores over time (when sleeping) can cause some nasty health effects. Good luck with the project though! Autonomous rolling homes are awesome.
Thanks for the tip... it's a very temporary fix we're going to go with the more artistic and functional re build afyer my dad has left!
I dream of doing this, too.
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Lol, me too. It's only the first step of this rebuild... who knows when I will continue
Too bad about the chemicals in that treated wood. I love the way it looks with the slats covering the walls. Let me know what you find out about that wood. I would think you could seal it and be ok but I don't know.
Yeah, live and learn!!! I really think sanding that wood indoors while it was raining wthout proper ventilation gave me that bad rash that lasted all day the next day!
Looking good, I like the tiny house idea too.
Thanks 😁.
Eeek, ya got your work cut out for you there! yeah, bleach is a good idea. I love nothing better than doing up vehicles to live in. A proper tiny home would be awesome. It gets expensive to restore to classic for sure. Make it creative and awesome! Where are you moving to, coconuts?
Creative and awesome it will be. I don't know when it will happen but it will! I would love an old Bedford to build into an awesome livin vehicle but this one'll do.
Looking for something in town so we can be close to the homestead.
💚
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That looks like a lot of work! I love to see people restoring old things. Your caravan is a great project! I'm sorry to hear about the wood! I hope you'll manage to seal it!
Yeaj thanks, me too! I thinknwe can figure sonething out. There's a part of me who wants to take the whole thing off the frame and redo it entirely in ny own style!
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STOPThe wood paneling looks awesome - great reclaiming of that fence wood :)
Thanks a lot @jackdub. Good to hear from you, it's been a while
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