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Nancy Kroes' Scotty 7 - a 1959 Rear Door Scotty Rebuild

Finally! I've wanted one of these since I saw Kevin Helwig's in Arkansas in 2006. Bought it sight unseen over the telephone, which I would normally not do, but did this time because these are so rare.

See also: Page Two, Page Three, Page Four


Pictures sent by seller just before I left to pick up


Predates the teardrop wheel cut-out


This side isn't bad




Close-up of the front damage


Yup - its rotted all right!


Some odd screw holes back here.



Looks like my dad will be busy with his welder again.
Needs a new coupler and a tongue jack.


Skin not bad - window looks good


Window looks good


This window looks good too


Roof doesn't look too bad


Round taillights - appear to be original




Lots of rot here




All strapped up and ready to head to MI (from MA)


Back home in Michigan


Comparing the front profile to a 1961 13' Front Kitchen -
looks the same to me!


Back profile


Up on jackstands with wheels removed.
Door is not salvagable


The ugly stripes have been removed.
An old hair dryer and a razor worked great.


That silver paper is all there was for "insulation"!


Paper removed. Bottom 5" are completely rotted away


Plywood removed. Nasty.


Not sure what that loose piece of 2x2 is for - its just sitting on the floor.


The other side of the rear.


My dad, coming in to inspect. Making sure I'm actually working
on the trailer, since I moved his lawn tools out of his garage to have
room to work on it inside - including his tractor!


Yup, I'm working on it. Rear is removed!


Another view


Side skin removed - front of the normal door side


Lower front - normal door side


Skin on the driver's side removed


Front corner, driver's side


Roof seam - skin removed


Roof seam - skin removed.


Closet overhangs the dropdown by a good inch.
My new closet won't overhang at all.


Kitchen overhangs the dropdown by about 2".
New cabinet won't overhang at all. This will give me a 3" wider passage.
Doesn't seem like much, but will make the interior more spacious!


The very strange construction method used by Serro in the kitchen.
I think I can do better!


After about 1 1/2 hours, the front is off and the old dinette removed!


Mabel came down and inspected...


One side removed. 


Closet/cabinet removed


Final side removed - lots and lots of bolts holding the floor to the frame.
My '69 had only 8, one at each corner and 4 in the dropdown.
This one had 14 - 8 on the frame and 6 on the dropdown.
All had to be cut off with a pneumatic cutting wheel. Ugh.


Couldn't get the pneumatic cutting wheel under the dropdown,
so resorted to using a round cutting bit in a 1/2" drill motor
and cutting around the head.


All the pieces and parts - sides are a mess.
May have to use the skin for the patterns for the new sides.


Stopped by one evening this week and cut off the
remaining two bolts holding the floor down


Leaving it like this until I get the wheel wells off


Wheels wells are stapled on to the underside of the floor


And, corners are in fact under some of the 2x2 framing


Both off, without a huge amount of effort.
Insides will be Herculinered and outsides will be POR15'd


Floor moved to the side so it can be easily used as a pattern


The frame - bared at last


Used PB Blaster on the nuts holding the axle on Friday night.
Today, Sunday, they came off fairly easily.
Will be replacing the axle using the SW axle that Jerry did


My axle measurements


The second measurement. This is the "outside frame" measurement
required by the axle company. In my case, I ordered a 48 1/2" axle.


New axle arrived!
Ordered from Texas Tuesday morning, 12/09.
Delivered to Michigan Friday morning, 12/12.
This is a custom build to, to my size, not an off the shelf purchase.


Very heavy and very nicely done.


And, here is where you can make an adjustment to affect the height
of the ride. Loosen nut, adjust, tighten. Great feature!


Power wirebrushed and cleaned the top side of the frame and got it POR15'd


Flipped the frame over so the bottom side was now topside.
In power wire-brushing, discovered these rust-through holes in the tongue.


New floor is all cut - used 3/4" (actual 11/16") tongue & groove underlayment.
Cut the back sheet 3 1/2" narrower than 48 so the front piece, originally 4 1/4",
could be that much wider and have more support from the beams below.


While I was cutting the new floor, my dad continued working on removing the
nasty old coupler and readying the tongue for a new jack. This was one of the
old Serro Scottys that originally had had an old car jack, missing when I got it.


Coupler head is off and sides are ready to be ground off.


Hole for new jack is readied and preparing the new steel to be welded on.
New steel was necessary to cover some rust-out. Everyone should check
the lower side of their tongues - don't want an accident like member Lissa had!


Ready to weld on new coupler - using Arc welder for this


Welding coupler to frame and then new steel will be welded on


Welding done (not cleaned up yet)


And, the drop-down is assembled and fitted


Gluing up the t&g plywood turned out to be a 4-person job!
Niece Emily (she did our new logo) and my dad...


And Em's boyfriend Jeremie (and me too of course!)
We used 4 9' long clamps - 2 across the top and 2 across the bottom.


Framing attached to the underside of the new floor


And on the frame - IT FITS! Drop-down floor is installed


Tongue with its new 2" coupler and jack get a first coat of POR15


New axle is installed. Loving this axle, so nice and clean.
Painted it with 2 coats of POR15. More about the axle...


Loosen that nut on the right and easily adjust your ride height!


Tongue/jack/coupler after 2 coats of POR15 and 1 coat of POR overcoat
since POR15 will turn gray when exposed to UV rays. Not overcoating
the frame that will be under the trailer, just the tongue/jack/coupler!
More about POR15...


The underside of the floor after one coat of Herculiner.


And after the second & final coat. Looks great and very well sealed!


Close-up - still wet


Wheel wells, cleaned out, resprayed with truck bed liner in a can
and attached to the floor


Adjusting the new axle by approximately 30 degrees.
Remove the bolt, pull off, make adjustment, push on and put the bolt back.


Drilling up from beneath for attaching the floor


Countersinking the stainless steel carriage bolt heads that are holding
the floor to the frame. Don't want lumps in the new floorting!


Wheel wells painted with POR15


And from the rear.
Plan now is to use filler on the floor and sand it smooth and
then, it will get two coats of weather-beater exterior enamel.


Found this cute little organizer at Harbor Freight for $4. Perfect for organizing
all the stainless steel screws used in putting a Scotty back together.


New tires/wheels installed - went on easy with the 30 degree axle drop!
The white spots on the floor are filler in the screw insets.


A whopping 10 1/2" of clearance beneath the drop-down!


Two coats of exterior 15-year paint


The 1/2 plywood for the first side is biscuited & glued up


And, the 1/4" oak beadboard is laminated to the 1/2" ply after it dries


Jeremie, a flooring professional, installing the living room/kitchen floor


Cutting out the drop-down


A towel wrapped around a block of wood pushes out the air bubbles


The "bedroom" floor is now installed


And, the next side 1/2" plywood is biscuited, glued & clamped


Cutting out the final side


Mabel gave it her stamp of approval


Both sides are now stained. I love how the "medium walnut"
Watco Danish Oil makes the grain of the oak beadboard pop!

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National Serro Scotty Organization | Delton, Michigan 49046